Cambridge Sports Union

Which Waxroom?

2012-02-01T22:16:00.003-05:00

Which waxroom would you rather use? On the one hand we have the Klista Sista's shiny, bright and clean wax room with narry an out of place scraping of wax or blob of petrified klister and woe to you if you don't put the tools in their place.....or.......the Man Cave, or as its known around here, the shrine to Toko and Rode, bright but decidedly not clean! Where an entire season of wax scrapings lies on the bench, not to be swept up until April, junk lies everywhere (BUT, never out of place!), the trash can is full, but of course not emptied, heat gun hangs in readiness.....

Klista Sista

The Man Cave

Well, which would YOU prefer to wax in??? Maybe I should do a photo essay of CSU Waxrooms!

Alex and Ali at World Ski-O Championships

2012-02-01T19:30:00.003-05:00

This just in from Aims, out in Tahoe-Donner area:

Alex Jospe will be too modest to toot her own horn and perhaps too exhausted to write a report, BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS- today she was 13th at the World Cup Ski-O Sprint competition held on the Auburn Ski Club trails at Donner Pass. And, as the top skier from the US and Canada she won the North American Championship gold. We spectators saw a thrilling all-out finish and watched her drop exhausted to the snow for several minutes before she could remove her skis and download her timing chip. Way to go Alex!

Alex edged esteemed USA and CSU teammate Ali Crocker, who was one place back, by almost a minute. Individually Ali and Alex are the best US ski-orienteers we’ve ever had of any gender and as a duo are truly special. Today’s race puts their friendly rivalry onto an even higher level. Way to go Alex and Ali!

With the competition half over, they have four races to go, the World Cup Medium and Relay Thursday and Friday, and the USA Medium and Sprint Championships this weekend. Good luck and clean navigating to you both!

-Aims (who is in awe)

CSU Kills It at Skate Qualifier!

2012-01-22T18:56:00.005-05:00

CSU had a great day at the Mass Skate Qualifier at Weston today all the way through the order, skiers and parents all. Conditions were excellent, with cold temps, a clear sky, nice new natural snow and great course conditions groomed up by Weston. Lots and lots of great race results, which are HERE! The CSU wax team under the guidance of Amie Smith made it look easy, with no muss, no fuss and no pressure! The CSU food table, organized by Sandra Meyerson, was laden down with great eats and soup and everyone got to enjoy that! CSU volunteers made sure skiers were registered and started on time, laps were counted, times recorded and results posted. Thanks! A coach's job is so easy when the wax is applied, the skiers perform, food is provided, results are quickly posted, the gross, sweaty bibs are collected and sorted and everything is picked up. A magnificent team effort from everyone!

Jordan

John

Hank

Raffi

Ian

Stoddard

Olivia

Blake

Catherine

Katie and Cate

Carina

Cecily

Hannah

Claire

Phoebe

White Mt. Chase, Jackson, NH

2012-01-21T18:48:00.000-05:00

Today it was the Masters chance to race, with a few seniors mixed in, at the White Mt. Chase in Jackson. It finally looked like winter up there with about 6-8" of new snow on top of some crusty stuff they had. Thanks to the fluffy new snow the tracks and skiing were excellent. Add in lots of NE masters skiers, the one day club championship and picturesqe winter weather for a great day of racing.

CSU brought up its usual big, fast team to contest the club championship. Racers included Ben Smeltzer, Frank Feist, Andy Milne, Rob Bradlee, John Sakalowski, Bob and Anne Burnham, Greg Werner, Jamie and Lisa Doucett, Sarah Gates, Jody Newton, Tom Smith, Robert Faltus, Victor Golovkin, Michael Melnikov, Joe Bouscaren, Mark Doughty, Tom Simon, Charlie Kellogg, Alec Smith and Irina Melnikova. Quite the crowd!

Victorious Men's Team

It was about 8F in the morning, but calm and cloudy. By the time Lisa and I got up to the ski center there were flurries coming down. Waxing was not difficult. I bumped my wax up to Rode Super Blue covered with mint and Rob was suggesting Toko Viola covered with Toko Blue, which is what I put on Lisa's skis. I ended up having great skis and they were pretty fast too. After an all too short warmup, testing my skis partway up Yodel, we lined up with a good crowd of mostly masters skiers. The start went off well, as the field started to spread out quickly due in part to the slow snow. Unfortunately, somewhere in there Andy went down and had to scramble, skiing between the tracks, for a while to move back up toward the front.

Yodel was, as always, a difficult climb to start a race on. I was clearly not warmed up enough and realized that I was going to suffer a bit, so didn't press too hard. However, I wasn't stuck in a train, like others further back, so that was a good thing. I keyed on Bob Burnham, trying to hang with his group, which worked well for a while. I recovered a bit in the Eagle Mt. fields, catching a glimpse of the big front pack with Frank and Andy in there and probably Ben and Rob as well. Then we headed up. I couldn't hang with the Burnham group on the steeper hills and faded back, not sking particularly well, relieved at last to head down the Wave back to the flat fields and double poling and kick DP. The downhills were really nice with the new snow. No ice to contend with, they were totally skiable and fun. At the first feed Ron Newbury passed me. Ron and I have had some really fun duels over the years and that got me rolling. I wanted to get a gap on the flats since Ron climbs well, so picked up the pace for the rest of that loop. Miraculously, I remembered how to ski classic and did much better on the hills on lap two. I really enjoyed the downhills again, trying to find the best line and be smooth on the corners and, coincidentally, getting a nice rest. Now on to my part of the course, the flats! With rollerski kick and thinking of all those Littleton rollerskis, I started working the fields pretty hard and managed to pass a couple people. Since the course wound back and forth all over the fields there were skiers going every which way making it hard to tell who was in front and who was behind. Now I developed a little problem....triceps cramps. I readjusted my DP to save my arms and the sports drink I got at the feed seemed to help. Finally, down Yodel to the finish. Only a couple more hills, I got up those without my arms cramping and then hammered to the finish, not quite catching a Bethel skier. Turns out he had triceps cramps too. I'd had a good, solid race and was very happy.

After grabbing my warmups I went back to Yodel to see Anne Burnham, Jody Newton, Lisa and Sarah Gates come down the big hill and finish.

As the race wound down, Team Captain Andy scored the men's and women's finishes for CSU and at lunch it was announced that the men had regained the one day champions trophy due to great sking by a bunch of CSUers and the women took home the silver in a fine effort. Not bad for flatland skiers! Best finish for CSU was Ali Crocker's first place overall! Just about everyone seemed to have had a good race as you can see in the race results. Race results can be found HERE

An excellent day for CSU!!

Fasterskier Article on Corey!

2012-01-19T07:11:00.000-05:00

http://fasterskier.com/2012/01/injury-behind-her-stock-ready-for-world-juniors/

Downhill Visions

2012-01-17T22:25:00.006-05:00

Alex did a great summary of the weekend. Here are the visuals! The big uphill at Titcomb Mt was followed by a big and very fast downhill. CSUers did well negotiating it, most trying to get as much speed as possible to rest from the uphill. Fortunately, I didn't catch any CSUers taking a big fall like this poor dude. He bounced up and continued.

Oops!

Max

Gavin

Chris

Masked Man Lewis

Hadley

Julia

Katrin

Zoe

Cate

Olivia

Rebecca

Alex is just too fast and got by me!

Julia

Blake

Rosie

Catie

Kaytie

Calvin

Sean

Rion

Nathan

Ian

Ryan

Eli

Greg

Jordan

Maine Eastern Cup weekend

2012-01-17T17:02:00.003-05:00

Jamie will undoubtedly post some photos of all our skiers looking quite speedy, but I figured I should fill in some of the words. This may get long, I get all gushy when my athletes ski so well. The weekend featured a classic sprint on Saturday, and a skate distance race, individual start, on Sunday. The sprint course was pretty flat, and a lot of the top guys just double poled on skate skis. This was clearly the approach for the Craftsbury Green Team gorillas, but for everyone else, kick wax was the way to go. I think Eli, Jordan, Calvin, and Greg all also tried the double pole approach, with varying degrees of success. Sunday, the course veered in the opposite direction, sending skiers up the alpine mountain for a pretty tough climb. J2s did that climb three times, women did it six times, and the men did it eight times. That's a lot.

Sprint day:

CSU had a pretty banner day on the women's side on Saturday. Led by Corey in first, we put seven CSU women into the senior heats - Corey, Julia, Zoe, Rebecca, Cate, Olivia, and coach Alex. Coach Doro also almost qualified for the heats, ending up in 34th place! Blake had an outstanding day, ending up as the 13th junior after the senior heats - the top 12 made it to the junior heats. Bittersweet, but a great race! Rosie had a good day too - in her words, if she were a J2, she'd be in the J2 heats! Ah, the curse of when your birthday happens to fall. Kaytie improved her seed spot by over 10 places, and Katie looked really smooth and confident out there. Great skiing from everyone!

Among the J2 girls, we had more outstanding performances. 12 J2s advanced to heats after the senior heats, and Charlotte and Hadley were our athletes in that race. Both qualified easily for the A final, and Charlotte had a breakthrough day, where she realized that the trick to winning is just to beat everyone else, and she did that with ease. Hadley took third, also making it look easy!

In the men's race, Eli qualified for the senior heats. Although he didn't advance from the quarterfinal, he skied a smart race, and it was fun to watch the heat. Calvin had a day similar to Blake's, in that he was the 13th junior after the senior heats, so just missed mixing it up in the junior heats. Jordan had a good day too, showing off what happens when you are a strong double poler on a power course, and Greg, Ian, Nathan, Sean, and Ryan were close behind.

The J2 boys had three CSU skiers in the heats: Chris, Max, and Jacob. Chris skied easily into the A final, but then didn't quite have the oomph left to win the heat. Jacob unfortunately got tangled up in his semifinal, and fell on the downhill, losing his momentum, but he rallied well and ended up 10th overall, 4th in the B final. Max showed off his double pole technique, and out-poled his competitors in the finish to take first in the B final. Gavin and Lewis didn't quite make the finals, but as first-year J2s, they got a great experience out there nonetheless!

Distance day:

We had a surprise overnight when the hotel had a fire alarm in the middle of the night, but luckily that didn't seem to affect anyone's racing, and CSU skiers were ready to rock on the tough climber's course. J2 boys went first, and our guys skied really great. Gavin led the way in 3rd, proving that he is indeed a fantastic climber, and Max had his best result yet this year, ending up 5th. Chris toughed it out in 9th place, and Jacob was 15th, with Lewis just behind in 17th, all climbing smoothly, and descending fast.

The J2 girls were next, and the CSU gals put on an outstanding show, with all five girls in the top 7! These are some fit ladies. Julia took 1st, and Zoe was 3rd, just seconds behind her friend and rival Katherine from SMS. The next five seconds had three skiers, with Hadley in 4th, and Charlotte in 6th. First-year J2, Katrin, was 7th place, in her first EC! They made that hill look easy.

Next up were the women, with six laps. Due to a head cold, Corey sat out, but the other's picked up where she left off. Olivia and Cate led the way in the top 30, showing us what fitness really is, with Olivia posting a personal best 8th place! Coach Maddy came out of retirement (about time!) with a solid finish, and Rosie had a really good day too. Rebecca had a tougher day, battling an upset stomach, and I won't repeat what I overheard Blake and Katie saying to each other about the race... but despite not having the finishes they were hoping for, they were super supportive of their teammates, and had a really great positive attitude.

The final race of the weekend was the men's 11km, 8 lap, sufferfest. Cathy Schen counted laps for the boys, a very necessary task when you have race brain on a hilly course. Eli led the day, as the top junior overall, and only two minutes out from the leader, in 18th. Ian, Rion, and Calvin were all clumped not too far behind Eli. I swear Rion didn't slow down at all between any of his laps, and Ian made that hill look easy. Nathan was just behind that group of guys, skiing smoothly for each lap. Sean had gotten a nice ride off of Rion early on, but discovered that pace was a bit too fast for 8 times up that hill, and faded a little. Greg skied really smoothly, showing some nice technique improvements, and Ryan had a fitness breakthrough - "how did that feel?" "It felt AWESOME!" And he wasn't even being sarcastic!

Overall, we had some great performances, and some breakthrough races. Keep up this great attitude, CSU!

Jacob has the Skillz!

2012-01-16T17:56:00.001-05:00

Big downhill in the Titcomb Mt. JNQ race yesterday that required some good downhill skills. Who is better?

Bode Miller

Jacob

More to come later....

