February 2nd and No Snow

Man, last year I was so on top of my blog. I think its the lack of snow that effects my laziness with blogging this year. Yes it is now February 2nd, and Tahoe still has not had snowfall since Christmas Eve. In fact, we got some rain today on the summit, that should make for some great skate skiing tomorrow. I think it might have to do something with me going to Sugar Bowl. Ever since I started there, Tahoe has not had a good snow year. Sorry guys.

I have done quite a few races between the last time I blogged and now. I will start off with our second CNISSF or school race of the year. This was a 5k skate race held on our own ground at Sugar Bowl. In this race, I tried out some different tactics. First let me describe the course. It was a crammed mass start that was pretty flat. The whole first 2k of the course is slight downhill. At the end of this downhill, the trail opens out from the trees and into a big flat meadow we have to cross. At the end of this meadow is a narrow bridge(mandatory double pole) and then the course turns to head back towards the finish. There is a little bit of rolling terrain with two major climbs and then a slight v2 uphill into the finish. My teammate Peter Carroll took the lead and led a big pack of us racers for the whole first downhill in the trees. The moment we got into the flat meadow, I made a move and went way off the front. I knew this was the best spot for me to do this as I can really push the flat and rolling terrain but my competition can crush me on the climbs. I gained a pretty significant lead over the rest of the pack. On the climbs I was able to hold my gap pretty well but my teammates Sam and Ryland were definitely making up some ground. At the top of the last hill, the course turns towards the finish. There is still probably 300 yards of skiing. I hit a wall pretty hard at this point. I tried to hold off my teammates but both were able to find another gear at the finish and beat me in the last 50 feet. I was super stoked with how this race went though and when thinking about what I would have done differently, I don't think there is anything else I would have changed. I left it all out there. 

Sam and Ryland making moves in the last 100ft (Photo: Stacey H.)

Two weeks ago, we had another CNISSF race. These were the Truckee sprints which were once again held at ASC. The race started in the afternoon and ran on into the evening. Races ran later then expected due to some prelim timing issues. The snow was super hard and one of the downhill corners was crazy icy which made for some sketchy heats. This was the first sprint race in a while that I made it all the way through the A final!

Quarter Final w/Casey Jobe (Photo: Stacey H.)

The beginning of last week, I ended up catching a cold. So many people that I surround my self with have been sick, it was just the matter of time before I caught it. I stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday to try and kick it. I did a pretty good job of getting better fast, but was still a little run down going into my races in Utah this weekend. Because I was sick, I did not travel out with the team on Wednesday afternoon but instead drove out with my parents early Thursday morning. We arrived in Soldier Hollow, Utah around 3pm. I drove strait to the venue to get a easy ski in as I hadn't skied all week. The snow was a little wet and soft but not too bad. I got in a solid hour ski and then went to meet up with the rest of my team for the weekend!

Friday we had a skate sprint race. The worst of our luck came, and it did not freeze the night before. This led too some slow, deep, slushy racing conditions. I had an decent prelim, but I was unable to pull together a fast enough time to make heats. I was not bummed though as I was able to cheer on my teammates and save some energy for Saturdays 15k.

Skate Sprint Prelim (Photo: Stacey H.)

It was a lot of fun to watch many of my other teammates race in the heats. A big shout out to Savannah and Sam for making the heats! On a particular note, It was really cool to watch Sam and Dylan execute a race plan and both move on the semi finals and B finals! It was some super tough snow conditions out there but they managed and were the gravy on top the mashed potatoes.

Dylan(far left) and Sam(far right) making moves to finish 1,2
in there quarter final

Sunday was the classic distance race. Us U18/20 men had to do a 15 K and did not race until 12:55pm. We had a chevron start based off of USSA points. I did not have to bad of a position but I could definitely work for some better points. We had to do 2 laps of the sprint course and then 3 laps going up the hollow. Right before our race it was cloudy and I was worried I might even rain but standing the the chevron, minutes before our race the sun came out and it was hot out! The snow by this time was very very slushy. It was pretty hard to find tracks on the course as 400 skiers had already skied multiple laps over the same courses. During my first two laps on the sprint corse I was feeling pretty strong. I found a pretty good pace and a pack to stick with. I also had an awesome first lap up the hollow. My skies were phenomenal given the crappy snow conditions. On my second lap up the hollow, A lot of mental stuff started kicking in. I started loosing kick, my technique was bad and I was starting to loose it but somehow I found the strength and motivation to push through it. I then was able to have a super strong finish and pull through the end!

Second lap in the Hollow (Photo: Mi Padre)

Peter Carroll charging (Photo: Mi Padre)

My teammate Peter Carroll had an awesome day with a 18th place finish! This photo dose not do justice for how mushy this climb was.








On another note, teammate Brandon Herhusky did not have such a great day. He skied the first two sprint laps pretty solidly with me but then things went downhill. He was able to make it one lap around the hollow but upon going on two, he collapsed and blacked out. Luckily moms were right by his side and medics were there with in seconds. He was taken off the course and by the time I finished my race, was being loaded into an ambulance. This was a pretty scary situation. When I tried to talk to him on the stretcher he was unresponsive and very dazed. I knew he would be in good care though. A couple hours later, coach Jeff and I went to go check on him at the hospital and he was released being told dehydration was a major factor of this incident.

Brandon and I after he was released

Little Hair Straining Action (Photo: Maddie Morgan)

Saturday night, I had some fun hanging out with friends and once again doing some straining work on the head of Sam Zabell.










I am back in school for the next 3 days before taking off for Norway on Friday! Hopefully Norway will have a little more snow then Tahoe...