On waxing

So yesterday was the first Michigan Cup race of the year (9k classic) and with the temperature fluctuating from 26-34 I was way out of my element.

So I had multigrade purple on initially but it wasn't working and I got scared. I started throwing things on listening to other people around me who probably knew less than I do with the "if some is good, more is better" philosophy. Finally I got something to work...and then it started to snow. Game over.

I had way way too much wax on to the point where I fell 4 times because my skis iced up and would simply stop on the downhills. Awful. I've never experienced that before. I really should have done well - I was right up at the front after 3k, feeling great, but then came the long downhill section and I just got dropped. I'd come to complete stops trying to shake off the ice so I could move. I finished a disappointing 8th.

But don't worry, I'm staying positive because physically I felt good, I just had crazy control issues because of the atrocious waxing job.

Note: the winner I think they disqualified for using skate skis (and some skate technique)- people were trying anything to avoid having to wax in those conditions.

Bottom line - I wish I was in Austria and I am very thankful for Scottie.

Hope all is well with everyone. Ski fast. Happy New Year!!

-Andrew

the last bandit left at riverside..

Intervals this morning were super fun on the slush/ice combo that is currently Weston Ski Track. While I'm honored that you guys entrusted me with the role of the rep for Harvard Nordic on our favorite golf course, I have to admit it gets a little lonely. and tedious. very tedious. It is nice to be the first in a workout again, though. Granted, I was skiing with girls from Eastern Mass's finest high school, Dover-Sherborn. So think of me when you're laboring through a 1k climb or testing out race skis in three feet of beautiful Austrian snow, and know I wish I were there. Until then, I'm going to go take out my frustration with MTV jams and Coach P's lift.

-Meri

1 hour

In an hour I'll be leaving my house, laden down with skis, boots, poles, clothes, and even a present, bound for the Manchester, NH airport, the first stop on my journey to Austria. If it's as much fun as Dave claims, you may never see me, Nabes, or Schulzy again. It's already 10:1 odds we never see Dave on this continent again.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, snowy holiday. Keep the training up, get some racing in, and make Harvard Nordic proud.

-- O

Coming soon to a blog near you: the Riverside Ski Bandits do Europe!

"He's a poet-warrior in the classic sense"

Remember when I warned the team that Dave was gonna go all Kurtz on us in Austria? It has officially happened.

With two swift clicks of the "publish post" button, Dave has vaulted off the deep end, landing, I'd guess, in a pile of German phrasebooks and poorly composed science papers. Every night he falls alseep to dreams of snails crawling across the edges of straight razors.

T-minus 4 days before I leave Saigon. I cannot wait to witness this first hand.

The horror, the horror,

-- O-A-Beezy


(if you didn't get the weird references, you really need to watch Apocalypse Now. I'm super serial.)

Training by the Numbers, Part 86

Latest Installment in "Training by the Numbers". Theta Chapter:

Today's day number of the year: 354, baby.
Number mintues trained on 354th day of year: 204
Number of 1 minute lev 5 sprints on day 354: 10
Number of Leberkäse sandwiches consumed for lunch after: 2. (Leberkäse is liver-cheese)
Number of delicious fruit/whey drinks consumed with lunch: 2
Rank of whey protein in terms of biological value (abililty to be absorbed as by organism and used to initiate new protein synthesis), as compared to other proteins: 1. Writing a paper on it, right now. How lame.
Number of reindeer farms spotted in New Leutasch while on 2 hour recovery ski: 1
"TOTAL NUMBER OF DEERS": 8. 6 babies, 2 adult DEERS. Counted using patended "Buck-Hunter" Deer counting algorithm.
Minutes wasted fooling around on the blog this afternoon: ...Not willing to disclose.
Days until the Sugarbush Tri-Dream Team continues its quest for world domination: That depends on if Nabel misses his flight or not, but could be as little as 7.

Math can be fun! Just not Math 1a or 1b. It's only fun when it involves the "Buck Hunter algorithm".

Happy holidays and a safe new year, team. See some of you quite soon and all the rest soon thereafter!

-Dave

FOUR QUESTIONS...

... Solid answers. Battling Gengis Kahn in Beito.

Eager Beaver Nordic Reader: Awesome! This blog post actually sounds like a blog I kno...

Me: FOUR QUESTIONS!

EBNR: Sorry. All ears!

Me: 1) Let me ask you something... how to you make a pie?

EBNR: Err... excuse me?

Me: Intensity. Determination. Stick to the plan. Review and consult. Adapt and exfoliate.

EBNR: ...Right. Got it.

Me: 2) How many licks does it take to get to the center of a BlowPop?

EBNR: This is getting a little ridiculous...

Me: DETERMINATION! FOUR QUESTIONS. I NEED ANSWERS.

EBNR: Sorry. Right. BlowPop... Wouldn't that depend on the conditions and the training hours that the licker has put in the previous summ...

Me: ANSWERS! NEVER ANSWER A QUESTION WITH A QUESTION! The answer is: no licks. Only one big bite. And that's today. Right now. Not tomorrow. Now.

EBNR: What does that have to do with training?

Me: 3) How do I qualify for the races I want to do this season? How do I stay healthy while traveling? What does the latest study out of Sweden say about double pole technique? What is my current USSA ranking? How do I reach my dreams...

EBNR: Thank goodness! I was beginning to worry about these questions... I have no idea! I need to know! Last season sucked, I literally saw my hopes and dreams ahh-lyinn' on the grooounnndd...

Me: Patience, young Jedi. This one is actually very easy:

First off: Buy one of those alcohol detecting bracelets like Lindsay Lohan has. You know, the kind that shocks you repeatedly with a 9V battery when you even think about consuming alcoholic beverages.

Second: Put your academic, professional career and desirable relationship/love interests on the back burner. I mean wayyyy back. You might as well throw 'em in the damn microwave and forget about 'em. Quit chewing tobacco and using deodorant.

