Craftsbury EC Sprint

Matt, Blaine, Morgan and I are currently holed-up in our Morrisville hotel room as we wait out a wild overnight ice storm that left the entire town (state?) without power until a few hours ago. The second race of the Craftsbury Eastern Cups, today's classic mass start, has been cancelled, so with time to kill I think this would be a good time to get in a recap of yesterday's action.

Our team highlights were having two athletes racing in the heats. Erin Perryman qualified an awesome 10th overall, and raced to 4th in her heat. She ended up 16th, tying her best EC result from last year in a far more competitive field and with far better points. As Erin continues to qualify more and more it's easy to see her comfort level increase in head-to-head heats. Won't be long till she is in the final round of one of these things fighting for a podium.

Erin just missed out on getting third in her heat and a potential Lucky-Loser spot in the Semis. Still a great start to the season for her!

Kyle also qualified for the Jr men's heats. For someone who admittedly is not much of a sprinter, this was a really good sign of a season of great training, especially in the strength and technique department. Kyle didn't get a fast enough start in his first heat, but tried to move up continually. He learned from that experience and, in his next heat, started out much faster and stayed near the front the whole time for 10th in the Jr race. 

Chumley had a solid qualifier and picked up some good points toward JN qualification, just 2 sec out of the Jr heats

Blaine also had a solid qualifier, narrowly missing out on the Jr heats by less than a second despite having a sickly fever a day prior and being a questionable for starting at all. 

In addition to the current team, I also got to be a wax tech for SLU alum, former teammate and friend Eric Wolcott (SLU class of 2010), who now skis for the professional CXC team. Eric won the men's qualification round by a whopping four seconds. He then easily won his quarter and semi-final heats. He took the lead in the final with 300 meters to go, but got a bit bogged down on the final climb and lost some ground to his competitors. Despite not taking the win in the heats, it was cool to help be a part of a really solid day for him. Though it was probably very overboard, I like to think my crazy amount of wax testing and early-mornings in the SLUHaul the past few days gave us a nice edge with fast boards. All the SLU skis seemed to be running quite fast!

SLU Alum Eric Wolcott easily taking the W in his quarterfinal heat (check out the huge new lodge building construction!)

We will reconvene at Craftsbury later today after we confirm that the roads are safe. From there the team will go it's separate ways for Winter Break before we meet up again in Lake Placid. Keep your fingers crossed that some more snow returns to the area!

NYSEF Opener

It been a few years since this race really happened for us, but I'm happy to say Mother Nature did her best to bring it back! The last time we attempted to ski this race was in 2010. It was a miniature ice-storm the night prior, and after sliding fully through a 4-way-stop intersection in Potsdam we reluctantly made the call that the trip to Lake Placid would be unsafe driving.

Fast forward to yesterday morning, when a large winter snowstorm brought about a foot of fresh snow to the area. More complicated weather to drive through, but luckily we'd gotten our winter-driving feet wet with a particularly harrowing drive up to Foret during Thanksgiving Camp. We made it easily, albeit only about 30 min prior to the start.

The race itself was a 6k for both men and women. Unsure of snow conditions, the call was made earlier in the week to hold the races at the jumping complex. The course was great: it twisted and circled in on itself, and was filled with elements that really rewarded adept technical skating. The competition was not very deep (besides our team there were a handful of NYSEF racers and the ever-stalwart Peru Nordic Masters), but the tight times within our own team proved it was a hotly-contested race for all.

Here's Kyle Curry's GPS data from the course. Does a good job of showing how much terrain you can fit into a small space. A 1.5k loop that really has it all.

Overall winners were Elizabeth Izzo (UNH) and Austin Meng (SLU). Erin was our top women's finisher in 2nd, while Kate picked up a 4th place result. The SLU men swept the top 7 places, and all finished within 57 seconds of each other. Definitely a group with both speed AND depth.

Laurel heads out of the starting gate

This is one race where the coach can get in on the action and relive the glory days! 

I'd say the most impressive performances came from the younger crowd...Erin has really taken a step up with her racing, pacing and mentality. The freshman duo of Blaine and Calvin started 15 seconds apart and skied virtually the same race, with FIS/NENSA points (I calculate that stuff for fun...) a big step up from their race points last season. Morgan Holland had a really great race as well, and I'd say all three of those guys, as well as Erin, are all in the hunt for the New England JN team this year.

