It was back to racing today in Bozeman, MT.  We had a skate sprint held at Lindley Park near downtown Bozeman, and it was a blast.  There was on and off snow and temps that were not too cold.  I was able to ski a pretty solid qualifier and ended up in 13th.  I then had a good quarterfinal where I was able to mix it up with my older brother, who was also in my heat.  I was then blown out of the water in my semifinal, but I was able to recover enough, despite having only 5 minutes between my semi and B-Final, to finish a solid 10th.  Maria had a good start to her day finishing 11th in the qualifier, but had a stumble in her quarter and did not advance.  You can find results HERE Tomorrow we are hoping it will be warm enough up at Bohart Ranch where we will be doing a 10km and 15km classic.

The racing season has finally begun.  It felt great to put on a bib and race against some of the best racers from the U.S. and Canada.  It was also great to be able to ski all of the trails here in West, unlike last year when we could only ski up on the plateau.  The races went pretty well, but I am looking forward to some better performances later in the season.  We will be staying here in West until Wednesday when we head up to Bozeman where we will race a skate sprint and 15km classic race.  It is on.

First race of the year, courtesy of Ian Harvey at Toko.

15km skate, courtesy of Ian Harvey at Toko.

Well, we made it back from our last camp in Lake Placid, NY without any problems.  We were able to do some pretty intense workouts on some serious hills which is always nice at this time of year.  We did all of our intervals uphill and took advantage of the OTC’s recovery center almost everyday.  They have a great ice tub, that is filled with around 50 degree water and can hold up to 6 people at once.

As always, the second week of camp ended with the infamous Whiteface Rollerski race on Wednesday.  This race is about 5 miles of straight uphill skating with an average grade of around 8%.  This makes it very similar to a road bike race where you have to pace yourself right at the redline without going over because there is no recovery.  The race went much better for me this year as opposed to last year, which made me happy.  The U.S. Nordic Combined team was in town for the race, and they used their race rollerskis to get ready for their national championship races they had later in the week.  Needless to say, they put the hurt on all of us using our Marwe rollerskis.

We then drove back to Marquette in time for the NMU cross-country running race where NMU’s Jenny Wiedmeyer pulled away to a convincing win in the 5km.  The men’s nordic team fared pretty well in the 7.5km as well.

Then Maria, Gus, and I celebrated the 40th NMU Ski Team reunion on Saturday night at Marquette Mountain.  There was a great turnout and the band was awesome.  It was really fun to hear how the team started and all the stories from year’s past.  It was also great to reconnect with some of my past teammates that I have not seen in years.

To finish out the week I raced the UP Cross race on Sunday at the Fit Strip here in Marquette.  I think the week had finally caught up with me because I did not have the legs to stay with the leaders.  I managed to sneak into the top ten despite rolling on a single speed, 69er courtesy of Rick Bagley at the Sports Rack.  I really could have used a few more gears on the high speed course.

Tight finish of the UP Cross race on Sunday.

Well, our last Hayward camp for the year has come and gone.  All around, the camp went really well.  The weather was really nice and we were able to get in a lot of solid training.  The intensity has really picked up in my training so it was nice to get to hammer with some other people.

The start of the OO Time Trial in July

The second week of camp included some time trials.  On Thursday we busted out a running and bounding TT around the trails at OO.  Then on Saturday we did the famous up to OO skate time trial.  I was able to PR in both time trials so that means that my training has been paying off.  I am looking forward to hammering with the Northern guys pretty soon here as well.

First though, I have my first cyclocross race of the season this Sunday.  I am really looking forward to the race even if I have not been biking too much.  It will be a blast either way.  I am hoping that it is not a bad omen that I had the worst mountain bike crash of my life yesterday.  All I have to say is that I have been extremely sore since my digger yesterday while bombing down some sweet single-track on Marquette Mountain.  Remember to wear your helmets kids!

The first race of the 2007 U.P. Cylcocross Series

There was an unofficial CXC Team Vertical Limit training camp held in Crested Butte, CO over this past weekend.  The players were myself, Maria Stuber, and Gus Kaeding.  However, it was not just  a training camp, but it was also my best-friend’s wedding.  Our former NMU Ski Team teammates James Letson and Kelly Ahern were married at the amazing Lazy F Bar Ranch in Crested Butte.  This place was unreal, and the weather for the wedding was perfect.

James and Kelly

If you have never been to Crested Butte you are really missing out.  The whole town was great for anything outdoor, as well as indoor, where we celebrated James’ bachelor party on Friday night.  We then hiked up Mount Crested Butte on Saturday until we cleared 10,000 feet.  The rehearsal dinner was on Saturday night, and then the wedding at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Crested Butte, CO

Currently, Maria and I are still in Colorado for the rest of the week.  We are staying near Boulder with our good friend’s Tami Kochen and Shane Mundt of Mundt Arts.  We will be here training at altitude until Saturday when we will fly back to Milwaukee and go to Maria’s high school friend Nicole’s wedding.  Back-to-back wedding weekends are going to be pretty intense, but we are both really looking forward to it.  After that it is back to Marquette for some more working and training. 

Colorado Living