Third: Move into your Uncle Tom's Cabin far away from electricity and the internet, in a place where the sun seldom shines and the locals speak a dialect akin to Klingon, and simply train your face off. All the time. I mean, if you're not bounding or ski walking in your sleep, just forget about it. Intensity. Power. Passion. Also, listening to soothing Christian rock music really helps.

Fourth: Set goals. Set 'em really freakin' high. Goals have to be lofty and rather unattainable, things that you just can't live up to. Something like: "Best in the World...", but naturally you can't have that one because it's copyrighted cooperatively by Thomas Aalsgard and Bjørn Dæhlie but is tentatively being rented to the US Ski Team. Off limits. You could try something like, "Best in the Universe", but that's Captain Planet. "Best in the Galaxy" is Luke Skywalker, so I suppose good luck and talk to your coach about this one. Maybe, "Best within my state/county lines..." or something, but that may be snagged by your local law enforcement agency. Power. Passion.

EBNR: Wow. That was actually pretty helpfu....

Me: 4) With all of this training in a galaxy far, far away, how do I actually land the woman/man of my dreams?

EBNR: I have no idea! I'm so confused right now, girls really hate nordic skiing and they hate the smell of my Bjørn Dæhlie training clothes even more! Do tell!

Me: You're in luck. This answer is even easier than the last one. Just do exactly the opposite of everything in the answer to question #3. Also, moving and selling alot of illegal drugs will really bump your street cred. Trust me. I've seen Blow, Traffic and American Gangster. Do it.

EBNR: ...But you said in Appendix 1 to answer #3 to avoid elicit substances... are you sure that's what women really wan...

Me: FOUR QUESTIONS, FOUR ANSWERS!

EBNR: I'm really sorry.

Me: Battle Genghis Kahn in Beito...

EBNR: That's the second time I've heard that, what does that even mean?!

Me: Determination. Pride. Power. Best in the world. KNOW so you can GO. If your dreams aren't buried under mounds of prepositions and adjectives like power and puke your brains out, you're not going to stand a chance against Genghis.

EBNR: Those weren't really prepositions and adject...

That, young Padawan, is the light at the end of the tunnel. All your hard work, your passion, your lack of deodorant or hygienic bodyspray...

EBNR: There is no tunnel! That's just a stupid photo of the sun setting over some lame mountains! I'm trying out for the sailing team this spring. Forget it.

Me: Passion. Loneliness.

-Fin-

All photos copyright of TheKid Collections. Alright, reserved.

perhaps that was a bit hasty

First and foremost, in case no one caught it, the title of my previous post is a Delaney-ism that the bandits have come to know and love.

Anyway, on to how I was being a tad hasty. I didn't mean to insinuate that Martin Tauber is a horrible person just because he probably doped. We all know people who have made questionable decisions and still are good people. Hell, I've made some pretty shady calls and faced the subsequent consequences, and I still think I'm a decent person. Martin, like a lot of endurance athletes, got caught up in a regrettable cycle and made a bad call. That's it. Still can be a good dude.

The problem I was addressing is the idea that just because someone has the reputation of being a good person or just because you've known someone for a while, they couldn't possibly be guilty of whatever it is they're facing. It's all too common a defense, cited by parents, friends, (in this case) coaches, whomever. Problem is, it overlooks the root of the issue. In Martin's case, claiming that a resident of Seefeld couldn't be a doper by nature of his birthplace overlooks what it was that may have pushed him in to doping (or even merely tempted him to consider it).

To bring it closer to home, it's the same as a parent saying "No, my kid couldn't have been drinking alcohol because I know him and he wouldn't do something like that." You gotta look at the reasons why the kid may have messed up in order to fix the situation - denial gets you nowhere.

So there you go - my two cents on the issue. Hopefully I didn't offend anyone, as I fear the preceding post may have.

I still hate Roger Clemens,

-- O

"I don't even care ..."

Martin Tauber deserves his ban. Maybe he's a sweet dude, but he still had a syringe. I heard Tyler Hamilton's a sweet dude too, but he totally did it too (chimera defense my ass). Doping's a shitty business to get caught up in, but you gotta be harsh with the penalties if you ever want it to go away.

On a totally unrelated note, I have never been more concerned about my safety in Austria than after having read Dave's post on hitchhiking. God save us all.

F-ck the Rocket (does anyone reading this thing follow baseball?),

-- O-bizzay

Blood Doping

So today, before my 10k TT in Seefeld, I was hanging out in the stadium changing some clothes and saw this guy I'd noticed before, a master who strongly resembled NENSA Guru Bert Hinkley. I went over and introduced myself. He had a fantastic Seefeld dialekt which he toned down to speak with me, introducing himself as Der Franz. We spoke, and I grilled him about the best loop for a 10k TT. We decided that none was better than the WC race loop and he explained a cutoff to make it just the right distance with maximal pain infliction. I don't know how to say pain cave properly in German, but he understood what I meant.

Anyhow, I asked Franz about some upcoming races in the area and as I did, a guy in a Salomon Force team jacket cruised by, but no national team getup like most of the fast skiers in Seefeld. Franz stopped talking and asked me if I knew who he was. I said no, but I'd seen him around and noticed him absolutely ripping on the boards. Franz looked at me and said that his name was Tauber. I asked his first name, even though I already knew, and Franz replied understandingly, "Jaaaa, er ist der Martin." He flagged Martin over and introduced me. We chatted about some US politics, our shitty representation at the Bali Conference and most importantly, the lack of races between now and 12 Jan in Seefeld and the killer snow. Martin was busy, wished me luck in the TT and took off to do a Seefeld promotional photo shoot.

