The Hot Game

I'm currently sitting on the deck of Coffee'n'beans internet cafe, overlooking Mirror Lake on the first nice sunny day since I got here. Jennie and I are thinking of taking Anna's kayak out later today; neither of us have ever used a flatwater kayak before, and with Anna back in VT, it should be pretty interesting.

Yesterday, like most of the past week, was pretty humid and intermittently rainy. Jennie and I went to VanHo for an easy run and some strength. The trails were drenched and covered with mud, but my new Brooks needed a christening anyways. The workout was complete with a Tim Burke cameo during our strength session by the biathlon range after the run. It was a 2 hr session in total, and the humidity started to get to us by the end, so we decided to jump in the lake when we got back (which is right behind our house). I pointed out that after the 7 mile drive back with the windows down, we'd cool off and not be in the mood to jump in 55 degree water anymore, so Jennie suggested we play the "Hot Game."

"What's the hot game?"
"What?!? You've never played it? Oh it's the best, just wait."
"But what is it?"
"I'll tell you when we get in the car."

So we packed up our medicine ball and bungee and got in the car. The hot game, as it turns out, consists of turning on the heat full blast, keeping the windows closed, and driving back the entire way in your own portable sauna (without the supple athletic frame of Trudy Wilson, unfortunately). Jennie decided it would be fun to keep the fans pointed at me, though the car heated up so fast it didn't really matter. We drove at least 5 mph over the speed limit headed back to town, and didn't slow down once we hit the 30 mph zone. We passed the speedometer by the video store going 45, and sure enough, 3 seconds later a police car pulls up behind us with his lights on.

At this point, we're both drenched in sweat. It's beaded up on our foreheads, the car smells like wet runners, and when Jennie rolls down the window, the officer got a full blast of heat. He stood a little behind the window after that as he asked for her license and registration.

"Ma'am, do you know how fast you were going?"
"No..."
"Do you know what the speed limit is?"
"No...we're new in town, we're just staying for the summer to train. We just got back from working out and we wanted to jump in the lake; we're pretty hot."
He looks at the sweat dripping off our faces. "Yeah, you look hot."
"Uh, yeah."

He goes back to his car to check her driving record and leaves us laughing hysterically. He makes us sit there for like 10 minutes, then comes back.

"Just so you girls know, all the roads in town are 30 mph, and we're always checking for speeding. I'll let you go this time since you're new, but please drive within the limits from now on. Have a nice day."

Narrow escape. Good thing we decided not to wipe the sweat off our faces before he got to the window, or he wouldn't have been weirded out enough to let us go.

We got to the lake, finally, but the hot game effects had worn off with the open window. Jennie jumped right in, but I decided to go for just a leg ice bath. Worked for about a minute until Jennie pushed me in, causing me to yell obscenities in front of lots of small children and their parents on the beach. All in all, a successful day. Lets hope the rest of the summer is just as eventful.

~Audrey

Quick Game of "Find the Bandit":

Howdy fellow Bandits/ fellow Bandit enthusiasts:

Now that summer's ratcheted into high gear, I felt it was certainly time for a long overdue update. I'll keep it short and to the point, much like Chris Nabel's chest hair.

Following exams, I spent a delicious week in lovely Lake Placid. Highlights included: tasty mountain bike rides on the Logger's Loops, River Road/ World Championship Time Trial, delicious Pearl-cooked meals, some solid rollerskiing with the "Putney Powerhouse" Willy Graves, and quality recording sessions with Axel Scholl and Bradley Noel Harden in the "X-Box Rock Band" Recording Studio. Classy stuff.

The juiciest rollerski story involved, as usual, Bobby Shabitt. Anyhow, after some nice sprints on upper Averyville (remember old stock photo? direct results of sprints gone wrong on upper Averyville), I heard the classic horn slam and pulled over to wait for Bobby to catch up in his white Silverado. We parried for a few moments with some choice words and right of way suggestions before I noticed the 6-Shooter revolver, complete with leather hip-holster, lying in passenger seat. I quickly conceded that round, so consider the current LP Rollerskiers vs. Bobby Shabitt standings to be 0 to 1. Do me proud, girls.