Nationals wrap

2012-01-08T18:49:00.003-05:00

Everyone has made it home from Rumford safe and sound, and to our delight, Weston has a full loop of snow! Hopefully cold temperatures this week will allow them to complete the outer loop, but right now there is good coverage, and I was so happy to see all the smiling CSU skiers doing their intervals together. What a great team!

Thanks to some fast and furious racing last week, we qualified three athletes for the US Ski Team trips later this winter. Corey was the top-ranked junior girl, and will be representing the US at the Junior World Championships, in Turkey, and Eli was the top-ranked J1 boy, so will be representing the US at the J1 Scandinavian Cup, in various places in Scandinavia this winter. Eli was also the 8th junior overall, very impressive as he's still a J1! Julia, thanks to her fantastic racing this last week, qualified for the women's J1 Scandinavian Cup trip, and as a J2!

While we're obviously excited about the athletes heading overseas later this winter, they couldn't do it without having great training partners and supportive teammates, and I was thoroughly impressed by the level of skiing shown by all our athletes both at Rumford, and those racing for their high-schools back home. Attitude counts for so much, and CSU has a great attitude!

Now back to the grind, and see you all on the gerbil-loop!

Awww, we all missed Zoe when she had to go home mid-week to go to school.

2012-01-07T17:43:00.000-05:00

After Mont Ste Anne and Rumford, a return to the banana belt for CSU Jrs. and coaches to revitalize their tans and get in some remarkably good classic skiing on the only snow around.

Of Game Faces and Flying Pony Tails

2012-01-07T08:52:00.001-05:00

CSU Juniors rocked Rumford yesterday! On tap were the classic races at Nationals. The juniors had separate and shorter races than the seniors, who went 20km and 30km, while juniors went 10km and 5km. I didn't hear any of the boys complaining about not going up High School Hill 9 times! Nevertheless, the boys still had to go up 3 times, while the girls had just one trip up the big hill and then went on the men's sprint course for their second lap.

We awoke early to find snow falling fairly heavily, which immediately changed the waxing plan of attack for the coaches. Arriving at Black Mt at leisurely time of 9 since the junior races were in the afternoon, just as the senior races were going off, Rob and Alex started right in testing skis, first for glide and rilling, and then for kick wax while I spent a few minutes watching the men's race, catching Noah Hoffman put a sudden gap on the pack to take the race on the last lap.

Since temps had warmed up and with the new snow Alex and I re-glide waxed all the skis for the warmer conditions. Rob and Alex then narrowed down the kick wax selection while Gunther and I finished topcoats, rills and base green prep on all the skis. Conditions on the track were a bit dicey, with the 1-2" of new snow mixed into the manmade stuff and a track that was pretty well buffaloed by the previous races. A final wax selection was made and we waxed up the boys and off they went. Eli skied a very smart race, hanging on to the eventual 2nd place finisher Scott Patterson of UVM, who started right behind Eli and passed him early on. Eli then was able to chase down Paddy Caldwell (SMS), his main J1 rival, by the 3rd lap, who had started just in front of him, and came home the J1 winner and 5th place overall, only 16 sec out of first! Following Eli were Nathan, who thought he had his best classic race ever and Calvin, who is improving race by race in classic events, skiing very strongly in a strong field.

Then it was time for the girls race. After a bit of scrambling to deliver enough solid kick for the girl's skis they were off, Cate going first and skiing very strongly on her comeback from injury to finish in 37th overall which put a nice smile on her face. Corey was out next and skied very strongly to take 2nd overall to Anne Hart, a future Dartmouth teammate by only 1 second. Julia then went and skiied a very strong race to come in 11th overall! Olivia banged out another solid effort like we've come to expect every time she races to come home in 27th. Zoe, starting near the end of the start order, moved steadily up through the field with her hard effort, picking up Hadley along the way who then hung tough, keying on Zoe for all she was worth as the two came in close together for two more stellar CSU finishes.

This was a very gratifying end of Nationals with every CSUer going out and laying down a great effort, leaving little on the course and having excellent races! It is exciting to watch everyone going hard, game faces on and ponytails flying.

Nathan out of the start gate, focused

Calvin lapping through, focused

Eli, heading to the finish, focused

Olivia starting fast, flying

Cate, focused and flying

Zoe, clearly going fast!

Julia, focused on the finish line

Corey, bringing it home as fast as she can

Hadley showing her game face

Photos - Nationals Skate Race

2012-01-06T22:29:00.000-05:00

Photos from the men's 15km and women's 10km skate races on Thursday.

Eli skiing strong

Eli and Nathan

Calvin getting up!

Nathan

Corey on lap 1

Julia

Cate on the come-back

Olivia

Hadley

Kayte

Report from race #2

2012-01-06T07:57:00.002-05:00

This from Rob:

I hope you have been following the exploits at Sr Natls on the blog. Today was a particularly great day. Jamie, Alex, Jim Stock, and I prepped some rocket skis and the team athletes responded with some peak performances. Eli Hoenig went deep into the pain cave and in a back and forth battle with Paddy Caldwell and Cole Morgan emerged with a 17 second victory in a 32 minute race. What a race! Calvin definitely had one of his best races ever. Nathan Moreau also was flying.

For the girls race I was positioned on the dreaded High School Hill. The boys and done it 4 times and it left them panting on the ground at the race's end. The girls had to do it 3 times and they had to go hard. Corey was suffering the effects of her 4 sprint efforts 2 days ago, although she was still 6th junior. Olivia was in the zone riding on Issy Pelettier's tail (having gained 30 seconds on her). Cate is making a great comeback from her injury - she had her sleeves rolled up and was hammering. Hadley Moreau looked very strong and was one of the top J2s. Kaytie Innamorati was back from college for a strong ski too. Julia Kern had a blistering race, finishing just seconds behind Corey and one of the top juniors. It was a fantastic effort, and a great comeback after her fall in the sprint. Way to go!

Tomorrow we have the 10 and 5 K classic races in the afternoon. In the evening we will have the naming of the World Junior Junior team and the J1 Scando trip team. Then we'll be home and ready to ski again at Weston.

Report from day 1

2012-01-04T20:54:00.001-05:00

Jamie took photos, and asked me to write some text, so here ya go!

After an eerily déjà vu experience of having the first race at nationals delayed by a day, Rumford pulled themselves together and presented a beautifully prepared course for the skate sprints. The CSU athletes toeing the line were Eli, Calvin, Nate, Kaytie (CSU alum), Zoe, Corey, Olivia, Cate, and Hadley. With six coaches and three parental support units, the ratio was pretty good!

The women raced first, around a 1.4km loop that they also use for Easterns, and I got the chance to watch them all go out. Jessie Diggins and Ida Sargent both looked particularly impressive, but the girls in blue (hehe) held their ground, looking very smooth, powerful, and quick. Looking at the results, it's becomes painfully apparent just how deep the nationals field really is - one second on the results list usually covered four to six skiers. Corey qualified for the senior heats in 17th, which was pretty exciting. Olivia missed the junior heats by two seconds, but looked great out there. The other girls had to battle some of the challenges of ski racing - Zoe overcame some last-minute stress when her skis never got delivered to the start, but raced on Julia's skis, and was racing with a smile on her face - nothing rattles her! Julia was so overcome by the speed of her skis that she took a tumble in the worst possible place - on a downhill leading into a flat, losing all her momentum. Cate had a minor asthma attack, of some sort, making the uphills a bit more of a challenge, but still skied pretty. Kaytie and Hadley both raced well, gaining some great race experience. All the girls were very positive and supportive after their races, a tribute to the great atmosphere we have on this team.

The boys raced second, and Eli had a fantastic race (I think), using his trademark high-tempo stride and combining it with some good power. He caught the Dartmouth skier who started in front of him, and went on to finish 49th, and the second J1. Nathan looked smooth and quick, with cool sunglasses. Calvin was skiing great too, sporting yet another different ski suit. The guy is just at the height of fashion. It was really cool to watch the top men skiing, they're just in a different league completely.

We also saw alums Chris Stock, Hilary Rich, and Chris Burnham speeding around the course.

After a wait, it was time for the senior heats. Corey skied super smart heats, and it quickly became apparent that this was a sprint course that relied on tactics. I was definitely nervous in her quarterfinal, as she was racing against #4, #7, and #12, who had clearly been faster in the qualifier. Luckily, Corey doesn't like letting people beat her, and despite a slight tactical error on the last downhill, she had a great finish sprint and took second in the quarters by a photo finish. You have to be top two to move on.

It was a long, stressful wait while they figured out the results, but Corey took it in stride. I won't talk about the nail-biting going on in the wax room. But they declared that Corey was in, and I don't think I've ever seen Jim Stock so excited! She cruised through the semi final; asking about her race after, the main word she used for the semis was "fun". It was another photo finish between 3rd and 4th, but they figured that one out a little bit sooner, and she was in to the A final!

The A final was crazy - with three CXC skiers off the front, it became a race for 4th, 5th, or 6th, but Corey skied smart and fast, and ended up 4th! We were all pretty excited.

After the senior heats, Eli got ready to go out in the junior heats. As they had only taken 24 juniors into the heats, he had to be top 3 in his quarterfinal. It was another very tactical heat, and Eli slipped into 2nd place with a smooth move around the uphill corner. He got a bit pushed back on the climbs, but was in a great position going into the downhill, and slingshotted himself from sixth to fourth on the downhill. Unfortunately, as he moved around someone in the finish for a sprint to 3rd, he stumbled, twice, and then crashed across the finish line and broke his binding off his ski. What a finish! Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and he was done for the day. But Eli stayed in 2nd place for J1s, and learned some great lessons in his heat, so in the end, it was a super positive experience!

I am super proud of all the CSU athletes here, and we had a really great dinner last night where we all talked about our highlights and lowlights of the day. Zoe's gone home for a few days of school, now, but she'll be back for Friday's race. Today we're off to the trails to preview the distance course, and tomorrow is the distance skate race!

Ooooh boy racing is fun =)

Skate Sprint - US Nationals

2012-01-04T17:32:00.000-05:00

Some photos from the first day of racing at US Nationals in Rumford, the skate sprint. Unfortunately I was not able to get out of the waxroom to watch the CSU girls in the prologue.

Eli in the prologue

Nathan in the prologue

Calvin in the prologue

Quarterfinals start. Corey is in the thick of it

Corey in the hunt

Homestretch before Corey fired the jets to qualify for finals

Women's finals start

Eli sprinting for home in his quarterfinal heat

Senior nationals

2012-01-02T21:51:00.005-05:00

A crew of skiers headed down to Rumford after Mont Sainte Anne, to race at the USSA senior nationals. We have Calvin, Eli, Olivia, Zoe, Corey, Cate, and Julia here, and a slew of support staff/coaches/parents to help out. All the athletes and most of the "grownups" are in a cabin in Bethel, and it has a great view, but is a bit crowded.

The first race was delayed by a day, since it had rained all night, so the snow was too soggy to groom. To keep from going stir-crazy, the skiers went out on a ski-walk/hike during the day, and then another one before dinner. Tomorrow, it's on! Skate sprints. We'll report back!

The view down on the common room from the loft. The cabin unfortunately has some thin walls, but we're a good 24 hours into this game, and nobody's been kicked off the island yet!

Attempting to be studious.

Actually being studious.

The race course today. Some bare spots, and I can understand why they postponed it.

Smartphones are confusing pieces of technology.

Some more photos from MSA

2012-01-02T21:19:00.008-05:00

I had some leftover shots from Mont Sainte Anne, from when the Ocelots, Tigers, and some Lions did speeds on Friday afternoon.

Calvin vs Cate. You'd think he'd be a gentleman and let her win... or not.

Chris Stock vs Eli.

Rebecca working on some herringbone.

Corey kick double poling.

Katrin!

Calvin

Warming up, on a beautiful day with great hard tracks.

MSA Time Trial Results

2011-12-30T13:55:00.000-05:00

Here are the results of the pursuit time trial. Sorry about the lack of formatting. Classic leg first and then total time.

