USA J1 Nordic Team

The Athletes Report- Vol. VIII

2011-02-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had a fun last day here in Ostersund. It started off with getting up at 8:15 to say good bye to the Alaskans. Things were hectic and it was not pretty around Camp Sodergren. Needless to say they made it out fine and everyone went back to bed. We decided to go for a short ski and had a good time laughing at Dylan trying some tricks on the "jumps". Our next stop was the famous swedish vintersportcentrum. Its basically this sick place where they test all the best athletes from all over Sweden. This place was off the charts! They had a treadmill for both skating and classic equiped with like ten 3d cameras for technique. They even had a place to warm up the rollerskis so each pair is the same temperature when you use them. Just the treadmill alone cost $100,000! We got a tour from the worlds most famous ski researcher HC Holmberg and he was very welcoming. We said bye to HC and decided to go for a little last trip shopping. Kate and Matt found this sweet retro ski store and we scored some cool new gloves and hats. After a delicious Amercan meal of tacos, were back in our rooms trying to pack for the early flight out tomorrow. Its a difficult task because we all have about double the gear we came with. We are living by our motto "When in Rome" and heading down to the sauna now. Its been a great trip and we are all sad to leave this wonderful country!! See you back in the States!!---- Jack

The Athletes Report- Vol. VII

2011-02-06T15:53:00.002-08:00

Today was the last stage of our three-day race series in Örnsköldsvik; the relay. Needless to say, we were all psyched to get our game faces on and show those Europeans our best. It was a great day. The USA women all had great races with Marion, Cambria and Annie coming in 6^th and Hannah, Sharmila and Stella soon after in 7^th. But the story of the day was our USA-1 men’s team. The race kicked off with Logan scrambling, he got off to a rough start but hung in there and slowly got to the front… As he came into the stadium he was in first place, right in front of a massive Norwegian. He tagged off to Paddy who again mixed it up with the very best J1s in the world and hung right in there with the Finnish and Norwegian number one teams, tagging off to Forrest. Forrest kept USA in third until he broke a pole in the last kilometer, but hung in there and brought in the USA men in fourth place. It was probably the most exciting race I’ve ever seen and a really amazing way for us all to end the series! -Cam

The athletes all really took it to the next level today. Some of the best skiing I have seen in recent or distant memory. Us coaches were still waxing for most of the girls race, but I was really impressed with how these girls kept contact with the front Norwegian and Swedish teams throughout the race, and while from the outside the results look somewhat typical for these races, they are far from typical. Both our teams beat the Swedish II team, and both Est I and II. Estonia is not messing around here, they are strong skiers, and our girls just beat them straight up. Impressive.
The boys race was even more spectacular- Logan and Dylan scrambled for the Americans, and right off the start on the first hill out of the stadium a Swede fell in the track directly in front of Logan, placing him in dead last at the top of the first hill. By the time I saw him about half a K later, he was in about 6th, in a pack with most of the field except the Norge and Suomi A teams who had a 6 second lead. The next time I saw him, 2k after that, he was in second in a pack with the Norwegians and Fins, about 10 seconds up on the next group of racers. Paddy came around next, looking smooth and strong (as always!) and keeping right on the heels of the Norwegian, except when he kept passing him! Forrest did a stellar job anchoring the team, keeping close contact with the NOR and FIN teams, and eventually joined by the SWE I team. Unfortunately, with 300m to go, Forrest's pole broke and the fading Finnish skier was able to get back by. A fourth place at these very competitive championships is usually an incredible result, but today it was no mistake that the USA team was in the lead for most of the race, and while still happy with their skiing, it was a bittersweet result for the boys. The USA II team was missing a third leg due to Jack's accident, but the organizers found us an ambitious club skier to jump in and race with us. He was really excited to race for the stars and bars, and had lots of fun due to the great skiing by Dylan and Peter, skiing tight in a pack of Fins and Swedes. Now we are back in Ostersund, and its way past my bedtime, so I'm going to get a little rest before taking the Alaskans to the airport tomorrow morning. One last note before I sign off- Ostersund is a really cool place if you're a nordic skier. Tonight Pete and I were filling up a rental car before returning it at a random gas station in town, and these two really fit people walked by me twice on my way in to pay. When I got back out Pete was all excited and said "did you just see Emil Johnsson and Anna Haug??" (they were buying firewood). Then an hour later we went out to dinner at a thai restaurant and shortly after sitting down, world renowned nordic skiing physiology researcher H.C. Holmberg randomly parks his car right outside the window where we were sitting. So we invited him in and he ate with us and chatted about skiing technique and training philosophy for two hours! Pretty cool stuff here.
-Matt

2011-02-06T15:53:00.001-08:00

2011-02-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

Yo yo from Ornsköldsvik! Second day of racing here and lets be honest USA rocks. Black uniforms were flying out there on the course today eating up the track! The day started off with the women's 5km freestyle followed by the men's 10km freestyle race. It was a deceivingly challenging course with little rest, well suited for the skiers from the land of the free. Conditions were pristine with a side dish of ice and some speedy corduroy to top it off. American spirits were through the roof at the venue and the American flag evoked a strong feeling of patriotism and pride. Our boards were off the charts fast. We left large pools of water behind us on the course where our skis burned through the snow. Thank you to the coaches for their superb work on skis and cheering. Norwegian women were awed by the burly and handsome American men [editors note: this may be an exaggeration] and the Swedish boys stared endlessly at the beautiful American women. Without a doubt the most stunning team in existence. After the races we all came back to the Scandic hotel for an all team banquet and meeting. The food was phenomenal and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had a USA team meeting later and are all ready for the relays tomorrow. The races start early and will be killer. Its mullet time baby! Jack and Paddy. Out.