NYSEF OPENER RESULTS

The team is busy with finals this week, but I was able to groom the trails on campus last night so skiing is right out our door until most of us leave for Craftsbury this weekend!

Nighttime grooming action

Etown took some video footage of the race, which I put together below. Since it's a bit blurry I captioned with names of racers to make it easier to tell who is who. 

One final note...if you have not already heard the news, SLU won our bid to host the 2015 NCAA Championships in Lake Placid! Here we go Saints!

Post-camp skiing

The snow hasn't been perfect, but we've been able to piece together a solid week of skiing here in the North Country. The highlight was definitely a lake-effect blizzard today at Star Lake.

Ethan and I went up to the small mountain village both yesterday and this morning to do a little trail grooming, a task which has been made much easier by utilizing the SLU-Haul to transport the smaller of our two snowmobiles...



Once we made a few passes and loops with the roller (about 2-3k of varied terrain) things looked pretty good. This is a shot from yesterday (Friday) afternoon after some passes with the roller to compress the snow:

Fresh skate lanes at Star Lake

We woke up to find that the new overnight snow had never materialized, but Ethan and I went up to touch-up the existing trails before the team arrived. As we drove up the hill toward the Oswegatchie area, a few flakes settled on the windshield. By the time the team arrived it was hard to see straight ahead through the masses of quarter-sized flakes coming down rapidly.

Etown approves of the new snowfall!

Matt (skate) and Kyle (classic): Friends, roommates, and training partners in the blizzard

Attempting a photoshoot for our holiday card!

It was perfect conditions for some fresh powder: temps in the low 20-s and frozen ground mean this could be here to stay. The weather for the next week or so looks to be even better, so we are hoping that more snowfall closer to home (Star Lake is 35 min away) at Higley will be even more beneficial to us. This was a nice recovery week after training camp, but the team is anxious to get headed into the race season pretty soon...2 weeks and counting!

Heading in from the storm...but not for long

Camp wrap

We didn't quite achieve my goal of having a new blog post by a new author every day over the course of training camp, but I think it was an admirable attempt. At the very least, we got some new voices on here instead of just mine!

Plus, I think everyone did a fine job of incorporating stories and photos to the point where there isn't a ton left to say...the skiing was excellent: up to 40k or so was groomed and tracked by the time we sipped the dregs of our last Tim Horton cappuccinos. 

Typical morning arrival scene at Foret Montmorency

This is my 6th (!) year in a row of attending this camp as either an athlete or coach. I think our fitness leading into this camp has been the best yet. Focus was high and it seemed like we never really hit that wall that often arrives 3 or 4 days in...the kind of wall where everyone complains about the afternoon workout and struggles to drag their heads away from their drool-soaked pillows. 

That never happened. Morale was high, and the 20+ hours we put in went almost effortlessly. The TimeTrial we ended up doing with many other teams (not far off of a miniature Carnival) was a success as well. We had a lot of process goals for the race, with minimal focus on results themselves. For the most part I feel that the results for many were right where we wanted them to be, however. What's more, those who weren't happy came to me immediately afterward with not excuses, but instead well-constructed analyses of their races and what they wanted to change. Taking those steps yourself as a racer, before just bumming out or dragging others down, is a big sign of athletic maturity I think. 

The finish line for the timetrial...as the starting line for the season ahead

Now that we are back on campus the focus shifts a bit. We are putting in some lower hours this week to recovery, yet still taking advantage of the snow that has graced the North Country to keep skiing. Areas in Vermont like Craftsbury and Rikert are utilizing manmade loops to get their training in. For us, our northerly latitude is the original snowmaking machine. I groomed about 5k of skating at Higley yesterday, and Bob is out to continue the work before practice this afternoon. A warm spell is approaching for the weekend, but future forecasts are calling for more cold and snow. 

A little Monday morning grooming at Higley Flow

Forét Continued

The skiing at Forét has been amazing this year. We were first greeted by an expanded manmade loop over last years, and the natural snow we have received has allowed Forét to open significantly more terrain. I have been up to Forét twice before, once my Junior year at Gould Academy and then again last year with SLU. The last time Forét had decent natural snow during the Thanksgiving week was my first time up here, and Adam and I both believe the snow coverage is better this year.