First Last Classic Finish

Eli Hoenig 12:48 0:24:50
Ian Moore 12:50 0:24:58
Calvin Wight 12:51 0:24:59
Jimmy Burnham 12:52 0:25:07
Koby Gordon 13:21 0:26:16
Greg Holdman 13:29 0:26:16
Frank Feist 13:20 0:26:22
Rion O'Grady 13:25 0:26:25
Andy Milne 13:23 0:26:38
Max LaChance 13:45 0:26:53
Jordan Richmond 13:36 0:27:31
Corey Stock 14:12 0:27:41
Olivia Meyerson 14:21 0:27:51
Chris Koziel 14:14 0:27:58
Halley Grossman 14:25 0:27:59
Rob Bradlee 14:11 0:28:00
Sean Skahen 14:50 0:28:08
Alex Jospe 14:22 0:28:32
\Jacob Meyerson 14:23 0:28:36
Nick Reitman 14:37 0:28:39
Zoe Snow 14:42 0:28:55
Bob Burnham 15:14 0:29:39
Cate Brams 14:59 0:30:02
Lewis Nottonson 15:48 0:30:18
John McDaniel 15:00 0:30:49
Rebecca Smith 15:20 0:31:43
Hank Yoder 16:07 0:31:48
Ryan Clemens 15:46 0:32:08
Leah Brams 16:00
Charlotte Cole 16:04 0:32:09
Jamie Doucett 16:15 0:32:45
Russell Boswell 16:19
Rosie Cobb 16:48 0:33:31
Julia Schiantarelli 17:09
Clara Cousins 17:15 0:34:01
Meg Yoder 17:16 0:34:11
Katrin O'Grady 17:48 0:34:18
Blake McCartney 17:18 0:36:04
Katie Cosman 19:19 0:37:29
Valentina 19:22
Mary Lagunowich 19:45 0:38:59
Carinna Wallach 21:27 0:39:41
Phoebe Seltzer 20:37 0:39:56
Izzy Cole 21:02
Claire Tefler 21:25 0:40:52

MSA Pursuit Race!

2011-12-29T21:23:00.000-05:00

Today dawned bright and sunny and quite cold - a typical MSA day in other words - with temps at about 0F and some light wind. With a few BKSL skiers and a few college racers joining us the field for the classic portion of the pursuit was 43 strong!! Everyone laid out their skate equipment for the transition and started on classic skies on Trail 11, a mass of skiers jockeying for position with no track on the first hill. Up front Eli took command with Ian, Calvin and Jimmy close behind, while Corey set the pace for the girls with Olivia chasing hard. On the skate leg the order stayed the same at the front while the order changed around a bit further back. Eli, Ian, Calvin and Jimmy took the first 4 slots amongst the men and Corey, Olivia, Halley Grossman and Zoe held down the first four places for women.

Erin took some photos. Results will be up later.

Eli leads the field out at the start

Timing crew investigating the snow?

Eli at the end of leg 1

Ian and Calvin chasing hard

Frank and Koby from SMS

Andy

Rion

Eli putting poles on at transition

Rob bringing it home

Corey and Rob

Halley (SMS) and Jacob

MSA Camp

2011-12-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

It was a very interesting day at MSA with about 5" of new snow overnight which was thoroughly soaked by rain. Turns out the skate workout this morning was remarkably good! Fast snow that forced you to work on your balance. Then this afternoon the hoped for snow kind of petered out and so the classic ski was rather interesting. Slick tracks without a lot of kick.....Perfect! Tomorrow it will be about 0F for our time trial. Nothing like a little change in the weather.

MSA Camp - Evening Entertainment

2011-12-27T20:59:00.000-05:00

After a full day of skiing and a fabulous turkey dinner, some evening entertainment that does not involve a TV playing bananagrams.

Some photos from MSA

2011-12-27T20:07:00.005-05:00

The team made it up to Quebec with no incidents, and everybody seems to be thoroughly enjoying the snow. They say it isn't much snow, but it's far more than what we had at the Weston Ski Track, so no complaints from this team! I haven't taken any photos on the trails, yet, but here are some from the CSU condo #2 of very active watching of Extreme Couponing.

Skate Video - Craftsbury

2011-12-23T20:25:00.000-05:00

Finally getting this up! Enjoy.

Craftsbury Video

2011-12-19T22:19:00.000-05:00

The video is a short one of some of the girls in the classic prologue race at Craftsbury.

More photos from Prospect time trial

2011-12-13T10:45:00.015-05:00

Jamie's camera takes way better photos; clearly he's dropped it on the ground less times than I have mine. But here are some more photos, from the start of the time trial.

Sam

Cecily

Carina

Phoebe

John

Julia

Charlotte

Rosie

Julia

Chris

Sean

Greg

Maddy - "don't catch me too fast!"

Prospect Skate Photos

2011-12-11T16:54:00.000-05:00

Rosie

Julia S.

John P.

Maddy

Alex

Carina

Greg

Sean S.

Julia K.

Chris K.

Charlotte

Cecily

Skate Time Trial - Prospect Pain Hill

2011-12-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

Alex was all excited after the time trial because.... it is a painful exercise! We had to address a couple icy patches on the road now that the weather is actually cold. I'd forgotten about ice! A sparkling clear day for one more time trial.

First Last Name Race Time

Greg Holdman    16:06
Sean Skahen       16:29
Julia Kern           18:01
Alex Jospe         18:05
Chris Koziel       18:24
Maddy Wendt    20:06
Charlotte Cole    20:41
Julia Schiantarelli 20:42
Rosie Cobb        20:51
Clara Cousins     21:37
Phoebe Seltzer    22:55
John Powers       24:20
Carinna Wallach 27:21
Sam Kuperstein   30:30
Cecily Powers     30:54

CSU All Scholastics

2011-12-11T08:09:00.000-05:00

I scanned the All Scholastics this morning and the following CSUers were named as All Stars for cross country. Congrats everyone! I hope I didn't miss anyone.

Olivia Cannon
Zoe Snow
Charlotte Cole
Eli Hoenig
Greg Holdman
Ian Meyer

Hill Bounding in the Dark and the Rain and the Winter Moths

2011-12-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

It was a lovely evening in the dark with the rain and winter moths you had to avoid sucking down your windpipe.

Prospect TT Video

2011-12-05T22:14:00.001-05:00

Gunther shot some nice video with his new camera of some of the juniors. Here it is:

Prospect Hill Classic Time Trial

2011-12-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

Given the lack of snow in New England, Canada, Norway, Finland and other places where there is supposed to be snow by now, we decided to hold a classic time trial at Prospect Hill in Waltham, Ma. The road is now closed to traffic and includes a 1/2 mile very steep uphill and then a flatter section on top. To mimic the first JNQ, we first held a sprint qualifier on top that was approximately 1.4km long and then after some easy skiing everyone walked down to the bottom and did a 2.9km time trial up the big hill and then incorporating the back and forth section. Both races finished with a tough uphill. Coaches and parents basically swept and raked leaves off the entire course and then we were ready to go! Thanks to the new CSU radios (thanks Jay!) we were able to coordinate watches in these point to point races and then sent the juniors off on 15 second intervals. I have sorted the results into the first race and then the second race so you can see how things shuffled around with the longer distance.

More pictures and video will follow this week!

Bib First Last Race 1 Time
24 Eli Hoenig          3:47
6 Calvin Wight        4:00
9 Nathan Moreau    4:13
16 Corey Stock      4:27
12 Sean Skahen      4:29
1 Max LaChance    4:31
23 Julia Kern          4:34
22 Gavin McEwen 4:39
4 Olivia Meyerson   4:42
2 Chris Koziel         4:46
7 Zoe Snow            4:50
3 Jacob Meyerson   4:53
20 Lewis Nottonson4:53
8 Hadley Moreau     5:03
18 Hank Yoder       5:07
10 John McDaniel    5:13
5 Clara Cousins       5:29
15 Julia Schiantarelli 5:43
17 Meg Yoder        5:48
21 John Powers      5:58
11 Phoebe Seltzer   7:02
19 Corina Wallach 7:03

Bib First Last Race 2 Time
24 Eli Hoenig          10:02
6 Calvin Wight        10:21
9 Nathan Moreau    10:57
22 Gavin McEwen   11:43
1 Max LaChance     11:49
16 Corey Stock      11:55
12 Sean Skahen      12:03
23 Julia Kern          12:03
4 Olivia Meyerson 12:13
20 Lewis Nottonson 12:30
3 Jacob Meyerson 12:34
2 Chris Koziel         12:35
10 John McDaniel   12:54
7 Rebecca Smith     13:09
18 Hank Yoder       13:16
8 Hadley Moreau    13:23
15 Julia Schiantarelli 14:36
5 Clara Cousins       14:40
17 Meg Yoder        15:18
21 John Powers      16:14
11 Phoebe Seltzer   18:09
19 Corina Wallach 18:36

Sigh.....Another Beautiful Fall Day in Littleton

2011-12-03T23:19:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've reported on many beautiful days we've had for rollerskiing in Littleton, but its now December, the traditional opening day for a good long ski at Waterville Valley, so, hey winter GET A MOVE ON IT! In the meantime, as Alex notes, we will continue to get ready for blue stick, solid tracks in fresh powder, the quiet swoosh of skis on snow and that special feeling when it all clicks because we've trained hard all summer and fall.

Training hard is way more fun than whining about how hard training is

2011-12-02T20:53:00.002-05:00

Cross country skiing is one of the hardest sports in the world, if not the hardest. I don't think any of you would dispute that statement. Do you have any idea how much strength, stamina, coordination, agility, balance, and focus goes into those intervals you were all just doing Thursday? When you actually stop to think about it, skiing is unbelievably difficult. To master this sport, there are a whole lot of pieces that all have to fall into place, but when it clicks, when that feeling of gliding along feels beautiful and natural and easy, that's when you know you're doing it right. Put yourself in that happy place where you're kicking along with your best friends on an extra blue wax day under bright skis and perfect corduroy - find that memory. That feeling, the glide, the nuances of the snow, the coordination of your movements - that is the meaning to a skier's life, far as I can tell.

But in the day to day grind, it's too easy to lose sight of the flow. We get wrapped up in taking our heartrates and measuring our limb angles and finishing those intervals to the exact second and breaking our PRs and keeping ourselves organized, and we do all these details really well. These details are really important, but they're not the reason we ski. This dryland season is dragging out, for sure, but we gotta remember: the reason we train, the reason we work as hard as we can and rest even harder, is so that we're ready when it snows. We do it to remake that memory of a perfect day on skis.

The before and after shots

2011-11-26T22:58:00.007-05:00

The group before heading out, and then stretching in the sun after the ski. Beautiful day for rollerskiing... if it were September! I think we're all a little antsy to get on snow by now, but everyone still has a great attitude.

It was also fun to have Jimmy, Isaac, and Hannah joining us, back from their collegiate skiing programs for a few days.

Hill Road

2011-11-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

Another unbelieveably beautiful day to roll through the orchards of Littleton. I confess I'm starting to get worried about it getting cold enough for snow, but it sure was pleasant out there!

One CSU jr, 2 coaches and one ex-CSU college skier. I hope Olivia didn't get too much advice and coaching today!

John returns to rollerskiing. 19 miles is a lot of work for the arms when you've been running xc!

Time Trial Video

2011-11-20T22:03:00.004-05:00

Classic Time Trial

2011-11-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

We had a beautiful day for the classic time trial up the big hill in Littleton. 13 people raced and 5 or 6 others skied and watched. Sure didn't feel like the weekend before Thanksgiving, but if you can't have snow this wasn't so bad. The time trial was run as an interval start on 15 seconds. The only misshap was that Rebecca kicked her ski pole and lost the tip, but fortunately I was able to give her a pole of approximately the correct length so she could finish strong. Here are the results. Photos and video to follow later.

1   Calvin     16:24
2   Max        17:58
3   Olivia      18:54
4   Sean       19:01.5
5   Jacob     19:45
6   Robert   19:46
7   Hank     20:16
8   Rebecca 20:45 (broken pole tip)
9   Rosie      21:13
10 Clara      22:50
11.Meg       22:58
12 Mary      24:28
13 Phoebe   25:22

CSU Hot Box Experiment Goes Awry

2011-11-20T18:48:00.000-05:00

I had a little trouble getting to the CSU time trial today. I headed over early to get in a rollerski with Bob Haydock and didn't quite make it in this car! It was a good Volvo for the last 10 years.

Another Nice Day in Littleton

2011-11-19T15:30:00.001-05:00

Rolling along with Kathy, Bob, Rebecca, Rosie, Nick, Max and Sean on the 19 mile loop

Fall sports are nearly over and so the crowd at Littleton gets bigger and bigger. We probably had over 20 juniors and about 10 masters out on the roads in the bright sun.

Team Kearsarge

2011-11-13T17:28:00.000-05:00

Here are the hardy CSUers that raced up Kearsarge today!

Double Pole TT - Applying Power!!

