I spent Thanksgiving weekend skiing and racing just outside of Yellowstone National Park in West Yellowstone, MT with my teammates Brett Denney, Nick Hendrickson and Tyler Smith. There wasn't as much snow in West as usual, but compared to everywhere else right now, we were lucky to have some. Skiers from all over the country flock in and invade West for this early snow camp. It was fun to see some old friends from the Nordic community as well as have some very tough competition in the race. We raced against over 150 guys in the 9k skate race (individual start - fortunately)! Back in Park City we still have snow on the jumps, but the XC trails are gone again. Time to for some more snow dancing.
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I owe a lot of thank you's for the generous giving during the National Nordic Foundation's Drive for 25! We raised almost $55,000 from the community, plus another $17,000 in matching grants! This exceeded last year's benchmark and puts the NNF much closer to it's annual fundraising goals. I want to assure everyone that their dollars will be well spent. Every chance that we get to compete is an opportunity that I appreciate and will make the most of. And besides the numbers and dollars, the overall support of the ski community stepping in to help its athlete means everything to me. We started jumping on snow this Wednesday, which is the earliest I've ever started the winter and was only one week after we finished jumping on plastic! We'll get a good few weeks of jumping in before the Continental Cup here on December 14th. That and the altitude will give us a strong home-field advantage!
The snowstorm Brutus hit hard in Utah, dumping snow from early Friday through Sunday afternoon. I'm no scientist but I think we had over a foot and a half here. Snowbird Ski Resort got close to 50 inches!
We got back out on the snow on skinny skis Saturday. Unfortunately we had testing today and again tomorrow on the treadmill. Not that testing is all that bad, it's just hard to be inside on rollerskis with the itch to be out on the snow! But, with the way things are looking, it should be a good winter. If we're lucky, we'll be jumping on snow towards the end of the week. That will mean only a week or so off from the time we stopped plastic jumping, last Wednesday, which is pretty hard to beat. I'll keep you posted and try to get some pics up. I just have to brave taking off my gloves in the cold... Don't forget - this is the final push for the Drive for 25, which officially ends Wednesday. If you haven't donated yet, now's the time For the final two weeks of the National Nordic Foundation's Drive for 25, we have matching donors who are going to match every dollar that we raise for Nordic Combined up to $15,000! This last push of fundraising will be huge in order to help us meet our goals.
Read more on the NNF site here. Or go directly to donate here. It's hard to believe, but right away this morning we got out on the golf course in Park City for some sweet early season snow! It might not last long, but we'll enjoy while we can here. I think this is the sign of a good winter coming.
Check out the video I just put up chronicling Taylor in his Captain America costume - for the entire trip. This was his way of paying up for a running bet from last year's ski times against Bill Demong. On a more serious note: a big thanks to the NNF for helping fund this trip. Don't forget that the Drive for 25 is still on! https://www.grouprev.com/loomis That's it for Oberstdorf and the trip. I'm writing from Amsterdam now, and tomorrow we'll be home.
We wrapped up the trip with a fun 2-man team event yesterday. We jumped the big hill and raced a 5 x 1.5km sprint course. The teams were made off the finishes from our time trial in Predazzo. Billy and Nick cleaned up, but it was a good fight for the next few spots (the middle guys always seem to have the strongest teams - and they didn't exactly have great races in Predazzo). I raced by myself and with a ghost racer, because my teammate, Brett, wasn't able to race with a sudden flare in shin pain/ compartment syndrome. So I just used my jump, instead of averaging jumps, and rested between laps for the exact amount of time that my previous lap took. Half way to winter jumping today! They have a refrigerated track here on the inrun in Oberstdorf that they run water on and let ice over to allow a winter feeling as that time nears. It was pretty sweet to get that smooth sweet feeling of ice!
