Swiss time

Thats right, I just spent a week in Switzerland. In one of the most beautiful towns I've been in, Fuetersoy. It was a really fun time, we had four days before our races and our goal was to ski a lot of kilometers to keep up our training. This is a great way to get good views in and around town. The trails are scattered all throughout the valley and go from town to town. We didn't have a trail map so it was just finding a trail and exploring to see where it goes. One day Reese and I got on a trail that climbed up one of the sides of the valley. We hadn't planned on picking a trail that climbed for two and a half hours but by the time we figured out it was just going to keep climbing we were half way up and the views were getting amazing. We figured we might as well try to get to the top. It was worth it the view on top was one of the best I've ever seen, 360 degrees of beautiful swiss alp mountains.

Picture 1 from long ski.

 Picture 2 from long ski.

Picture 3 from long ski.

The first race was on Saturday and was a skate 10 km individual start race. I started near the back of the field with Brian Gregg, my fellow methow racer, and Tad Elliott right behind him. Tad Elliott is fresh of the American birkebeiner win. We had 30 seconds separating us, both are very good skiers and my goal was to not let them catch me. I didn't succeed, they both caught me about the same time right around the half way mark. I got a good ride with them for about a kilometer and then I had to say goodbye and let them go or I was going to completely blow up. I finished the last kilometer strong and ended up in 8th, third American. Tad was 2nd, Brian 5th, myself in 8th, Reese 9th, and Pete in 11th. 

 The second race we had was a classic mass start, the under 20 guys skied 10 km so today there were about 15 guys in the field. Yes, this may sound like kind of a wimpy little local Switzerland race that the U.S guys came to boost their confidence as they beat up on the locals, but that's not true, it was a competitive group. The field probably had more World Cup starters then most Super Tours and it wasn't going to be easy to finish in the front half of the field, I failed to do that the first day. The temperatures were high when the men started at 10:00 am. We all lined up in a chevron behind Remo Fischer. Right as they gave the one minute warning we saw our fellow American Becca Rorabaugh finish in first. After I saw that I was determined to go out there and hold on to the lead pack, I wanted the Americans to take both the wins. For the first lap Peter Kling and I lead the charge around the double tracked 5km loop. We were using team tactics slowing down when we felt like it and boosting over the tops of hills. It wasn't long before Remo Fischer, the world cup bronze medalist could see what we where doing and made a serge past us. For the next lap myself and two other young swiss guys chased him but we fell off about 10km into the race. The chase pack then turned into two, myself and one other swiss kid. I had followed this kids results, he was one year older then me he had beat me several time but I had just edged him out at U23 Championship in Turkey. I was determined to drop him on the last lap. He had faster skis then me but I had better kick, so I waited tell the last 3km, which was mostly gradual up hill and I slowly put time on him. I was able to finish in 2nd, 18 second behind Remo Fischer for my best ever FIS point race. Tad came in shortly behind me in 5th, Reese 6th, Brian 7th, and Pete in 9th. Pretty good day for team USA!

Picture from classic 15km podium.

We stayed at the Hotel Victoria.

A really nice couple owned the place. They made us some amazing authentic meals.

 We waxed right outside the hotel, somedays shirtless.

Laying on my bed soaking up some sun.

 Great view from the bedroom porch.

 On a run in the afternoon.

World U23 Champs Update

The Under 23 World Championships has come to an end. Yesterday I competed in the 15km classic and Tuesday I did the skate sprint. I was pretty happy with my distance race yesterday, I think I have made a big jump in my distance racing this year. I'm pretty sure It's because I have almost doubled the hours of training this year compared to last year. In the three previous years I never cracked the top 40 in a distance race, yesterday I was 37th, second American. It's hard to get done with your race and look at the results sheet and have to flip to the second page before you see your name, but the truth is; I went out there, stayed positive and gave it everything I had. Now I just need to figure out what the best method is to make another large jump in my skiing so in one or two years I can be one of those guys standing on that podium. I was born in 1991, the athletes in the Under 23 category are born in 1991,1990, and 1989. I will have two more years to figure out a way to make this happen, I WILL.

