The midwest and then some...

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:00:00 GMT

I can definitely say that I have never traveled this much in my life. It has been a crazy couple of months. Don't take me wrong, I love it! It just takes a little getting used to. Last night was the 3rd night in five weeks that I have slept in my own bed. It felt real nice!

This last trip to the Midwest was very good to me. It started off with an interesting travel day that resulted in being upgraded and given free round trip tickets anywhere that Alaska/Horizon flys. And we still got to Minneapolis at the same time that we planned on. Needless to say Brayton and I were pretty excited. From there we rented a car and waited for Marshall and Evelyn to arrive before crashing at Mickey Scott's house. Thank you Mickey!!! The next morning we drove up to Grand Rapids, MN and found the cheapest hotel in town that had availability and a kitchenette. It was a bit of a dive but worked out just fine.

Mt. Itasca had the best 2.5Km loop of the year. It was perfect man made snow, just not much of it. The races went well for me. It started off with a 10km classic where I finished second place behind Lars Flora. I felt really good during the race and remained close to him until the last lap where he pulled away. That night we got the go ahead to purchase tickets to Europe so when we returned to the hotel we got busy looking. By the end of the night we found round trip tickets for only $543. We bought them with big smiles on our face. I will write more about our plans in a little bit. But needless to say we were all a bit excited and had a hard time falling asleep. The following day was the 15km skate, yes 6 laps with a lot of people on it. It reminded me a bit of SoHo earlier this year. I felt pretty good during the race and ended up in 10th place. Not too bad... Time to get back on the road for the next series of races.

The day after the skate races we drove to Cable, WI without much of an idea of where to stay. We were searching for rental cabins or hotels and striking out. Then Evelyn got a call from her friend Donovan Dooms who she was planning on staying with. He had the answer to all our searching. His Aunt had a cabin near Telemark resort that we could use as long as we were clean and paid the utilities. The cabin was amazing and worked out perfectly. We began getting ready for the the sprint race on Wednesday.

As many of you know I am not much of a Skate sprinter. Wednesday proved that correct... Enough said on that subject.

Telemark was also in a bit of a jam for snow. They had a good 2.2km loop for classic and the birkie trails were OK for skating. But I was thinking of Europe and the fact I was planning on doing the Norwegian Birkebeiner. So when someone brought up the idea of racing the 50km classic Noquemanon on Saturday instead of the Supertour my ears picked up. I was quickly sold on the idea and found a ride to Marquette.

Once there I was able to stay at my brothers house. I got my waxing finished and had some dinner at a local Thai place. Most people would say that is a bad idea the night before a race, but I thought it was great. I headed to bed early considering I had to be up at 6am.

The morning of the race I woke up to it snowing and a forecast of lots more snow. No worries my wax was still dead on. We drove to the start and began kick wax testing and warming up. I quickly found some great wax and was ready to go!

The race started at 9am sharp and I immediately went to the lead. The goal of the day was to test my body. I wanted to see if I could do a hard 50km and stay alive to the finish. I lead for the first 7km and realized that I had the fastest skis in the group. Occasionally I would pull away from the pack a little on the downhills without really trying. It was looking good. After a little while I decided to give the others a chance to lead. Carl Swenson took the lead for a few Km's but the pace was a bit too slow for me. I moved back to the front and picked it up again. I lead most of the next 15km with a little help from Justin Easter. At that point the course has a big down hill. I pushed a little over the top and carried my speed the best I could.

At the bottom of the hill I looked back and Chad Geise and Adam Swank were the only two still with me. So we pushed on. By this point there was almost two inches of new snow on the tracks which made it a bit difficult. Still I lead on with the others following close. After a while I asked for a little help. I was starting to feel my arms tire out and it was time for somebody else to do some work. Since there were two of us from FSx Adam went to the front to help me out. For the next 10km Adam and I switched off leads while Chad waited patiently. My tris, lats and abs were getting pretty sore from all the double poling I was just waiting for the end. Then with about 5km to go we hit a bit of a down hill. I lead down it, then Chad moved to the front. I know he was going to attack at any point, and I just hoped to be able to stay with him. At the next hill he bolted and the chase began. He got a little gap which I nearly closed on the following downhill. From there on it was nothing but double polling and my arms were shot. He slowly pulled away as I lead Adam toward the finish line. With one Km to go Adam moved in front of me. I stayed behind him for a while but again my arms let me down as he slowly pulled away. I finished 40sec behind Chad and 7 from Adam.

