The Once-Yearly Week at "Home"

I had last week off from jumping and my brother had a break from the Winter Sports School in Park City. We spent the week back home - which doesn't happen all that often.  I hadn't slept in my own bedroom since Christmas of 2012.  Following a late-night arrival on Sunday, we had all of two days at home before we headed north for some lake time.

I stayed busy in the two days in Eau Claire with training and a little coaching.  On Monday my brother and I skied with two cross-country skiers on the Chippewa Valley Nordic (CVN) high school team.  I attempted to join a group mountain bike ride that evening, but it got rained out.  I still had fun - just no one else showed up.

Fun in the mud.

I spent Tuesday morning with more of the younger kids from CVN and two of their coaches.  We did a few drills, but mostly kept it fun with an agility course, easy skiing, and a great lunch thanks to Coach Karen.  CVN has grown so much since the early days - actually just a few years ago when I was in high school.  I had a blast seeing the young kids work hard and I think they had some fun on rollerskis too.

Thanks to Ted Theyerl for the pictures. They're posted on CVN's Facebook page.  Click on the link here to give their page a like. 

Getting agile...

That evening, I drove a full car of skiers over to St. Paul to jump their 46 and 20 meter hills.  I used to make that trip a lot when I was younger, but this time I left my skis at home and acted as coach.  (Yes, I've done a lot of coaching in the last couple weeks, but don't worry, this only motivates me more as an athlete).  

The Eau Claire contingent brought over 4 full cars of parents and young skiers to jump.  Again, I was extremely impressed by how much our ski clubs seem to be growing.  When I jumped in St. Paul, we usually had one other family to carpool with.  

More good news: by next summer plastic jumping will be done on Eau Claire's 7, 15 and 30 meter hills.  As great as it is to see parents willing to drive their kids an hour-and-a-half to jump, I'm sure they'll be even happier to jump right in Eau Claire all summer.



Early Wednesday morning my brother, parents and I trekked north to our place in Canada.  

My Grandpa bought this place just over the Minnesota border over 50 years ago.  My mom has been going up here for most of her life, and apparently not much has changed up there.  It's not extremely remote but it sure it nice to turn the iPhone off, eat by the campfire and watch the sunsets from the lake.  

Here's some of the pictures.  The weather was gorgeous.  For once Rainy Lake didn't live up to its name.

Ben was nice and didn't take Darwin with him for his next trick.

Here's Ben, Ben and I skiing.  I'm not sure but I think he has surpassed my skills on the slalom ski.

Yes, this is Canada not Hawaii. And the jet-skiers made less appearances than the red sun.

We flew back Sunday night.  Back to normal training for a fews days.  I'm off to Aspen on Thursday with my team for a fundraiser.  Stay posted!