This video is currently all over the web and most everyone in the skiing world has watched in over 30 times. Just to make sure that my family and friends (who don’t follow World Cup skiing as much) have gotten a chance to see it I’m going to post it again. Bib number 53 is my teammate Brian Gregg. Watch what happens to him at around 20 seconds into the video. What a tropper.
Archive for March, 2010
Brian Gregg in Falun World Cup
Posted: Thursday, March 25th, 2010US Nationals 30/50K Skate
Posted: Wednesday, March 24th, 2010The CXC Team Vertical Limit had an awesome day in Fort Kent, ME. Rebecca Dussault lead the Women’s team, taking 2nd place in the 30K Skate. Caitlin Compton was next placing 4th overall, followed by Maria Stuber (9th overall– 7th American) and Kristina Owen (10th overall–8th American).
Maria, lap 1 (Maine Winter Sports Center Photo)
Lap 2 (Maine Winter Sports Center Photo)
Sprint Finish (Maine Winter Sports Center Photo)
The Men’s team had an even more spectacular day in the 50K Skate finishing 2nd (Tad Elliott), 4th (Bryan Cook), 6th (Brian Gregg), and 8th (Garrott Kuzzy) overall (1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th Americans)! Definitely the best Men’s team in the Country today.
Top 3 Americans, Bryan Cook (3rd), Tad Elliott (1st), Lars Flora (2nd)
Full results can be found HERE.
Winding down.
Posted: Wednesday, March 10th, 2010It seems that after the Birkie the season always seems to start to wind down really fast. This year after the Birkie the weather seemed to immediately change from Winter into Spring. For the past two weeks I have not skied without it being over 40 degrees and sunny. It really has been amazing, but at the same time it makes me want to hop on the bike more than train for the upcoming 50km skate National Championship in Fort Kent, ME. However, I am really excited by the chance to become a National Champion so I am hammering out my training (minus getting a head cold this past weekend.)
The trails here in Marquette are still really good despite the fact that they will not groom very often for some reason. I do not understand why people think that if it gets warm they should no longer groom because they think they will lose more snow that way; when in fact grooming the snow makes it way more enjoyable to ski along with keeping the snow more compact so it will last longer. I just finished an interval workout at Blueberry Ridge where they decided to groom and the trail was clean and fast.
A really cool thing Maria and I were able to do last Friday was help with the new disabled program we have here in Marquette that is headed by Jodi Tervo and Andrew Rickauer . CXC has sent a bunch of sitskis here for the new Opportunity Center. The goal is to give people with disabilities the opportunity to get hooked on cross-country skiing. Skiers have been meeting on most Friday’s at 5:30 at Suicide Bowl in Ishpeming. Suicide Bowl offers equipment rentals and a nice flat loop to ski on. The program already has youngsters with their eye’s on the next Paralympics. I was able to ski with Dominic and his twin brother for about an hour and it was really fun. Dominic is probably around six or eight years old and really enjoys being able to get out and ski despite having some balance and numbness issues in his lower body. He was also really interested in why we could not just go and jump off the ski jumps? It was really fun to see his excitement about everything outdoors.
As for the rest of the season, Maria, Gus, and I are heading to Gus’ house in Vermont on the 16th where we will be doing some races at Craftsbury before heading to Maine to finish off the season with the 30/50km and the SuperTour finals. It should be a really good time especially if the weather stays like this!
I have been charging since West Yellowstone last November. (Ian Harvey Photo)
The Birkie
Posted: Monday, March 1st, 2010Sorry for the lack of updates at such a crucial time of the season. This past week was Birkie week and we have been away from internet service and totally absorbed in all the wonderful Birkie festivities. Most of the CXC team headed to Hayward, WI, immediately after the Madison Winter Festival. I stopped in Minocqua, WI to visit the dentist, (Thank you Dr. Kozeluh!) and arrived in Hayward on Tuesday night. On Wednesday Bryan and I did some private lessons for a couple friends in the Hayward area and waxed a lot of skis. On Thursday we competed in the Elite Birkie Sprints and I hung out with some family friends from the Waukesha area. On Friday we tested skis, worked at the expo, waxed a bunch, and got ready for the Big Show on Snow.
Birkie Finish 2010 (skinnyski photo)
My Birkie experience was incredible. I got to stand on the start line with with Tami Kochen, had all the highs and lows of a true Birkie bonk, and I was still able to place 4th overall. Thankfully, the bonk happened about 25K later this year than last year. There was a pack of four women for the first 44 K, consisting of Rebecca Dussault (CXC Team Vertical Limit-1st), Tax Mannix (USST-2nd), and Brooke Gosling (Alberta World Cup Academy-3rd), and me (CXC Team Vertical Limit-4th). I did everything I could to hang with the group, so when I fell off the back I really started to struggle. I had 4K to go when I really fell apart, stomping up the hills and twisting like crazy. I started to find it funny when I began cheering for myself in my head. Since skiing up the hills was not going well, I focused on skiing over the tops of the hills. I hit the lake alone, but thankfully was able to pull myself together enough to catch a ride from a passing wave 1 skier that went by me with about 1.5K of lake to go. The cheering on Main Street was the loudest cheering I have ever heard in my life. I loved it.
It would have been very nice to make it onto the podium, but I am 100% certain that I could not have done any better in that race on that day.
I staggered to the finish line, spent a good amount of time laying on the floor of the changing tent nursing my cramping feet, and greeted my female friends and teammates as they trickled in. Then, I went out to the lake to cheer people in.
I also found out that my older brother is engaged to his girlfriend Jen Beddoes who skied her first Korteloppet this year. Congratulations Matthew and Jen.
More Birkie Stories and Photos to come….
Madison Winter Festival
Posted: Monday, March 1st, 2010Last weekend was the Madison Winter Festival SuperTour. This event takes place around the Wisconsin Capitol building and is always cool no matter what kind of weather or snow conditions are thrown at us. Here are some photos from the day courtesy of Renee Callaway. There are lots more at www.winter-fest.com if you click on the photo gallery link. Thank you to everyone who supports this event, especially Yuriy Gusev, BeckerLaw, Lake Express High Speed Ferry, UW Health, and WPS Bank!
