One of the joys of travelling the world for skiing is the amazing places that you get to visit. Unfortunately sometimes this means that reliable access to reliable internet is not always possible. As such, I apologise of the lack of recent posts since I left Sun Valley and arrived in West Yellowstone.
I am not going to go through the details of our camp since Kat has already covered that, instead I will give you a bit of a race report from the season opener USSA Super Tour.
Following Thanks Giving on Thursday I lined up for what was my first major races in America. To say that I was not nervous is a bit of a lie, however putting the butterflies from my stomach aside I was super excited to get the racing season under way and to see where my current form put me in terms of my competition.
The Skate sprint last Friday was by far the biggest sprint race that I had ever started, with almost 250 people lining up! The course was quite different to most that I have done as it was really flat and had only 1 real climb. Overall I was pretty pleased with my race finishing in 36th position. Considering the fact the race was held at over 2000m above sea level, this was only my 3rd intensity session since arriving in America and the amount of training I had done in the week leading into the race (around 16 hours) I was really happy to see that I only missed out on a top 30 result by less than a second!
I am not going to go through the details of our camp since Kat has already covered that, instead I will give you a bit of a race report from the season opener USSA Super Tour.
Following Thanks Giving on Thursday I lined up for what was my first major races in America. To say that I was not nervous is a bit of a lie, however putting the butterflies from my stomach aside I was super excited to get the racing season under way and to see where my current form put me in terms of my competition.
The Skate sprint last Friday was by far the biggest sprint race that I had ever started, with almost 250 people lining up! The course was quite different to most that I have done as it was really flat and had only 1 real climb. Overall I was pretty pleased with my race finishing in 36th position. Considering the fact the race was held at over 2000m above sea level, this was only my 3rd intensity session since arriving in America and the amount of training I had done in the week leading into the race (around 16 hours) I was really happy to see that I only missed out on a top 30 result by less than a second!
Following the skate sprint, I had a 10km skate distance race. Since this is my first year in the senior age group I have not had a huge amount of experience racing 10km races (as a junior you typically race 5km). As such this race give me a perfect opportunity to practice my pacing skills for longer races. My race plan was pretty simple; ski within my self for the first lap (5km) and build all the way to end on my second lap. Apart from a minor fall on some really slick ice, I was able to follow my race plan on what was a difficult course. I finished in 54th position, 4 minutes off the leader. One section of the course I feel is note worthy is a little bit call Telemark Hill. The course took us down this long, steep drop, around a switch back, then straight back up to the top and to be honest, it was pretty brutal, especially the second time around. On this particular down hill I managed to reach speed of 58km/hr or around 30 miles/hr for the American readers.
A huge shout out needs to go the SVSEF coaches and wax technicians for my rocket fast skis on both race days! I would also like to make a special mention to team mate and member of the Sun Valley Gold Team, Matt Gelso for winning the Mens 15km race on Saturday. It was really exciting to see the whole team do so well in the season opener and I looking forward to what the season has to offer!
All in all I had a solid start to my Norther Winter racing season. There is still plenty of room for improvement and many more races to come. On Wednesday we are hitting the road again and travelling to Bozeman for another Super Tour series. This weekend I will race in the classic Sprint and 10km classic mass start.
Dream the impossible... Live the dream!
All in all I had a solid start to my Norther Winter racing season. There is still plenty of room for improvement and many more races to come. On Wednesday we are hitting the road again and travelling to Bozeman for another Super Tour series. This weekend I will race in the classic Sprint and 10km classic mass start.
Dream the impossible... Live the dream!