Thanksgiving Day we were greeted by significantly expanded terrain. Since Forét is a forestry research center for the University of Laval, they have a vast network of well maintained logging roads that allow for excellent early season skiing. After the snow we received on Wednesday, they were able to groom 20+km of trails. Besides the occasional rock, the skiing was excellent.  Spirits were defiantly lifted among the team since we were no longer limited to the 2km manmade loop. Here are a few pictures:

 Fresh tracks, wide trails

 Freshman Blain strides it out

 Miles of freshly groomed ks

We fished the day off with an excellent Thanksgiving meal back at the house, and a round of go-carting  combined with a visit to Quebec city.

An end of the week time-trial has been a tradition during the Thanksgiving camp. Given the natural snow, the time-trial was held on a respectable course today. The women did one lap (5km) and the men did two (10km). The course consisted of a fairly steep short uphill into a rolling downhill, and finished with 2km of grinding V2 / V2 Alt.

Calvin, Chumlee, during the time-trail 

Here are the results. Interpret them as you wish, but it is impossible to determine the fait of someone's season from this early season time-trial.

Tomorrow we head back up to Forét for a final day of skiing before heading back to Canton. Rumor has it, there is enough snow to groom in Canton. By the end of the camp many of us will have been on snow 20+ hrs.

Thanksgiving Camp: Wednesday (by Erin)

Canada Camp: DAY 5

Written by Erin

This morning we woke up to about 8 inches of new snow! The snow lasted long enough for a quick snowball fight before we headed out for our morning shake out run, but unfortunately we watched as the snow turned into a gross winter rain during our breakfast of oatmeal (compliments of Coach Terko).

After piling into the vans, getting out of the driveway proved to once again be a challenge. We watched from the van as Etown tried to drive the bus out of our uphill drive way to no avail, before hopping out of the van to help push. The same thing occurred with the van as well. Canada put Etown and Adam’s winter driving skills to the test as much of the highway was not plowed or poorly plowed. Kyle, Matt and I piled into the back seat of the van to help give extra traction. From the back we watched as crazy Canadians blew by us in the unplowed, untouched left lane, one woman coming within inches of Etown’s bus in front of us. Nevertheless, we made it there safely and were greeted by a foot of fresh, ungroomed snow covering the trails.

A car covered in snow up a Foret

After 3 days of easy of technique focused skiing, today we amped things up with some intervals. The new powder, as well as maneuvering around other teams, were added elements, but you never know what conditions will be like on race day so it’s always good practice. Today’s intervals consisted of some 8-minute L3 intervals, followed by 2 by 3-minute L4 intervals, similar to a workout we did earlier this year on rollerskis. We striped down to full race suits (and looked legit) and got down to business. The powder caused everyone to think about technique and to find the best balance of quickness and efficiency. In these conditions we had to work on being light and fast on the skis. After the workout we were able to explore some of the new trails, which had surprisingly good coverage that will hopefully get better as the week continues. The intervals tired everyone out and it was a quiet bus ride home.

Team Austin - Austin Meng (SLU) and Austin Cobb (Midd) - shreddin' the pow pow

Will loving all the SNOW!

Guys team exploring the new trails

The guys team powering up the hill

At home we were greeted by a delicious vegetable chowder/soup made by Mom-town. We devoured it as well as polishing off some leftovers. The team likes to give me crap for my seemingly non-existent taste buds. And it has been said that if you were to assign a color to the types of food I eat it would be brown/plain. This week almost every meal has provided me with something new to try and so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Cooking groups have whipped up some delicious stir-fry, burritos, and pasta with sausage the past 3 nights, giving me plenty to experiment with. As a side note, today we discovered that Canada sells yogurt in a bag! Austin thoroughly enjoyed figuring out the many ways to pour bagged yogurt, whether it be 3 feet above the bowl or in slow motion blobs.

After a lazy afternoon, we had a more relaxed second session with a short run and strength. Safe to say we are gaining a lot from training in this country of unplowed roads and bagged yogurt and we’re looking forward to traditional Thanksgiving day go-carting tomorrow and 4 more awesome days of skiing!

Thanksgiving Camp: Tuesday (by Kate)

This blogpost is written by Kate

Skiing!!