I asked Franz if Martin was a native Seefelder. Franz just pointed to a small cabin next to the tracks, adjacent to the famous Seefeld Chapel, a simple little house with a plume of smoke wiggling out of the chimney. Franz nodded and motioned to his knee, saying he knew Martin since before he could walk. Grew up coaching him, watched him rise to be a world class athlete, narrowly missing the top podium place in Davos last year. Franz then looked me in the eyes and said simply, "Lebenverbot". Lifetime ban. Franz explained that Martin had nothing wrong, only an empty syringe had been found in their house in Torino. No evidence of drugs was present. He paused and then wished me luck in my time trial, not expecting me to understand whe Martin hadn't used drugs. He grew up in Seefeld, he trained hard everyday. Couldn't cheat, couldn't use drugs.

I was just sort of blown away by the whole ordeal. Small towns, like Seefeld and Lake Placid, stand behind their athletes and even when those athletes are tarnished in newspapers worldwide and disowned by their coaches and governing bodies, they're still heroes in their own village.

Anyhow, TT was really good. I'm excited for this season. Martin Tauber is still really fast, and so is Franz. Maybe there is just something in the water here...

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/newsinformation/pressreleases/press-releases-2007/doping-panel-torino-athl.html

http://www.martin-tauber.at/



-D

Dave's One Day Ski Vacation

The title of this post is certainly slightly deceiving, since my entire life has been essentially one drawn-out ski vacation. However, Saturday night I hopped the midnight train bound for anywhere and prayed I'd continue the fun. Actually, it was the 5:30 train bound for Schladming, not quite the Journey I cracked it up to be, but fun nonetheless.

I arrived in the cozy Alpine town of Schladming at 9pm, greeted by lightly falling snow and biting cold temps. I was also welcomed to Steiermark, Das Grüne Herz Österreichs by a British dude who promptly told me that all the buses to Ramsau were done for the day and I'd either have to shell out €30 ($198) for a taxi or risk hitchhiking up the hill to the nordic haven of Ramsau. (20k and 600m elevation gain away). Since having overdrawn my bank account back home, let's simply fast forward to me standing in the middle of an alpine pass with my thumb out, staring down at the twinkling town of Schladming, watching car after car pass. I finally appraised my situation: 9:45 pm. Dark. Holding cross country skis. Wearing Barilla pasta hat.

I decided then to play the "five more cars and I'm calling a taxi" game. It's fun to play, especially while stranded in central Europe with no real plan. After 16 cars, a work van pulled over. Two grizzled dudes told me to toss my gear into the maze of A/V equipment in back and hop in. I did, they offered me a cigarette, and we were off. Turns out Gietsche and Tiete were two good friends of the Mitter family, and Tiete had been a ski coach back in the day, spending two years in Burlington VT, and having spent many a day on Whiteface's slippery pistes.

I arrived wiped at the Bergschlößl, Mitter family headquarters and promptly fell asleep in the basement.

Next morning I squirted out early to enjoy the tracks before the Sprint NC event began, snapping some good photos. Met up with Billy D. during his warmup jog, then had a delicious Wurst and Glühwein breakfast before the jump comp.

Jumps were solid by the US crew, Billy starting out 2oth, 56 seconds/ 300 some odd meters out in the Hurricane sprint start. One of the latest of Joe Lamb's twisted combined format ideas, concocted after several margaritas at the bar at Desperado's. Ummm.... Desperado's. Lake Placid mexican food withdrawal...

Anyhow, got to hop in with Billy and Christoph Bieler during their warmup on the 2.5k hammerfest of a loop and took a spin on Billy's two day old '08 Atomic boards straight from the factory in Flachau. They seemed to work alright, bumping Billy up from 20th to a 6th place finish with the 2nd fastest race time. Solid work, boys.

Cooled down with Johnny, overlooking the beautiful Steiermark Central Alps, then got in a 1.5 hour ski on my own, popping into the Ramsau Rollerski track to say hello. The tracks were thankfully covered with a freshly groomed meter of the white, but nonetheless ready for Team VE RI EURO's arrival next July/August.

Nice work in the TT, guys. It looks like you've all made some great progress, killer job especially to Cara and Audrey, duking it out and negative splitting the last lap. Great pacing, nice job. Keep it up, see you guys soon. Enjoy the photos!

Stadion and Sprungschanze

Overcast weather, looks like a Hurricane's a-brewin!

German tri-fecta

Johnny lighting up the trial round

This stuff is everywhere. With the Bali Conference and whatnot, people hate our country right now.

Over and out, team. Keep it up.

-D

Slight bump in the road

Well, the nor'easter that was supposed to slam the East Coast didn't disappoint. We woke up this morning to white-out conditions that pulled the plug on our planned OD classic ski. Not the best idea to go sliding around Cambridge in a 12 passenger van that lacks snow tires. No matter, we're on for tomorrow instead.

I, for one, am slightly relieved by this development. Having raced yesterday with slight congestion I found myself with a solid post-race hack later yesterday evening. I also had that great cold-air-racing-fried-throat feeling going on. Cut to 11:30 this morning and I'm feeling much better (after 11+ hours of sleep).

Topping things off this morning , Kikkan Randall won a World Cup in Russia. Definitely going to be watching that on WCSN later. I may even build a snow fort, if it's not raining too hard.

Keep the focus (scroll down for TT results),

-- O

TT results

5.3k (approximately), 22F
	Finish (Adj.)
Ollie	0:14:40
Trevor	0:15:19
Anders	0:16:04
Chris N.	0:18:16
Cullen	0:18:47
	Finish (Adj.)
Cara	0:17:40
Audrey	0:18:16
Tannis	0:18:31
Alyssa	0:18:57
Anna	0:19:07
Meri	0:20:50
Anne	0:21:03
Jenn	0:25:36

It begins tomorrow

TT at Weston tomorrow. 5k skate hammerfest. We're all locked, loaded, and ready to rip, right?

I should be doing my work

... but instead I am posting these amazing videos of a young Peter Graves announcing a world cup on ESPN. Word.