Sitting here in Predazzo, Italy again, it seems as if the last trip never really ended. We did, however, have a few quick weeks back home in Park City. What was I up to while I was home? A lot training, sorry to be boring. We flew home from last trip mid-week and started a tough intensity block the next week. This time of year we really ramp up the speed and hit it hard during the "blocks." Last block consisted of 2 interval workouts, a day off, and then 5 interval sessions, 3 jumping sessions and 2 time-trials in a week. It was a beatdown to say the least. The following week, last week, the Norwegian A-team came into town and we did just about all our training/jumping with them. You might remember that they were here in June. Apparently they like it in PC and we like having them around. By the way, I haven't only been training. One of the highlights of the last couple weeks: learning to curl at the PC ice arena. If I had the time, I might just join a league - or maybe it will be with the whole crew. I also played baseball the other day - and that's a sport that I know I don't have a career in. It's actually more fun than I remember though, and infinitely better than watching. We also endeavored to cook some authentic European food's while at home with friends. Basically we made complicated Mac and Cheese and gourmet pancakes, but the Austrians would call them Kaisespaetzle and Kaiserschmarrn. We flew back overseas Monday and drove right to Predazzo. We're with the National Training Group guys from Steamboat. It's a blast to see the pals who we don't get to hang out with as much as we used to. Looks of good jumping and quality sessions are in store for the team. I'll keep you informed. Look for a video coming towards the end of the camp!
The Drive for 25 is on! This is the National Nordic Foundation's biggest fundraiser of the year and it's all about you! As the next generation of Nordic skiers we need your support today. Donate $25 any time from now until Nov 15. Then help us spread the word! With the NNF we are taking on the challenge of filling the gaps in funding that exist's from the top level on down in Nordic Combined and Cross Country skiing. We are daring to ask the question: What if our nation's top athletes did not have to pay thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars to race internationally and represent the Red, White, and Blue? Nordic athletes competing at the U23 & World Junior Championships must pay their way. Athletes like myself who are below the A-team are not fully funded. All of the NNF's funding comes from the Nordic community. Here is what we need and ask you to do: 1) Become a NNF Ambassador 2) Donate 3) Spread the message Get started by clicking the Drive for 25 Button. Learn more about the National Nordic Foundation's mission here: http://www.nationalnordicfoundation.org/
We spent the last part of our Europe camp in Predazzo, Italy, and then we went to Stams, Austria for the three days before heading home on Tuesday. This was my first time to Stams, which is just outside of Innsbruck. We stayed at a small Pension where the owner would ask us what we would like for meals. Kaisesrscharrn - sweet German pancakes - was a must for the first dinner. On Sunday we hiked up a nearby mountain with the intention of taking the gondola down to save our legs. We ended up just running down - actually nearly racing down - instead and put the hurt on our bodies. Either way, it was a memorable hike with spectacular views from the summit. We signed the log book at the top and discovered that the French Nordic Combined Team had been up there the day before! It's not like it was the only mountain around! On Monday we jumped in Stams on their K105. I always enjoy jumping hills in this in-between size. They're all unique but usually feel like a smaller hill on the inurn and a big hill in the air. Stams is a state-of-the-art hill where the Austrian's spend a lot of time training. Just past the base of the jump they have a ski school that many of the best Austrian's attend or have attended.
Tuesday was a rather long travel day, but it is nice to crawl into my own bed after too many hours on a plane. And of course, I can't complain with no delays, lost baggage or other difficulties on the way. Now we have just 3 weeks of training here before we'll be back in Italy again! Also, the Norwegian team is coming here next week. I'm looking forward to training with them again. They were here this spring and obviously decided it was a worthwhile time. We definitely benefit from having another team to train with. I'll leave you with a few shots from the town we stayed at near Stams, and one from Munich the evening before we flew home. Until next time! I'm battling an uncooperative computer, but I'll get an update from the rest of the camp up as soon as I can. For now, I put up some pictures from the trip on my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151110750119760.452801.611834759& We're in Predazzo, Italy now, after spending the first week of the trip in Kranj, Slovenia. For the first half I think we accomplished our goal: lots of good jumps on the hill in Kranj, along with testing out some new equipment. We didn't get out and do too much in Kranj, but some of us did experience a Slovenian mall one afternoon. Sunday we had a gorgeous drive over mountain passes from Slovenia to Italy. Monday we took the day off from jumping and rollerskied up one of the nearby mountain passes, Passo Laveze, then ran on the Nordic ski trails at the top to make it a good 3 hour distance workout. Warming up for jumping Tuesday felt like a competition with all the other nations around. That's one of the great aspects of training in Europe - seeing the other teams training. Today, we had the Austrian Nordic Combined team and the German special jumping team in particular to watch. The American and Canadian jumpers were also here. They left the same day that our girls jumping team came in. It's nice to have some English speaking friends around when we're hanging out after training. Comp day today. The German NC team is doing an 8 - hill tournee as they travel throughout Europe at various training sites. We hopped in their jumping competition today, but did our own race, since we they have "Ferrari" fast rollerskis and were racing somewhere else. We raced up the base of Alpe Cermis - one of the nearby ski mountains that is famous (within our world) for it's brutally steep hill climb in the final day of the Tour de Ski. The jump competition did not exactly go great for myself and the whole team. It was actually good for us to see the level that the German team is at, but the reality is that we've got a bit of work to do before the winter. Ski jumping can change quickly though and there's no reason that all of us can't be at that level soon.