Its worth noting that Paddy absolutely rocked the socks off of today's race- 8th place and only 34.2 seconds off the podium! These are the fastest people in the world in this age range, so that is a pretty serious result. We have been really happy with how everyone has been racing overall, and how positive these kids have made this experience in general! Parents and coaches back home are owed a huge thanks from us over here, now its off to bed before a new round of wax testing begins bright and early tomorrow morning. -Matt

SPRINT RACE

2011-02-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

HEY ALL

A quick update from a tired crew! Today was awesome. We had 3 women and 3 men qualify for the rounds (big props to Big Logs qualifying in 4th) and a few within a second of making the heats. We re-dialed the skis for the rounds and off they went under the big lights. Dylan crushed his quarterfinal and was leading up and over the last hill before things shook up on the finishing stretch. Logan made his quarter look easy, and was fast in his semi-final despite losing a pole tip and his contact with the leaders just a few meters from the start. I didn’t get to see all of the girls heats because I had to take a quick trip to the Sjukhus with Jack Hegman who dislocated his shoulder in a fall 50 meters from the finish. Note that Jack not only finished the race with one arm after a big tumble, but he only missed qualifying by 6 seconds. One tough kid. The level of skiing here is ridiculous, and our kids fit right in. Its fun to watch the ‘men in black’ throw elbows with the Norwegians, Swedes and Estonians. I’m pumped for tomorrow. For now, off to sleep!

-Kate

The Athletes Report- Vol. VI

2011-02-03T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today was a pretty chill day all in all. After breakfast the team hung out and got some homework done which was pretty successful. Almost all of the team went for a run before lunch. Then at about 3 we were out the door and headed to the venue. We went for a ski later today in hopes of getting adjusted to the late skiing for the night sprint tomorrow. The team is definitely pumped and excited for the race on Friday! It's gonna be a good one for sure. Our ski was pretty crazy with all of the snow that was coming down on us. The snow was very powdery at first but once the tracks were skied through a couple times, the skiing became pretty well packed down. The race course was sick and consisted of a big hill at the beginning an then rolling hills and downhills from there on. Including some sharp turns, which will make the course all that much better. I think it is safe to say that we are all really pysched for our first race.

Tonight was the first night that other teams started to roll into the hotel. Right after dinner Dylan got right to work fulfilling his trip goal of getting 100 new facebook friends. Nothing held him back. He went on to introduce himself to the Finnish team sitting in the hall, close to our rooms. His vocabulary also increased when he added a couple new Finnish words. All of the teams are staying in the same hotel so the next couple days should be fun!

Until tomorrow, we are in race prep mode and thinking about the next few days. There will be some fast skiing for sure! -Marion

Sorry there aren't any pictures today- lots of organizing to do before the races, but we will be back tomorrow with lots of race pictures (and podium pictures!) from the Classic Sprint!! The event website, in case you haven't found it yet, is http://www2.idrottonline.se/HagglundsIoFK-Skidor/Vara-arrangemang/NordicJuniorSkiCompetition/NordicJuniorSkiCompetition2011/

We will be reporting back tomorrow!

The Athletes Report- Vol. V

2011-02-02T12:49:00.000-08:00

Ornskoldsvik: Day 1. After a buffet-style breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the ski trails. The
walk was maybe 10 minutes to the venue (a bit longer than the 10 steps at Camp Sodergren) but
temperatures were nice and the day promised to be sunny.

The team walks the streets of Ornskoldsvik from the hotel to the race-venue.

The view from the parking lot includes a soccer field, the ski stadium, and a bridge that leads to the trails beyond.

Team USA girls: Cam, Stella, Annie, Sharmila, Marion, Hannah

At the race venue, athletes toured the skate course and dialed in their klister zones in preparation for the sprint race on Friday. The trail in the trees is narrow and windy, with some exciting downhill turns that will be a spectator favorite in the heats. The qualifiers don’t begin until 4 in the afternoon… Night racing here we come!!

In the afternoon, we did the tourist thing and shopped some more. We found our favorite store (Intersport), a giant mall unlike anything in Ostersund, and a massive thrift-store.

The Athletes Report- Vol. IV

2011-02-01T14:05:00.001-08:00

Todays Installment: Sharmila and Hannah...

Wad up! We’re in Sweden! Today we said goodbye to Ostersund and left on our trek for Ornskoldsvik. The packing turned out to be quite an ordeal and may have taken longer than the actual car ride. We had to fit eighty-some pairs of skis into the decked out minivan with two DVD players. Too bad there wasn’t room for us; we were stuck in the Minibus. After chugging the rest of the yogurt and fighting over the odds and ends of the bread left in the cabins, we were on our way.

