Weekend in Silver Star!

Last Wednesday, after spending hours out with the Volvo trying to bring it back to life, Phil, Amanda, Joel and myself loaded up and headed to Silver Star. The Legend was a champ; fitting 4 people with all their gear and still driving like a semi. Sometimes I think she thinks she is a truck...

We arrived in Silver Star and were greeted with warm temps, tonnes of snow and the usual 'Who Ville" atmosphere. Thursday and Friday were spent testing skis, skiing the courses and going over race day procedures. This was my first away race as a member of the Canmore Nordic Ski Club, and I must say it was quite a treat. Alain and Roddy did a fantastic job with waxing, splits, race prep and overall organization. A big thanks to Cathy, Christine, and Darcy for waxing, testing, preparing meals and keeping smiles on all the athletes faces. Another thanks to those parents who cooked and sent delicious pre-made meals with us!

So on to the racing! Saturday was the first Olympic qualifying race for 2010, and also a World Cup qualifier for the Canmore WC the first weekend in Feb. It was a 15km individual start skate race. As last year was not the most successful for me, I had a fairly early starting position and wasn't able to get splits off the fast guys that were starting almost 20 minutes behind me. Warming up I felt pretty good, and was itching to race. Last weekend gave me a bit of confidence, but Silver Star has always been a challenging race weekend for me, and I have always left feeling unsatisfied, and wanting more. The plan was to start conservative and try and save something for the second lap. The course was very challenging, with some good long climbs, and rolling terrain that always keeps you on your toes. So off I went, opening up with a conservative pace, but still skiing at a pace that I thought would put me where I wanted to be on the results sheet. The splits I received on the first lap, had me jostling for the lead with American Andy Johnson. I was pleased with this, but knew all the fast guys were yet to start. So I put my head down and gave it everything on the second lap. I crossed the line in second behind Andy Johnson, and had to play the waiting game while all the higher ranked skiers made there way around the course. I ended the day in 14th, which I was really pleased with! I was the 7th Canadian and the 2nd Under 23 behind Kevin Sandau (who had a killer race, coming 8th overall, 3rd Canadian and 1st U23!) Gordon Jewett was the first Canadian across the line, securing a much deserved spot in Whistler. My finish also grabbed me a spot for the 15km skate in the World Cup in Canmore this Feb! Cool eh?

15km results here

So day 1 was a great success. I finished the race feeling like there was nothing more to give, and happy that I had overcome the butt kicking that has been Silver Star for the last few years!

Sunday was a skate sprint with a stacked field. I was ranked well outside the top thirty, so I needed to have an exceptional race to sneak into the heats. I did just that, tying for 30th to 1/100th of a second. Luckily for me they used CPL (Canadian Points List) to break the tie, and seeing as I was tied with an American, he did not have great CPL points (neither did I, but they were good enough to get me in!). This made an already satisfying weekend just that much better! I was in heat #1 in the quarter finals, wearing bib 30. I had a great start getting myself into second, where I remained until the finishing stretch, getting out lunged and ending up third. My day was done here, but I moved myself from 30th up to 15th overall. (7th Canadian, 3rd U23).

Sprint Results here

To have such a consistent weekend was really satisfying. I have never had a weekend of racing with such a competitive field, and finished in the top 15 both days. This is another big confidence booster heading into U23 trails the first week of January.

So now what? Well this weekend is the second set of Olympic qualifying races. There are back to back classic sprint on the weekend, and an epic 50km classic (individual start!!) on Tuesday. I will race Saturdays classic sprint (to try and build on my biggest weakness...) and then race a 15km classic on Tuesday. No 50km for me... I am opting to train through the weekend, and hopefully make some more gains before heading home for Christmas on the 23rd.

All in all a great start to the year so far! Thanks to everyone out there for your incredible support!!!

 And big thanks to Phillip Wood for the sweet pictures below!

 The start of the 1st quarter final (I am bib 30)

 

 

Coming up over the last hill into the stadium... still just barley holding onto second

 

About to be overtaken...

 

Sharpe eh? New suit... No more Yellow and Blue clown suit.