The race was, to be expected, really steep `equally tough. It was only 3.5km and took me exactly 20 minutes. I haven't seen results yet but I finished 7th and had the 5th fastest race time while Johnny got the win. After a tough, rainy morning, there was nothing more satisfying than a hot shower and a steaming bowl of risotto! We're here until Saturday after jumping. The last stop of the trip is Stams, Austria, just outside of Innsbruck. It's rains a lot in here Kranj, but the ski jumping is real good. 'Nuff said for now.
Along with my teammates Brett Denney, Taylor Fletcher and Todd Lodwick, I spent Labor Day weekend racing in the annual Steamboat Springs Stage Race. After two days of jumping the 70-meter in Steamboat, we dove into three days of bike racing. Check out the photo gallery below of the Pro-1-2 Category in the opening time trial. Taylor Fletcher is in the first picture, racing up against the best in his first race as a Cat-2. This 20km time trial was about as brutal of a TT as you could do. After a long rolling first part, we went up and over a good mile long climb, than turned around and finished back at the top of the hill, ending quite a ways higher than we started. I didn't have the full TT set-up like Taylor - but in the "beginners" Cat 4-5 group, it's not expected. I did get a pair of clip on aero bars and a time trial helmet, so I felt pretty legit out there. I ended up 6th, in my category of 50 guys. Sunday, in the 55-mile road race stage, things almost went really well. I narrowly avoided the crash - which was gnarly - stayed in good positioning, and was able to put the hammer down on the two-climbs in the last 10 miles. I got away with in a four man group on the climbs, and with 7 or 8 miles of rolling terrain to the finish we had a solid minute gap on the peloton. As a small group, we had to really push to keep off the pack. Unfortunately, my legs said enough a few miles from the finish. Once I couldn't stay up on the wheel of the next guy, it was all over, and there was no way I was going to catch the other 3. I tried to hang on solo in fouth, but the chase group swallowed me up and blew by me in the last mile. I ended up 13th, which was frustrating, after being so close, but such is racing. Oh and back to the crash. Two guys locked wheels and took out a whole slew of riders behind them. Had I been one man to my right, I would have tasted some hard pavement. Two of my buddies from Steamboat went down, but somehow came away with no more than some bruises and banged up helmets. I heard that one of the initial riders who went down broke a collar bone, but if that's all that resulted in a multi-man pile up, that's really not too bad. The one positive that may have came out of the crash was that our group was a little more cautious in the final race, the critirium on Monday morning. Critiriums, or "crits" are probably the sketchiest of bike races. They're high paced, tightly packed and have lots of corners. The crit course for this race was a rectangle between two city streets just above downtown. My group raced around and around for 35 minutes, while the higher categories went up to an hour. I had a blast racing it, but didn't get up to the front at the end and finished around 20th in the pack with everyone else. Sunday night all the racers were in invited to a BBQ at the local Moots bike factory. Moots has been making road, mountain and cyclocross bikes in Steamboat for about 30 years. Now they produce about 1500 bikes a year, all of which are made from Titanium tubing. Touring the factory was one of the highlights of my weekend. It gave me an appreciation for their high quality bikes (although you do pay for this quality if you want a Moots).
Wednesday we hammered out some intervals with Cross Country's National Training Group. It was supposed to be a threshold workout (aka - not race pace hard), but sometimes things get a little fast when you get that many people skiing together. Oh well, it's nice to mix it up and ski with a good group once in a while.