2011-11-11T21:47:00.001-05:00

Just a bunch of photos from today's DP TT on the theme of applying power.

The warmup

Clara crushing her poles!

N. Andover Rollerski Race Photos (1)

2011-11-09T18:25:00.005-05:00

CSU Fall Classic Rollerski Race 2011

2011-11-06T15:50:00.002-05:00

The 2011 edition of the CSU Fall Classic rollerski came off without any problems, in large part due to the great help I got from Marsha Rich, Candace Nelson, Sara Cousins, John LaChance, John Skahen, Ed Despard, Tom Smith on video and Jeff Nottonson. Thanks all!

I would also like to thank my sponsors, Jenex and Bikeway Source for providing a large number of prizes. Thanks for your support and remember to thank the sponsors if you purchase equipment from them.

While it was pretty cool to start, by the time the race began the brilliant sun had warmed things up to a comfortable race temp. Up the first hill a couple of Harvard skiers, Chris Stock and Akeo Maifeld-Carucci

grabbed the lead, followed by Frank, Andy and new CSU junior Nathan Moreau, along with Tanner Weigand, Bill Farrell and Max LaChance. A little further back I was having a fun time going back and forth with Alex as we tried to close the gap to Bob Burnham while behind us was another good pack of Victor, Robert, Ben Smeltzer and Brad Bates and then a big pack of Harvard women. With the breeze, it was a good day to have someone to draft off of.

In the junior 1 lap race Max got a good lead, followed by Sean and Lewis. On the girls side, Rebecca got a good lead followed up with the pack of Rosie, Hadley and Clara.

On lap two Chris and Akeo continued to hammer, coming home 1st and 2nd overall in very fast times of 36:47 and 36:52, which I think are classic records for this course. Then another hammer-fest was shaping up with Andy, Frank and Tanner, Nathan and John. Frank got the jump on Andy somewhere on the home straight, from what I heard, with Tanner coming in just behind followed by Nathan and John. On the women's side Alex skied well in 1st place, followed by the Harvard women Alena Tofte and Jennifer Rolfes.

A beautiful day for a race and with 33 racers, the biggest group in a number of years, including several people down from NH and Maine. Thanks all for coming and making it a good race!

Below are several photos courtesy of Chris City. Thanks!!

The start

Max takes a turn

Jamie chasing Ben Smeltzer

Frank

Nathan Moreau

Frank, Andy and Tanner. Check last year's almost identical photo

John

CSU Rollerski Race, Nov. 6, 2011

N. Andover, MA
Bright sun, dry, breezy, mid 40s

Place First Name Last Name Lap 1 Finish Time

1 Chris Stock                        18:46      36:47
2 Akeo Maifeld-Carucci        18:45      36:52
3 Frank Feist                         20:04      39:24
4 Andy Milne                        20:03       39:26
5 Tanner Weigand                 20:18       39:25
6 Nathan Moreau                  20:05       40:01 1st Jr in long race
7 John Sakalowski                20:19        40:44
8 Bill Farrell                          20:17        41:01
9 Bob Burnham                     21:24        42:51
10 Jamie Doucett                   21:29        42:52
11 Alex Jospe                        21:33        43:48 1st Woman
12 Victor Golovkin                22:17         44:30
13 Ben Smeltzer                    22:02         44:35
14 Brad Bates                       22:34         45:55
15 Robert Faltus                   22:39         46:19
16 Alena Tofte                      23:33         46:35 2nd Woman
17 Tor O'Brien                     23:34         46:56
18 Jennifer Rolfes                  23:58        47:58 3rd Woman
19 Esther Kennedy                24:26        48:35 4th Woman
20 John Rich                         24:32         48:59
21 Claire Miller                     25:00         49:39 5th Woman
22 Adeline Byrne                  26:19         52:53 6th Woman
23 Ainara Arielus                  26:34         54:49 7th Woman
24 Joel Gradstein                  28:01         56:55
25 Scott Betournay               30:57       1:01:20
26 Jody Newton                   31:22       1:01:33 8th Woman

Junior Results - 1 lap

1 Max LaChance                 21:05
2 Sean Skahen                     22:22
3 Rebecca Smith                  22:27 1st Jr Woman
4 Lewis Nottonson               24:07
5 Rosie Cobb                       24:44 2nd Jr Woman
6 Hadley Moreau                  25:05 3rd Jr Woman
7 Clara Cousins                    27:46 4th Jr Woman

Ellen Rows for Brown

2011-11-05T21:46:00.000-04:00

CSU alum Ellen Goldberg, lacking a ski team, walked on to Brown's crew team! Here are a few photos from Bennett of her race against Princeton with Ellen in the 3rd seat.

1st Tracks in Williamstown

2011-11-04T18:24:00.001-04:00

The most important thing to do when you first get on snow is put in practice what your coaches have taught you as they have yelled at you throughout the summer and fall. Rebecca seems to gotten the Rob Bradlee leaning on poles just about perfect. Note the fine body position, which is where it all starts........

Freshly Ground Skis!

2011-11-03T20:30:00.000-04:00

Alan McEwen picked up just a few pair of CSU skis after grinding by Zach!!

In the dark, in the snow, in November

2011-11-02T10:51:00.003-04:00

That's how we like to hillbound. A good crew of CSU juniors, with some fresh off the end of their fall sports (welcome back Meg, Clara, Jacob, Calvin, Mark, and anyone else I just totally missed!), showed up with our headlamps and our get-tough attitudes to take on Prospect Hill.

Last night had the added bonus of a massive tree down across the trail. John S. had previewed the trail that morning and reported that we may need to do some cleanup in the evening, as there were trees and branches down all over. Luckily, Gunther and Victor (and possibly others I didn't hear about) showed up before the workout and cleared out most of the trail! Then a work crew of Rob, Robert F, Ed (Alex's bf), one guy I didn't know, and Calvin and Mark showed up and did a good job attacking the tree with bow saws. By the time we got around to actually doing intervals, the tree was mostly out of the way. It was a big tree, with many large branches, so clearing that beast was no easy task. Yeah toughness! Yeah CSU!

Skiers looked darn good out there, until it got so dark that all I could see was a pack of headlamps, bobbing up the hill in unison. The coaches were a little less coordinated, as Rob forgot his headlamp, and Alex ran into a thornbush.

Bring it, November hillbounding!

2011-10-30T16:08:00.003-04:00

First Tracks on October 30th at Concord-Carlisle High School.

Everyone gets into some tag.

Zoe thinks it is spring skiing

Olivia too

Cate is always at the center of the action in tag

The boys practice their blocking skills to prep for the big game against SMS

The whole group had fun. What a day!

The Calm Before the (October!!) Storm

2011-10-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

A little of the action at the end of the loops out in Littleton today. Maybe we'll be on real skis tomorrow!!

Frank, Eli and The Masked Man

Rob

Phoebe

Greg

Bob Treadwell came down to join us, with Robert

Aims Shoots for 7 Month Ski Season - Locally!

2011-10-28T19:43:00.000-04:00

Ain't no moss growing on Aims. When it started snowing he got his butt out the door and got on it! Here are his comments and photos:

Nailed the wax! Last night the snow was wet, colder on top than lower, on a wet grass base, air hovering just above freezing. Arrived without glasses so I couldn’t read wax labels and selected some white goopy stuff in an orange Swix can with a purple stripe. It was great, perfect balance between clumping and grip and yet marvelous glide. The can must have been bought in 1983 but last night was its destiny.

Made a great choice too on poles. I took my hill bounding poles that have no baskets and never had to suffer from heavy buildups.

This morning the playing fields at Nashoba High were a different deal; 31 degrees, snow firm and icy, perched above the ground on stiff, frozen grass; the kind of morning when skis hiss with pleasure.

The first ski of the year is like baseball opening day, all optimism and freshness, but without advance notice of the date. It’s the one ski trip of the whole year that’s guaranteed to be the season’s best so far. It’s about finding your stuff, putting it in the car for the first time, pushing aside your paddle and lifejacket to make room. And finally, when waxes are unearthed, those lost gloves found, both boots comfortable and at last skis move out on snow it's life beginning all over again.

First time on snow 10/27/11, 9:38pm

Nashoba

Webcam, Last night's tracks lingering

Waterstop Shot

2011-10-22T21:25:00.000-04:00

Rebecca, Rosie and Hank at the waterstop on this week's Littleton distance roll. The crowd seems to be growing......is winter coming?

Sign Up for CSU Rollerski Race!!

2011-10-20T07:28:00.001-04:00

Time to sign up for the 23rd annual CSU Rollerski Race! $8 pre-entry, $10 post-entry. Sunday, Nov. 6 in N. Andover. The race is classic only and starts at 9:30.

I could use several volunteers: 4 people to watch the corners and watch the cars and direct the skiers, 2 timers (unfortunately my wife Lisa will be off running the NE xc championships at Franklin Park that day) and 1 person for the registration table before the race. Please let me know asap if you can help out. There is some lovely new pavement on Johnson St after the big hill which will greatly improve your rollerski experience!

The course can be seen at: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=192762
The course is 2 laps of a 7.072km course give or take a thousandth of a km, and juniors can opt for 1 lap.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you need an entry form. jdoucett@comcast.net

Heath Bridge on a Fine Fall Day

2011-10-16T19:48:00.000-04:00

A beautiful fall day for some specific strength with a good crowd of CSUers.

2011-10-09T21:46:00.001-04:00

We celebrated the amazing Indian summer weather with a ski hike up Mt. Sunapee

On the summit with Lewis, Rebecca, Liza, Carina, Max as well as Bob and Ann Burnham in the back and Chris Feist in the front.

Liza tackles the Northeast Chair with Kearsage in the background.

The gang mid-hike.

Post-hike we headed to the beach on Lake Sunapee for a very refreshing swim.

Rebecca looks cool.

Everyone got in the swim.

Liza chillaxing.

Splash fight!

One of the last swims of the year.

Now comes winter and the joy of skiing.

Nordic History - The Dawn of Skating

2011-10-05T21:50:00.001-04:00

This is a great video showing skating at a time when you both marathon skated and skied classic in races. The great Swedish guns Gunde Swan and Thomas Wassberg at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics. Know your nordic history!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuxHS-Tx500&feature=player_embedded

Video from specific strength

2011-10-02T17:57:00.002-04:00

Because specific strength rocks.

Starring Cecily, Mary, Claire, Clara, Olivia, Phoebe, Karina, Jacob, John, Jordan, and Greg.

Specific strength practice

2011-10-02T16:41:00.012-04:00

The runners gathered at Annursnac to hammer out some good specific strength intervals; Jamie and I showed up to watch them go by and practice our leaning-on-poles technique. Everyone made some really nice improvements, and that always makes me so happy!

Jordan, Greg, Olivia and Jacob singlesticking like they were born to it.

Mary looking over at me like "what are you doing pointing a camera at me?"
Jordan hammering.
Phoebe double poling.
Phoebe in flight no pole skating!

Jamie demonstrating some truly excellent pole-leaning technique.

Clara and John working on some V1. Although not strictly specific strength, this is our best opportunity to work on technique, so V1 tends to get thrown in there.

Karina chasing down Phoebe.

Claire and Cecily getting after it!

Duel of the Meyersons, during speeds.

Greg with a great starting position, hiding Jordan.

And a video of the first speed that everyone did:

I'll be uploading more videos later tonight.

Lake Placid Road Trip

2011-09-18T21:13:00.003-04:00

Matt Voisin, Mass. coach and writer for Faster Skier "working" at the race.

Rebecca Smith fell on the granite rocks at the top of the mountain and cut her legs very nicely. Greg found a deep mud hole.

3 CSU Juniors on the podium. Calvin 2nd for the J1/J2 division, Max 3rd. Julia 3rd.

Entire crew after the race.

Is skiing up a mountain physically challenging? You know it. I guess they can fish.

View from the Lake Placid library. Even study hall was fun on this trip.

Sunday we hiked up Hurricane mountain.

Our second peak of the weekend. In the background on the right is Whiteface where they skied up on Saturday.

Yeah, those are big muscles.

It ain't a CSU workout without some blood getting spilled.

Good pic and race videos here: http://nccsef.org/news/?p=2460

Littleton in the Sun

2011-09-17T13:30:00.001-04:00

We had a smallish group at Littleton today with some off at Lake Placid to climb Whiteface and others off at cross country meets or practice. I had a little time to get out on the course and catch a little bit of the action.

