February 4th, 2010

We start racing tomorrow!  Friday, February 5: the women race a 10km Skate starting at 10am Mountain Time.  The men start the 15km Skate at Noon.  Saturday, February 6: the Classic Sprint qualifiers start at 10am for women, followed immediately by the men.  Sprint heats start at noon.

This is the final World Cup weekend before the Olympic Games.  Start lists, results, and live timing are available here and updated immediately.  Look forward to an exciting weekend of racing.  I know I am!

Testing skis, wax, structure to make the fastest boards possible.

US Teammates Noah Hoffman, James Southam, and Mike Hinkley

Taking a page from MTV’s Pimp My Ride, I bring you a sneak peak of some of the rides on the World Cup. . .

Canada’s National Tourism Bus.  Err, train?  Monster truck?  Who knows, but I’d be willing to bet the mileage isn’t as good as. . .

Olympic Gold Medalist Chandra Crawford‘s Toyota Prius.  Be sure to check out her Fast and Female Project as well.  Chandra really gives back to the sport and this program is absolutely amazing.

My buddy Donovan just returned from a trip to New Zealand.  He documented much of the trip on his website and included several photos of vehicles in New Zealand.  This one doesn’t look much different from the vehicles he saw. . .except this steering wheel is on the left.

Swedish National Team wax bus taken at the 2009 World Championships in Czech Republic.  The 18-wheeler might not be here this weekend, but you can bet their techs will be firing through all 12 gears.

For us Americans, it could be better, it could be worse.  It’s not how you get to the races, but what you do when you’re there.  I’ve got everything I could ask for here in Canmore, including World Class teammates and coaching support, and I’m looking forward to an exciting weekend of racing.