Midwest Super Tours: Ups and Downs

Photo Credit: Gowtham [Michigan Tech]

The last two weeks have been a bit of a struggle for me. I travel well, but I hit the training hard on Monday after flying in from Lake Placid and I caught a virus. I took it real easy most of the week and started feeling better near the weekend.

Last year, I won my first individual SuperTour at the Mayor's Challenge in Minneapolis, MN but this year I didn't even get out of bed for the first day of racing. Feeling better on Day 2 I raced but when the pace picked up, I started hurting in a hurry. My results matched how I felt and I began to focus on the coming races in Houghton, MI.

The first two races in Houghton were decent races for me as far as time/percentage back from the leaders but my placings were some of my worst of the season 14th and 11th. I was really starting to loose confidence.

The good thing about tough or poor races is that they make the good ones all that sweeter. Today's race, a 15km Freestyle mass start was just that. I went out hard from the gun to keep the crashes and chaos to a minimum and settled in for a good pack race. My friend and teammate Matt took some long pulls at the front and brought the lead pack down to ten skiers. Knowing that I was still not back to my 100 percent form I skied a conservative race, trying to use as little energy as possible. With 2.5km to go my roommate Garrott had broken away by 15 seconds from me and a group of four other skiers. I waited for the anticipated attacks of the other skiers in my group and decided to make a break for it as soon as their pace seemed to back off a bit. I was able to get a few meters gap and come in to the finish in second place for the day.

It feels great to be back on the podium and back in the mix at the front of the race.

67 Days On The Road

I left Hayward, WI 67 days ago on November 11th to travel to 7 different training/racing venues and compete in 7 races. Today I flew back to the Midwest and tomorrow I am headed home to unpack my bags and recharge for a few days. Minneapolis has more snow than I have ever seen here and I am looking forward to skiing in the Midwest for a few weeks.

15k Freestyle Lake Placid Super Tour (click to see the evil eye) Photo Credit: Fasterskier.com

Originally I planned to fly back to the Midwest after US Nationals in Maine, however the Super Tour series was headed to Lake Placid along with a good portion of the skiers headed to World Championships. I didn't want to miss it.

Men's 15k Freestyle Podium

Each fall I have traveled to Lake Placid with my teammates for our hardest training camp of the year. It was fun to see snow on the ground and check out the ski trails from the 1980 Olympics. Although I have been ski racing a long time it is still very exciting for me to experience a new venue, plus I love to race.

Western Race Tour Complete

CXC Elite Team post race in Silver Star, BC

Garrott, Gus, Bryan, Brian, Caitlin, Jennie, Brooke, Jason, and Jessie (photo: Rob Whitney)

The 'Western Race Tour' as I like to call it came to an end today. It has been a great start to the season with 8 races in 3 venues. Here is a short synopsis of period 1 of the race season.

West Yellowstone, MT

Arrived 12 days early to adjust to the altitude and get on snow.

4 races in 3 days kept the body working hard.

Day 1: Classic and Skate 1.6km Sprints- 15th and 8th solid sprint qualifying positions for me.

Day 2: 10km Skate- 9th went out hard and paid for it. Result a bit disappointing but felt great.

Day 3: 15km Classic- 3rd best FIS points race ever, felt great (especially after skiing alone most of the race)

Popped the big question to Caitlin during our weekly over distance ski... she said yes... very happy guy.

Stayed in West Yellowstone for a big week of training. Plus a lot of planning and dreaming with my wonderful Fiance.

Silver Star, BC, Canada

Easier week of training in prep for a big race performance

Day 1: Skipped Classic Sprint Race- decided to save some energy in the tank for the next day and the next week of racing.

Day 2: 15k Skate- 3rd- went out conservative and skied progressivly faster. Lars caught me from 30 seconds back at 6km, I picked up the pace and hung with him almost to the finish. Very good result/race for me.

Rossland, BC, Canada

A lot of racing but also a lot of training in preparation for US Nationals the first week of January.

Day 1: Skate Sprint: Qualifed 22nd, Finished 18th- slow qualifying, but went for it in my heat race led until final 200m. Felt good but out skied.

Day 2: 10k Skate- 29th place- fast course and competitive field. Tight time gaps, fell on a hard left corner. Felt good but 1:08s out of first.