Lewis

Hank

Frank

Anne

John and Frank

Cate and Corey

Littleton Roll

2011-09-03T12:35:00.000-04:00

A very nice day for a classic rollerski in Littleton. Nice weather, not too hot, not too much traffic, plenty of fluids at the CSU pit stops and lots of CSU juniors and masters, Bates and Harvard skiers. Littleton is rollerski center on Saturdays!

Rosie, Mark, Meg and Clara on the 14 mile loop

Elite Development Pipeline

2011-09-01T07:15:00.000-04:00

Several CSU juniors have been named to the Elite Development Pipeline because they qualified for the A Team, B Team, D Team, National Elite Group, National Training Group or the National J2 Group. Congratulations to everyone named to a team for their hard work and dedication and to everyone else who pushes these skiers in practice and in races!

National Training Group - Corey Stock
National J2 Group - Zoe Snow
- Cate Brams
- Hamish McEwen

Link to the announcement: http://www.ussa.org/magnoliaPublic/ussa/en/news/crosscountry/Elite-Pipeline.html

Corey on Fasterskier!

2011-08-26T10:24:00.002-04:00

After her trip to the glacier in AK, Fasterskier.com interviewed Corey about what it was like. Here is a link to the article: http://fasterskier.com/2011/08/the-ntg-is-working-corey-stock-on-the-alaska-glacier-camp/.

I think it's a really great step for the USST to have this national training group, because there are so many positive benefits for athletes to work with different coaches and ski with different skiers. Also, skiing on snow in the summer is wicked cool. Very nice article, and thanks again Corey for sending us so many blog updates so we could live vicariously through you!

No Pole Skate Test

2011-08-19T22:43:00.000-04:00

Corey's Glacier Adventures - Part 2

2011-08-12T20:39:00.000-04:00

When we were not skiing or sleeping, we were eating! Each night a different group of girls would prepare dinner! Here is my crew!

Becca Rorabaugh, Jessie Diggins, Kate Fitzgerald, and me (repping CSU )!

One morning, we did skate intervals. They were very hard but being in such a cool place with such a great group of people made them fly by!

Here I am trying to hang on to Chandra Crawford.

Kikkan ripping out some sweet pullups in the strength room!

The whole group!

We eventually had to leave the glacier :’(, but when we got down we decided to go camping for a night in Seward, Alaska. Here we are camping in the base of an empty riverbed!

Left to right: Chandra, Ida, me, Liz, Jessie!

Kikkan brought us on a crazy difficult hike up Mt. Marathon and we were constantly using our hands to help us up. It was a blast!

Me, Kikkan, Ida, Liz, and Jessie trying to find our way down a cliff.

Left to right: Kikkan, me, Ida, Jessie, Chandra.

And not only was this a fantastic experience but also I made some amazing friends! Here I am with Liz Stephen!

See you all soon!!
Corey

Corey's Adventures on the Glacier!

2011-08-11T21:32:00.000-04:00

I am back from an AWESOME week on Eagle Glacier! There is a house on the edge of a cliff where we stayed and then on the other side is a glacier where there is an 8 km loop for us to ski on. On the clear days we could see the whole loop from the parts of the course, and on some of the foggy days we could barely see 10 meters ahead of us!

Here is a photo that I took as we drove to the base of the mountain on our first day.

The red circle on the top of the cliff is where the house is! Pretty cool!

We took a helicopter up!

There I am in black on the right getting psyched for my first helicopter ride ever!!

Liz Stephen and I enjoyed the spectacular views as we gained almost 6000 ft in about 5 minutes!

The view out of a window in our bunk room! A little different from the view out my window at home!

The first day we arrived it was legitimately snowing and I was so excited. The next couple days it was raining and very foggy but then when the sun finally came out it was truly spectacular! And not only were the views amazing, but also I was skiing with the best female athletes in America!

Chandra and I went outside the first night that the clouds parted and we could see the beautiful mountains that we had no idea existed!

On the nice days I used everything I had not to stop every 5 seconds and pull out my camera or just stand and look at the views in awe.

We worked on a lot of distance training and it was super cool to hop in behind these tops skiers and try and match their techniques.

Pretty cool photo!

The girls are SO friendly both on and off the tracks and it was so fun to be living 24-7 with such a cool group of women!

Me and Kikkan before one of our distance skis!

(To be continued)

Another Photo of Cate

2011-08-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

I haven't found any photos of Zoe or Hamish in action yet, but here is another nice one of Cate in the uphill time trial out in the Sun Valley J2 camp.

Julia - Adventures in Italy

2011-08-06T22:19:00.002-04:00

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to train with the Sci Club Livigno Ski Teamin a small town named Livigno in Northern Italy and explore the possibility of taking CSU to train there next summer as well. This town is at an altitude of around 6000ft which makes training there a bit difficult, but very rewarding. They have a 14 mile loop of roller skiing trails and incredible mountains for hiking and hill‐bounding. Although the roller‐skiing trails are mostly flat or undulating (with some hard uphill sections, if desired) , the kids on the team often wake up early in the morning and ski up the Forcola mountain pass that is about 4 miles long to do some uphill classic training. This is the only skiing they ever have to do on roads and early in the
morning there are hardly ever cars.

The Forcola mountain pass

While we were there we happened to see Petter Northug skiing around the roller ski trails, which was so cool. He was going to fast but it looked so effortless! Northug is the one in the blue, relaxing on the way back

We got a chance to look at some housing possibilities and we were able to find a bunch of apartments that are a short distance (sometimes a few feet) from the trails.

One of the possible houses

One of the roller skiing trails, lowers left hand corner

The view of the valley from the houses was amazing and in the morning you could throw on your boots and skis, walk out the front door and start training where some of the national teams train, which I thought was pretty awesome. In addition to XC ski races a subset of the skiers in the club also do biathlon, so the team there does a lot of shooting training. Lucio Zini, one of their coaches (in the picture) was a national level athlete in this specialty.

They were good. I mean, really really good. I hadn’t ever seen people seriously training for a biathlon and I was very impressed.

They let me try as well which helped me understand just how hard it is to shoot at such a little target from so far away.

Towards the end of my stay there I ran a race called the Stralivigno with another girl from the team named Vania Zini. It could be run as a half marathon or as a two person relay. Vania ran the first half and I ran the second half. We were able to come in second among the women. It was a really hard race but all he kids on CSU could definitely handle it and it would be a great way to finish up the training camp.

The kids on the team were so welcoming and I think it would be so cool for CSU to have the chance to get to know and train with skiers from a different part of the world. The group’s attitude reminded me so much of our team and their training was very similar to ours. The area was so beautiful and the food was fantastic. The Livigno Sci Club coaches (Lucio Zini, Aldo Confortola and Antonio Bormolini) are very good, helpful and nice. I think CSU would have a blast if they came to Livigno and could benefit so much from the extensive roller ski specific trails and incredible mountains. See the picture below taken from a high ridge ridge between 9000 and 10.000 ft along which you can run.

Cate at J2 Camp in Sun Valley

2011-08-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

Nice photo of Cate running the uphill time trial from the J2 Talent Camp out in Sun Valley

CSU ladies travel to H.U.R.T. Ski camp

2011-07-26T21:23:00.008-04:00

Last weekend, Carina, Clara, Meg, and Alex drove westward for a few hours, and ended up in Queensbury, NY, for the Hudson United Race Team (HURT) training camp. You know a camp run by people who call themselves "HURT" is going to be fun... the weekend was action-packed. Friday was core circuits (which, unfortunately, we missed, arriving late), and some hillbounding. The girls made it through the hillbounding fine, but Alex managed to get stung by a bee in her leg, which swelled up to about the size of a golf ball in her hamstring. Fun! Saturday morning was a long classic technique session, on a beautifully-paved bike path with rolling hills, and Saturday afternoon was a 3km uphill time trial. Sunday morning was a long skate technique session, on a different rolling bike path, and then we wrapped it up with some video, a presentation, and a goodbye bbq. A good time was had by all, and I heard a lot of talk about "next year..."

The weather was brutally hot, and we were staying in a tent city next to the downhill lodge at West Mountain, complete with a hose in place of a shower, but all the skiers seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It's a good thing Rob didn't come, because he would have been whining the whole time about how he's too old for this stuff.

It was hot - head coach Dave Kvam after suffering up the mountain run.

Tent city.

The CSU ladies at the finish of the uphill climb - on a chairlift disembarking platform!

Hiking back down. True to form, we found some blueberries, and indoctrinated some of the NY skiers about the importance of stopping to eat blueberries when on a hike. The NY skiers were all super friendly, and it was good to watch the cultural mixing.

Alex's bee sting in its early stages. From there, it spread to cover almost the entire hamstring. And boy did that sucker ITCH!

Clara mid-air during the rollerski agility warmup.

Meg and Clara during a pickup on the skate day.

Carina doing a pickup.

Charlotte Loses a Pole

2011-07-26T19:13:00.003-04:00

Charlotte didn't look where she was poling on the Littleton roll on Saturday. Her pole got stuck and she kept going - fortunately puling the pole off and not knocking her down.

She came back smiling

Update from Corey in AK!

2011-07-24T22:01:00.003-04:00

Here are some more great photos from what we’ve been doing recently! Photo credit to Lauren Loberg for all of them! Every day I see new, awesome parts of Alaska. We were going to fly up to the glacier tomorrow morning but due to sketchy weather in the forecasts we are taking the helicopter up tonight! I am super excited and I will be sure to post photos when I return!

Yesterday a few of us went over to Kikkan’s house to make monster cookies for a BBQ last night!

We had a great time making a mess of Kikkan’s kitchen! From left to right: Kikkan, me, Liz, Chandra, and Jessie!

It is such a cool experience to be hanging out with these girls!

Kikkan let us try out some of her sweet glasses! From left to right is Kikkan Randall, Perianne Jones, Liz Stephen, me, and Lauren Loberg.

Jessie showed us her moves as we jammed out to Lady Gaga!

Yesterday morning we did skate speeds. Here are some photos (Photo credit Lauren Loberg!):

It was so cool to watch these women at there top speeds! Here Holly Brooks and Kikkan Randall lead the pack.

We’ve had beautiful blue-sky days with weather never above the 70’s! Go figure! There I am in the back in neon!

And my moose count is now up to 9!

Munching away on a yummy little bush. Om nom nom.

Good job on the DP test everyone!!

Corey

Corey Escapes to Cool Alaska

2011-07-21T22:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a great report and photos from Corey, who escaped to Alaska just in time to miss the heat wave!

I’m in Alaska training with the US Ski Team and it is truly AWESOME here! I am training with the five USST women, the two Canadian Ski Team women, and for most of our workouts we also join up with the elite Alaska Pacific University (APU) skiers. I am in a condo with Ida Sargent and Jessie Diggins!! All of the girls are super nice. Alaska is also amazing! Everywhere that we go there are gorgeous views. Throughout Anchorage there are paved bike paths with great pavement to ski on. Here are some photos from what we’ve been doing so far. We did some great DP intervals – these girls are FAST!

The first three women in this photo are Kikkan Randall, Ida Sargent, and Liz Stephen (all USST members)!
It is really cool to ski with these girls and try and mimic their techniques.

Another day we skied a distance DP along the coastline. There were mountains on one side of us and the ocean on the other! We have a huge group of women here training together which is so beneficial for everyone. I am much younger than almost all of them and it is inspiring to look up to them and see what they have done to get to where they are now.

Here are a bunch of us on the distance DP. (I’m towards the back in the green shorts, following Sadie Bjornsen!)

Here I am skiing with Chandra Crawford from the Canadian Ski team (she won a gold in the 2006 Olympics!), Perrianne Jones (Canadian Ski Team), Jessie Diggins (USST), and Sophie Caldwell!

Another cool photo of the huge group of girls on the DP.

On one of the afternoons we went on a run above the tree line! We could see across all of Anchorage. Here is a view to the mountains across the Turnagain Arm!

Those are a little bigger than Mt. Weston.

Another morning we did skate intervals.

Here is the front group finishing up with a sprint to end one of the ten minute intervals. Kikkan Randall is leading the pack.

Here I am feeling the pain!

At the end of the intervals Kikkan gave us these sweet sweatshirts that she made for us!

From left to right: Kikkan Randall (USST), Jessie Diggins (USST), Chandra Crawford (Canadian Ski Team), Sophie Caldwell (Dartmouth), Kinsey Loan (APU), Rosie Brennan (APU), Sadie Bjornsen (USST), Celia Haering (APU), Ida Sargent (USST), Perianne Jones (Canadian Ski Team), Rebecca Rorabaugh (APU), Me, Holly Brooks (APU), Liz Stephen (USST). It is really cool getting to know these girls!