The drive was eventful – we experimented with Buff trends,taught Marion, Hannah, and Cambria how to Tic Tac Toe, fought over the tunes, and toured a Swedish gas station. We were weary of the sandwiches that had been chillaxin there on the shelf all day, but lo and behold, those sandwiches were good stuff! Turns out even Sweden’s sandwiches are classier than ours. Chicken and pesto, and the guy heated them up for us so they were all melty. Yum, yum. Later in the ride we got to meet the Swedish po-pos. Apparently we were driving too slowly on the icy two-lane highway, and after riding our bumper, the Po Po made the move to pass not one, not two, but all three of our vehicles. He didn’t care about the terrain, he didn’t care about the speed, he didn’t even care about oncoming traffic. He was going to pass us, and pass us he did.

We knew we had arrived as we drove into Ornskoldsvik. This city is hoppin. Everything is lit up, even the ski jump that curves underneath a highway for landing. We were pumped about the hotel until we opened the doors to our three-person rooms. There was one European twin bed (2/3s a normal twin) and a couch. “Are you for real?” we thought. But yet again, Sweden surprised us. They pack a lot of room into these little rooms! There are two beds in the couch and secret drawers in the bench. Our towels are even nice and warm because they are hanging on fancy hot-water pipes. Although Sweden has everything, Dylan says they are lacking one thing, but if you want to figure out what that is, you’ll have to visit the pool.

We check out the race trails tomorrow!

TT pix

2011-01-31T23:10:00.001-08:00

The PB out laying some cord at about 7 yesterday morning. They have a really cool map online here (which I of course found yesterday after the ski when we were about to leave) which uses a GPS to track where the groomer currently is and shows how recently it has been there -- pretty darn cool.

Mattizzle

Stella gives Ö-sund two thumbs up.

Artsy photo featuring Forrest's foot

Mamrol rolling

Dylan

Cam crushing

Marion

Sharmila shredding

Annie lapping through

Ms. Woods again

Peter lunges for the finish

Lunch on top of the city. Tasty buffet for about ~$12 per person or something super cheap for a place that could be charging twice or three times that.

Ostersund, with the Biathlon stadium to the lower right, the wax cabins below, then Ostersund and Frösön (where the airport is) on the island across the big lake (fittingly named Storsjon, or "big lake" - the Swedes are a practical people).

Missed a few on the pics - some were too quick.

Time to grab some frukost, get packing and hit the road to Ö-vik.

The Athletes Report- Vol. III

2011-01-31T12:16:00.000-08:00

Another day in paradise. It was again slightly above freezing for the better part of the day with a slight breeze. The trails were recently groomed and quite fast. It was overcast for most of the with a little sun peeking out now and again.

Today was easily the hardest ski of the trip. Our coaches devised a course for our time trial meant to “shake off the cobwebs”. It was a 2.7 kilometer lap with girls skiing two laps and boys skiing three. Each lap consisted of one major climb that wound up through the woods until it finally leveled off for a flat section and then dropped back into the stadium. Everyone seemed to have benefited from the push, but no one seemed to enjoy it

Afterward, we ventured back up into the water tower for lunch. We laid low for most of the day to recover and complete homework while the coaches went to pick up waxing supplies and groceries. When they returned we all went back into the city for an hour or so to have one last evening in Ostersund.

Tomorrow we have a 3 hour drive to Örnsköldsvik where we will be racing! -Forrest

There's your athlete report of the day! Kate, Pete, and I just got back from our nightly "coach ski" on the long lit-up out and back around town. Great skiing, and tons of old guys powering past us looking straight out of the 70s. Hopefully all the athletes are packing tonight, we are picking up our third car tomorrow and hitting the road for Ornskoldsvik! Cam and Paddy are hopefully meeting up in the morning with Paddy's Grandfather's old friend Ola (e?) which should be a cool adventure for them. Cam really ripped it up in our little time trial this morning, thats her pounding a hill up top here. Its about time for us to start packing too- you'll hear from us tomorrow on the Baltic. -Matt

them's some good lookin' coaches
Marion getting focused

Pmams Grippin' and Rippin'

Pictures from Yesterday

2011-01-30T21:54:00.001-08:00

The coaches (and friends) klister up in the kitchen to sneak out for a quick pre-lunch ski to work-off breakfast. [Still figuring out this Blogger interface, so you'll have to forgive that all the pictures are in reverse chronological order]

That is some top notch Swedish 'power-V' right there folks...

Paddy and Jack check out the start of the Fjällbryntloppet, named for the local purveyor of some cheese/mustard type spread that comes in an over-sized toothpaste tube (they are big on things like that around here - you can get your cheese spread with shrimp/lobster/crab/fish/mustard/caviar/you-name-it at the local grocery)

Swedish pancake creation

Swedish pancake creator

Dylan reacts to trying Nutella for the first time... or maybe is just being himself...

Just watched the groomers roll by here as I'm up early (again!), slowly letting the time zone adjustment take its course. Should be another day of great skiing - yep, total bummer. Kind of wish we had about three more days here so I could get in that epic ski that links together most all the trails. But it's probably good that we don't so none of the athletes are tempted to do the same. If I don't return to the states next week, you'll know why...

