WHITE water: March 2008

It has been great to be back in Fairbanks. The days are longer and there is some great skiing to be had. The US Distance National Championships are going on right now. Yesterday they had the 15 and 30k Pursuit. Since it was such a nice day, the tracks were so nice, and I was feeling much better than I thought I would, I decided to sign up for the 50k Classic on Sunday. Since I have been sick and the course has so many large climbs, my goal is to take it out easy, focus on good technique and just have fun for the last race of the season. I have a feeling that if I can hold things together I'll be able to pick people off at the end as they are getting really tired. It will be especially nice to race a national championship at my home trails! Once again I filled my flash card taking pictures (my card can hold up to 300). So here are a few of the best.

Taz

Reese

Tyson (and Dylan in the corner, just getting into the depth of field)

Peter

Owen

Zach

Bart

Zach leading Owen

Brian

Zach getting some feed

Brian

The old roomies duking it out around the course. Dylan and Brian.

Bart leading Chambo and Tyson

Zach leading Owen

David out there taking names.

Colin

Tyson finishing hard

Dylan and Brian sprinting to the finish. Brian out lunged Dylan.

Okay......

It's been a while....

to say the least.

So here's the rest of the story.

Regionals went pretty well. Not as well as we wanted but still pretty well. The alpine team kicked some ass! They won the alpine portion of the meet! Which is the first time they have done that since Trond has been on the team coaching (seven years). Sadly the nordic team didn't have a really good day the first day and we finished 4th, rather than 3rd as we had hoped.

I didn't race fast enough at Regionals to make it to NCAAs so the next weekend I raced the Tour of Anchorage, the local 50k race. That race didn't go so well. It wasn't my day. Enough said.

After the tour the plan was to focus and catch up on school. So, no adventures there. Spring break rolled around the corner as well as Junior Nationals at Kincaid. Junior Nationals were really fun to watch. It was a great opportunity to have fun with my camera and take a lot of photos. My folks were down and they sprung for a nice photo printer so I could print off pictures to get to people. I'll get a few of my best shots posted on here at the end.

The last weekend of spring break was the Oosik Classic 50k in Talkeetna. It was long and hard (the race that is). The oosik is always particularly fun because the course is out on narrow snow mobile trails and no one knows where the course goes, or exactly how long it is. The first year they had the Oosik it ended up being 60k or so. The next year they shorted it up to 40 to get people to come back. After the race there is a big banquette/party with a band out at "the hanger" in Talkeetna. The race didn't go so hot (I bonked so hard I couldn't get my eyes to focus, my teeth felt tingly, and I was having trouble staying warm), but I made up for it that evening! One of these years I'll have a good race at the Oosik.

After the Oosik I came down with a really bad cold and haven't been able to do anything for just over a week. I was loosing my voice Monday and Tuesday so I decided I wouldn't be able to race 100% this weekend in Fairbanks for US Distance National at Birch Hill. So my plan is to head up Friday morning and watch the race, and catch up with old team mates that are coming up for the races.

Next week should be a blast! A bunch of old team mates are coming down from Fairbanks, and one is flying over from Norway, to rally around in the mountains for a week or so.

I won't go as far as say, "Stay tuned". But there are most likely going to be updates coming shortly, as I am finally caught up on my school work, and the conditions are right for an adventure (the sun is high in the sky late in the evening, and there is still snow in the mountains).

Here are a few pictures from Junior Nationals.

Classic Sprint