Next week we are going to the glacier!!

Corey

DP Bake Off

2011-07-21T20:34:00.000-04:00

16 or 17 stalwarts showed up for the Double Pole Bake Off tonight. It was 97 at game time as we headed out for warmups but the saving grace was a strong breeze blowing up the recovery hill so you could cool off a bit. We all put water bottles at the top of the hill and I dumped most of mine over my head. The Hoenig Boys were hammering at the front, reportedly setting new standards for single runs and combined times for the day. Almost everyone had a good first run and then the heat started catching up on the 2nd or 3rd interval. However, several people set new PRs by quite a bit, including Greg and Olivia M.. A few DP test first timers also got to experience the joy that is Annursnac Hill, including Rafi and Charlotte. Hannah went early and was finishing up about the time we got started.....why? Because she likes it HOT!

The highlight of the day though came after we were done with watermelon and popsicles for cool down and re-hydration supplied by Karin Cole and Donna Holdman which almost made it all worth it! Thanks hugely for the treat!!!

3000m time trial

2011-07-15T14:41:00.007-04:00

Some photos, courtesy of Albert Innamorati, of the 3k from Wednesday. Lots of PRs, despite the hot weather.

Eli Hoenig 9:55 PR
Calvin Wight 10:04 PR
Isaac Hoenig 10:08
Chris Burnham 10:28
Sean Skahen 11:36
John McDaniel 12:03
Olivia Meyerson 12:17 PR
Hank Yoder 12:54 PR
Peter Hoenig 13:29 (wins 50+ category)
Clara Cousins 13:33
Meg Yoder 13:33 PR (first time)

John

CB

Clara and Meg, entering the pain cave.

Hank

Isaac

Olivia

I wonder how many guys have to deal with people asking what that strange stripe of a tan line is across their chests...

Skate time trial from camp

2011-07-13T09:40:00.005-04:00

Below are posted the results from the 2011 skate time trial from camp. Most people did four reps, but some did fewer because of age or other considerations. You should be able to click on the times and they'll get bigger.

Here are the results from 2010. As you can see, a very big improvement for most of our skiers!

And digging even further into the past, below are the results from the 2009 camp.

Nice work, everyone! Now take that enthusiasm, and carry it forth into everyday workouts!

CSU Ski Camp - Day 5

2011-07-10T20:48:00.000-04:00

Today was the last day of CSU summer ski camp, another gorgeous summer day of dry, clear, sunny weather. Perfect for the time trial! The time trial was a 3-4 min. uphill skate x 4. Alex started groups of 1 or 3 skiers and Rob and I timed. We then add up the four times for an overall time. Some of the younger or newer skiers skied 2 or 3 intervals instead of 4. The weather was perfect and most of the course was in the shade. The results will be posted later this week, but in the meantime, here are a number of photos from the finish line.

Calvin looking tough

Isaac and Erik

Olivia

Sean

Jacob

Catherine

John

Cecily

Zoe, Olivia and Cate hammering

Katie

Jane

CSU Camp - Day 4

2011-07-09T22:22:00.000-04:00

Photos of the morning pre-breakfast run, the hike with Rob and end of the day S'mores. It was an excellent day!

Camp day 4: the hike!

2011-07-09T21:37:00.005-04:00

The last Saturday of camp is traditionally the long hike across the Wapack trail. Half the group started from the north, and half from the south, switching car keys along the way. The weather was perfect, the blueberries were ripe, and the flies were sparse - all in all, a great day! After the hike, we all met up at Kimball's farm for lunch and ice cream, and then got the afternoon off. What a nice way to spend a day!

One group stuffs their faces with blueberries, while the other group jogs on past.

Alex leading the pig-tailed girls, Hannah and Zoe.

CSU Ski Camp - Day 3

2011-07-08T21:43:00.000-04:00

Day 3 of ski camp went very well today with a variety of activities. We changed the schedule a bit this morning so everyone could do 5 sets of classic speeds instead of an overdistance workout. I don't have any pictures of those, but the kids did double pole, kick DP, striding, drop-in double pole and starts while some of the others worked on skate technique with Rob. It was a good session, although there were some minor scrapes. Its tough to handle speeds, even if they only last 10-15 seconds!

In the afternoon we started with Alex's orienteering challenge. 26 controls were put out for a score-O and the teams of 2 skiers, including the BKSLers, had to try to find as many of the controls as they could using the maps that Alex put together in the 30 minutes alloted, after 2 minutes of planning to start, with penalties for getting back late. Alex will report the results in another post. People were running all over the campus, some a better sense of what they were doing than others. Following that hard-fought contest was core strength. 20 stations were laid out on the soccer field for each pair to go through, spending 1 minute at each. After one time through and a short rest the circuit was repeated. For some reason it seemed a bit more difficult the second time through! Then came the dreaded 12 minute abs workout with everyone in a large circle. Fail to transition properly to the next exercise or not get through the minute and we'd all have to start over! No one failed......

To finish the day, Rob gave an excellent talk about motivation and visualization complete with an exercise in visualizing the perfect race.

Alex giving instructions

Sue and Kathy planning

Leah and Olivia

John, Hannah and Rosie choosing routes

Phoebe and Chris on the move

Jacob and Erik goofing

Tom and Mary at a control

Planks!

Lateral toss of the medicine ball

Rebecca means business!

Calvin - side plank

John is on the ball

Sean doing lunges

Results from camp orienteering

2011-07-08T18:31:00.004-04:00

Friday afternoon, the skiers did an orienteering course for a warmup for strength. They were in teams of two, chosen by the Junior counselors, with a good scattering of Bill Koch skiers and coaches on the teams. Most of the controls were in pretty straight-forward locations, but there were a few that caused some head scratching. The way it worked was that the teams had 30 minutes (and 2 minutes of prep time) to get as many controls as they could. Since Alex forgot to bring the real orienteering flags, skiers had to record the code of each control on their map - controls were pieces of orange flagging tape with a code sharpied on the end. The further-away controls were worth more points, and because the time limit was pretty short, it became an exercise in choosing which controls to leave out. For every minute that you were over the time limit, you lost a point. Teams also had to stay together - you couldn't send one runner out to get the code and then come back.

In the end, everyone seemed to have a good time, and more importantly, they all came back! Jamie will probably be posting some of the photos from the orienteering and from strength, but for now, I have the results! Only one team got the maximum number of points (60) in the time limit, but there were two other teams that got all the controls, and finished just overtime. Ties are solved by who finished first.

1. Rebecca and Chris K.: 60 points
2. Calvin and Oscar: 59 (OT)
3. Cate and Sam: 59 (OT)
4. Olivia and Leah: 58
5. Jacob and Erik: 58 (OT)
6. Julia and Ian: 57
7. Chris B. and Phoebe: 56
8. Claire and Rob: 54
9. Kathy and Sue: 50
10. Max and Carter: 50
11. Corey and Zoe: 49
12. Isaac and Gavin: 48
13. Olga, Talia, and Erin: 47
14. Catherine and Meg: 46
15: Katie and John M.: 42
15. Mary and Tom: 42
17. Greg and Cecily: 40
18. Sean and John P.: 38
19. Jane and Lydia: 29

Congrats to all who finished! And congrats for making it through another tough core session...

CSU Ski Camp - Day 2

2011-07-08T12:21:00.000-04:00

Sorry I don't have more photos from day 2, but the morning workout was hill bounding and ski walking on Mt. Watatic with excellent views off to the north on a beautiful day. We ski walked to the top, then did a series of short, explosive bounds with poles. Then we headed further down to start a workout of 4 x 6 min. or 6 x 6 min. of ski walking intervals. Everyone who thought this was going to be too easy a workout didn't think so by the end!

In the afternoon was an OD skate ski. We broke up into a few groups and got in between 1.5 - 2 hrs. of skating on some pretty good hills for an excellent workout.

Finally, in the evening, to celebrate birthdays of Eli and Hannah we headed off to mini-golf and ice cream. In the annual coaches battle Rob and I duked it out with me gaining revenge over Rob for last year's defeat. Much fun was had by all and much blood was lost to the local mosquito population.

Top of Mt. Watatic before bounding

Post ice cream and golf nonsense

Cecily rises to the top!

More photos from day 1

2011-07-07T13:36:00.005-04:00

You got the gist of how things work from Jamie's post, but I had a couple more photos to add to the mix. Enjoy

We were all sitting by the green, and a group of golfers showed up hoping to use it. Rob instructed us to move off the green, and that it is proper etiquette to be silent as the person takes their swing, and then clap politely afterward. So, we did that, and those poor golfers probably couldn't wait to move on, and not have 30 interested skiers watching their every move.

Nice place. Doesn't this just look like one of those oil paintings of idyllic peasant scenes from England or something?

When Rob instructs us about the workout for the day, this happens, and angels sing.

Zoe demonstrating how to tie dye a bandana.

CSU Ski Camp Begins

2011-07-07T13:01:00.000-04:00

Here are a few photos from the first day of CSU ski camp, post-skate technique workout and during evening activities. Turned out to be a beautiful day on the hill!

After workout jog

Stretching

Alex

Zoe and Olivia

Ian balancing

Jane preparing to tie-dye

Relaxing

Rob in repose

Storm moving in

REG camp domination

2011-06-29T13:29:00.005-04:00

Here is an update from Olivia, Corey, and Hannah, who are spending the week in Craftsbury VT at the Regional Elite Group camp.

While all you guys have been busy doing double pole tests and parkour, we (Corey, Eli, Hannah and Olivia) here at REG Camp have been testing, roller skiing, eating and sleeping up a storm. We’ve just finished our third day of testing—these tests determine who qualifies for the National Elite Group Camp in the fall. Our first test was a skate rollerski agility sprint course. At the beginning of the test, Hannah told Corey, “I’m either going to go embarrassingly slow or kill myself” due to the tricky course—downhill 360s, zooming across the grass, slaloming down the pavement and random 180s. Luckily we all made it through alive without battle scars (although there were many falls amongst others). Rob congratulated us on “no blood!” before reading the results, which only shows us how much wiggle room the CSUers have to improve on agility.
The next day (Sunday), we had a two-hour double pole ski behind Ida Sargent, a U.S. ski team member. In the afternoon, we took another 1.5 hr classic ski and did some drills with U.S. Ski team coach Bryan Fish. Hannah, unfortunately, did not make it back on the vans and was left with two teammates stranded in the middle of Vermont country—land of no cell phone service, no internet access or even people, but plenty of cows. Luckily, she hitchhiked back to camp with a Bulgarian ninja named Krum (not the Harry Potter guy).
Yesterday was our test day numero two: a lovely uphill run time trial. After a good 18→26 minutes of huffing and puffing, we all made it to the top. Eli came in third for REG Campers☺ and Hannah and Olivia killed it! Meanwhile, Zoe and Corey (both unable to run) took a nice mountain bike ride (1 hr 46 min 32 seconds) around the lake and were almost torn from their bikes by rabid dogs. Fortunately, the two young ladies have quads of steel and were able to escape this terrifying experience. Later we all enjoyed a two-hour nap, fast asleep on our bunk beds (camp certainly makes us tired). In the afternoon, we skated around and then in the evening, we watched a NENSA presentation and then ate Raisin Bran into the late hours of the night with Rob and Alex.
Today, our final day of testing was the Canadian strength test (almost identical to the most recent CSU strength test—except the coaches regulated 90 degree pushups, full extension pull-ups, etc.). CSU represented—all four of us were bulging with muscles and grimacing with pain. Hannah sported her Raisin’ the Bar jersey in motivation to raise the bar. We proved to be far better at strength than agility, surpassing many other REG campers. Then Corey and Olivia took a long swim across the lake and arrived 1 hour 16 minutes later, very cold and tired. Now we look forward to hill bounding intervals, double pole intervals and a four-hour OD! And especially to our two days of rest before CSU Camp!
Hannah feels happy. Corey feels really really really. Olivia feels very empty ;). Eli feels. Alex feels very caffeinated. And Rob feels very immersed in the moment (and also supercalifragilisticexpialidocious).
There is plenty of anticipation for sharing super camp experiences with all of you in just a week. Nom nom nom.

Hannah negotiating the corners of the agility course. Photo courtesy of Chris City.
Olivia stares down the competition. Photo courtesy of Chris City
Corey on the agility course. Photo courtesy of Chris City.

Huge Mt Washington Post

2011-06-19T18:32:00.000-04:00

Three good stories and some photos from the Mt. Washington road race yesterday.

