We’ve wrapped up our June Camp in Marine and are now back at our respective homes.  One of the highlights of the camp was getting together with the St Croix Valley Ski Club, a Minnesota Youth Ski League club, for an afternoon of skills development and games.  This is the third summer we’ve worked with these young athletes and it’s cool to see so many familiar faces of kids that are getting older and faster.

The kids really enjoyed running the ladders, jumping the hurdles, and passing the medicine ball, which served as a baton in the relays.

Coach Gus Kaeding showing how to get big air

It was one of the only clear afternoons we had all camp.  The kids just finished their last day of school the previous day, so they had a little extra energy to burn off.

Maddy had better ups than most of the boys

Though Trigby got extra points for style

Our afternoon with the St Croix Valley club was a highlight of the camp.  Thanks to CXC Youth Director Everett Myers for getting this event organized.  It was cool to see the building blocks of a strong ski community taking shape.

Getting fast and moving small tires in Osceola. . .

We ended a productive June Camp with a trip to Battle Creek for a workout with the Sisu Skiers training group on Thursday night.  These guys were flying, literally, catching air on their rollerskis and moving fast!

Somehow we avoided the rain and tornado’s that surrounded us all evening, making  for a solid, dry training session (one of the first I’ve had all week!).

This weekend is the Summer State Championship for Special Olympics Minnesota.  As part of the event, Minnesota Olympians were invited to take part in a fundraiser and help participate in the festivities.

Special Olympics spokeswoman and global messenger Katie Timmer addresses the audience.  She’ll be representing Minnesota at Nationals in Nebraska this July.

Here, Katie poses with 2002 Olympic Speedskater Jason Hedstrand and his wife Kris.  A number of Olympic athletes were on hand including my CXC teammate Caitlin Compton.

Here, the Gold Medal winning 4 x 100m relay from up on the Range in Mesabi Country poses for a shot.

What’s the most popular sport in Minnesota Special Olympics?  “Bowling, by far,” says Pam Byrd, director of SOMN.  She even introduced me to a couple of athletes that have bowled a perfect 300.  Dang, I’m lucky if I break 100!

A week into our first full training camp of the season, things are dialed.  Fish is off at his new job in Park City and the 2011 CXC Elite Team is looking strong in Marine on St Croix.  Our new coach, Jason Cork, finally took the reins today while assistant coach Gus Kaeding cracked the whip.  Santi Ocariz put down the hammer today and taught us a lesson on how to climb hills.  Don’t know these characters?  Allow me to introduce them. . .

Cork comes prepared with a pole sharpener.  Dialed.

Santi sharpens his poles to put the smack down on the rest of the team.  Dialed.

Coach Kaeding will make you get up that hill.  Fast.

So far, the transition to our new coach has been relatively smooth.  We did, however, have to explain who Chuck Norris is to Cork.

Finally, we can no longer give Jessie a hard time about still being in high school.  She graduated on Saturday.  Congrats Diggins!

Get Your Nordic On! Clinic Recap

Rochester, MN

June 13, 2010

The 2010 rollerski season is underway!  The Rochester Nordic Club (RASC) hosted a great early summer rollerski clinic led by 2010 Olympian and CXC Elite skier Garrott Kuzzy on Sunday, June 13.

The Rochester Nordic Club made up of silent sport enthusiasts in the Rochester area.  In only a few years, they’ve developed an extensive trail network with the help of a great volunteer workforce, allowing local skiers to ski on only minimal amounts of snow.  In addition to the trail network, they’ve grown their junior program to over 100 skiers, led by about 12 volunteer coaches.  The enthusiasm for skiing in Rochester is infectious; look for the club to expand both their trail network and skier base in the coming years.

During the clinic, Kuzzy led skiers through a progression of dryland drills, both on foot and on rollerskis, to develop a strong technique base upon which to build over the summer and fall.  They also worked on new balance, strength, and agility exercises to improve their skiing.  The coaches at the clinic will be able to use many of these drills when coaching their skiers this fall and winter.  The skiers at the clinic will have skills to master throughout the summer so they are ready to fly when they get on snow this winter.  A big thanks to the Rochester Nordic Club for doing a great job getting the clinic organized and even hosting informal rollerski practices over the past couple of weeks to get newcomers comfortable on their rollerskis before the clinic.

Following the clinic for coaches and master skiers, Kuzzy also led a clinic for the junior skiers in the Rochester area.  Although their team is a club team and cannot compete at the Minnesota State meet, the Rochester juniors spend a lot of time training together in the summer and skiing in the winter.

For more information on getting a clinic for your Nordic Club this summer or fall, contact Garrott Kuzzy – garrottkuzzy@yahoo.com.

