Race Season Begins

Caitlin and I with our new skis.  I am really happy with my new classic skis.

My ski racing season started early this year with two races in Canmore on the frozen thunder loop, a Classic Sprint and a Classic 10 km.  I love racing and it is fun to kick of the season with early season races on snow, plus this marked the first opportunity to try my Madshus skis. It was also fun to do a classic race since my first six races of the regular season will be skate. 

After 10 days of skiing around a 1.8km loop I decided to go on a rollerski adventure with Matt and Josh.
We had fun skiing to Banff and exploring.  Our timing was great, because the next day it snowed several inches and the weather dropped about 30 degrees.

The month of October has been fantastic.  It has pretty much been an entire month of camp.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to simply train, rest, eat and sleep.   On October 30th I traveled to Washington for a little relaxation and recovery time before starting up a block of intensity as sea level.

Toko Wax clinic with Mark Wachter at Nordic Ultratune.

It is great to be back in the Methow Valley.  My good friend and long time supporter hosted a Toko wax clinic the evening I returned home.  It certainly had everyone excited because the next morning snow arrived to the Valley.

Closing in on the finish of the Driveway Butte Hill Climb Race.

Another reason to return to the Methow were two big events on Saturday.  The Driveway Butte Hill Climb is a race put on by my teammate Sam Naney and his wife.  I ran the race last year and it is nice to have markers to compare yourself with.  My goal is always to run faster, but sadly I was 18 seconds slower on the course.  Conditions were a bit different though with fresh snow on at the top of the course.

My Brother Chad, his wife Alieta and I at the finish.

The other big event is the Methow Valley Nordic Team Ski Ball.  This is the local junior teams big fundraising event which does a fantastic job keeping the program affordable.  The MV Nordic Team played a big role in developing me as a person (not just a skier).  Each year Caitlin and I donate a 'Ski Dream Lesson Package' and it was fun to be able to support the event in person this year too.