Here's part one:



Here's part two:



Here's hoping the Arctic Express will come down from Canada,

-- O

New Definition of Pain and Suffering

Studying abroad is fun. You can learn new things. All the time. Today I learned the definition of pain and suffering.

So I've had a throat and chest cold the past three days which, as I mentioned earlier, has now fused with a surging wisdom tooth/inflamed gum to create cancer. I skipped class today to hit the Klinik and emergency dental service and give my UNO study abroad insurance a test-drive. After chilling in the waiting room for 2 hours and reading Tiroler Daily Newspaper back to back, I met the cruelest woman alive, along with her two friends.

I patiently explained to her that my German didn't contain many terms relevant to wisdom tooth removal, or excruciating pain. She compensated by speaking faster and sending me for xrays. Xrays in German are Röntgen. Röntgen. Just rolls off the tongue. You'll need to know this word for any worthwhile trip to central Europe.

She then asked me my past pertinent history, and how much I enjoyed being stabbed with huge needles in a swolen gum. What I must have responded with was, "Hi. I have no pertinent allergies, but love being stabbed with huge needles in my tender gums. Do it fast, without skill, and often, please. I love pain, oh and also burning down animal shelters filled with helpless puppies and kittens."

This made perfect sense to her. Not only did she stab my tender gums and roots with needles, cut out my swolen gum with a scalpel and floss with razor wire, but she called three colleagues over to watch. I almost soiled my underpants. After she was done, she took a break to harm small children and let me spit blood into a basin. Her assistant looked at me like I had tree trunks for hands and feet.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/12/wtree112.xml

Anyhow, I simply walked out so dazed that I forgot my coat, vest, bag and newspaper. The horrible dentist politely reminded me of my items, the single good deed of her dreadful existence. Thankfully I've got a box of pills and some mold to chew on for 4 days, so every infections cell in my body will be cleared out in time for the VE RI EURO camp. Expect Dave at top form and with new pain and suffering tolerance.

The coolest thing about Austrian hospitals is that they record, on video, all medical encounters to ensure safe patient care. Thankfully that devil woman let me keep my video on a 1.5mb Flash Drive, which I immediately renamed The Sword of a Thousand Truths. Now I can take her to the cleaners in malpractice court and also post it on youtube to show you the bloodbath that was my afternoon.

Hugs, team. Enjoy the video; it slightly resembles Downfall, a documentary of the last days of Hitler's regime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvZnTFpip0

Tomorrow I have no class and will be retreating to Seefeld for the day to recapture the glory.

-The Kid

Dancing on the Poletips

Servus Team!

After a rather long weekend, I'm finally back home digging into a big bowl of pasta, watching the ladies alpine world cup in Aspen on the tube, and throwing some scribbles on the blog.

The skiing was good in Hochfilzen this weekend, so it seemed. Spent this weekend off the boards, trying to shake off the remains of a chest and head cold combined with the resurgence of wisdom tooth misery. I'm not really pumped about looking into tooth removal here, but we'll see. At least this must mean that I'm becoming quite sage.

Today was a rough one for Jay, Lowell, Timmy and Jeremy on the tracks, after a tough round of first leg shooting (2 prone, 3 standing penalties...) left Team America behind the Chinese. Nonetheless, all the boys threw it all on the line on a super snowy ultra slog 7,5k track.

Kudos to Timmy for putting it all in today, his description of constant fatigue reminded me of my troubles from last season. Whereas I think that my strife with illness, erratic training and academic stress were mostly to blame, it sounds like Tim has to do some real work over the Christmas holiday to diagnose his fatigue. Cross country is just really hard on the body, physically and mentally. Dealing with a motor that just won't turn over is one of the toughest things to deal with as an athlete; it stresses the importance of simply listening to your body and knowing limits.

Anyhow, check out Tim's blog for an uncontaminated report straight from His Dudeness: http://timburke.us/

Here are some pretty bad pics from the race. It was snowing harder than I've ever seen with flakes as big as a US quarter, so no Vordenberg quality images this time. I did, however, learn some pretty cool stuff from this event:

1. Ole Einar Bjørndalen is my height (179cm) and weighs 147 pounds. He is tiny. Size doesn't mean speed in this sport.
2. I was expecting to see a V2 out of him that slightly resembled the Undertaker's powerslam on repeat. Instead I saw the lightest, most conservative V2 I'd ever seen. No wasted power, no extra torso heaving, only an almost ballet-like V2 that ground up the steepest hills on the course.
3. He lives on the border of Austria/Italy, in South Tirol.
   
4. These boys know how to make it hurt.
   

Despite a tough start, tough snow and a phenomenally obnoxious cheering squad, the US boys tore it up. Great job.

Der König des Biathlons. All 147 pounds of him.

Halvard Hanevold. Big dude, getting into a seriously low V1.

Weak photo of a strong Timmy Burke, churning up the toughest climb of the course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXPp1P8rBY

Keep up the strong work.

D

Musings

On the way back from lift this morning I saw a dude skate skiing along the banks of the river in front of Eliot. I am concerned that his exposure of our sport combined with his beater technique and choice of venue will cause irreparable harm to our "street cred" amongst students of this university (note: said "cred" is already in the basement).

Also, I have a crush on our weight room intern.

Dave, if you keep turning the blog settings to German I will be forced to change the password. I hate krauts (note: this post brought to you by WWI and WWII anti-German hysteria).

That's all for now, folks.

-- O

How to Steal a 3-Wheeled Delivery Truck

*This post has nothing to do with skiing*

*The views and thoughts expressed in the following post do not correspond to the thoughts and actions of the author of the post and should therefore not be viewed by anyone*

Step 1:
Cautiously approach 3-Wheeled delivery truck. Make sure to be wearing brightly colored jackets to avoid suspicion.

Step 2:
Familiarize oneself with the controls. Note that the controls are the same as those of a moped.

Step 3:
Give the universal "Let's do this and get out of here" signal.