Today the plan is to do a TT on the trails in the AM and then head across town to Frösö, the island where the airport is and check out this giant XC terrain park in the PM - we're hoping conditions there are better than jittery ice so we can actually use it. Undoubtedly we'll do a little more shopping too. I'm sure Forrest will give you all a full run-down at the end of the day...

The Athletes Report- Vol. II

2011-01-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today started out on a high note with pancakes made by Matt, Pete, and Kate. We topped them with nutella, strawberry jelly, pineapple, grapes, raspberries, kiwi, and bananas, along with a drizzle of yogurt (from a carton) on top. In a word they were… delectable. Dylan said he felt like he had eaten a chocolate bunny after his first pancake; they made for a bit of a heavy stomach I guess.

After breakfast we hung out on our porches to watch the loppet out on the trails we’ve been skiing on. We could see the last downhill before the finish from our windows and it’s been a little icy the past few days, which led to the discovery that euros fall too. Only sometimes though.

We ventured down to town this afternoon after lunch in hopes of finding a flea market. Despite the fact that two different sources told us it would be going on this afternoon until three, our search for the flea market ended when we finally asked a local and found out that it was a ten minute train ride from town, and that it ended at 2. So we went shopping instead. I think everyone was able to make some quality purchases, which should help us to develop our style into something a little more “euro fresh”.

We had a great ski under the lights this afternoon/evening and practiced our speed racer skills at starts and downhills. Our ski was followed by another delicious dinner complete with sugarcoated licorice and other little candies.

At this point I’ve been in Ostersund almost as many hours as it took me to get here. But the place is sweet. We’re looking forward to a little time trial tomorrow morning. -Stella

So that's the athlete report from the day! As always, everyone seems to be having a great time; if we want to find the crew, we have to look in each apartment because the whole team is always hanging out in one all at once. This afternoon our workout under the lights was really cool, we did some classic starts (and finish line lunges) and drop-ins to work on fast poling, and of course, tricky downhill turns!! Peter took a few good diggers but kept going back for more, as he was adamant that he would find a faster line! As excited as the kids are to race, I think they are already getting a little sad about leaving Ostersund on Tuesday.. it really has been an amazing time- I don't think you could ask for a better environment for a pre-race camp. And besides, last years' athletes have already been telling me how much better the food looks this time; who couldn't be happy about that!? -Matt

The Athletes Report- Vol. I

2011-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

The report from BigLogs:
So today, day three in this truly amazing place, started off with a non-traditional skiing activity.
Us boys in room 12 “Rodins” decided to show off to the whole team by making breakfast for some of the gang. Breakfast so far has consisted of the team trying to come up with crazy combinations of food that Matt supplies us with. This has led to some interesting creations, grilled cheese in the morning with some sketchy Swedish cheese, and chunky milk-like stuff with blueberry soup on top. But this morning was different. This morning, a revolution was started. Us men in room 12, created the best French toast ever in the history of man! Now the ingredients were compiled from all over the place. The Cinnamon was retrieved from the dinner stand, and the syrup was discovered in the store here with the help of locals. The toast was a hit, although it made all of the boys late for the team meeting.

Although this trip is all about skiing fast, it also gives us the opportunity to sample very awesome food. For example, we athletes eat at the top of this massive and trendy water tower that is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. The restaurant on top is one of the nicest restaurants many of us have ever been in. We often show up for lunch in our relaxing clothes, and dine along side of the local Swedes, who are usually there for business or something. But whatever, the food is great.

The skiing here is simply amazing. There are endless amounts of trails here. Literally, we keep finding new trails every day. Although this morning, the warm snow from yesterday froze, so the trails were very firm. Tomorrow there is a 43km race going on, so it will be very fun to watch the racers rip around.

Update #2- Everyone is here!

2011-01-28T13:50:00.000-08:00

We finally got our last stranded traveler tonight. Now we are really up and running. The weather got even warmer today which led to some seriously fast skiing. Some of the boys crossed paths with Robin Bryntesson doing some intervals after his recent world cup weekend. He recognized Jack Hegman from when he was in Sweden a couple summers ago on Pete Phillips' Sweden training trip. He chatted with the boys for a bit, they seemed a little star-struck after! Tomorrow the Alaskans who have been here a couple days are going to do some intervals, hopefully not needing to dodge the tiny Swedes who have a race tomorrow! We ate lunch again in the restaurant on top of the water tower next to our apartments (see pictures) and tomorrow we are planning on venturing into town for some shopping and dinner. We will have kids update the blog starting tomorrow so you can get their take on the action!
matt

The lights above are our apartments

The tower at night

Ostersund, minus three for the evening

2011-01-27T12:49:00.001-08:00

Almost everyone got here on time despite the east coast storms coming through. Pete and Hannah were stuck in Newark for an extra 24 hours, and Stella was in the same situation in D.C. but they should be on their way and will arrive tomorrow afternoon to some really amazing skiing! I went out with Logan, Forrest, Peter, Annie, and Marion this morning and we were all really impressed with the trail system, snow conditions, and fast skiers literally right outside our doors (the picture above is the view from all our apartments here.) The guys found a cool trail that goes straight down a huge hill with a really big roller on it.. I probably shouldn't post any pictures, but I'm going to anyway. Everyone is getting some good sleep right now, and (almost) the whole group will be out together tomorrow morning. Easy skiing on the schedule, lots of hydration, and a chance to walk around downtown Ostersund. The energy level is high here despite the exhaustion of traveling. More tomorrow, its past my bedtime too.
matt