Fisnordiccombined.com recently revamped their website to feature more multimedia, quick updates and athlete stories. It's worth checking out. They even added a list of athlete blogs (including this one here). I think it's pretty interesting to look at some of the foreign athlete's websites. Christian Erichson's is particularly well done - and his English really is that good. The news for the weekend was at the Summer Grand Prix in Germany. Our team chose not to go, but some of the National Training Group competed for the US. Ben Berend, one of the up-and-coming athletes from Steamboat, jumped as far as Jason Lamy Chappuis- who has won the World Cup overall the last two years! That's it for 2013 Nordic Combined and Ski Jumping Nationals! I believe this was the 5th time we have had our National Champs in the summer, and I'm not yet completely used to the idea, but oh well. It was nice to compete at home, in Park City, and overall I had a great weekend of competition. On Saturday during Large Hill Jumping Nationals I put together a great jumping competition: good enough to finish as the 7th American overall in the jumping, and I started the Nordic Combined race in second, behind Czech athlete Ales Vodsadalek. I was stoked to be starting the race ahead of the 5 A-team guys, but they chased me down pretty quickly and we skied as a pack for a while. I couldn't hang on to the pace the whole race, and finished up 6th American, which is a good improvement from my previous National Champs results, and close to where I hoped to be. In addition to Nationals, it was also Springer Tournee, which is an annual summer comp for all ages on all the hills. At the beginning of the week we spent two mornings working with the young athletes from around the US and Canada who were in Park City for the Tournee. I worked with a great group of kids between the ages of 10 and 14. Hopefully they had as much fun as I did! The first day the older athletes lead our group through a series of dryland tests. Here's a few pictures, thanks to my mother! The next day we coached our group on the jumps. Michael Ward took some of our group to the K64, and I coached kids on the K40 and K20. I'm sure I didn't have to say anything way different than their regular coaches, but sometimes just a different way of phrasing makes things click. I think my kids had fun and learned - at least a little - from my coaching. And now there's no rest for the weary. Today we jumped into an intensity block of training: two interval sessions both today and tomorrow, morning intervals Wednesday and a time trial Thursday.
After France, we drove to Oberstdorf to spend a few days training and focusing on jumping. This was actually my first time jumping in Germany, although I've been to Munich quite a few times flying in and out. We only jumped the K90, because their large hill is under construction. Monday afternoon we jogged over to the ski flying hill and took the elevator. Pretty decent views! The A-team went on to the first competitions in Sochi, Russi, while we flew back home Thursday. Good news coming from the Motherland - Todd Lodwick was 2nd place and Bill Demong 7th today!
Bryan Fletcher put this together on our drive to Oberstdorf, Germany. Check it out if you haven't already! I think 95% of the people reading this contributed one way or another to get me to where I am now, so I want to thank everyone for this week. Especially: The NNF for kicking in funding to help offset some of the costs for the B-team. That means everyone that has contributed to the NNF! Olympian Tours for running a successful first Tour trip. Carl Van Loan and Jed Hinkley did an awesome job supporting the guys that came for the fundraiser trip, as well as making life way better for us. Riding with a "sag wagon" full of food, water, tools and clothing is so sweet! Check out their website here and their Facebook page here. They've been putting a lot of pictures and videos from the trip up on their facebook page, so definitely give them a look. My coaches, the US Ski Team and Billy Demong for making it happen logistically. ColeSport, our local bike shop in Park City, who outfitted the whole team with some sweet kits. We had 16 people riding as a team in the same gear some of the days! Honey Stinger for supplying a ton of bars, gels, waffles and chews. We all thought we'd have way to much at the beginning, but it turns out that when you bike all day, you need a lot of food! We ended up with just the right amount. And my parents for supporting me the whole way! We all spent one day watching the tour and some went to watch it a second day. If you were watching, you would have seen Michael Ward and I running alongside the lead group near the top of the Col de la Madeleine, the first of 3 climbs that they raced on Thursday. It took us two hours to ride up this climb alone. The tour racers did this, another similar HC category climb, one more short climb and then a final 20k climb to finish in well under 5 hours. Watching the Tour was an awesome experience. We had to go up early, because they completely close of the road a good two hours before the riders come. It's pretty fun waiting around though. We mingled with the other fans lining the road and met some Americans on a guided tour, one of which was from Steamboat! A ways ahead of the riders there's a massive caravan of sponsor cars. We hauled in some loot that they threw out of the cars, from key chains to candy to hats and big green foam hands. It goes without saying that the riders were fast. Outrageously fast. I literally had to sprint as fast as could up the top of the climb to stick alongside them. On Friday Bryan, Bill, Johnny, Todd, Taylor and I rode such an epic loop. The fundraising group guys also came and each rode substantial portions of the route. We did 3 climbs, Telegraph, Galibiere and Croix de Fer, and by the end it was 105 miles, almost 8 hours and 16,000 feet of climbing! Galibier put us up over 2500 meters elevations and was definitely my favorite climb. We lucked out on the weather that was moving in as we headed down from the descent. On that note, I'll need to get some new break-pads when I get back. I've never burnt through so much rubber in my life as I have switch-backing down the mountains here. Saturday the whole group did an "easy" 65 miles. It poured rain all morning in Courchevel, but once we descended down the valley, sunshine rolled in and it turned into a gorgeous day. I guess I should thank mother nature for being so kind to us this trip!