The sprint race on Tuesday was a short day for me. The way a sprint works is all the skiers will go out, 15 seconds apart and ski their butts off around the designated course, usually somewhere around 1.5km. Then the top 30 are selected to go head to head in rounds with 6 people in each heat. Starting with the quarters finals, then the top two athletes go to the semi-finals and the top three from there go to the finals. I was one of the two unlucky athletes who was within a second of being in the top 30, so my day ended right after the morning qualifier in 32nd place. It's pretty tough to be one of those guys that were so close to moving on, you know that all it would have taken would have been to start your finishing kick 5 meters earlier then you did, or to have not missed that one pole plant. At the same time though, I did go out that morning and ski the course the fastest way I thought I could. Maybe with another shot I could have done it differently and taken off a second but thats racing, I have to learn from every race so that I can improve for my next one. I will have another shot.

Myself in skate sprint

We have had a couple of off days, this is essential for recovery. It also gives us time to get out of the hotel and experience the awesome culture and atmosphere. I feel very lucky to have gotten the chance to come here to Turkey, I'm not sure I will get the chance to come back, although I would love too. I would recommend it to everyone.

Our hotel

Really good food.

Turkey

I made a video yesterday from my first day in Turkey. So sweet here!!! Once and a life time experience. Tried to put a few clips together to give you feeling of atmosphere. I will write an update soon.

Europe!

It has been a while since my last post, which I apologize to those people checking my blog regularly. I will try to do a better job the rest of the season.

After Christmas I headed to Maine for Nationals. I was really excited for the obvious reasons but also because my parents were traveling all the way from Washington to watch Sadie and I race. Unfortunately, I was only able to race half the races due to illness and had to sit out my strongest discipline, the sprints. Sadie was feeling about the same as me, maybe worse so she didn’t race at all. The races that I was able to compete in I didn’t feel quite race up to par. After Maine I headed back to Anchorage for a three-week training block because the racing season is so long. A lot of skiers will try to fit this in at some point during the season to try and maintain the large base that we create over the summer. It was nice to be home for that short period and I hope all that hard training will pay off!

Last Sunday I left Anchorage to start my 6 week long trip to Europe. We will be traveling around hitting up some of the most competitive races in the world. The trip was set up by the US Ski Team and is designed to be a stepping-stone to the World Cup. The coaches selected about 15 athletes from around the country, most of them around the same age as me. I’m really excited and honored to have been one of the fifteen selected to be here racing for our country. I hope to put together some really strong races. Our first stop is where I’m at now in Madona, Latvia. Madona is an interesting little town. I’ve travelled to some places in central Europe and last year I went to Finland and Estonia, but this place is much different then any place I’ve seen. I get the feeling that most people are right around the poverty line. When traveling in foreign countries I try to meet at least a couple of locals. You can learn a lot about the culture and atmosphere this way. My first impression when walking around town was that people were kind of glaring at us. After stopping and trying to communicate with them (sadly I can only communicate in the only language I know), I realized that they were quite friendly towards us. I think that the people are just looking at our large group with curiosity not anger. I was talking to the receptionist at our hotel last night and I asked her about what most people do for work around town. She said that a lot of the men where loggers and then she went on to talk about how little work there is right now. She said she would come into the hotel every third day and that she felt very lucky to have the job. Madona is a very neat place and I wouldn’t mind coming to race here again. I’ve never been to Russia, but this is what I imagine it would be like.

Yesterday was my first race here in Europe, this tends to be the hardest one for us Americans. I’m not sure why. Maybe it is the time change and the fact that I’m usually lying horizontally at the time I’m now trying to race. It was a skate sprint and I qualified 36^th, second American and 1 second out of making it to the heats. I’m sure it will only get better from here and I’m really looking forward to the next race.  

Tomorrow we travel to Estonia for the second part of the Scando cup races. I will be racing a classic sprint and a classic 15km. I will try and write a short blog soon to let you know how it goes and life in Estonia.

From Estonia I go to Turkey to represent the US in U23 World Championships.  It is there I really hope to be in full form.  So it’s hard work ahead and I’m hoping my training this summer has been effective. I had some great races at the beginning of the season, but this is where I hope to peak and have the races I know I am capable of in a mix of the best in the world!