Congratulations to the 2011 J1 Scando Team

2011-01-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the new class:

Annie Liotta, AWS
Marion Woods, AWS
Cambria McDermott, SMS
Stella Holt, Glacier Nordic
Sharmila Ahmed, Go Training
Hannah Boyer, FXC-NCSF
*Heather Mooney, SMS

Forrest Mahlen, APU
Logan Hanneman, FAST
Patrick Caldwell, SMS
Dylan McGarthwaite, MSC
Peter Namrol, AWS
Jack Hegman, Mansfield

*Going to World Junior Championships

Race Organization in Finland

2010-01-31T22:27:00.000-08:00

The athletes and coaches are all on their way home now. Some were up as early as 4am in order to make their early flights. It was a great trip on many levels; and as ready to sleep in our own beds as some of us may be, I don't think anybody really wants to leave.

I just want to mention a couple of things I noticed during the races the past several days.

The "start gun" for all the races was a man hitting an empty 50-gallon drum with a stick. Though the organizers and facilities can accommodate very high-level racing, the feel of the weekend was more like an old-school race rather than a championship series. Coaches didn't need credentials to talk to their athletes before/after the competitions. I could walk up next to the start wand for the sprint, or 3 feet from the relay start. There was nothing more than a few pine boughs marking the start of the relay. Other than the sprint, the courses were always open to skiers. Nobody got yelled at for walking/skiing on or near the trails during the races. There was almost no hard fencing in the start finish area (maybe 100m worth, on either side). Coaches meetings were short and sweet. I could set up my wax bench anywhere I wanted to, other than on the trail.

In short, the organizers and volunteers never seemed "front and center" -- rather they were just there doing their thing, in the background, with 100% success. It seemed like everybody (TD's, organizers, volunteers, coaches) was there with the mentality that the competitors were the center of the universe.

That said, the group at the Puijon Ski Club ran very professional races.

commentary in 3 languages (Suomi, English, and Norwegian).
3-4 cameras (video + still) at the finish line.
warming facilities within 20 meters of the start/finish.
ski marking that took 3-seconds to pass through.
results printed and posted FAST. During the sprint heats, they had results from every heat (including times for each athlete) posted outside near the start before the following heat was done.
During the boys 10km race (2 x 5km laps), a little Finnish girl knocked on the door of our wax trailer and handed us a print out of the standings at the 5km mark! Never, in my life, have I gotten interim results from a multi-lap race, printed, and delivered!
large, heated wax trailers, within 200m of the start finish.
"Ski Patrol", which were athletes designated to ski in the tracks around the start/finish area (they made sure to evenly ski in all 4 finish lanes throughout the sprint heats).

Basically, they had it figured out!

It's time to board the plane now. Naekemiin!

Relays

2010-01-31T03:18:00.000-08:00

It was a bit warmer today -- I think the temp may have made it up to -10 * C. But instead of bitter cold, we had some wind and snow. The past few days have been the first appreciable snowfall here in 6-8 weeks.

Relays went of this morning, 3x3 and 3x5, with a classic first leg followed by 2 skate. It was still pretty dark out when the girls hit the course, but that didn't scare anybody. The girls race was pretty tight, with places 3-7 coming in within about 20 seconds of one another. Off the front were NOR/FIN, then SWE in 3rd, and USA 1 came in 6th or 7th, about 18 seconds from 3rd (Liotta, Loan, Gill).

Boys racing was again on a really tough 5km loop. The TD was cool with the fact that one of our relays only had 2 athletes, and allowed them to start and get splits for the first 2 legs (one of our boys is sick, but doing okay). The boys field stayed fairly tight for a few km before the NOR/SWE guys pushed the pace. It was a really hard final km, and a tough final stretch into slow, windblown snow and a headwind. USA boys ended the day in 8th (Cobb, Sinclair, Hanneman).

I think the performances out of these athletes the past 2 days (individual classic, and relay) was more in line with their abilities and they should be fairly happy with those results. After all the travel and racing they've done over the past 3-4 weeks, they still had some good performances. It ain't easy seeing names in the teens/20's/30's, when they are used to seeing podiums and top-10s.

Now we're packing and driving about 5 hours to Helsinki. We all fly tomorrow AM, some of us very early.

Thanks for checking in. Look at the links to the right for the official race site -- they should have final results, and they will likely have split times calculated for each leg. Hopefully we'll get some more posts up here over the coming days with pictures and maybe some more reflections.

Until then, over and out from FIN. //Tim

Sprint heats

2010-01-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

A couple shots of the team racing in the sprints.

The First Race...