Day 3: 15k Classic Pursuit Star- 8th- Went out hard and hungry to make up time I had lost. Great race/result for me in a super competitve field. 27sec out of the win for the day and 7sec out of 3rd.

Overall Tour- 14th

Merry Christmas

Caitlin and I are off to the Methow Valley tomorrow for a 8 days of training and enjoying the holidays before flying out to Rumford, Maine for US Nationals.

Training Week

3rd Place in the 10k Classic SuperTour and my best FIS points ever (44.11)

After a great start to the race season, plus an engagement, My CXC Teamates and I have stayed in West Yellowstone, MT for a week of solid training. It has been a tough, but good week with just under 24 hours of training in six days.

Cisco working on his 'ups' in a relay at the West Yellowstone School. Caitlin and I spend two afternoons helping the kids stay active.

Bear Walk Race

My favorite is playing outside. The school plows up the playground to form perfect 20' sledding hills.

After a solid week of training Caitlin and I ski toured in to Yellowstone National Park for a nice easy long distance ski.

After Training and After School in West Yellowstone

My CXC teammates and I are in West Yellowstone for just under a month this year. That is a long time to be living in a hotel room. This is my 5th winter in West Yellowstone and I arrived with the goal of making a greater connection with the local community during my stay.

Caitlin and I gave a presentation to the after-school program about life as a professional ski racer and the big Yellostone Ski Festival and Super Tour races in town.

Happy Thanksgiving pop-up cards. My mom made pop-up cards with me when I was younger and they were awesome. Although the finished products from Annie, Lillith, and Mason were really cool.

Show-and-Tell of Skis and Poles

Drawing Biomes

Having fun training, living, and playing in West

It has been a hard week of training. Visiting and working with the kids was a great way to add energy to the day and take a mental break from training. It was fun to see the excitement in the kids eyes for the first big snow storm. Plus I like seeing how new kids respond to my favorite games of Squirrel Olympics, Last-Man Standing, and Speed Tag.

Tie Dye Art

Estasha, Alison, and Sariah Rockin' their new Tie Dye T's

One year during High School our cross-country running team warm-ups were misplaced so we decided to Tie Dye long sleeve shirts for the Team Uniform. One of the guys on the team Pete had done a fair amount of Tie Dye and he helped everyone create some sweet shirts. It was a lot of fun and something I have wanted to do with the kids at the Lac Courte Orielles Boys and Girls Club. Again Pete coached me along about where to get the best dye and get the project started.

Aaron working on his spiral shirt

A huge thanks to my neighbor and friend Kay for helping keep the chaos organized

Tomorrow I hit the road for 2 Months: Nov 11 - Jan 11. After a great spring, summer, and fall of training I am excited to get back on snow and to race. One of the things that I will miss is everyone at the Boys and Girls Club.

What does Brian do when he is not at the Boys and Girls Club?

I gave a presentation to the kids about my travels, struggles and triumphs of last season. Plus, my plans for the next two months on the road.

"I want to see what my shirt looks like!"

We tie dyed over 60 unique shirts on Monday night. It was fun to see them all. I was hoping to get the kids the shirts on Tuesday but it took me over 2 hours to cut/pull out the rubber bands and rinse the shirts. There were a lot of curious kids yelling at me as I walked down the hall on my way to Mrs. Johnson's 5th Grade classroom.

Mary, "Check out my Shirt?"

Josephine

Adding letters and drawings to the shirts with Sharpies

It is still pretty warm here in Wisconsin. Bad for skiing, good for flashlight tag

I had a great final night at 'The Club' tonight. The kids loved the slide show, were super excited to see their shirts, and we had a huge game of flashlight tag down at the Pow Wow Grounds.

Tomorrow we head for snow.

One Last Big Week at Home

Enjoying one of my few weekend at home in Hayward, Home of the American Birkebeiner.

Birkie/ActivEdge Clinic in Seeley, WI analyzing video immediately after skiing. Last year I bought a Netbook with a 10hour battery life. The screen is small but the portability is fantastic. It is great to go over video while the workout is fresh in your mind.

Santi and Eric cooling down after 3(6*60s) HARD. We saw every kind of weather on this workout: rain, snow, sun, wind.

Alright I didn't stay at home all week, I drove down to Minneapolis on Saturday after dinner to surprise Caitlin for her Birthday. We enjoyed our 4 hour Sunday OD with the large group of Vakava skiers. There were over 40 skiers out on the road together.

Let the snow fly.