That marked the end of the day for me.

Not a Bad Start!

Well we all know how Saturday went down! After a long day at the CNC, I came home quite pooped. The dudes in the house made a nice dinner for a gals, we enjoyed some much needed Moose Tracks and brownies, and it was off to bed. Sunday came around with the expected cold temperatures. It was -17 when I got up, -18 by 8:00am, and it had leveled off at -17.5 by 9:30am. They pushed the start back an hour, but the race was a go!

I had mixed emotions... after the first delay I sat reading on the couch, nice and warm, and had planned to go to Harvest to get some world renowned Sunday morning Cinnamon Buns. My plans were foiled by the go ahead. Instead I hopped in the Legend, and made my way back up to the CNC.

It was cold. No doubt about it; but the biathlon races went off without a hitch, and we could not let them show us up. There were quite a reduced number of skiers making there way around the race trails warming up. It seems most called off the race themselves. By 11:00 we were off. Mass start 9km, with about 28 men showing up to race.

I started at a medium pace, holding my place within the pack. After two laps (of a 4 lap race) we had strung out a bit, and heading out onto the third lap I made my way to the front. I picked up the pace a little and to my surprise by the end of the lap we were down to just a few. I picked it up even more on the last lap, (not wanting it to come down to a sprint) and was able to gain enough of a lead that I was able to cruise it into the finish. I was quite surprised with myself. Saturdays TT was a good confidence booster, and Sundays race reinforced the fact that things are on the right track!

For results click HERE.

The CNSC biathletes also held their own out there this weekend. Some notable results include:

Emma Lodge: Sat- 2nd, Sun- 1st, (still 1st overall, rockin' that sweet purple bib)
Joel Pacas: Sun- 2nd (3rd overall)
Macx Davies: Sat- 4th, Sun- 2nd (2nd overall)
Andrew Chisholm: Sat- 2nd
Lauren Heckley: Sun- 3rd

The past two days (Mon and Tues) have been absolutely frigid. You know it is cold when you are out for a run, and you look behind you and you can see each spot you took a breath (for the last 4-5 breaths) because the warm air is suspended, not really moving up or down. You also know it is cold when you check the weather network and it says -35 C. You also know it is cold when the Legend won't start. This is the first time it has seen -35 C, and it doesn't have a block heater... I have had the battery inside, and a small space heater under the engine, with a tarp over it, for the majority of the afternoon! Time to go test my luck!

Tomorrow the A-Team heads to SilverStar for a 15km individual start skate on Saturday (1st Olympic Trials race) and a skate sprint on Sunday. I am hoping the Legend roars to life, as it is our 'choice' mode of transportation.

Thanks to all for the congrats on the weekend! Lets see what we can do next weekend!

Pate

The Good With The Bad!

Well, this mornings classic sprint qualifier marked the beginning of the race season for me! I got up early, and was at the Nordic Centre before the sun had risen over the mountains. The qualifier got started at 9:00, which meant an early morning for the coaches and wax techs.

Over the last few years there has been quite a bit of hype about double poling classic sprints on skate skis. I had never done it, and figured that today's sprint would be the day to try it. The only problem was that the groomers mixed up the courses last night, and accidentally groomed the wrong sprint course. (The new course had a long uphill section, but also a longer downhill section) The organizers decided to use the new course, as the track had set up well, and re-grooming with the new snow we received yesterday would have made for quite a soft track.

So this morning I sat there humming and hawing about which technique to use. Eventually, I decided to stick with the DP and skate skis, as that is what I had psyched myself up to do, and my skate skis were race waxed and ready to go.

In the end I probably should have gone with classic skis! Not much else to say about it. The gain on the downhill because of the speed of the skate skis wasn't enough to make up the lost time on the climb. I crossed the line 32nd... top 30 qualify. That marked the end of the day for me. NOT COOL!