Step 4:
Back 'er out. Give the universal "I'm literally seconds away from being arrested/deported" signal.

Step 6:
Meet 95 year old Monch who promises to forgive you of your sins.


Step 7:
Retreat to Maison de Plaisir to forgive myself of my sins.

Off days can be fun!

-D

Welcome to the Limit

Today's OD skate roll was a good one. A cold one, for sure, but a good one all the same.

I can't, however, say the same for the van ride home. With Dave in Europe and Anders not in attendance, Nabel and I were left to hold it down on the Springsteen/South Park/cliche rock music front, to which I say: totally unacceptable.

Whether they know it or not, the freshmen are entering a brotherhood - a brotherhood bound together by unyielding ties, such as a fanatical devotion to South Park and a fiery love of the Boss. I'm taking it upon myself to put together a primer, in video form, of what it means to be a Harvard skier. Look at it as an extra credit homework assignment:

Bruce Springsteen ft. Sting - The River (live)



Paul Stanley - Live to Win (parts in Italian - YouTube is a bitch)



... and if you want to learn the lyrics (strongly suggested): http://youtube.com/watch?v=_OvpzForHyU

Wet Hot American Summer (turn the sound waaaaaaaay up)



That's all for now - more to come,

-- O

Getting it done

Morning practice is always hard, particularly on a Saturday, and even more so when you have Sunday morning on the schedule as well. But, showing consummate professionalism, 12 of us trooped down to the van at 9 this morning, wind-whipped and underdressed (Trevor Petach), to go do 6x4 minute bounding intervals at Prospect Park.

I was really impressed with the effort, particularly after what has seemed to be a rather stressful week of schoolwork for most of us. Both the guys and girls really got after it, pushing up the hill hard every time. Props. Mad props to Trev, Cullen, and Cara for getting after it in the first ski-specific intervals of the season.

Everyone watch this video, particularly the freshmen:



I'm old Gregg,

-- O

I've Managed to Obtain a Copy of Andrew R. Moore's Thesis:

... and here it is:



Surprisingly, Anders chose a video format as opposed to the written, but I believe that this means that he can forfeit all academic obligations and leave the country.

This morning before my sprints I took some photos, which are nonetheless put to shame by Audrey's photos of full-contact sledding.

Standing in the rain
With his head hung low
Couldn't get a ticket
It was a sold out show.

He heard the roar of the crowd
He could picture the scene
Put his head to the wall
Like a distant scream.







"...'Cause you don't want to go back home and lie to your friends about a summer romance that didn't even happen, so seize the day, Camp Firewood, because it's your last."

-D

To Illustrate What Anders Wrote:

Our Sunday afternoon ski

The Final Days of Camp

While Oliver said a full post about camp is coming soon, I thought I might help him out with a summary of the final days of camp after he, Meri, Tannis, Cara, Anne, and Chris left.

A quick prefatory note: unfortunately, I don't have any pictures so please someone (Anna, Trevor, Audrey) post some and please add details, stories, or whatever you like to this account.

So, with the departure of half the group on Sunday, only Coach Graves, Trevor, Audrey, Anna, and myself remained. The house seemed really quiet.

Sunday afternoon Trevor and I went for a run right outside his grandparent's house in the Arapahoe National Forest. It was on the run where I believe we had the only casualty of the trip as Trevor lost a glove to the wilderness. After, Trevor showed me his strength circuit from his Boulder days.

Later in the afternoon, all four of us, went back up to Devil's Thumb property up the road owned by Denver's Water Authority and climbed up to a great overlook. Trevor promised a great view and delivered with perhaps the best scenery of the trip. We took some great photographs and then headed on down after about a 90 minute classic ski.

That night we had late night sledding races under what was nearly a full moon. Trevor initially dominated, showing his home course knowledge, but then, after a fierce tie-up between Trevor and the blue sled of domination (Anna and myself) Audrey cruised to victory. Finally, Anna and I got it together for our first victory. Then, switching rides, Trevor and Audrey won, but in the final race, thanks to Anna's skillful maneuvering, I managed to pull off a victory that nearly sent me into the creek.

The next day we got out again to ski at Snow Mountain Ranch and classic skied up and down the mountain with a little technique work at the top. The higher we went the more it was snowing which was great after so many days of the same snow being slowly evaporated away. Ollie should note that "Harvard Nordic" was still visible at the top as was a very successful fox. All in all it was a 2 hour + ski.

DU was still there having a great time. Anna asked them why they weren't back in school on Monday and we found out that they don't have school until AFTER New Years! When asked why we weren't in school on Monday, Anna quickly responded, "we don't care so much about academics."

We soon disproved that statement by taking the afternoon off to go to the Frazer valley community library and working on all the school work we need to catch up on.

That night was again great as we were able to make another superb dinner and we celebrated my birthday with a cake Trevor made. I really appreciated the card Peter picked up AND, I love my new Gunde hat that Anna and Ollie were so kind to get me. That will certainly be making appearances at races. So the birthday went well - thanks.

Tuesday, we had our final ski. We skated up part of the way at Snow Mountain Ranch and then practiced our uphills and downhills and simply skied around. Trevor laid down some sweet tele turns, while Anna, Audrey, and I fumbled around after him slowly getting it. After the ski it was a quick turnaround. We went back to the house where we cleaned up quite well and then headed out to DIA. It should be noted that cleaning up included cleaning up the food with Anna sitting down by herself wrecking into an enormous bag of spinach.

Flight home was quick and painless and productive. We got home before 1am.

We got to stay a whole week, but I already miss it. I went running by myself around Cambridge tonight (usually I can count on McCahill to come too) and the difference really set in. As Flight of the Conchords might say: "Inner. Inner city. Inner, city, pressure."

I can't fight this feeling anymore,

I want snow.

-Anders

Overheard one night - "My ears are on fire!" - Anna. Trevor's Response: "I think we may very well need a quote book for the ski team." Something to think about.