2010-01-29T12:06:00.001-08:00

It's been a long day for both the athletes and coaches over here in Kuopio. We learned this morning at the coaches meeting that the last time Kuopio accumulated any significant amount of snow was sometime in November, but of course it decided to start snowing on us just to mix things up a little bit. Fortunately the wax didn't change for us significantly and we were pretty confident with our selection going into the prelims. With temperatures staying around -17C and a relatively strong headwind into the long uphill finish, complete with drifts of new snow to catch and slow down skis, it was not a day for fair-weather skiers.
The Americans went into the race a little intimidated by what they saw- Big, Fast Swedes and Norwegians (and Estonians for that matter!) Mike Vigers told us after the race that before his prelim he thought he was going to be late to his start because as he was warming up on the far side of the stadium he saw a line of Huge kids getting ready to start, but as he got closer he realized that it was the start of the girls race. The girls' race got swept away by a fast Swede, 4 seconds up on the rest of the pack, but the boys' race was close despite the intimidating scandos- Bridger and Logan ended up in 15th and 17th and were both less than 7 seconds off the pace!
Bridger was the only American to make it past the quarterfinals today, but he did it with style- skiing straight through a pack of guys twice his size to get second in his heat. After he told us that he was able to slip right behind a Swede going out of the stadium and then they just pushed the pace from there. As they came back into the stadium a Norwegian attacked even harder and he decided to give it all he had, which paid off! He then skied a solid Semi-final but wasn't quite able to hold on so he cruised in to save some gas for the B-Final. In the start pen he told Tim that he was going to really go for it and try to lead the pack all the way around the course. The gun went off and he did just that, leading the hoard up the section of climb and around which was really exciting and inspiring for us all to watch. He ran low on energy by the end and a very strong finish by a Norwegian put him in 12th place overall. Bridger showed the team today that there is NO reason they can't ski through the scandos, and I think everyone is excited to kick some butt tomorrow.
Beyond the races, the crew is still having a blast over here. Although we are all really focused on the races at this point and aren't really sightseeing anymore, the kids are now best friends (or at least Facebook friends) with the Finnish athletes staying down the hall from us. They have formed an alliance against the Swedes (who rather condescendingly asked us what we were doing at these races earlier) and both teams are cheering loudly for each other on the course.

Race Day: Start Lists and Schedule

2010-01-28T22:04:00.000-08:00

Freestyle sprints start this afternoon at 15.00h local time (= 08.00h EST). Heats for gals are between 16.00h - 16.30h, and boys are between 16.30 - 17.00h. It looks like today may be the warmest day of the week thus far: temps should be around 0* to +4* F, at race start (then dropping!).

Start List, Freestyle Sprint [.pdf]: http://imanager.ip-finland.com/puijon_hiihtoseura/kilpailukalenteri-09-10/PM_pelahtoviim.pdf

Race Website: http://imanager.ip-finland.com/puijon_hiihtoseura/MC_2005_engl/Events_2009-2010/PMkutsu.php

Update from Wicherski and Vigers

2010-01-28T00:04:00.000-08:00

From Will Wicherski and Michael Vigers:

The last few days in Finland have been super sick. Lots of stuff has been going on, and we have been having tons of fun. Tuesday we went for an easy ski with intervals on the 5k race course, which by the way is really rad. The course starts with a big climb and then rolls up for the next 3k until another large uphill to the end. We also took the team picture at the end of the ski, which took forever, because Logan took his good sweet time to cool down from his intervals. It wouldn’t have been that bad except that it was -20 degrees Celsius outside, which is about -4 degrees Fahrenheit, and we were in tights. After our ski, we went out to go shopping and walk around in downtown Kuopio. We saw many things, including an Intersport Megastore, what looked like a ten year old smoking a cigarette, and some of the sickest water bottle carriers ever. I picked up a Bjorn Daehlie water belt, Ashley got some awesome boots, and we got a bunch of candy from the store. Then we went to dinner at a really nice bar and grill in downtown Kuopio, which capped off the day nicely.

Wednesday started with another one of those amazing Finnish breakfasts, which pretty much means the day can’t go wrong from there. It was an off/easy day and most of the kids opted not to go skiing except the Alaskans, who went for a ski in the cold. It was really windy, and also still -20, so they had a pretty chilly time. The rest of us stayed back at the hotel and did various activities, including lots of miniature golf and valiant attempts at homework. We went out on the town again in the afternoon to go see the outdoor market in the central square of town. It’s like a street market, except in a freezer. Most of the kids got hats and other presents for members of their families, along with a bunch of random assorted goods. After the frigid market, we went to the top of the Kuopio tower, which was epic. It is 75 meters tall on top of the tallest mountain as far as the eye can see, which makes for some pretty sweet views. We went on top of the tower, and it was like being on top of Mt. Washington, complete with gale force winds and arctic temperatures. The countryside is a lot of lakes with dots of islands everywhere, and it is really really cool to see. A nice team meeting and now a bit of chilling at the hotel ended the day. Everyone is getting more in race mode every day and we are falling back into race routine, with only a day to go before the races. We are going to shred on Friday. Be prepared.

Coach Johnson showing impeccable putting technique:

Cobb shows off his haul from the market. Half of the stalls here sell either these pretzels or rope candy:

The breakfasts here are some of the best any of us have had. It is hard to beat sandwiches, cookies, and little smokies:

Take that steinbock:

The view of the lakes around Kuopio and the town in the foreground:

Welcome to Finland

2010-01-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

A little peak at what the team has been up to in the week leading up to the races in Kuopio. Hope you enjoy it, I know we have!

