Tour de Ski - 2013

Next up after Canmore was the Tour de Ski. There is a good overview of the event here - overview. In nutshell, this was seven races over the course of nine days at four different venues. Pretty intense.

Here is some stuff that happened.

An overview of where the races were.

Oberhof - Some of the wax cabins on the left. To the right you can see the waxing trucks of Sweden, Norway, and Germany. Pretty cool.

Oberhof - Lack of snow was an issue again. At certain points, pavement was actually showing through on the race course.

Oberhof - This is a picture of the venue. Sort of. The fog and rain that you see here is typical of Oberhof. It is a disgusting place to be in the winter and the entire World Cup is always excited to leave.

Oberhof - Wax cabins.

Oberhof - Applying structure.

Oberhof - Working.

Oberhof - Modern art? Nope. Just the six klisters that we tested and the aftermath of cleaning up the test skis.

Oberhof - Heading out to test.

Val Mustair - Compare this to the pictures of Oberhof above. This is what makes Switzerland better.

Val Mustair -See? So much better.

Val Mustair - The sun even shines here!

Val Mustair -  The refreshment room in the wax cabin had a fridge full of Coke. Hard to argue with that.

Val Mustair -  Matt, Cork, and me. Ready to get after it.

Italy - Since I was working with Noah at this year's Tour, I got to head up to the start of the point to point race in Cortina. It was a good day to be up in the mountains.

Italy - Racing in Italy is like racing in Germany... only the sun shines and it doesn't rain.

Italy - The stadium at Toblach. Take note of the hill in the middle-back of the picture. That is part of the sprint course and you'll also note it is a building!

I was lucky enough to be upgrade to the Executive First cabin for both my flight to and from Europe this time. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you should check it out here - Executive First. Seriously, go have a look. It will blow your mind. 

Next weekend Reid and are I heading to Duntroon, Ontario to do race support for a few folks at World Championship trials. This is Canada's last set of selection races for Worlds, so this is event is a big deal.

Canmore World Cup - December 2012

I haven't managed to post anything here in a long time... too long, really. But that doesn't mean that nothing has been going on.

In December, Canmore hosted World Cups, which was the start of my season with the USST. I was working with Kris Freeman and Liz Stephen. Kris had some awesome races, but Liz was sick the entire time and didn't start a single event.

On the way to Canmore. Ski racing gets me excited.

Inside the wax cabin. All cleaned up at the end of a long day.

Canmore is a good venue, for sure one of the best in the World.

Getting after it.

We make amazing skis for the sprint and didn't want the entire world watching what we were applying. So we got some bottles from Canadian Tire and camouflaged them.

Testing skis.

Mass start. You can just see Kris poking his head out behind #21.

Kris racing hard.

The Norwegian girls came around the hotel one night with pastries and songs for Saint Lucia night.

More of Kris racing. He is #16 in this picture.

At one point, I was on live TV in Europe for several minutes when the cameras were in our wax cabin.

Sunrise at the venue.

Working on Kikan's skis for the sprint. That's me in the yellow jacket.

Winter Run

It's been a while... but winter is here so the updates will start coming a little more frequently. Tonight, it is -8c and snowing in Edmonton. Paul and I went out and did the 4x4min intervals we missed last night due to the intense snowfall. It was an awesome run and it felt great to be outside.

The run looked like this - 4x4min, Garmin Details

I've really missed running with Paul throughout the summer and fall. Due to his work schedule, we haven't been able to train together much. But it's awesome having him in Edmonton again so that we can at least get out a few times a week. I always seem to run a little faster when he's around. 

I couldn't find any pictures of us running in the snow together, but in the process of looking I did manage to find this. So... that's something.

The route we took also brought me back several years to doing morning intervals with Lorris. When we were coaching, it was tough to get our own training in during practice. So we'd often meet before work and do the exact workout that Paul and I did tonight. Lorris lives in San Francisco now, so he and I don't get to see each other very often these days. Remembering those mornings makes me pretty happy though.

Lorris and me at the Olympics. We are a couple of good looking guys.

So, all in all a great night. There is talk of a 5km classic skiing time trial on Sunday. I'm already thinking about wax and ski options. It certainly isn't fitness that is going to put me in that race :)

Summer - that's a wrap

Some things that happened this summer:

We spent a lot of time with Roseanne...

... and Wayne!

Specifically, we spent a lot of time with Roseanne and Wayne in the boat.

We also played ladder ball.

Maryann and Cole were a team.

Cole was a really good shot...

... but Luke and I won the game.

Luke took advantage of some glass.

And Cole grabbed some air.

Rose strapped on the board.

Wayne taught me to love skiing. He's still got it.

I got my swerve on.

Maryann got a new wetsuit and immediately learned to drop a ski. Coincidence? I think not.

She was pretty excited about that development.

I was excited too.

Luke is excited because he is sitting beside the heater!

Cole was in charge of the tunes for most of the summer.

Good times.

Thanks guys - that was an unbelievable summer!

My first World Cup trip of 2012 gets underway in less than 100 days. Not long now...