Western Mass Adventure Weekend

A handful of intrepid CSU athletes and coaches (possibly more coaches than athletes, but who is counting?) made the trip to Western Massachusetts for our first adventure weekend of the summer. Since there was a bike race using our usual rollerski route, we gathered at Jiminy Peak to meet up with some of our friends on the Greylock and Mohawk teams, that we know through EHS and U16s on Team Massachusetts. Our roll took us through some lovely countryside on rolling roads, into NY state, and past an intriguing tag sale. We had a moment of excitement when there was a rollerskier-bike collision, but luckily everybody was ok, with the exception of Owen's bicycle, which has now been shortened.

Owen before the bike was shortened

We had a nice crew, with David, Linden, and Alex from CSU, and Jakin, Corbin, Corban, Erika, Adam, and Justin from Berkshire Nordic, plus three younger kids who skied with their coach Jacob. Beautiful weather and beautiful roads!

After the roll, we headed to Williamstown, first for a *very* cold dip in Hemlock Brook, and then for some ice cream. Victor didn't seem phased by the cold water, so clearly they grow them tougher in Russia. After relaxing over the ice cream, we strolled up Pine Cobble, for the view, and then ate dinner at the slowest mexican restaurant I've ever been to. Good thing nobody was hungry.

CSU past, present, and future

The group who made it up Pine Cobble. David and Natalie joined us for the hike on Sunday, but not the hike Saturday.

By the time we got to Notchview, it was late, and we all went straight to bed. Morning dawned with a constant rain. Half the group, led by Tod, headed to the western side of Greylock for a looooong hike, and the other half headed to the eastern side of Greylock, for the mountain race.

Owen did the 5k race, and ended up in third overall! The guys that beat him were both 14, and he's 11 (turning 12 on Monday, happy birthday Owen!), so that was pretty impressive. In the longer race, Alex B, Heiner, Ari, and Alex all braved a very wet and very hilly mix of Type I and Type II fun. There were no tears, and a good time was had by all. Jacob (Berkshire coach) won the overall race, and Alex J won the women's race, with Jakin taking the junior title, and Heiner winning his age class as well. We ended up skipping the ice cream in Adams, because we were all too cold and wet, but Ari and Alex J managed to find ice cream in NoHo, because you can't have a mountain race if you don't follow it with ice cream.

The next adventure weekend will be August 2-3, in Vermont. Don't miss it!

Western Mass. adventure weekend

Last weekend, a crew headed out west to join our friends at Berkshire Nordic for a ski and to jump into the Mt. Greylock trail race. It was a pretty jam-packed weekend. Huge thank you to Notchview reservation for letting us spend the night there, and to Sheila Niedeck for all her organization before the weekend!

What follows are a TON of photos. Enjoy!

First, we rollerskied:

We also learned the ways of writing a Kate-length training log post: 

Then, we swam:

Then after some lunch and a little chill time, we went for what I described as a "walk." The theatre group chilling on top of the viewpoint started laughing when they heard how long it took us to walk to the top. "oh, yeah, we totally timed our hike too, and it was about that long." As we jogged past them on the way down, they shrieked and hid behind trees. I hope they were just being dramatic...

The crew!

Next we headed home, where the kids got some homework done (finals are coming up, after all), ate pizza, and made s'mores.

Notchview is so pretty under a sky like that. Good night for fireflies! Zyna taught us not to catch the ones near the ground, those are the ladies and they bite.

No time for capture the flag today, and a big day tomorrow! 

Sunday's adventure was a mountain race, up Mount Greylock and then 9 miles of technical trails to descend. A half marathon with 800m of climb, on a hot day, was definitely going to be a challenge! I didn't run, so got the change to take photos, climbing the mountain with poles and then going down a slightly option than the 9-mile version. Anyone who beat my time from last year earned free ice cream after the race; everyone else had to pay for their own ice cream. 

Phoebe crossing the visitor center at the top. Always smiling! 

Kate thoroughly enjoying herself

Ayden cresting the hill!

The ascent trail

Ben and Linden got to the top together; Linden took in the view

I cheered and gave out high fives, to our runners as well as everyone else in the race who wasn't wearing headphones, and then headed down the Gould Trail to catch the kids again with about two miles to go. They were universally less smiley at the second point, but seemed to cheer up after seeing me. 

Ben turns the corner

Phoebe cruising down the hill

Ayden seemed to be floating down the hill, and claimed to have a little Type I fun out there too

Linden thought he'd rather have twice the up and none of the downhill

Kate was not wearing this expression a second earlier

most forced smile ever

Or maybe this is the most forced smile ever

Taking to heart my comments that you can just let your arms flop all over as balance ballast on a downhill

After a good long well-deserved soak in the little stream by the finish, it was time for ice cream and then homeward bound. Sunburned, bug-bitten, muddy, tired, and full of happy thoughts of mountain days.

"where do you guys want your post-race photo?"

unanimously - 

"right here!"

Ayden and Ben eating their well-deserved free ice cream!