Ridin' the Föhn Out...

Greetings Team:

As I have been for the last 7.38 days, I am on tenterhooks waiting for a proper report from Fraser, Centennial State. However, I've been doing my best to soldier on despite no contact with you guys, and only late night tear-filled phone calls with Chris.

However, all things must come to an end, that also pertaining to the sinfully delicious ski weather we've been having in Austria. We were struck late last week with a typical Alpen Föhn, a large warm air mass that originates near the Sahara. (Not to be confused, of course with its' homonym Fön, which means hair dryer.) When a disparity in temperatures between the Alps and the Mediterranean exists, the warm air rushes North to even things out, resulting in a big warm air mass that slams into the southern Alps and Dolomites, cools, rains, melts my snow. So sadly, the snow began to say "Auf Wiedersehen", last Friday and we endured some rain this weekend. Thankfully I hopped town for a class field trip to Salzburg with my program colleagues and our good friend Professor Klaus Franz, a native Salzburger, who gave us an incredible two day tour of the incredibly historic city. Salzburg is really the jam, as it's the birthplace of Red Bull, my personal favorite Dark Dog, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen and Stiegl beer. Quite fun.

Anyhow, I returned home Sunday night with my hands over my eyes as the train pulled into the station, yet was elated to see the ground covered with yet another fresh white blanket. Despite having lost a few inches of snow, the low pressure system that followed the Föhn has blessed us with more of the white. Skiing is again luscious, 200km open.

Training is really going well and I'm staring to feel significant technique and strength gains from the hard work I've been putting in in the past few months.
-------------------------------------------------
Friday, 23.11.07: 5x5 vo2m intervals, skate, 3.5m rest b/w sets

48m warmup, avg 142bpm

Work sets:

1. 5:09, Avg 177, Max 186
2. 5:02, Avg 183, Max 191
3. 5:04, Avg 184, Max 192
4. 5:04, Avg 184, Max 192
5. 5:34, Avg 185, Max 194

42:51 cooldown.

These were the best set of tough intervals I've had this season. I picked a killer piece of all uphill terrain with several really tough transitions. I deliberately paced the first one and then picked them up from there. By really focusing on technique and transitions, I think I saved a few bpm of what I think of as 'scramble speed', and allowed for really solid and sustainable efforts. The times were all up to the same tree at the top of a knoll, the last one was the fastest but I went to the very top of the hill and then collapsed into a snowbank after passing an elderly French gentleman.
-------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 27.11.07: 3x20 threshold intervals, classique, 8 min rest b/w sets, varied terrain

1:03 warmup on Wildmoos, Avg 148 bpm.

Work Sets:

1. 20:03, Avg 170, Max 184
2. 20:05, Avg 170, Max 184
   
3. 20:10, Avg 171, Max 185

15 min cooldown, ran straight to lunch.

These were tough to do. I had to really hammer the flats and my upper body got pretty tired. The hills were really tough and I had to go quite slowly without bumping up to 178 or so. Just shows that I need to work on these, but it's a great pacing workout.

PM: 2:03 recovery skate, Avg 164, Max 183
-------------------------------------------------

Once again, waiting on tenterhooks for a plethora of barely legal photographs documenting your time in the frickin' Rockies. I'm trusting you guys spent your evenings quietly humming Tim McGraw, scrubbing mud off of your white pick-up rental, turtle waxing the white pick up and taking pictures of Trevor dancing to Tim McGraw.

Tenterhooks, baby. Tenterhooks.



I'll leave you with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6F5xm0QooE

I find it rather fitting. I've also found my Halloween costume for next year. Best of luck with training.

-D

Long day

15 minutes ago I walked back into my room at school, 12 hours after I left Fraser, Colorado. It's been a wicked long day. The worst part, hands down, was the walk from PD to Currier in the rain. A more hefty recap of my [almost] week in the Winter Park Valley will come when I am more awake.

I want to be the first to say it: Happy 22nd Birthday Anders Møøre.

-- O

All in. 30, 30g's

It's snowing in Cambridge right now, and in 2 hours we'll be taking off for Logan and from there, for Denver. Winter starts today. And you know what? Just shut it, McCahill. I'll deal with you in December.

-- O

Winter's Coming...

...and for Reinhard and Sieghild, 2007 will be forever remembered as 'the winter we carved our initials into the snow with our ski poles'. If that's not true love, then I've been watching the wrong soap operas.

Unpack your briefs, buffs and chola binder. It's getting to be that time of the year.

Observations

Dave has gone so Euro it's like Kurtz in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. He's gone up the river, so to speak, and established his own native (read: Austrian) community. I'm afraid that when I go to Austria it'll be like Marlow finally coming across the colonel. He'll start screaming at me in German and demand that I wear my buff Anders-Folleras-style under my spandex hat. I'll also probably have to wear my sunglasses in the discotheque and wear way too much hair product.

Should be an adventure,

-- O

Week in Review

Hey team. As Peter explained to me, you're all on the brink of departure for the Centennial State. Best of luck with training, hope the snow finds you. Sadly now with you guys over there I don't see how we could be any farther apart. That goes for you too, Chris.

Anyhow, here is my log for the week along with some photos.

--------------------------------------------------------------

S 11.11: 4 hours tele skiing at Stubai Gletscher

M 12.11: Off

T 13.11 : 4:37 skate, no data collected. Focused on good, easy technique in beautiful terrain. Felt very fresh while maintaining a low HR.

W 14.11: Classic sprint workout: 45 minute warmup, 10x1 minute classic sprints with equal rest. 10 minute cool down.

Th 15.11: Skate intervals: 45 minute warmup, 5x4 minute vo2 max intervals on world cup race loop. Varied terrain, hilly, 2 minutes rest b/w sets.

