... 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

And It's Middlebury

Seven weeks of racing go by far too fast. We're heading off to Middlebury in twelve hours for our last carnival of the season. We've come a long way this year but aren't done yet. Two races left to wreck house...


-Schlutzer

Fun Disco Jeep