Last night we got about five inches of snow, a nice addition to Forets man-made loop. We started up the morning with a two-hour skate ski. After about half an hour, we switched to no-pole skating. As I was going around the loop, Adam skied up beside me and told me to give him my arm. Slightly perplexed, I offered it over. He instructed me to keep my arm straight then promptly pushed against my rigid limb, causing my full weight to be transferred over my ski. We continued this way for about a hundred meters, him pushing and pulling on my arm like a game of tug-of-war and me getting the feeling of how dramatic a weight shift he wanted me to be making while skiing.

After a lunch break, we headed out again, this time for up to an hour and a half of classic skiing. The original consensus on wax had been blue, then violet, and finally, when more than half the team returned with complaints of slippage, drastic measures were taken and red was applied. Like bubble-gum in consistency and color, I globbed it on, knowing I’d need all the help I could get to make my ever-resistant-to-kick classic race skis actually get some kick. I succeeded and skied the ninety minutes comfortably kicking up the hills, slipping only when the tracks were too washed out or I faltered technically.

The team took advantage of the end of the loop to get in some no pole striding, focusing on getting total weight transfer, driving the hips, and keeping the arms relaxed. After a few trips down this portion of the trial, some members of the team opted to incorporate some one-pole skiing while others strapped both poles back on to integrate what they’d just worked on into real striding.

Kyle/Gramps lookin good with some classic no-pole technique

C-Town

After learning that snow is cold on your bare hands, Calvin entered our previously relaxed lounge room and began running around, demanding to know where Tickle Fingers (Phil) was. By the time Phil arrived, Calvin had informed us all that he was going to sneak up on Phil to tickle him, not the other way around. He built a fort to prevent such an attack and managed to escape Tickle Fingers for another day.

Ctown having some crazy times in an old cardboard box

Dad Dier Schedules a Massage

On our way back from Foret, Matt Dier requests that we drive through the shops by the alpine area to confirm that there is a spa he can go to for a massage. He meanders in, looking slightly out of place as we drive away. Taking a few laps of the parking lot, attempting to “whip shitties,” we waited for Dier before creepily peering into the window of the salon to see him leaning suavely against the counter talking to the cute, smiley receptionist. As he came sauntering out with a wide grin stretched across his face, like he just won the lottery, he tells us he scheduled a massage for Thursday at 5 and there were fluffy rugs inside. Van passengers:“Thanksgiving is Thursday Matt;” “Go-carting is Thursday Matt.” Matt: “Wait what?” Classic Dier.

Dad Dier heading in to schedule a massage at the luxurious Stoneham Spa

Van-Bus Collision

After recruiting Phil, our native Canadian, for his translator, and myself, a certified driver, to go with him back down to reschedule his massage, the three of us pile into the van. Then the action begins. I slowly give the van some gas, not wanting to make a crater to give stuck in or simply spin the tires, but the van just slid backwards. Hit the brakes; try to give it a little more gas. The van slides sideways towards the bus. Gramps comes strolling out of the trailer to analyze the situation. We try backing the van up so it’s no longer angled at the bus before putting it into third for another attempt to make it up the modest grade of the driveway again. We just slide backwards. By now the coaches have made their way outside and Adam tries driving it out of the driveway. Apparently a different person hitting the gas pedal doesn’t work either. Phil, Matt and Kate all go to sit in the backseat while Kyle opens the back door and sits on the bumper with the idea of putting more weight on the back tires to add traction. Going forward is still an impossibility for with the guidance of Ethan, Adam backs the van further up, getting ever closer to the bus, hoping to find a spot with a little more purchase. This final time of giving it more gas, the van and bus collide. This persuades everyone that its time to push. The van finally breaks free of the driveway thanks to our manpower, and Kate is coerced into still driving down the treacherous roadways. Massage rescheduled to Friday at five, so Go-Carting is on for Dier!

Dinner and Beyond!

After returning from our trip to reschedule Dier’s massage (I still can’t write that without laughing), showers were taken as the dinner crew, Meng Dynasty, Smellanie, and Wilhelm Klaus, made us up some south of the border burritos. After dinner, the coaches met with team members to go over our pre-race strategy sheets and Settlers of Catan was brought out to continue the game from lunch yesterday, the board meticulously re-set up from a picture taken the previous day. Meanwhile, I slaved over this blog post as the rest of the team roared with laughter as they watch Pitch Perfect. #feeling left out

Tomorrow and Goal for the Week

Our plan is to go for our morning run as usual, while Adam makes us another fabulous breakfast, then head up to Foret to get in some skate ski intervals and check out the new 10K loop. Fingers crossed on that last one! Then a run in the afternoon to finish off our fifth day of being in Canada. Things we all need to keep in mind over the next few days are that being tired is normal but take advantage of the downtime to do recovery activities such as stretching, using the foam rollers, etc, finish our pre-race strategy sheets, and DRINK WATER!

