It' All in the Hips

By Adam Swank

A season can change in an instant. Several months of hard work, countless hours of ski preparation, and a significant financial invesment all can be washed away without warning. After a respectable showing at the Owl Chase in Aspen, a mid-season hurdle has appeared out of nowhere. My plan for the cold month of January was to leave northern Minnesota, and do some racing in sunny Colorado, then go to an educational conference in Montana for a week. After a two week respite from the frigid midwest, I would be ready to return to the marathon circuit.

The first leg of this trip was the Owl Chase. While it was hard to acclimatize to 8500 feet in the 2 days prior to the race, I felt I skied well. The skis were rockets, and I was able make up for lack of oxygen on the climbs with fast boards on the descent. I finished fairly close to leaders - in 9th place. I'm told the course was scenic, however I had little time for sightseeing, as I was trying to suck every molecule of oxygen out of the thin air for the first 10 km. The next 5 or 6 km were fast descents with skiers knocking boots the whole time, and the homestrech was a surge across the fairways of Aspen Country Club.

Following this event, I had a soak in some hot springs, and as result missed my flight to Bozeman. Luckily there was a later flight to Bozeman, and no harm was done. A conference was taking place in Big Sky Montana, so I was hoping to learn something. And ski. However, the first day here, I decided on snowboarding for a change. On the last run of the day, an out of control skier from Argentina collided with me. Unable to lift my left leg after the collision, I opted for a toboggan ride to the bottom of the hill, and went directly to the cooler for ice and beer to freeze the pain.

Two days later I was still seeking narcotic pain medication. I couldn't walk without the help of oxycodone, yet I could double pole - so I double poled around the Lone Mountain nordic trails. When I landed home in Duluth, an x-ray revealed why I couldn't walk. My pelvis was broken, and the muscle attatchment of the hip flexors was no longer conected to my skeleton.

Unsure of a return this season, but there will be a return. Equipment, clothing, wax and travel all have a cost, yet the thrill of skiing is priceless.

See you at the races!

Back East

By Brayton Osgood

I was up at 3:37 yesterday morning in order to get myself to the Redmond Airport in time for the 5:15 flight. It's not something I'm looking forward to doing again any time soon. The trade for my early morning was two mostly empty flights and an arrival in Boston in the mid-afternoon. I guess it was worth it, considering I got to catch up on sleep with a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon.

My parents have been telling me for a while that southern VT is experiencing as extended a period of good skiing as they can remember. Ever. I finally got out there this morning to see if they were telling the truth. I think they are. I made it two hours this morning (before my nap), literally out the back door. It's a pretty excellent way to train.

I'm pretty excited to be back in the east for an extended trip. For the last two years all I've seen of VT winter has been Christmas week, and that's usually hectic. This time I get three and a half weeks, right up to the Birkie. I'm going to Craftsbury this weekend, then the Rumford/Stowe SuperTour swing and I'll finish it off with Dartmouth Carnival. Should be a good start to the second half.

My First World Cup!

By Nicole De Yong

This past weekend I raced in my first World Cup in Whistler B.C.! Despite a smaller than usual field of racers, the competition was strong and fierce! I raced in the classic sprint on Friday with hopes of qualifying for the rounds with a top-30. Unfortunately, I did not ski anywhere fast enough and saw my name at the bottom of the prelim results.

In my mind, I used the classic sprint as a warm-up for the 15k duathlon race on Saturday. A duathlon race is where you ski the first half of the race with classic gear and then you switch to skate gear for the last half of the race. The night before the race I talked to my coach about the duathlon race and he simply told me to ski my own race. He told me not to let my adrenaline push me for the first couple kilometers of the race, but to ski where I felt comfortable. I have to admit I had a lot of adrenaline pumping when I was at the starting line and had to force myself to hold back! I went out with the pack and stuck with the top American skiers throughout the classic portion of the race. At the exchange zone I was the 2nd American, 3 seconds out! I went into the skate leg still feeling pretty good but realizing that I was only half way through the race. The course was lined with spectators and the cheering was loud! It was exciting to hear people cheer my name all over the course. Someone informed me that I was in 30th place...the last place to score world cup points! I knew I had to finish strong in order to hold my position. With less than one kilometer to go, I powered as hard as I could to the finish…just 2 seconds ahead of 31sts! Yay, I scored my first world cup points! I was happy with my result.

With the sun blazing and temperatures in the 40's, I watched the sprint relay on Sunday. The women's final was very exciting. Sprint partners Kikkan Randall and Liz Stephens, skied to an amazing 4th place finish! The best sprint relay finish by American women! It was very fun to watch!

I am back in Sun Valley for a few days before heading to the Midwest for a few SuperTour races next week. In the meantime, I will get in some good training in the sun!

All for now!

Home Again

by David Chamberlain

It seems that the cold from Alaska has followed us home. After suffering through brutal temperatures up in Anchorage, it wasn't until I got home that I experienced the coldest day of the year so far. The other morning at my house I had a reading of -40F. Wow. We have had a cold stretch for a few weeks.

It has been nice to be home, recovering from the trip to Anchorage, catching up with a few things, hanging out with BethAnn for a few days. The skiinghas beenperfect, plenty of snow and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

After about a week of good training at home I made the trip to Rumford to do the distance part of the eastern cup this past weekend. The conditions were tough on Sunday. A dump of new snow throughout the day made for some sloppy skiing. As well as an eastern cup, the weekends races also served as the Maine Collegiate Cup. A great idea, I think, I wish we did something like that when I was in college.Itwas nicetocatch up with some old friends from the circuit.

At the moment I am hanging out in Portland waiting to depart for the midwestern Supertours next week. The good news is that I amwell adjusted to the cold at this point. More from next week.

HOME

By Kate Whitcomb

I am home, recovering and training. Things are progressing and the weather is perfect. Blah, blah, blah. The real news is up north, at the Whistler Olympic Park where the rest of my team is competing in the World Cups.

Yesterday was a classic individual sprint and COLIN WAS 27th!!! and scored his first WC points. Way to go Col!!! FULL RESULTS HERE Other US guys: Newell 7th (after a fall), Chris Cook 21st, Torin Koos 23rd, Kuzzy - although I was told DQed results show 29th.

Today is the 15/30k pursuit. WATCH IT LIVE on CBSsports.ca.
Tomorrow is the freestyle team sprint.

Good luck to all.

Anchorage to Whistler

By Brayton Osgood

By now I'm sure everyone has read about the cold temperatures that plagued Nationals and made the racing a bit hard to come by. I really don't have anything to add to what's been said. For me, this was my most successful Nationals ever. While I've been 7th more than a couple times in the skate race, I've never had two top 10s in the same week. And to get the second one in a sprint? Well, let's just say I wasn't expecting that.

I came into the week looking for a top 5 and a top 10 in the distance races and a good points effort in the team sprint. Given that all we got was a shortened skate and an individual sprint, I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the results. My real goal was to make up for my poor performance at West Yellowstone and do enough to get named to the World Cup team for the races in Whistler. I caught a few breaks along the way, but things worked out and now I'm here. So that's good. And it makes Nationals a success from another perspective.

Now I've arrived in Canada. I'm staying in Squamish for a few days before heading up to Whistler on Wednesday. I've skied the last few days at Whistler Olympic Park (aka Callaghan Valley aka "The Venue" - there's always a "The Venue") and the car thermometer has yet to read anything but 32. With a lot of fresh snow on the ground the skiing hasn't been fast, but after 10 days of sub-zero I'm not going to be the one to complain about skiing in normal ski clothes instead of having to wear everything I own.

30k Pursuit on Saturday. My first WC start.

Happy New Year