My first birkie adventure has come to an end and I am left wondering what happened. Not exactly the race that I had in mind. Read More »

Well, Birkie 2006 is now in the books and the Fever is subsiding.  I wish the turkey gizzard heartburn would go away, too.  It was a beautiful day with great conditions, and FSx had a solid showing.  We had a great support crew with Zach Caldwell and Mike Wynn (?) nailing the wax and ski selection, and all of the Swix and Fischer crew chipping in after 3 exhausting days of expos, demos and standing all day.  A very special thanks goes out to the many people who have helped us out this season.  They are appreciated and we certainly wouldn't be able to compete at this level without them.

The Italians have taken ownership of this race and they once again executed perfectly to get the job done.  The pace went out perhaps the slowest I have ever seen, but they moved into position by 8km or so, pulled off the gloves and went to work.  Because of the slow pace, there was a huge lead group and a lot of pressure from behind up every hill ... Read More »

Night before the big event... And things are crazy here at Telemark Lodge. Read More »

Summarizing this one is tough, but here goes: Jerry Springer XC; I am an old snow fairy and I like skiing nature blog; Wallow in the Fever; Turkey Gizzards and French Owl Pasta Read More »

Chasing the Owl, Catching the Owl, Killing the Owl. Read More »

Yo

I made it back up to Aroostook County mid week last week- aka "The County" if you are from Maine.  It is home of this years Spring Series events as well as part time home for the Maine Winter Sports Center athletes.  The skiing up here is good.  It has not snowed for awhile but it has rained and the snow that is here is fast and hard.  The skate skiing is great and the classic skiing is good if you enjoy putting lots of Chola on your skis or double poling a lot.

Last weekend I raced the 40k Cl Sam Oulette Ski Marathon.  If you like to get back to the roots of cross country skiing I recommed traveling up to Ashland, Maine the first weekend in February every year.  There is both an 80k and 40k option.  If you are 5 or 10 minutes late or even if you want to re-wax your skis right before the mass start everyone will probably agree to wait for you.  There is one 8 ... Read More »

Just something I wrote after skiing today. Read More »

A good day for FSx in the Boulder Mountain Tour... and fighting off the urge to get my eagle on in the homestretch... again. Read More »

So the City of Lakes Loppet was a go.  Not the best conditions by far but the organizers did a pretty impressive job with the amount of snow that they had.  All in all it was a pretty exciting race.  I personally did not have it going on this weekend, but it was exciting skiing in the back end of the lead pack just trying to hang on through the all of the windy wooded trails.  When we were not on the lakes we were zig zagging through the woods and dodging the classic tour racers that were still out on course- definitely not a dull moment.  In the end Brayton, Geise and Chambo had it lined up at the finish, but a tangle up caused an unfortunate series of events.  Brayt ended up on top and Chad and Dave got eaten up by the chase pack right behind them.  Some days you get lucky and some days you don’t.  That’s racing. The two veterans got the shaft yesterday.  Matt Weier and Adam Swank got in there for second and third.
&l ... Read More »

The Boulder Mountain Tour is a unique race.  I have done it probably 8 or 10 times and every year it has come down to a sprint in the last 100 meters.  It is 32km of mostly downhill with some small hills near the beginning.  It is usually fast and turns out like a bike race - the people at the front work about 20% harder than the people in the back of the pack.  So, it usually ends up with a gigantic pack of people, many who I don't even recognize because I've never seen them at the front of a race before.

Then in the last 5km, everyone battles for position through the narrow, windy lead in to the sprint.  One S-turn and then down the straightaway, you sprint and are either ecstatic because you managed to stay out of trouble and sprint fast or frustrated for blowing something - getting shut out or making a tactical mistake.

Yesterday we had a strong team, good skis and everything worked out pretty well ... Read More »