Today was an easy morning. Some of the guys rode up to the private airport above Courchevel. I just did some stretching and light plyos down at the hotel. Gotta get the legs going for jumping tomorrow. Off to Oberstdorf, Germany now! This is my first time to France, and man is it great. Riding yesterday I kept thinking, "This is so cool, it looks just like it does when they race in the Alps in the Tour." And then I realize, that's because they really do ride exactly where we're riding. We rolled into Courchevel Monday evening and after a quick and delicious dinner, had a big biking party. We have 8 athletes, 3 coaches, 3 toureree's (I made that word up) and 2 tour guides. That makes 16 people and just as many bikes and a lot of skis as well. Some how, all the bikes and skis made it, but my coach's and my clothing bag didn't make it out of Atlanta. I was bummed because I wasn't able to jump Tuesday morning, but I was able to make do with biking for the afternoon. I had my helmet, borrowed clothing, and rented some old school cycling pedals with straps, which worked great with my flat soled vans. Nonetheless that will probably be the only time that I ride 65 miles without cycling shoes. We rode from Courchevel yesterday, descended for a long ways before going across the valley and then up a 27 kilometer climb, which ended in Italy! After the descent, I hopped into the van with some of the other guys and rode back up to town. Todd, Bill, Taylor, Johnny, Bryan and one of the Tourer's, Walter, rode all the way back to Courchevel. 90 miles is a bold way to start the week! The riding got serious this afternoon. Everyone but coach Greg raced the famous Alpe d'Huez climb. It's only 17 kilometers long, but has 21 switchbacks and ascends almost 1000 meters. Infamous is probably the word to use. We decided to handicap start it in the same fashion that the Sundance Hill Climb was handicapped. So some of the older riders and the coaches started earlier, and us athletes started later, with the hope of catching everyone. Taylor started last, then Bill, then me, Johnny, Bryan, Todd, and so on. Bill threw down a really hard race, held off Taylor and caught everyone else to finish first and put down the fastest time, ahead of Taylor's. Todd finished right behind Bill, then Taylor, and then a bit more to me, at 51:20 race time. I think Bill's time was close to 3 minutes faster than me, which was kind of incredible considering I could ride with him in the last hill climb we did. I was pretty happy to edge out Todd's time to be the third fastest guy up the mountain. We've all got some work to do - the record time is 37:35, and that was on a year that they did at the end of a stage, not just as a Time Trial! Then again, that record was set in 1997 (not by Lance, his is just one second slower) and now they ride it in well over 40 minutes; 42 minutes was the fastest in last years stage. It makes you wonder... typically athletics don't get less competitive overtime. In the end, beyond the race, the times, stats, etc. I can't get over the idea being just stoked to had this opportunity. L Alpe d'Huez really is one of the most historical places in European sporting events. It's where champions have been made and tour's have been won for years. It's like getting the opportunity to play tennis at the Wimbledon courts... except for, that's just tennis. Life's been pretty crazy lately, not that that's any news. Last week we were in Steamboat Springs for the annual 4th of July training camp and competitions. I actually had more downtime than usual in Steamboat, but it was nice to spend it hanging out with my family and friends, so I slacked a bit on schoolwork, blogging, and such. Anyways, a quick recap of Steamboat: My parents and little bro Ben came in the day after I did, so I stayed with them on the ski mountain. I hadn't seen them since early May, which of lately isn't too bad, but it was great to see them and catch up. Kerry Lynch and Hans Berend, along with the other parents and athletes in Steamboat organized a wine-soiree and Calcutta fundraiser to start the week off. Sounds a little strange? Here's how it worked: the wine tasting part was pretty simple, a nice evening event in a park. They spread the word beforehand and we had a solid turnout of supporters. Then, while at the wine-tasting, the attendees could bet on individual athletes for the long standing jump competition the next day. I don't think anyone picked the 3 top finishers in order in the Calcutta betting, but there were some pretty good bets, and the winners had prizes including a back-country hut trip, and stays in Capitol Reef National Park, Moab, and my family's cabin in northern Wisconsin. On the Monday before the 4th, we raced the annual Fishcreek rollerski time-trial. I was glad that this wasn't my first hard-effort since winter, as it often