Just before skipping town, Woods and I partook in an epic father-son assault on the Whiteface Uphill Footrace, 8 miles at 8% grade. Stormy and cold conditions up top, just around freezing, so naturally I dressed accordingly, in my lightest/ shortest cut split shorts and matching Bandits jersey. See photo. Well played. Race was plenty fun, despite being dropped by a hard charging Duncan Douglas & Friends at mile 1.5.

After that, it was straight to Lake Clear airport for my almost direct flight to Innsbruck, with a brief stopover to enjoy debauchery Bandit style in Cambridge. I'm now enjoying the first few days in Lans, Austria, just outside of Innsbruck. Gorgeous area, copious amounts of great running/ nordic walking trails just outside the door, even a nice little lake across the street to swim in. Pictures/ stories to come soon.

To any Camp Shawnee readers, best of luck with training and save me a hot dog/ spot on the couch. Please don't save the hot dog until at least early July, and please don't store it in the couch cushions.

Lastly, a hearty congratulations are in order to graduating Bandits Anders, Ollie and Chris. Well done, boys. We'll miss you next year. Nothing but great memories. Be well, do good work, and come back often.

Happy summer, everyone.

Dave

... and May

May is paper time. Final exam time. Procrastination time.

The team has gotten back into the swing of legit training once again. Today a bunch of the girls pulled out their rollerskis and took them for a spin, and tomorrow Dave and Cullen are doing are triathlon/duathlon out in Hopkinton. The trees in Cambridge are all leafy and green, but the weather has been obstinate recently and it isn't exactly hot outside yet. Between the forecasted high of 50 degrees on Monday and the revolting quantity of papers and exams that we all have, everyone is looking forward to summertime. I'll be headed back to Lake Placid, though not to the red house on McKinley Street where I lived with Ollie last summer. I've found another red house, though, known to the locals as "Camp Shawnee," where I'll be living with Meri, Audrey, and Jennie Bender, a girl who skis for UVM. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's our own house and it's going to become the headquarters for Operation Get Jacked '08.

Looking forward to traffic-free pavement, buy-one-get-one-free deals at the Chopper, Jeremy Clark, bikes, lake showers, and make-your-owns...

-Schlutzer

The Bandits: Stealing Sugarbush Tri Titles Since '06

Now that it's April (and Meri's hindquarters no longer look like a hamburger), it's well past time to begin blog posting like a fiend once again. The first weekend in April saw a contingency of the Riverside Ski Bandits trucking on up to Vermont to compete in the 30th annual Sugarbush Triathlon. I've been doing the race since 8th grade and introduced it to Harvard kids during my freshman year. We've won the college category ever since. The race consists of a 5 mile run, 6 mile paddle, 10 mile bike, and 5k ski. This year Anders did the run, I kayaked, Dave biked, and Ollie skied. We killed it. A team of Dartmouth skiers finished a couple of minutes behind us. My Dad and brothers competed in the family division and slayed that, too. Some choice photos:

Anders heading into the tag zone

Anna starting the paddle


Dave, pre-bike

Ollie finishing the ski

Glorious, victorious bandits

-Schlutzer

my ass looks like a hamburger

...just not the spherical ones Ollie made for dinner last night.

Apparently when you invite someone to your house for a "run," it means "lets go classic rollerskiing in March." Interesting.

Anyways, it was me, so we all know how this turned out. Basically, Coil and I can't wear pants.

This is what you get for rollerskiing in March:






And, yes, I made those.

-M

Van Gogh was a painter, I think

This past weekend Schluzy and I went up to Trapps to coach our respective states at the Eastern High School championships. Tomorrow, when I'm one midterm away from spring break, I'll write a more detailed recap, but for now just know that Mass skiers won 5 out of 7 races, including both classic distance races and a classic sprint. Uber pwnage, as Dave would say.

Right now, however, I have to get back "studying" which is code for "sitting around in my room listening to 'Crazy on You' by Heart on repeat." As for art history, one of the Mass boys told me all I needed to know was "Van Gogh was a painter, I think." Looks like I'm all set.

-- O

At least EISA mass starts don't look like this..

-M