And because we don’t say it enough, a big thanks to Mom and Dad Town for all their help and cooking and to the Frielinghaus’s for their great meal and stocking our fridge with leftovers!

Canada Camp 2013: Sat, Sun, Mon

This post created by Matt and Phil

Canada Camp 2013! A lot has happened since coach Terkbro's last authorship, so Phil and I will try our best to cover everything that has gone down above the border! The coaches aren't writing this blog post and have decided to give us a little freedom - hopefully they don't regret it...

Coach Terko and Coach Etown on Days 1 and 3, respectively.

Day 1 of Canada Camp was a time of brewing ideas. On the 7 hour trip up, Calvin and Morgan decided to get some interesting hair cuts at the house to support team camaraderie and attract the ladies. While they agreed to cut their hair, three other men from the guys team made the pact to keep the hair on their faces.

When we arrived at our chalet in Stoneham we unpacked our gear. Some of the team skied at the Stoneham golf course while others went running around the development. Although the group did a different workout the night before, everyone had the same thought skiing through their minds: tomorrow would be the first day on official trails, and Will's turning 21!

Meng giving Chumley a Euro-mullet. 

Morgan and Kenny Powers, side by side.  Who is who?

Three Amigos: Coach Terko, Blaine, and Dier honoring Movember.

Day 2 was our first day of skiing on the 2 km loop, consisting of mostly man made snow. We did a classic OD in the morning, and as Will put it ''we were like hamsters in a wheel." The afternoon was a 30 minute yoga session which was just awful for us, since we are both severely lacking flexibility.


On Day 3 most of the team totaled a 3.5 hour OD with classic skiing for the first 2 hours in the morning while the tracks were fresh. After a 2 hour recovery period in the lodge, we headed back out for a 1.5 hour skate ski. For this first day on skate skis in Canada, the team focused on easy skiing and balance drills. These drills consisted of some no-pole and single-pole work. Coach Terko recorded some video towards the end of the classic ski for technique analysis in the coming days.

Taren skiing on the 2 km loop.

The team relaxes and enjoys the heat radiating from the fireplace at Foret Montmorency.

Settlers of Catan is quickly working its way into our rest sessions.

So what's next? Kyle went on a brief recovery run at the end of the ski today and took some snapshots of what is hopefully going to be an extension of the loop for day 4 of Canada Camp. Phil and I are now done as bloggers, but the varied voices will continue! Tomorrow y'all will hear from another set of teammates. Currently it is snowing heavily outside and we are supposed to get 5 - 10 cm of God's sugar.  Keep thinking snow!

Extension of the loop? We will find out tomorrow!

Early snow sessions

The snow lasted longer than expected at Star Lake this week, giving us a total of 4 days of great skiing conditions. This volume week was looking like a tough slog at first, since we have been inundated with rainy, cold and dark weather ever since returning from our Lake Placid Weekend and mid-semester break. Instead, we were motivated by real skiing and took advantage by training more than planned...and that's a good thing!

Erin skiing into the Finland-esque sunset at Star Lake last week

We managed to get in skate skiing early, some classic specific strength mid-week, and even a rowdy game of speedball during out last day on snow on Friday. Everyone was feeling nice and tired from the real stuff, but in addition to noting how the muscles were responding, many were also noting that the transition to snow this year felt easier than ever. May have to take an in-depth look back at the training this fall and figure out what we did to make that happen, but I'm not complaining. 

After basically 4 days of easy distance skiing, it was time to get the hurt back on come Saturday morning. For the past few years we have been doing a traditional pre-thanksgiving workout at Mt. Arab, a small (2,500ft) "mountain" outside of Tupper Lake. The trail is exactly 1 mile in length, but all uphill and very steep in parts (stairs, cliffs, rock slides). Running up at a hard pace takes between 10-14 minutes. Since it's usually right before Thanksgiving when we do this, there is also commonly lots of snow, ice, mud and cold temps, so you really get that first frigid "lung burning" feeling of the winter season. This year was no different:

Will leads the men's team on trip 1...