BUT, there is a very happy ending to this story. As I was packing my things and heading home, I got word that some of the Academy distance guys were doing a 15km skate time trial at noon (instead of the sprint heats). The reason for this is Canmore has been going through a deep freeze. We have been going down to the -20's C at night, and tomorrow the high isn't suppose to get up past -20 C. The legal race temperature is -18 C, so even if we hit the high tomorrow, we are still not able to race. As a result, there is a good chance tomorrow's distance race will be canceled. Next weekend is the start of Olympic Trials, and the distance guys on the AWCA wanted to get a distance race in before the big qualifier. Hearing this, I jumped at the opportunity to join them. I was disappointed with the sprint qualifier and was looking for some sort of redemption. (Plus, I wanted to get at least 1 distance race in before next weekend too)

I found what I was looking for. I had quite a good 15km, and finished 3rd behind Nish and Dan, 8 seconds out. I get quite a chuckle out of that... I was closer to the winner in the 15km TT, then I was in the 1.2km sprint... YA, that definitely says something about my sprinting abilities!

So after two races today I am pooped! Whether tomorrow's race goes or not, I am satisfied with the weekend and can't wait until next weeks 15km skate, and skate sprint in Silver Star. Lets just hope I can pull it out when it counts!

Things are looking good distance wise... so lets get this show on the road!!!!

Pate

-Weekend in Review-

There was lots of racing action this past weekend for cross-country skiers in North America. There were races down in West Yellowstone that marked the season opener for the US SuperTour series.  There were a handful of Canadians that went down and overall, we had a fairly strong presence on the podium.

The first Biathlon NorAm of the year also went down this past weekend at the Canmore Nordic Centre. The little loop that we have nurtured and loved so much is finally growing up. It is to the point now where you can hold a biathlon NorAm, and still have skiing available to the public. Now, the loop for the public was only 400m, but it is still better then nothing. It needs a huge growth spurt this week if we are going to be able to hold both an Alberta Cup and Biathlon NorAm next weekend... The CNSC biathletes had quite an impressive showing with Emma Lodge winning both her races, Macx Davies winning one of his, Beau Thomsen finishing third yesterday, and Joel Pacas rounding it out with two 4^th place finishes. Not bad! Lets see if the xc side of the club can live up to those standards next weekend!

Athletes from CNSC, Banff Ski Runners, AWCA, Foothills (and even an Aussie) that didn’t go down to West Yellerstone, or weren’t racing in the biathlon NorAm, got together for a 10km classic time trial up at Mt. Shark (1750m) on Saturday. We had quite a good turnout, with about 55 racers. We even had Zone 4 timing… pretty legit for a TT.

The race was 4 laps of a 2.2km; mostly flat with one medium climb at the end of the loop. We used hard wax, but warm weather with some rain earlier on in the week made for very fast, icy and abrasive conditions. With a klister binder, you were lucky if your wax made it through to the 4^th lap.

My race went pretty well. I had never raced at Mt. Shark, but had heard rumours that it was notorious for blowing people up. So I started easy and tried to maintain a good pace throughout. It worked, I finished and didn’t blow up, but I am curious to see how far I could have pushed it before I hit the point of no return, and was left shattered on the side of the trail…

I am in a good place though, mentally and physically and am really looking forward to the races this coming weekend. We start with a classic sprint on Saturday (Yippy…!) and have a 15km mass start skate on Sunday.  The following Wednesday we head to Silver Star, then return the next weekend for Olympic Trials in Canmore.  Then it is Christmas. Crazy eh’? Non stop action from now until the New Year. COOL!

For World Cup Results Click Here

For West Yellowstone Super Tour Results Click Here

For our Mt. Shark TT results Click Here

Bryce Jenkins with the Three Sisters in the background

Emma Lodge on her way to victory #2

Joel Pacas

Macx Davies

Got 20?

I found this link while doing the rounds on the interweb today. Thomsen D'Hont posted it on his Facebook, and I figured I would continue to pass it around. Click the link below and prepare to be enlightened.

The video is about twenty minutes, but well worth the time. Put twenty minutes aside to stretch this evening and watch the video while you do. Or do 20min of core... or let it play while you make dinner, or even eat dinner! Watch it instead of that TV show tonight. I recommend it, it is a good eye opener. 