Interval 1: 4:11 Max HR 189, Avg HR 180
Interval 2: 4:02 Max HR 188, Avg HR 180
Interval 3: 5:20 Max HR 193, Avg HR 179
Interval 4: 4:17 Max HR 194, Avg HR 183
Interval 5: 4:11 Max HR 194, Avg HR 184

#4 and 5 were on the same piece of terrain, start to finish. I was happy to see that I finished the last one 6 seconds faster than the 5th with only 1 bpm elevated average hr.

20 minute cool down

F 16.11: 3:39 classic ski, focused on long, smooth technique, low HR: Avg HR 145, Max HR 171 (86% of max)

Sa 17.11: 7 hours tele skiing on Kauerntal Gletscher

Su 18.11:

AM: 51:20 skate warmup. Avg HR 154, max 177.

3x20 threshold intervals, skate, on WC race loop. 8 minutes rest between sets. The loop was great because it was quite hilly and, unlike everything else open today, not groomed since yesterday. Therefore, it was pretty rutted and hard, simulated pretty well worn out race conditions, so that was nice. 25 minute cool down.

Interval 1: 20:01, Max HR 185, Avg HR 174
Interval 2: 20:07, Max HR 184, Avg HR 176
Interval 3: 20:06, Max HR 186, Avg HR 176

The intervals felt really solid. These are really hard to do, especially on racing terrain. It's so tempting to try and hammer it over the tops of hills and into transitions and whatnot, as you can see from the high max HR's, but the average rates were really solid. I think it's best doing these completely alone so you're not tempted to compete with anyone else.

PM: 2:02 recovery classic ski. Max 177, avg 156.

Total calories burned Sunday, according to the monitor: 4203

Total minutes for the week: 948

Total hours on the boards (not counting telemark) for the week: 15.8
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Me (L) and my buddies Cornelius (C) and Magnus (R) , scoping a sick albeit very unstable line near the Kauerntal glacier. The avalanche danger was high on this exposure and there was also a cliffband below we couldn't see, so we bagged it. Next time.

Me. Photo courtesy of the gentleman selling tickets for the day. Notice the 2 classic lanes to my left, as well as 8 to my far left, that I'm thankfully not using.

View of the stadium area. Note the K-95 Sprungschanze in the background, the Nordkettl Bergen in the far background and some lonely dude heading out for another loop.

Me! Ski jump stadium in the background. I deal exclusively with towns that have ski jumps.

Best picture of the lot. This chapel's courtyard and bridge were groomed with the pisten bully for no purpose other than to look cool. It was pristine when I got there, but I slashed it up good.

That's it. My week in review. Enjoy the Petach family ranchero and whether you like it or not, you'll probably know all the words to this song by the time you board your plane to come home:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mHaFMqde6A

Cheers,

D$

Seefeld in Tirol

Hey team. Tonight after class I headed out to the train station with my classic boards ready for day two in Seefeld. Upon arrival to the train station, a 3 minute bike ride from my Studentenhaus, I'm walking toward the train with my boards in hand. This woman runs over with a pet carrier and asks if I'm going to Seefeld. I say yes and she starts talking about this free bus. So yeah, she walks me to a free bus and asks me if I come from Sweeden. I say no, New York. She insists that my German sounds Swedish. Then she asked why on Earth I came to Innsbruck from New York. I just pointed at my skis, now covered with the falling snow, and got on the bus.


The night loop, as you can see, is quite cool. They have 5k of terrain lit with big streetlights. Perfect for a 50 minute warmup, 10x1 min sprints w. equal rest and a 5 minute recovery dash to catch the train back home. They picked up 70 fresh centimeters of new snow since yesterday and now have 262k of skiable trails. On a side note, the jump hill will be ready tomorrow and I'm thinking about borrowing some equipment. Wish me luck.

Over and out.

D$

Guess Who

Servus, Team!

If anyone can tell me who this:

... is,(L) then I'll mail you some Austrian chocolate. This dude just sort of follows the snow around for a living, so that goes to show you how much there is.

Pushed around 105 cm of the white yesterday at the glacier, around 8.5 Couriks on the Courik scale.

In the SkiHaus now, just wiping the crumbs of sausage and shrimp salad off of my lips, about to head off for the kiosk.

Hugs-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THBtNhY1myk

~Audrey Mangan circa 1998

Guess Who

Mid-A Bill Koch festival, 1998(?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, Katie and I went out to the Minuteman this morning for a 1:30 classic double pole. In a complete turnaround from yesterday's Littleton experience with the road rage of a car horn-happy, middle-aged SUV driving woman, today we were greeted by no less than 7 friendly fellow path-users telling us something along the lines of "we want snow." I couldn't agree more. The 10-day forecast for Devil's Thumb is still looking pretty scant.

--Audrey

Photo Contest!

The photo Almabtrieb, better known as 'Queen Anna', made it to the final round of the UNO International Student Photography contest, let's see how far she takes us! Any winnings procured will go directly to help pay for asbestos and lead paint removal in our new ski room!

Hugs,

Herr David

Tryin' to Make Some Front Page Drive-In News

Ain't it funny how the night moves?


When you just don't seem to haaave as much to lose?
Strange how the night moves.
With autumn closin' in.

Woke last night to the sound of thunder.
How far off I sat and wondered.
Started humming a song from 1962.

Well, actually, I woke this morning to the sound of Lawinewaffen, or avalanche cannons, blasting the peaks behind my dorm. We are in the midst of a monster storm and finally the snow has reached the valley. All the glaciers are on hold for this morning due to 2 fresh meters and high winds.

Looorddd I remember!

Training goes well. I did yesterday what I hope will be my last rollerski workout for the season, 20x30 second sprints on the bike path, a la classic. It was raining. So it goes.

Waiting on the notice from the glaciers, they should announce at 10 if anything will open.

Last week was surprisingly academically rather busy. Two geological excursions to several local valleys to observe the effects of Bergsturtzen, landslides, in the Tirol region. Very interesting. Also had a 20 minute presentation on trees in western Canada and the effects of the mountain pine beetle, for my Vegetation der Alpen plant class.