has been in the past, because this uphill time trial is tough! Taylor Fletcher put down the fastest race. I ended up 5th, but most importantly I was much closer to the fastest times than I've been in the past. On the 4th of July, Todd Lodwick defended his numerous titles in the annual sprint rollerski race downtown. He won the jumping the day before and held the rest off in the 2km race. This quick and chaotic race isn't exactly my forte, but I always enjoy the energy and the enthusiastic spectators lining the street. (There are a lot, partly because the main street parade is right after us). Later that day, we had one last competition, a 3 jump elimination competition. We always get a good turnout for this as well, and it's a real fun time with many long jumps! I didn't quite throw down like last year in the final round of 6 and couldn't top Johnny's winning jump of 75 meter jump. After the jumping, we loaded up our cars and booked it back to Park City. That gave of us 3 days to put in some long training hours, study away (at least speaking for myself and my roommates) and pack up for the trip. The first day I was home I did an awesome four hour classic rollerski on a nice calm, cool evening. The following day, Erik, Michael, Nick and I rode down to and around Salt Lake City, then up Big Cottonwood Canyon past Solitude and Brighton ski area, to the top of Park City Mountain and then back home. Big Cottonwood alone took close to two hours to climb to the very top, and the total ride time was over 4 and a half hours. It was a good prep for the riding this week! Packing the bike boxes is a project and learning experience! Michael and I were fortunate enough to find a double box to borrow, which was great because they're hard to come by and expensive to check in at the airport. At first, I thought packing the bikes would be a breeze, and then I realized we still had to fit our 4 wheels in. Bikes would be so much easier to pack if they didn't have wheels!
I wrote this on the plane to Zurich. From Zurich, we drove out of Switzerland to Courchevel, France. The traffic was a total mess (very un-swiss like) so the drive took about 5 hours. That's the life of a skier though! Two weeks ago, most of my team competed in the High Uintas 10,000, a 77 mile race from Kamas, UT to Evanston, WY. As the name implies, it climbs up to over 10,000 feet from around 6000 at the start. The one climb was from mile marker 20 to 30, and from there it's high speed downhill and then flat into Wyoming. If the race had ended at the top of a climb, I might have been able to win my category (Cat-5, which is for bikers without a lot of races or points under their belts). However, I got away in a group of 3 with another off the front on the climb, and we flew through the flats as we caught up with a group of the Master (older) racers that started ahead of us. I ended up 3rd in Cat-5. I need to work on my final sprint! On Sunday, some of the coaches and athletes from across the US Ski Team put on a hillclimb up around Sundance ski resort. The race was just under 9 miles long and ascended 2800 vertical feet - all uphill, which is exactly my style on a bike. A huge alpine skier or an older coach can't compete with the Nordic guys up a climb like that, so they made it interesting with a handicap system based on power testing on a stationary bike and a shorter bike time trial in PC, or in my case, they said tough luck and threw me in. Below is the start list. The first athlete to start is still rehabbing from a serious knee injury. The next two are PT interns. Sasha, one of the alpine coaches, hung on for the win. I started with Bill Demong, who's Mars heritage is more debatable than it used to be. Tad Elliot (Nordic) is still one of the best mountain bikers in the US, despite being fully committed to cross country skiing and no longer racing for the national bike team. Taylor Fletcher (Nordic Combined) and Noah Hoffman (Nordic) aren't here, but they caught up soon and finished 3rd and 4th respectively, behind Sasha and Tad. Bill and I couldn't handle there attacks in the last mile or so, but Bill still put on a strong attack at the top to beat me out for 5th.
It was kind of a good thing that a non-Nordic athlete won; that was how the handicap system was designed. Tad finished within 30 seconds of Sasha, and asides from a few stragglers, everyone was surprisingly close at the finish. A huge thank you is in order to Sundance Ski Resort! Not only did they let us race up there road, but they also fed us at their fabulous breakfast brunch. After the race, of course. USSA and ski racing photographers were filming the entire event. I felt like I was racing in the Tour de France with the camera car alongside us! I'll post the link if they put together a video, so stay in-tune. |
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