Hannah Smith:
Yesterday I embarked on what I had considered for many years (many years being the years I had heard all of Rob's epic stories about it) to be the ultimate test: a road race up Mt Washington. If I was a sensible person, I would have reconsidered when malox was one of the first things on Rob's packing list for this event. But, by the time I was going over the packing list Friday morning, I had already put in too many hours of preparation to shy away from a challenge just because it was becoming clear that I would probably feel like puking at the end.

And I did feel like puking at the end, but let me explain this a little bit. I'm assuming that most readers of this post have probably ski raced before. Juniors, you, like me, are all used to racing 5-10ks which take between 12-40 minutes depending on the snow, technique, course, weather, wax etc. At the end, your head is spinning and you want water and sometimes to be dramatic you collapse over the finish line. So, yesterday's race was like that for me except that it took an 1:42:30, so at the end I was somewhere between 3-8 times more depleted. At two miles, I wanted water, at three I ate a Gu but didn't have enough fluids along with it which left me feeling dehydrated, at four I got water but was still dehydrated, by 5 my legs were shaking and although I was running as fast as a could, I realized there were people around me walking faster. By about 7, I couldn't bear the peppiness of my mom and Jamie's cheering as I passed them on the side of the road (which for me is saying a lot because I usually love hearing people cheer). By the time I crossed the finish line, Rob found me, walked me over to a corner because apparently I looked like I was going to puke (but I didn't, probably because there was nothing left to puke up at that point).

Chocolate milk, a banana, and dry clothes have never made me so happy. And by the time I was warm, dry, and fed cruising down the mountain with my mom, Jamie, Lisa, and Rob, I was saying, "That was fun, I'm glad I did that." Which, to me even sounds weird after the race description I just gave you, but like other races, despite the mental and physical challenge, it was also rewarding. Despite the depletion and fatigue, Mount Washington also offers spectacular views and running or not, there is something I really love about scaling mountains.

Things got even better when back at the start it was a beautiful day in the mid 70s, sunny, and a Thanksgiving feast and ice cream were being served to all racers for lunch. Then a nearby stream provided the most scenic and welcome ice bath of my life.

It was fun to take part in the allure of this crazy thing the coaches (and many other crazy skiers including Kris Freeman who I met waiting around by the start) go off and do each June. So, will I do it again? Well, I won't be making a tradition of it each year like Rob, but I probably will race it again at some point. After all, it is just one hill. :)

Rob Bradlee:
After I introduced Hannah Smith to about the 10th old Nordic ski racer that I knew, she said, "Sure are a lot of fitness junkies here". The Mount Washington Road Race is such a pure test of aerobic fitness that anyone who takes a little pride in the work they have done to build up their aerobic engine wants to give it a test at the race that has "only one hill". She got to meet Kris Freeman from the USST before the race, and we waved at Keith Woodward from Craftsbury (multiple past race wins), Eli Enman who can still run 75 minutes in his 40s, Sue Long Weymess, former USST, Bob Treadwell, former USST, Charlie Kellog, CSU, Williams, and USST, and we saw the event organizers induct Mike Gallagher, USST and 4 time winner of the event back in the late-60's, into the race Hall of Fame. This running race is definitely Old Home Day for Nordic skiers.

Hannah had wanted to do the race when she was 14 and a very enthusiastic, but not yet fit J2. I told her it was too tough and she had to wait till she was a senior in high school and had few years of serious aerobic conditioning written in her training log. As a much wiser senior she was a little less sure she wanted to do the race, but I wasn't going to let her get away now. So instead of relaxing for spring of senior year she found herself doing 90 minute runs on the treadmill at full incline, hard intervals up Prospect hill, and running up Mt. Kearsage for "fun".

She was rewarded with an excellent result and a strong performance. Her time of 1:42 would have won the under-20 age group last year by over 10 minutes. However, you never know who will show up and Carolyn Stocker from Westfield MA won the age group this year with a blistering time that set a new record and in the process took away the record from CSUer Evelyn Dong. Still, Hannah was on the podium and dutifully wore her CSU jacket up to receive her medal. Nice work!

We lucked out on the weather this year. It was raining at 8 AM as we huddled under the big tent at the base, but at 8:30 when we wanted to start warming up the rain let up and it was just humid and cool for the start. By the halfway point the skies started to clear and we had views down to the parking lot and across to Madison and Adams. As we approached the summit the top cleared off and we could see the summit building perched on the rocks in the sunshine.

I had struggled with a few injuries this spring and hadn't been able to train to my usual level so I had my worst time (1:36), but was able to run a steady pace and do better than I feared I might. The CSU Masters women were awesome, easily winning the team contest thanks in part to Lisa Doucett and Donna Smyth. Marshall Randolph, Fabio Schiantarelli, and I were part of CSU men's Masters team that made the top 10 for teams.

Lisa, Hannah, and I were lucky to be supported by the Amie and Jamie team who drove up to the summit with our post-race gear bags and then hiked down to cheer us on when we most needed it. Hannah was ready to puke at the finish, but recovered pretty quickly. She said she was glad she followed my advice of using her heart-rate monitor as her guide and maintained a disciplined pace the whole way. She felt she was going too slowly for the first two miles, but was glad she had something left for the final two. The post-race experience is more like a ski race than a running race. You are soaked, dehydrated, depleted, the air is cold, and at 6,000 feet you don't have enough oxygen. We went inside and completely changed into dry clothes including warm-ups, down vest, wool hat, and ski gloves. And had some chocolate milk for recovery of course.

For any CSU Juniors who think they might like to run this race, the same rules still apply. It's a very tough effort and I think only seniors should do it and only if they are willing to do the preparatory workouts. It's a suffer-fest as is, but really is no fun if you are not ready for it.

Lisa Doucett:
With the welcome addition of Jackie Shakar to the women's senior team to run the Mt. Washington Road Race, we planned an assault on the team record for the division established in 2008 at 5:05:31. We would all have to average 1:41 to break the record. If each of us ran what we had in 2010 when Jackie was not a team member, we would also break the record, so we knew what we had to do.

It poured rain while we prepared for the start and many of the runners spent time on the all important clothing decisions. At the base, the air temperature was warm and it was humid, but we all know how Mt. Washington can be very unpredictable at the summit. Luckily, the rain stopped just as we lined up for the start and it cleared out for most of us until we reached the summit which was still in the clouds.

Among the seniors, we all bettered our last year's times, with Jackie turning in a time of 1:33:54 for second place in the 50-54 year olds, Donna Smyth running a 1:37:25 for 4th in the same division and I managed a 1:38:02, for 4th place in the 55-59 division. Hoping we grabbed the top prize, we stayed for the award ceremony to pick up our hardware. We were announced the winners and we were told they will verify our 4:49:21 as a new team record for the race.

Along the way, with CSU'er Suzy West winning the women's masters 45-49 division in 1:23:19, the club also won the Women's Master's team award. Suzy was also recognized for an age graded award for her stellar time. Also on the Master's team was Jackie, Donna, me, Deb Thomas (1:57:02) and Jennifer Ray (2:06:06).

Hannah Smith ran the mountain for the first time in a great race performance of 1:42:35 for 2nd place in the women's under 20 years of age division.

A good day on the mountain for the CSU women.

Clearing Sky

The first two runners in the fog

Suzy West had a great race

Amie Smith cheering

Rob looking pretty darned good!

Donna Smyth

Lisa towing a pack of men

Stephen Peckiconis

How does Marshall smile while suffering at 6000 ft?

Paul Thompson

Hannah questioning her sanity while Amie cheers

Marshall

Rob and Hannah all smiles after a good effort!

Littleton Photos

2011-06-12T16:53:00.000-04:00

Albert Innamorati was cruising around on his motorcycle and got several shots yesterday of CSU in action on a rainy day. Thanks for the photos!

Jim drafts Olga

Nick

Jamie playing crossing guard

Chris and Max

Rob on the big hill

Jim checks for cars

Jacob, Gavin, Zoe hiding, Cate and Rebecca on the long hill

All State Track Meet

2011-06-06T21:25:00.000-04:00

The full results of the All State track meet held last weekend have finally been posted. The CSUers taking part had a good day, with Ellen Goldberg and Julia Schiantarelli on the winning Newton North team.

Olivia Cannon had an excellent two mile race, finishing 18th in 11:35.92, which I believe is a PR for her and quite a bit above her seed. Ellen Goldberg finished 7th in the discus, throwing 111'09". From what I can tell, Newton North changed up their 4x800 relay team and Julia was replaced with another runner. NNHS finished 4th in that race.

Congrats!

Good Luck Tracksters!

2011-06-04T07:42:00.001-04:00

Good luck to the CSUers competing today at All-States down in Bridgewater. Ellen is ranked 7th in the discus, Julia is on the NNHS 4x800 relay team that is ranked 11th and Olivia Cannon is ranked 24th in the 2 mile. From W. Mass the 4x800 relay team from Mt. Greylock includes EHS skiers Kat Chenail, Amy Santella and Mackenzie Hitchcock. May you all run fast and Ellen uncork a good one!

A Visit to the Track

2011-05-29T19:07:00.002-04:00

After Saturday's Littleton rollerski I drove back to Andover, to the high school where the DI Eastern Mass track meet was going on, hoping to catch a couple of the CSU Jrs. in action. I arrived just in time to watch Ellen Goldberg warming up for the discus. Ellen and the discus you ask? Aren't discus throwers generally beefy and muscular? Well, yes, they generally are and Ellen is tall and lean and so I was eager to see how Ellen would do. She was ranked second on the psych sheet for the meet. Discus is a technique event involving a difficult spin move and timing the release just right. From what I could see, Ellen has learned her craft well, making full use of her leverage and flexibility. She had a really nice spin down and arced that disc out over 114 feet! Then in the final she repeated that distance to take the win, with her team mate Tatiana in second. Very impressive!

Next up was Julia Schiantarelli running in the 4 x 800 meter relay. Julia was pretty nervous because her coach at put her in as the anchor leg. Julia's team ran well and handed off to Julia in a little group. Julia Got passed early by one girl, but hung tough with a the group (Andrea Keklak from LS was waltzing home easily in first) and when I yelled at her to hang tough on the back stretch I wasn't convinced she was going to be able to, being in in 8th place at that point, but coming around the far turn Julia started to make a move and in the last 100 m hauled in two girls in front of her to bring her team home in the points in 6th place. Nice running!

Sorry if I missed anyone else at the meet.

Both Ellen and Julia are now headed to the state meet next weekend. Good luck!!

Fabio forwarded the following two photos.

Julia making her move in the last 100m (John Keklak photo)

Ellen and the other NNHS Captains with the 1st place team trophy (Jack Pryor photo)

CSU Owns All Scholastics Again

2011-05-21T07:36:00.001-04:00

I was thinking that somehow I totally missed the Winter All Scholastics section of the Boston Globe, probably because it was the weekend I was in Chicago, so here it is. Sorry for the belated recognition of all the CSUers on the list.

As usual, CSU Jrs. dominated the xc listings. Eli Hoenig and Corey Stock were recognized as Athletes of the Year for their respective wins at States and also at EHS. Congrats to both!

Listed as All-Scholastics were Chris Burnham, Neil Garrison, Olivia Meyerson, Rion O'Grady, Tom Rummel and Hannah Smith for their fine efforts throughout the season.

All-Stars in Mass Bay West included Catherine Benson, Liza Dawley, Neil Garrison, Chris Burnham, Caitlin Guiney, Olivia Meyerson, Calvin Wight, Kelsey Colpitts, Eli Hoenig, Greg Holdman, Blake McCartney, Jordan Richmond and Corey Stock and listed in NEPSAC for some reason were Rion, O'Grady, Tom Rummel, Hannah Smith and Sean Skahen. I finally got the All-Star results for Mass Bay East from Fabio, which in addition to those listed about, includes: Julia Schiantarelli, Rebecca Smith, Olivia Cannon, Ellen Goldberg, Stoddard Meigs, Toby Howe, Rafi Razzaque and Nick Reitman.
Congrats to all on a fine season!

Friday core

2011-05-16T07:50:00.009-04:00

Friday core this week involved a little less mayhem, since I remembered the stick figure drawings to put at each station - things went smoothly. Good times! I took photos of people in various states of agony - 8-min abs is the worst, since we start over if anybody stops - brutal. At least the mosquitos weren't that bad this time.

The 2011-2012 Season Begins!!!