The Rochester Nordic Ski Team, a part of the Rochester Active Sports Club (RASC), will be hosting a ski clinic with US Olympic skier and CXC Team Vertical Limit member Garrott Kuzzy on Sunday June 13^th at Essex Park in Rochester.  There will be a 2 hour clinic for masters and coaches starting at 1:00pm and a junior clinic starting at 3:30pm for 1 hour. Cost is a $20 donation to the RASC for the masters/ coaches clinic, which will also satisfy the Technique Clinic requirement for USSA Level 100 Coaches Certification. The junior clinic is free and coaches are welcome to attend as well.

The clinic will include a number of strength, balance, and technique ideas and will be different from any clinic you’ve attended before!  Of course, you’ll get to hear stories first hand from the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver as well.

Bring running shoes, ski poles, ski boots, helmet, water, and rollerskis if you’ve got them.  We will try to have several extra pairs of rollerskis on hand for folks who don’t have their own to try.

For junior skiers, Garrott plans to hold a shorter clinic from 3:30 to 4:30 on the same day (Sunday June 13th). The cost for juniors is $0 – probably the best deal you will ever get for an hour’s coaching from an Olympic skier.  No roller skis will be needed for the junior clinic.

If you would like to participate, please send a note to mkoconnor@mayo.edu, walker.henry@mayo.edu, or bmwalk@aol.com by Friday, May 28.

2009 Rochester Nordic Clinic

Congrats to the University of Virgina Women’s Rowing team and my sister Martha—NCAA DI Champions!

Photo: Virginia.edu

UVA getting it done.

I had the opportunity to meet the team during a visit to Virginia this spring.  Rowers work harder than any other athletes I know and to be the best team in the NCAA is pretty cool.  Nice work, Mart!

Martie, rockin’ the new ‘do she got for St. Baldrick’s, where she raised $2444 for children’s cancer research–not to mention the fact that a lucky girl got a new full head of hair.  She’s pretty easy to spot on the boat now too!

It was 95 degrees, humid, and windy in Hayward yesterday.  Only a small, die-hard group of five showed up for the weekly Tuesday night ride, likely because of ominous skies and distant thunder.  Much needed showers in the area got rid of most of the head and humidity, so we ended up with an ideal evening to ride.

Following the storms, the winds died down and the lake was like glass under the almost-full moon.  This photo was taken at 10:30pm and exposed for about 15 seconds.  The moon was so bright that even the reflection on the lake was blue.

Get outside and enjoy the full moon tonight!

Do you ever have days when you feel like this?

Yeah, neither do I!

Mountain bike racing for the second week in a row!  Can’t remember the last time I did back-to-back weekends of bike racing. . .probably not since I rode my bike more than once a week.

Cable, Wisconsin hosted the Cable Classic–23 miles of bike racing on the local CAMBA trails.  After a brutal awakening to the bike season in Rhinelander last weekend (it was all I could do to make it to the finish on my bike), I decided to start this weekend’s race a little more conservatively.  It was great to be in the field with a bunch of familiar faces from the ski and bike world.  A big bottleneck at the start of the race to get into the single-track also kept me in check from going out too hard at the start.

Instead of getting dropped by everyone that passed me this week, I was able to hang on to most of the wheels in front of me and occasionally close the gap up to the next group.  From the stories afterwards, it sounds like about half the field took a wrong turn at some point during the race, but I was somehow able to stay on the right track (thanks to some reminders from the riders around me!).

In the end, I came into the finish with a pack of about five riders, giving me the chance to work on my finishing tactics (something I don’t get to work on much in individual start ski races).  It was great to be competitive at the finish of this weekend’s race, even if I did finish 12 minutes off the leaders.  Being back with the mountain bike crowd got me fired up to spend more time on the bike this summer and get back into the swing of riding.

photo: jay richards & skinnyski.com

Jack Hinkens, Hopkins skier and mountain bike racer, ended up 6th after riding an extra mile going off trail in 2nd place.  He’s off to Germany to train with the US Junior National mtb team in a couple weeks.

photo: jay richards & skinnyski.com

I got to catch up with two of the Midwest’s top junior racers, Jack Hinkens and Jake Richards.  Both guys ride all summer and are two of the fastest skiers in the State in the winter.  It probably doesn’t hurt that Jake has some of the best bike and ski trails right in his backyard at Maplelag Resort.

While I’m on the subject of shout out’s, I’ve got to thank New Moon for the bike once again this weekend.  Without them, I would’ve been sitting on the sideline watching the past two bike races.  One of these days, Specialized will get my bike in stock & I won’t have to race on a rental bike anymore!

One final shout?  Want to read a great race blog?  Ted King is the man.  My Middlebury Cycling teammate is riding in the Giro d’Italia for Cervelo and has some great insight and humor from inside the peloton.  He somehow finds time after racing six hours a day to punch out some classic entries on his blackberry.  Check it.