Team Photo

2010-01-27T00:25:00.001-08:00

[ C L I C K . T O . E N L A R G E ]

Tuesday afternoon Update

2010-01-26T04:29:00.001-08:00

First off, way to go to the U23 crew in GER. Reppin!

Last night we had dinner in our hotel, which lasted for hours. We had a nice stalemate with the waitstaff. I thought we were waiting for a 3rd course for a while, then Ashely notified me that it was up to us to ask for the check. Everybody was pretty happy talking, so we spent the better part of our evening telling stories in the restaurant.

After supper, we had a team meeting and the coaches had a chance to tell our stories -- our entrance to the sport, background in racing, and in coaching. It turns out I'm the only person here that has never made the J1 Trip (I pre-date it by a few years). Both Matt and Ashely are 2-year qualifiers for the J1 trip, back in their day.

We then gave a homework assignment to the athletes. Finland is certainly a great place to visit, but part of what makes these trips cool is getting to know friends from around the country. These athletes may be great friends, still, in another 30 years (probably coaching by then!). So, everybody had to donate 1 ski-tie, then everybody pulled 1 ski-tie at random from the bag. Based on whose ski tie they got, they have to interview that person and get to know them a little better. This afternoon everybody are working on that, in between lunch and a short strength session this evening.

We got some nice team/individual photos of athletes in their uniforms. They'll be up later today, hopefully.

From FIN, //Tim

[ C L I C K . I M A G E S . T O . E N L A R G E ]

Will demonstrating excellent Lightning technique:

Frosty tree @ night:

Kate, Kinsey, David, Logan, Jessica @ Supper:

The group takes over the hallway (we have our own wing, so we're not too bothersome):

JJortberg, Izzy, Vigers learning the "Tally Ho" dance from Slumdog Millionaire:

Update from Izzy and Logan

2010-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

[ C L I C K . I M A G E S . T O . E N L A R G E ]

(..my computer has done some funky things to a couple of these pictures, sorry about the strange exposure)

So Tim Weston has been the “King of the Blog” so far. But today at lunch, he decided that “we”, the actual athletes should contribute to it as well. So here is issue number one, by the skiers. (Isabel and Logan)

We’re sure Tim has already informed you that we have safely arrived in Kuopio. Today was our first ski on the trails here. But with only one day under our belt in Kuopio, most of our adventures have occurred in Lahti, our first stop of the trip.

Lahti Ski Jumps:

The hotel we stayed at, which was actually, believe it our not, a Best Western, was extremely plush. At first glance the beds looked like something that would belong in a jail, but they were some of the most comfortable beds we have ever slept in. (Whole group approval!)

Tyler Bridger:

The food so far has led to some very interesting experiences. We have consumed everything from pizza at a sketchy, back-alley pizza parlor to pretty high-class steak. The first one led to a team member’s gross night. Breakfast has been the best meal everyday. Come on, who wouldn’t like to have endless amounts of fresh bread and jam? One person even ate the “assorted pickled fish parts” served.

Kuopio Stadium-Area around Sunrise:

Okay, now on to the stuff that we are actually over here for. We skied for three days on the world-cup ski trails in Lahti. During these three days, we witnessed some “cutting edge” technology in snow grooming. Over here, they set the tracks with a foot between the skis on all the down hills for a more stable tuck. Of course we didn’t know that so we decided to ski up them.

Striding in the "Double-Wides":

Also, Finland obviously doesn’t care about any liability due to the fact that we could ride the elevator up to the top of the ski jump without anyone asking us for a pass or anything. Going up to the tops of those assured us all why we do cross-country skiing and not ski jumping.

It’s been a great trip so far. As the races get closer, the stress will begin. But we will still leave our hearts in Kuopio. (Inside joke.)

I Left My Heart in Kuopio (Pics from Puijon Hiihtoseura)

2010-01-25T02:33:00.000-08:00

[ C L I C K . I M A G E S . T O . E N L A R G E ]

The Nordic stadium with the ski jumps and the Puijo Tower in the background:

Puijo Trail Map:

JJortberg in prison:

Logan showing off his custom ski protectors:

Our official theme song for this trip: "I left my heart in Kuopio [Tokyo]"

Pictures from today

2010-01-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

[ C L I C K . I M A G E S . T O . E N L A R G E ]

A view down the in-run of the K130 jump:

Vigers looked fast today:

Sinclair horsing around:

Izzy climbing:

The AK girls doing intervals:

Lahti World Championship Sprint, 2001

2010-01-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

This is a video of the Women's A-Final Sprint from the 2001 World Ski Championships. This gives an idea of what the stadium is like when it is packed.

We did our final ski in Lahti this morning, and then drove about 3.5 hours to Kuopio. We're in our new hotel here, and things are going well. Soon we'll unveil the theme song for our trip. Until then... //Tim

More skiing and more cold in Lahti

2010-01-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day, just a little slow and squeaky on the trails this morning. It was a beatiful sunny day, at least.

We took a tour past some interesting shops during our morning jog. The neon lights are all still glowing at 08.00h. Some of the highlights from today include watching one of the coaches try to eat half a can of cheap caviar from a toothpaste tube, watching Tim Burke race in World Cup, and a great dinner at a steakhouse called Manhattan. Being a New Yorker myself, I'm proud to announce that we have a lot of new fans of the New York Yankees.

