Slow Start to the Season. Read More »

Colin, Kate, and Dave will race in Canada Read More »

Guns, wolves, and groomed streets. It must be West Y. Read More »

What must it be like to be as good as Marit Bjoergen.  Today on Fasterskier they report she is "reducing the expectations" (love that Norwegian-speak) for the World Cup opener.  When I first saw the headline, I thought "hmm, must be sick or something".

Then I read the article.  They call reducing expectations being in the top seven at the World Cup.  The woman has not skied on snow in almost a month, but they call having a little uncertainty because of this "reducing the expectations".  Damn.  To be so good....

Things are busy back in Boulder.  I run a Thanksgiving Ski Camp at Devil's Thumb Ranch with DU Coach Knut Nystad and we have been busy getting everything set.  This is the fourth year we've done it, so we always think that the planning and preparation will become easier, but something always happens to mess that up.

We had some great luck with a huge storm coming through and opening up everything at Devil's Thumb.  There is 2-3 feet of snow and it is still snowing.  Everyone says it looks like mid-February up there and the groomers have been out 16 hours per day trying to keep up with the snow. 

We're looking forward to the camp, but the next week will be a busy one.  Last year we had 72 people there and I hope that the good snow will bring out more people this year.

Alaska ended in an appropriately surreal way for me.  After fighting off a cold in bed for a few days, I raced the 1 ... Read More »

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Yo
Skied this morning for 3 hours on the Rondezvous Ski Trails here in West Yellowstone.  Nice to be greeted by mid winter conditions and perfect tracks.   Everything is groomed except for the outer Windy Ridge loop (20-25k) which I have never seen groomed before in November.  It is probably some of the sweetest skiing in the world right now considering Europe doesn't have much snow at all yet.  Later Colin

Yo
  So we arrived in West Yellowstone late last night and I have been thinking all day about how I should write a little update on the website about how the Alaska trip went but am just finally getting around to it now at about 10 o clock tonight. Real busy day of eating and sitting on my arse. 
  So anyway Alaska was a great trip.  Personally I feel like it is great to have these early season races just to get the ball rolling.  I guess it would be nice to bumping heads right away with the top guys but it usually takes me a bit to get up to speed so I am confident that things will come.  
  The Fairbanks races were tough for me.  The cold didn't bother me that much but I had hoped to hit the ground running a little faster than I did.  In the pursuit I skied comfortably in the classic portion hoping to pick it up for the second half of the race however my contact lenses be ... Read More »

The alarm went off at 7:30AM this morning so I could get ready to race.  I got out of bed and immediately realized that I am fighting a cold.  My lungs have felt burnt since Fairbanks, but today I had a little head congestion as well.

Got back into bed, didn't move until 10:30.  That made me realize that I made the right call about skipping the race. 

Since then I've been trying to get some work done, but mostly feel worthless and have been lying in bed reading and occasionally watching TV.  This trip has been frustrating.  Not racing well, but too cold to train in Fairbanks.  Uncertainty about the races in Anchorage kept us in Fairbanks waiting, then travel down to Anchorage, but the only skiing is hours away.  Now sickness.

Oh well, sometimes things go this way.,On the plus side I discovered some irony in the fact that NASCAR has an official deodorant spons ... Read More »

After last weekend's stellar result in the skate sprint, I decided to keep from embarrassing myself in tomorrow's classic sprint.  After skiing the course today, however, I registered right away.

The course is 500m straight uphill followed by a fast, technical descent right into the finish.  Not a lick of double-poling.  If I had climbing skins, I might consider using them.  This is the kind of course where distance skiers can punish the sprinters when they usually drop us effortlessly.

Kris Freeman will win this sprint by a ridiculous margin.  Unless he falls in the downhill.  He won the sprint in Fairbanks by going to the front and going harder than anyone else could sustain.  He will do the same tomorrow and rip the lungs, legs and arms off of everyone who lines up next to him.  That's just my opinion, but remember when you see pictures of bloody, dismembered racers staggering i ... Read More »