A lot of people have been telling me how stupid I was in the race. How I should have made the others lead. How I should have rested... Yes, I could have gone easy and tried to sprint at the end. But that was not the goal. I wanted to see if I could go hard for 50km and learn how my body responds. I did exactly that and I am happy with how the races turned out. Of course I wish that I won, and next year I will surely go for it again. At the same time I would not have changed my tactics for this year. I was third in the Noquemanon and I am happy with it and that is what matters to me.

Immediately after the race I jumped in a car and began the drive back to Telemark. I had another race to do and I wanted to be able to get back with enough time to wax my skis and lay down and relax. Four hours later we were at Telemark and rewaxing the same pair of skis (my beloved carbonlites).

Sunday was time for the 15km Classic at Telemark. Yay..! Another 6 lap race. I was feeling a little sore but all in all pretty good. I started the race and immediately realized that i couldn't go over threshold. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing. I went as hard as I could over the hills but my body refused to go lactic. It was weird, but all the splits I was getting was that I was in second behind Lars. Every lap felt the same, like the perfect sub threshold workout. I couldn't even really sprint for the line. I just continued going the same pace. But that pace was good enough for another second place behind Lars Flora. Not bad considering the work the day before.

That afternoon we packed up and headed back to Mickey Scott's house. The next day we got on a plane and now I am back in Bend.

All in all I am really happy with the racing. I feel that I am in good shape and ready for the Boulder Mountain tour this coming weekend. Until then I will do a bit of easy skiing and let my body rest and recover. After the Boulder I will fill everybody in on our plans for Europe. I think that this is plenty long enough.

328.2 ---Good Number to know!!!

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 07:00:00 GMT

That is how many miles my car can go on a tank of gas!

Quick Update

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 07:00:00 GMT

The FSx Train- Myself, Simons, and Swank (Andy Canniff Photo)

Back in Bend after a good week in West Yellowstone. Got in a bunch of training early in the week and put together good races. Most people would not consider a 37th in the sprint all that hot, but the second place in the Classic 15km made it all good. The race was really fun, I got to ski about 2/3's of it with Simons. He really helped me keep it together towards the end. Lars slowly got away from me toward the end of the race and put 8.9sec on me. I am really happy with the result and looking forward to more races.

I decided to skip the Bozeman races and focus more on training. I am getting in a bit more volume before heading to Sun Valley for the next set of races. From there we head straight to Utah and then home for Christmas. Hopefully my form will hold and I can carry the momentum from Yellowstone to the rest of the races.

That is it for now.

Trying to become famous

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 07:00:00 GMT

NBC story on Brayton and I.

Loving the Snow

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Snow in Bend! Zach is happy to be skiing! Headed to West Yellowstone soon!

Pictures!

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Here are some photos from my summer. Not many ski related ones but these are mo' better anyways. Enjoy.

Busy Busy Busy

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Graduated from School, Left AK, Visited family in CA, Moved to OR, Camp in NY, now Back in Bend

Ouch...

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Teleskiing finally got the best of me. Took a big digger and now I am down for the count.

Still Alive... Not much to blog about

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Life is kind of crazy right now. Trying to figure out how to graduate after missing almost 12 weeks of school this year. Then what do I do when I graduate? Where to go? So many questions and not many answers. And the answers I do get all conflict with each other. Another turning point in life.

DETONATOR!!!!!!!!

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:01:00 GMT

Spring Series is off to a great start. Third in the 15km classic and 2nd in the team sprint. And a National Championship Title for Dave and I. Things are good here in Caribou, ME.

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