The crew seems to be getting along with one another really well. They've been happy to relax after most of the meals, talking with each other and making new friends. For our time here in Lahti, everybody got to share a room with someone they didn't know before the trip.

Tomorrow most of the athletes will do some sort of race pace intervals. Then we'll load up our vans and drive North to Kuopio. They're in a pretty deep freeze up there right now (-27* C), but it looks like we may see temps as high as -10* C by Tuesday. At least the sun is shining, and the saunas are still hot!

Over and our from Lahti, //Tim

Skiing in Lahti

2010-01-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

This morning we got the team together for a jog at 08.00h. It was not totally dark, but it was certainly still before dawn. We're on the edge of the city, so we ran over to the train station and then back home to the warm hotel, and our breakfast buffet.

I've been to Europe a few times, but I'm never quite sure of what to expect of the food in different regions / restaurants / hotels. I think we were all anticipating what we'd find awaiting us as the Best Western breakfast buffet. Once we entered the dining room, it was pretty clear that this is not the same as a Continental Breakfast in the good ole US of A. This was, clearly, intercontinental! It had everything we need, including 3 types of fish -- 2 pickled varieties (which nobody touched) and one other breaded type, which Mr. Vigers put onto his sandwich. Apparently it hadn't been totally boned...Some of the crowd favorites included the cookies (?!), Blaabarsopa (blueberry soup, like they give @ the Vasaloppet), and the Nestle Fitness cereal.

We had a relaxed time eating, and watched as the dawn gradually turned to daylight. We later loaded our 2 Ford vans, and started driving to the ski area. It was only 2-3 km from our hotel to the ski area, so I didn't bother to ask for specific directions. After about 45 minutes of driving, we found ourselves at the trails. A non-English speaking groomer directed us to a warm room where we scraped and applied some cold kick wax. After that, well the pictures are probably better than my writing.

The temps peaked today around -15* C. Everybody has warm clothes and balaclavas (not to mention nice new jackets), and I nobody complained. That's just what we'll have for the next 10 days.

Back home in the hotel, we had our choice of World Cup biathlon from Antholtz, ITA, live on Eurosport, or the classic-Sprint at Finnish Nationals, live on a local channel. We watched Sammi Jauhojaervi win the men's race while at lunch.

Now it's just after 5pm, and we're all just chilling. I just watched some of the Super-G that happened earlier today @ Kitzbuehl AUT, and now its K134 Ski Jumping from Zakopane, POL. It seems to have been a beautiful day all over Europe!

In our hotel lobby, watching the classic-sprint race @ Finnish Nationals:

The sun nears its peak for the day (this is just after noon):

Trail network:

Most of the team taking a break:

Striding towards the big jump:

View down to the Nordic stadium:

The big jumps:

Lahti downtown, around 15.45h:

Some of the gals:

Safe in Finland

2010-01-21T09:23:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update to announce that we made it to our hotel in Lahti around 4pm local time. All our travel was on schedule, and without any major mishaps. We arrived at the hotel just before dark, and the temperature was already down to -21* C. Our hotel is within 5-10 minutes walk of the city center, and only a few KM from the ski trails. Tomorrow morning we will await the sunrise, and then check out the venue and do a classic ski.

I've got to say, we must have some future NASA scientists in this group, because we managed to defy physics with our ability to fit 15 people, 14 ski bags, 15 duffels, and countless backpacks, into 2 Ford 9-passenger vans. It was a miracle to accomplish, without putting any gear on the roof!

Over and out from Finland, //Tim

NCCSEF

2010-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

A big thanks to the folks at NCCSEF. They are a non-profit that fund a large portion of the coaches' expenses for the J1 trip. The cost of the J1 trip and the Junior-World / U-23 trips would be really darn expensive without their assistance.

In addition to offsetting coaches' expenses, the NCCSEF helps to cover the cost of our flashy team apparel. I don't have pictures yet, but the custom team jackets just arrived from Podiumwear Mt. Borah apparel, and they look rad!

Welcome to the J1 Team

2010-01-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

J1 Scandinavia Cup Team
Kuopio, Finland, January 29-31

January 6, 2010

Congratulations, and welcome to the 2009 USA J1 Scandinavia Cup Team. A lot of intervals and ODs went into this achievement, and we thank you for that dedication. Whether this is your first year on the team or you are a seasoned veteran, we are going to Finland as a new team that is on a mission to accomplish one thing together—to compete for the USA against some of the best in the world.

As the stresses associated with making this team subside, regain control of your training next week. Refocus your goals. Whether you squeaked onto this team or qualified first, you now are all equal teammates. As you look around at your new teammates in this room, can you see yourself having the best races of your life with the support of this crew? See it.

Train wisely in these next two weeks, and make sure you are healthy before the travel. Contact us if you have any questions about training, travel, and racing. Congratulations, thanks for your hard work, and get the engines tuned! Remember that your qualification to this team is a stepping-stone to your next big goal, rather than a destination. We’ll see you in Finland, if not sooner.

Best,

Tim, Matt, and Ashley