...Erin leads the women...

...and Calvin, taking a nod from our men's team's favorite activity, goes "tree tipping" in the woods...

Now we are in for a rest week of nice easy training in order to get prepped for another big week in Canada coming up. After that it's all about prepping for the upcoming RACE SEASON!

Oh, and I'll put in another plug here since it seems to be growing and growing in popularity:

You can stay up to date with more photos and videos by clicking 'like' on the SLUSKI Facebook page, updated frequently!

November skiing at Star Lake

Just when the cold rainy rollerski workouts were pushing the team to their breaking point, our "top secret" training facility at Star Lake got hit with 6 inches of lake-effect snowfall. It was an early-November treat to make the 35 minute drive up into the hills, watching the snow gather on the roadsides and tree branches as the vans climbed in elevation.

Much of the team gathered at the entrance to the Star Lake golf course on Tuesday afternoon

Never underestimate the value of a homemade human-powered groomer. This is the updated version of my grooming device I built in 2011...the TerkTech! 

It's been reassuring to see the changes in what Star Lake represents to this team...when we trained here in the early season of my first year (fall 2008) the main activities at Star Lake included jumping rivers and whipping 360s from the sand bunkers...I'm not saying I wasn't contributing, because I even made a video of it back then:

No extra offense intended toward Pepper or Bogden, they were just better at jumping on skis than the rest of us

We were lucky enough to be granted two excellent days of midwinter on-snow training this week (it is melting tomorrow) and instead of catching air we had productive sessions of easy distance and some specific-strength double-pole drills. The whole team "skied-in" a loop of about 2-2.5k of mixed terrain until it was smooth and fast. We were able to use good (not quite race) boards instead of slow rock skis. Instead of wandering through powder or huckin' creek beds, we created our own buffed-out trail surface perfect for the first few snow sessions of the year. Practice today looked more like this:


Easy distance skate skiing for some, with doublepole technique drills for others

And that clip is just the small crew who was able to make the early van before darkness hit. The rest of the team arrived just as the flat light was fading into the hills, and were guided by their headlamps for the rest of the ski.

No time to grab your headlamp when you are in the middle of a specific strength session: Phil, Will and Kyle take a few laps of double-pole only skiing

Unfortunately warm temperatures will almost surely melt the snow tomorrow, but the extra boost from a few days of real skiing was certainly a boost! The countdown to training camp in Canada, beginning November 23rd, is well underway. 

Carnival Simulation week

For this week's intensity focus, we decided to hold a mock Carnival week. That means treating the layout of training as we would during the 6-week Carnival season. Mid-week intervals and shorter distance days were a part of the plan, as was the big part of Carnival weeks: the races!

We held two races this week: The "Higley Hassle" (not to be confused with the Higley Hustle), a full classic sprint with qualifier, heats and all, took place on Friday, and the River Road 7.5/10k skate race took place the following morning.

We encouraged full race suits for all, and Kyle was kind enough to lend out his many complete Gould Academy suits to a few racers. We dug out a few old bibs for use in the skate race, and focused on preparing as we would for a serious race. That meant effective course previews, good warmups, recovery and nutrition between events, etc. Everyone did a great job despite the weather, which featured snow flurries and wet conditions for the sprint, and overcast skies and 34 degrees for the skate race.

DAY 1: HIGLEY HASSLE SPRINT

We are lucky to have Higley Flow State Park just 20 minutes from campus. This campground was closed to traffic for the season, but not closed to rollerskis! The only problem was the pine needles, but after a practice worth of sweeping by Ethan and I, the course was set. "Course brooming" as opposed to "course grooming" you might say. A tricky racecourse with two big climbs and lots of twisty corners was made more challenging by some slippery patches and fading light. 

Austin Meng and Erin Perryman took wins in the qualifier. Through the rounds it was clear that sophomore Matt Dier was skiing strong and using his size and big summer of rollerski work to good effect, while Meng played a patient game before striking on the last uphill before the downhill finish. The final saw this matchup create an exciting close to the night, with Meng and Dier breaking away from other A-Final competitors Will Frielinghaus and Phil Marshall early on. Meng's speed on the final hill proved too much for Dier to overcome, as he settled for second, giving Austin the first win of the race series. Frielinghaus cruised home in third.