Super lame. Sorry to bore you with my such trivial stories. I now plan on forfeiting all academic obligations for the next 26 days to ski all the time.

Audrey and I spoke recently about how euro I've actually become. I replied to her that I recently purchased a jean jacket at a mall and spend more time prancing around my apartment naked than I ever did in the states. I do, however, listen to WOKO, New England's BIIIIGGG country station, daily.

To quote Andy Moore, "My apologies". This is by far the worst blog post I've sired onto this website.

Das Schnee kommt und ich bin bereit.


When you just don't seem to haaave as much to lose!
Strange how the night moves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTgLQgpwRvQ

My apologies,

~Andy Moore

My two cents

I'd say David is not quite at Pippo Pozzato levels quite yet. Probably something more along the lines of Petter Northug.

In training news, I had to finish up my run after dark today and it was freakin' cold. Winter is coming, despite what the weather reports may say.

Unpack your windbriefs,

-- O

I've got a fever

and the only prescription is more blog posts.

This one is in regards to the ski team's emissary to Austria - Dave McCahill.

There's been rumors circulating that the Harvard ski team may be without David for the first couple races this coming year. While many thought Dave would be returning around the 12th of January, there are reports coming out of Austria that he may well be kept there until much later in the month. Perhaps he can share with us the situation?

While I wonder when Dave will be back with us, I also wonder what effect this time in Austria has had on him. When he returns it will be interesting to see.

His blog posts, e-mails, and photos indicate he's been having a great time, training hard, meeting people, watching Southpark, and learning some German. All great stuff. But has he become more "Euro?" Can he replace the international flair we lost when Magnus left?

So I wonder, Dave, on a "Euroness" scale from Rack 'em Willy to let's say, Filippo Pozzato, how Euro are you right now?

- Andrew

A few pictures from Sunday's CSU Rollerski Race in Amherst

Chris Nabel

Meri Burruss

Update from Cambridge

So it is finally getting cold here in Cambridge with the first winter hats showing up at practice this week.

We've had some good workouts in the past few days as most the team is getting healthy again.

Many of us skied in a 15k rollerski race last weekend in Amherst, MA put on by CSU. The team on the whole skied rather well with Ollie beating out Frank Feist in the men's classic and everyone else performing admirably. As expected, I managed to break another roller ski team (many thanks to Jan Burruss for the resupply).

A few other notes...

We're happy to welcome Jim Grundy back to the team this week. His return has been a very welcome addition to the team.

We need it to start snowing around Devil's Thumb, CO as most the team will be heading out there not long from now (the 20th of November) for training camp at a house provided by our own Trevor Petach.

Happy birthday to Tannis tomorrow! Her mother's cookies were amazing both this week at practice and last - all the team is thankful!

In conclusion:

You go through life being told there's justice.
Then you learn that the only real justice, is the justice you take.

-Andrew (with help from Chris)

Let's get some shoes

This morning Anders and I went out for a run on the bike path. We had to do the bike path because Anders needed to observe a store in a low-income neighborhood for his sociology class. With that in mind, I took him to Food Town, which is near the North Cambridge towers right next to Laundry Town. I guess it was an eye opening experience.

On the way back I found a fly pair of adidas sneakers just past Danehey Park. They're sick and I plan on wearing them with my tuxedo tonight. Baller status.


That's legit exactly what they look like. Free things are baller, particularly pink-camo adidas. They're exactly the sort of shoes I'd want but never would have the balls to buy.

Also, in response to the worst two and a half minutes Dave has spent on YouTube, watch this video: Friday Night Nights. It's probably the funniest thing I've watched this week.

"I'm on one of the most important teams in the world."

-- O

Insert Poetic, Sophisticated Title Here

1. Hi.
   
2. This post is not super about skiing and like stuff.
   
3. However, I did just turn in an assignment which was a a film review, plot synopsis and critique of The Matrix I. This I now consider to be the low-point of my academic career.

I did hear that everyone on the ski team is switching to ESPP faster than most American homes are switching to Hi-Def. That tickles me inside, guys. Even Coaches Broomhall, Graves and City have refocused their research and made the leap. However, I believe Outwater is still bio-chem. Bio-chem.

Oh, I do have a ski related story for this post. Last night I went for a rollerski down to Völs. Yep, night. Headlamped it. I cruised out the bike path next to the Autobahn and then on the little roads in the town. It was great. All the little kids were trick or treating, I told them I was a cross country superhero. They laughed and told me that simply wasn't possible, as Magnus Grimeland is the only true cross country superhero. Anyway, some little punks at the busstop didn't take too kindly to me as I went by and started setting up the stick in front of the rollerblader trick, Big Daddy style for my return down the hill, but I just took apart my heart rate monitor strap on the way down and threw the small parts at their eyes to distract 'em.

So, yeah. That's the skiing quota for the post. Rollerskiing at night was actually a super bad idea, because my little 3-Led headlamp did next to nothing, I hit alot of sticks on the bike path and the return to Innsbruck on the bike path was very much like rollerskiing next to a major highway with high beams in your eyes.

Fast times. While blogging, I'm watching a you tube video called Freak Wave Yacht. The header is " Watch This Freak Wave Slam into this Yacht." I'll consider this the worst two minutes and forty seconds I've spent on you tube.



Last point, I think that we should publish and sell this blog under the title: The Gravey Train with Biscuit Wheels, A Year of Living Dangerously. It'll be a direct competitor to Bill McKibben's book and we can get Dave Zabriskie to write the introduction.

That's it. Sorry to pollute the blog with this senseless banter. Since there's no photo evidence of my late night ski, except the cell phone video footage the punks at the bus stop took of me, I'll post a picture of a race car that I saw in Sölden. Bloggers love race cars.


Over and out.

dave