2011-05-07T18:22:00.000-04:00

A new season begins on a beatiful spring day!!! A good group turned out for today's Littleton season opener with multiple groups heading out on the short 14 mile loop or a long out and back. It was good to be back on the roads and a great day to start the season.

Aim's Last Dance??

2011-05-07T07:52:00.000-04:00

Is this Aim's last dance on snow? Only time and conditions will tell. From last weekend:

I knew in advance it would be the first Saturday since November when I wouldn’t ski. Saturday was the Run of the Charles and I wasn’t going to miss that. But Sunday I got up early and drove to Pinkham Notch. It was going to be a beautiful day and I wanted to ski up and see the Gulf of Slides on the side of Mount Washington, a place I’d never been. The Visitor Center was jammed with Tuckerman Ravine skiers, but as soon as I turned onto the Gulf of Slides ski trail it was much more peaceful.

Since last week a lot of snow is gone. The Gulf of Slides ski trail climbs from about 2000 feet at route 16 in Pinkham Notch to 4200 at the base of the slides. Maintained specifically as a ski trail, it is about 20 feet wide but yesterday only about a third of the width was snow covered and that strip wove excitingly through rocks, stream crossings and numerous vertical challenges. I was climbing on my 160cm metal-edged back-country waxless skis and had a huge uphill advantage over the people with heavy telemark gear but all the way up I kept thinking how difficult the descent would be. Didn’t matter I thought, get up there and see the slides then worry about it.

I spent about 30 minutes at the base the of Main Slide in glorious sunshine, watching the snowboarders and skiers, then turned to go down. I wanted to have plenty of time and was glad there’d be a couple dozen coming behind me in case I needed someone to notice I was lying there injured. The 2000 foot trip down though seemed far less difficult than I’d expected. Some of the telemarkers had expressed wonder than I’d be going down on my light backcountry equipment but with snowplowing and some slide slipping I had no trouble at all. All too soon I was back at route 16 and driving home in time for a nice bike ride with Terry.

Unless Terry can coax me out once more for a Mother’s Day weekend trip, I think I’m done until October. I broke the 270 ski hour barrier for the first time this season and set another personal record by skiing 175 times.

From Rte 16

Tele Skiers with Wildcat in background

Skiers circled on top

From Rte 16

CSU at the Run of the Charles

2011-05-01T09:23:00.000-04:00

Hannah Smith organized a good CSU Junior mixed relay team for the 24 mile relay race in the Run of the Charles today, along with some good trash talking aimed at the Quinobequin Canoe Club team with 5 CSUers. On the Jr team were Olivia Meyerson and Chris Stock - Leg 1, Cate Brams and Jacob Meyerson - Leg 2, Nick Reitman and Zoe Snow - Leg 3, Rebecca Smith (complete with war paint!) and Calvin Wight - Leg 4 and Hannah Smith and Eli Hoenig - Leg 5. For the QCC, a team that does only this race, were Wes Denering and Gus - Leg 1, Bob and Jim Burnham - Leg 2, Bob B and Bob Kelly - Leg 3, Everett Briggs and Wes - Leg 4 and Rob and Jamie - Leg 5. It was a nice day for a good, hard paddle (or two in the case of Wes and Bob B). There were other skiers out there as well, including Michael Melnikov, Aims Coney, Terry Myers, the Shultz's, down from VT where they still have ice on the water, Weston Tues night racers back in their primary sport Carina Peritore, Dan Rabinkin, Seth Miller, Dave Vandorpe and probably others that I didn't see. One of these days the results will be posted at http://www.crwa.org/

At the start Chris Stock and Olivia Meyerson got off to an excellent start, dropping everyone in their wave immediately, while a few waves back Wes and Gus did the same. The hand offs for leg 2 went pretty smoothly as Cate and Jacob took over for the juniors and the Burnhams for QCC a few minutes later. No one went for a swim this year and the junior boat was much improved through all the legs, but despite the trash talk in the end, experience paddling canoes in a straight line won out over enthusiasm and youth and the old guys in the QCC finished for the 9th year in a row in 1st place, while the Jrs. took the top spot in the mixed category and an excellent 7th overall, moving up 4 spots from last year's team. I suspect that if the race had been all portages and the juniors practiced a bit more the old guys would have been toasted by the Jrs. The water this year was high and fast and at the broken dam in Watertown Rob and I had to negotiate our way through two overturned canoes in the small patch of white water. A fun day to avoid, once again, doing chores at home. The 2011-2012 ski season begins tomorrow!

Olivia and Chris cranking on Leg 1

Gus and Wes start the Open Class

Chris and Olivia half way through Leg 1

Wes and Gus passing boats from earlier waves

Jacob at the hand off to Leg 2

Cate taking control on Leg 2

Bob getting the canoe from Wes to start Leg 2

Eli after the finish

Hannah after a strong finish

Part of the CSU Jr Team. Missing were Zoe, Jacob, Olivia and Chris.

Aims is Not Done Yet!

2011-04-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

As happens each spring, Aims searches out snow. These are no ordinary searches, like within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. No, Aims searches far and wide. These are from the Adirondacks where he went after he and Wes skiied Prospect on Saturday. Aims gets more hours of skiing in in April than I do in March!

Sunday trip 1, Before Breakfast- Old Stage Road, Waxless, 1 hour 17 minutes

Sunday trip two, before lunch- Popple Point Road, waxless, 1 hour 22 minutes

Sunday trip three, afternoon- Newcomb Lake Road, Skate, 2 hours, 42 minutes

Wes' Last Ski

2011-04-17T20:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Wes and Aims skied once more at Prospect. Saturday was Prospect's last day. They were still grooming but were down to about 8km of trails and they were getting dirty, although it stayed cold all day. Wes reports that he skied over 70km and over 5 hours!!

Results of the Energy Bar competition

2011-04-11T21:37:00.003-04:00

At the end-of-season party, the CSU juniors held an energy bar competition. A panel of distinguished judges tasted all the bars, and ranked them based on taste, nutrition, and presentation/packageability. There were some really neat entries, and some really creative names. There were also some really delicious bars, as well as some that tasted like energy bars.

With no further ado, the top five energy bars:

1. Rasin the Bar - Hannah and Calvin
2. 3R Bar - Eli and Rebecca
3. Simply Power - Olivia and Zoe
4. Chocolate Fusion - Cate and Jacob
Fifth place was a tie:
5. Cerebral Stalwart Ultra - Corey and Nadja
5. Maple Almond Granola Bars - Rosemary Benson (Catherine's mom)

We also had submissions from Meg, Rosie, Cathy Schen (gluten free!), Izzy Cole, Olivia Cannon, Peter Hoenig, and Liza.

Some of the recipes are below... not everyone has sent me the recipes, but once I nag them some more, we should have all six winning recipes on the blog. Who will be the first to test out some of these bars on a long rollerski??

Chocolate Fusion Bars
By Jacob and Cate
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 Tsp. shortening
• 1/6 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/8 cup dark corn syrup
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup instant oats
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Instructions: honey, OJ and lemon juice. Mix all other ingredients separately (except chocolate chips). Combine 2 mixtures, add ½ cup chocolate chips, and flatten into rectangle; cut into 6 pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Dip in melted ½ cup chocolate and shortening. Store in freezer prior to eating.

Maple Almond Granola Bars

Rosemary Benson
Ingredients:
2.5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
0.5 cup whole almonds
0.5 cup sliced almonds
0.5 cup chopped pecans
0.5 cup raisins
0.5 cup dried cranberries
0.25 cup milled flaxseed
0.25 cup sunflower seed kernels
0.75 cup wheat germ
0.25 cup whey protein
0.50 cup almond butter
0.75 cup maple syrup
2.0 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Mix oats, almonds, pecans, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and wheat germ. Spread on rimmed cookie sheet and toast in oven for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. In saucepan, mix almond butter, maple syrup, and vanilla and heat till warm and gooey. In large bowl, combine toasted oat mixture with the raisins, dried cranberries, and whey protein. Pour maple syrup mixture into oats bowl and mix until it’s all sticking together. Press into a thick layer in a 9”x9” baking pan—use that upper arm strength and press hard. Bake for 20 minutes at 325˚F. Let cool completely and cut into bars with a very sharp knife. Enjoy!

Its a New Season

2011-04-10T21:34:00.000-04:00

Today the CSU Jr relay team for the Run of the Charles canoe race, taking place on 4/30/11, got together for a little canoe practice. It was a beautiful day to get out on the water and practice going straight in a boat. Wes Denering and I provided a bit of instruction and as you might expect, it didn't take long for everyone to get the hang of paddling. Not a whole lot different than double poling!

Rebecca and Jacob practice portaging

Wes provides some paddling instruction

Wes and Jamie demonstrate

Chris

Corey and Jacob resting

Nick and Zoe practice

Goose-eye view

Zoe catching rays

Nothing like Stock and Meyerson vs. Stock and Meyerson

Last Day on Snow

2011-04-03T16:43:00.000-04:00

A collection of CSU Masters and CSU Juniors, including Wes, Larry, Scott, Jamie, Rob, Hannah, Tom, Chris, Anne, Nick, Calvin, Rion, Katrin and Jim Stock and Jim O'Grady headed to Waterville Valley today for the last ski of the season. We were preceeded by Jim Stock with his group of BKSLers. More than half the cars in the lot were from Massachusetts and probably nearly all CSU and BKSL! With a bluebird sky and a bright springtime sun the rock hard icy tracks started to give way to something a bit softer and slushier as the morning progressed. With the wind it wasn't real warm, but warm enough for a relaxing ski. There is a lot of snow in the woods up high so there is perhaps more skiing to be had if you want to work for it next week, but I'm done. We did Livermore Rd to the top of Snow's, Cascade Brook, some back and forth and then I was so bonked I had to eat my lunch. Then the juniors skied Tripoli Rd while Anne Burnham and I, both exhausted from fighting off colds skied Wicked Easy and Moose Run, trying not to fall on our face everytime we went from shade to sun. The fat lady has sung and the ski box is off the car.

Congress Approves Citizenship for Northug April 1

2011-04-01T17:38:00.000-04:00

Terry McNatt and I have been doing a little work on the side as ski reporters.
We are the first to break this exciting story.

Rob

In a surprise move late last night the bitterly partisan U.S. Congress unanimously voted immediate American citizenship for Norwegian superstar Petter Northug. Later today in a Rose Garden ceremony President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. "When I declared Nordic skiing to be the new national pastime two years ago I was scoffed at. But with the threat of a lockout in football, the continuing steroid scandal in baseball, and my own basketball injury requiring 12 stitches, a lot of folks have joined my vision of our country uniting around a clean, healthy, and most importantly, a lifelong sport".

Most observers expected Northug to reject the offer of citizenship, but at a raucous news conference in Oslo this morning he welcomed it enthusiastically.

"I'm still angry about not being selected for the Olympic team for Torino. I've had it with the Norwegian Ski Federation and Norway in general. I’ve labored through enough sunless winters and lutefisk dinners to last me a lifetime.

Besides, I hear that USSA is the best ski federation in the world. A really top-notch organization." After an expletive-filled rant about the many serious problems with Norwegian ski racing, Northug brightened when asked about how he'll fit in on the American team. "I can't wait to do the team sprint with Newell. That guy rocks. Have you seen his films? I'll put him in the right spot and he'll crush that Harvey guy. No way I want to be humiliated by losing to Canadians in their goofy tukes again. That's the absolute worst.". Northug also felt that the Americans can help him reach a new level. "Look, there's just no challenge left for me racing in Norway. The sprint semifinal was like attending a children's race. Heck, I stopped for a pee in the national 50k and still won easily. If I'm racing Freeman he won't let me get away with that. If I fall down and start crying again he'll kick my butt and tell me to get up and quit skiing like a girlyman! Nordic skiing isn’t figure skating. There’s no “kiss and cry cubbie” and you don't see Kris sniffling on his coach’s shoulder when he has a bad day."

When asked if he knew any of the women on the U.S. team, Northug visibly reddened and spoke haltingly, “When I first saw Lindsay Vonn in Sport’s Illustrated I knew someday my future in skiing lay in America. Also, do you know if Jessie Diggins is going out with anyone? Would she, you know, hang out with me? When I saw her at Worlds I almost skied into a tree. What a hottie!”

As for what part of the country he will reside in, Northug seemed unsure.

“Newell said I could ski with the Stratton kids for the summer, and Lars Flora told me that APU glacier skiing is the best, but of course CXC has those great summer camps. Maybe I’ll just go to Vegas and roll the dice.”