Enjoy!

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Pate

Ode to Paris

 

This weekend, one of our beloved little mutts passed away. Paris was outside with my dad and brother, supervising the fall cleanup. She found a spot on the deck, snuggled up against the sunny side of the house, and went to sleep. We never quite knew how old Paris was, but she spent the last 7 years with my family and truly was a great dog. We got Paris from the pound, after she was found running back and forth across Hwy 50 in Bolton. We brought her home, she established her place on the couch and spent most of the last 7 years there.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth" is a saying that comes to mind when thinking of Paris. She had a spectacular under bite, with teeth shooting out in every direction. When she came into our family we knew she was old, but she still had a lot of spunk left in her, and loved to go on a tear across the back field. Over time her hearing and eye sight went, to the point where we couldn't bring her to the cottage anymore because she would constantly walk off the end of the dock. She didn't like swimming, mostly because of the wet rat appearance she took on after getting out of the water. She loved to cuddle up on the couch, and would somehow make her way to the highest pillow possible, so she could over see the on-goings in the room.

When we brought Paris home on day one, Daisy -our other pooch- wasn't quite sure what to think of this new ball of fluff. She was allowed to sleep inside, she was allowed to snuggle up on the couch, and she was treated like a princess (she may have had a party collar or two, and a Christmas sweater) All joys that Daisy wasn't allowed to part take in (mostly because of her size). The two dogs eventually found their place, and were best of pals from then on in. After Paris got her biannual hair cut, she would canoodle up into one of Daisy's extra rolls of fat to keep warm. Paris was always able to find her spot on one of the dog beds in our house; even if Daisy was sprawled out across the whole thing. She was captain of the kitchen patrol, and Daisy was her sidekick. Paris would take care of cleaning up underneath the counters, in the hard to reach spots, and Daisy was in charge of the floor. Paris would even take on the duty of "mop" when Logan Tacoma was in the house.

 

Paris, although small and princess like, was a go anywhere, do anything kind of dog. She was very much her own boss, and if she didn't like something (like the wind on the boat in this next picture) she would stare at you until you did something to make her feel more comfortable (like drive slower). 

 

Paris was a unique dog, and one that will be greatly missed. She has found a place on the Neumann property along with our other dogs of the past. We have lost an amazing dog, and Diasy has lost her partner in crime.

 

 

 -Paris and Daisy-

Lake Louise Camp

This past weekend 52 of Canmores best headed out for a mini camp in Lake Louise. We had spectacular weather, amazing skiing, and incredible food compliments of the CNSC parents. Highlights of the camp include a three hour classic ski around Lake Louise, a fun night of tobogganing and... well... pretty much every workout was a highlight.

Saturday Joel, Phil and I went out for a 3 hr classic ski. We were looking for something other then Moraine Lake Road to ski, as we were getting tired of the old out and back. We ended up doing a tour of Lake Louise that involved some bush whacking, trail breaking and super fast downhills. A wicked ski. Here are some pictures...


Joel and Phil heading up the Fairview Trial, (the beginning of the Tour De LL)


Testing the ice on Lake Louise


Phil and Joel breaking trail at the far end of the lake


Looking back on the Chateau Lake Louise







On Sunday we did a time trial. It was an early morning event, as we wanted to beat all the rec skiers and other teams out onto the trails. With a 7:30am departure and an 8:30 start time, we got to watch the sun rise over the mountains. There was a few inches of new snow on the trail, but with 60 racers heading out to ski the course, it was packed down within minutes.

(TT pictures courtesy of Joel Pacas.)


Me! Coming into the turn around. Sweet suit eh?!?


Phil and myself



The below pictures are from the cool down after the TT.





I am constantly impressed by the organization and support from the Canmore Nordic parents. They did a wonderful job preparing the meals for the camp and shuttling athletes to and from the trails (and the tobogganing hill too!). Huge thanks to all those that helped make the weekend so successful! And another big thanks to Alain, 'Rode', and Kathy for the coaching.

Another great camp. Only two weeks until we hit the start line. Holey Smokes!