Men on the start line, with fading light and van high-beam support

The women's race saw multiple tactics play out. Kate Mulcahy raced on skate skis, a move she had planned to try during one of the heats...she ended up having to double-pole the whole thing when the fork on her classic skis broke during the warmup. Kate's skate skis were far faster than Erin Perryman's classic boards on the downhills, but would it be enough? 

The downhill finish would have worked in Kate's favor with her quicker skis, but Perryman made her move on the uphills and put enough time on the field to hold on for the win. Kate finished second while sophomore Taren McGray rounded out the podium.

Women's final, illuminated by van lights

DAY 2: RIVER ROAD SKATE

Perryman also took the victory in the River Road skate race the following day, leading splits from start to finish and notching the 3rd fastest historical time. This makes a full sweep of every testing/timetrial/racing event we have done this fall for Perryman. Erin's fitness is certainly in a great place right now. Kate was at a conference and unable to race at River Road, though it should be said that not only are many of her times faster as well, her changes to the periodization of her training have her swinging into top form right when she should be. Last year it seemed some burnout from overtraining/under-resting was occurring, but this year things are back on track and Kate is ready to rock! 

The Meng Dynasty won the skate race for the men, scoring the 2nd fastest River Road time in history. Things were not easy for him, however, as sophomore Kyle Curry led splits for the majority of the race. Curry was out for blood and started strong right from the line. His second-place finish on the day led him to the 5th fastest time ever, a full 1:30 faster than his time last year. In fact, the top 3 men were all much faster than their times last year, with Meng 1:07 quicker and Will :50 faster. All results are on equal skis as last year and with nearly freezing temps and therefore cold road surfaces. 

Despite missing a key turnaround point at about 9k, first-year Blaine Ayotte also had an impressive time. Blaine (in the full yellow Gould suit on loan from Kyle) used his GPS to continue tracking the full 10k race, and had a very competitive effort in the end. Way to keep the vets on their toes!

Overall "Carnival Simulation" Champs Austin and Erin display their prizes: tacky flea market mugs filled with candy! A new (cheap but fun) team tradition for race prizes

Here's a little video I put together. Thanks to honorary SLUSKI member Reed Likly for joining me to film as I drove the van. We were jamming out to the Absolute 80s! channel on the radio and blasting the music for the racers when this excellent rockin' tune came on (captured on film) so I had no choice but to make it the soundtrack for the film. The song is a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" by Natalie Cole, for anyone looking to add it to their collection! Disco ball required. 

RIVER ROAD VIDEO

Higley Trail Day

Higley Trail Day is an annual event where we meet up with local community members to clean up, improve or (in this case) create new trails at our main winter training site, Higley Flow State Park.

The team and some community volunteers gather before heading out to the trails

This year was cold and rainy, which is pretty standard. Despite the dreary weather, everyone seemed to get pretty fired up about our project this year; creating a whole new trail off one of the higher loops. Earlier in the week Ethan had gone through with one of the forestry managers and cut down several trees to help set up the work. With the area being on protected State Forest land, we aren't able to use machines like chainsaws or tractors without special permits, so we were lucky enough to get in touch with the appropriate parties beforehand to get a few of the bigger trees cleared. 

Those restrictions mean a lot of work by hand, which is not too different from more traditional forms of ski training practiced by the World Champions of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Many of the first modern Scandinavian racers were loggers and woodsmen, and it was long believed that such was the ideal profession for ski racers. 

Meng gets in touch with his inner Sixten Jernberg 

Our new trail was probably only 500 meters in length, but it took us about 3 hours to transform that stretch of forest into the buffed-out trail in these photos. It starts from the top of the Higley Ridge trail and begins with a wide and gradual downhill:

Erin and Taren clear some undergrowth on the initial downhill straightaway (some of the guys team are at the top/entrance to the trail)

The trail then narrows into a quick and technical S-turn (left, right, left) that should challenge even the most hardened of experts:

Looking downhill into the S-turn

We were able to pretty much clear everything on the trail aside from some low growth and some larger stumps (the Clarkson team will come in and take that up someday soon). Here's a few more photos and a video tour:

Climbing and cutting some larger branches. I'm thinking of entering the International Lumberjack Challenge events in the near future

This group of guys spent the about an entire hour working this massive stump out of the earth

Here's a quick video I made, walking through the trail as steadily as I could and then speeding it up later...not recommended for those with motion sickness: