Supertour - Day 3

Day three:

The athletes woke up to a fairly relaxed morning, as Anais, our first racer, didn't start until around 10:15. There was plenty of time for us to have a good breakfast and stretch out a bit before going to the venue.

The coaches, on the other hand, were having a far less relaxed time of things, as the conditions at the park made for some very difficult waxing. The trail was mostly hard packed, very transformed man-made snow, which is tricky enough to deal with. To top it off, though, the snow was extremely icy and the air was humid, which meant that the grip wax was icing up almost immediately. Various combinations were tried without much success, until finally they broke down and broke out the klister. Which wasn't working either. And might possibly have caused a few meltdowns.

Eventually, and somewhat miraculously, we found a hardwax combination that worked quite well, against all odds. Unfortunately for the fingers of Corey and Alan, this necessitated the removal of the klister from the race skis in order to apply the hardwax, and there was much cursing the damnable invention of klister. (which, at this point, is standard practice for all classic races.)

Despite the "fun" in the waxing tent, the skis ended up being blisteringly fast for most. There was consistent racing all across the board, with most (if not all) of the team quite satisfied with their performances.

Simon

more Simon

Cam, hot on his heels

the cheering section

Amelia blazing by

After deconstructing our waxing setup and heading back to the hotel to relax for an hour and a half or so, we decided to head to REI, which is sort of the american equivalent of MEC. Alex and I made a beeline for the baselayers section, but we weren't able to find anything much. Corey, on the other hand, made good on his threat to purchase a hammock to hang in the wax room. Anais found a toque, Elora found a cliff bar (love at first sight,) and Cam found a campfire toaster oven thing for canoe trips.

We still had a bit of time before dinner, so we decided to jump across the street to the Sports Authority to search for baselayers. Instead, we found racks and racks full of very bright (and very short) neon shorts on sale for two bucks. We joked about buying matching team shorts, and very nearly did, until Alex in all his wisdom identified several physiological and anatomical reasons as to why putting on those shorts would be a bad idea. The girls still bought them, though.

For dinner, we headed to a very swanky bar and grill place that both Alan and I agreed had Jamie written all over it. There I discovered that "jerk chicken" is generally quite spicy, much to my dismay. I won't be making that mistake again…

Back at the hotel, we had the team meeting and discussed arrangements for the next day, and then went back to our rooms to relax. Alex and I decided to run hot/cold baths, in order to help our sore muscles to relax and recover more effectively.

They were painful, to say the least.

Alex is questioning the life choices that led him to this point...

yup. painful.

why...?

"you know, I'm actually quite comfortable now," he says.

Then it was off to bed, looking forward to the next day's race.

Supertour - Day 3 (sort of)

It's tricky to find time to write these things, the days are pretty packed. As I write this, the team's been pretty much on the go since this morning. I'll try and put together a more full post tomorrow.

The racing went fairly well today. Simon and Cam looked strong, Fiona and Amelia powered their way through some head colds and Anais was super zen. Do had a decent race, Elora was pleasantly surprised that she remained almost completely pain-free, and both Alex and I managed to get into the top ten in our respective categories.

Says Sam about his race, "eh, it went. I was mostly racing today focusing on not hurting my back. I'm going to try racing without the brace tomorrow."

The waxing was tricky. There were allegedly a few meltdowns over the grip wax, as the track was so icy that it was difficult to find a working combination. Eventually, (after miserably messing around with klister for a while,) we found a working hardwax combination, and the skis ended up flying as per usual.

I struggled today with a feeling that I was missing my usual snap. The best way I can describe it is feeling flatfooted. Corey and I identified a possible reason: since it was so cold in Manitoba in the last few weeks, a lot of our usual pre-competition interval sessions were cancelled, as we were wary of the strain put on our lungs by exertion in the cold. I was surprised at the negative effects of not preparing adequately in that respect, although it was to be expected.

More details and pictures to come, I'm falling into a coma.

Supertour - Day 1 + 2

Hi from the states!

Day one of our trip went by slowly, traveling down the highway to Minneapolis. (by the way, we're here ok, mom, sorry I forgot to email...) The drivers were tired by the time we arrived, but the kids were still haywire. Something to do with being cooped up in a car for eight hours, who would have guessed? Anyway, we checked into the hotel at around 9:30. Between a quick shopping run done by Jamie and Alison, the team meeting/snacktime and the creative remodeling of the tiny hotel room to accommodate four rather large guys, the lights didn't get turned out until close to 12:00. 

miscellaneous junk

the stack of unwanted furniture in the corner

alex, doing...something

my stuff, under the sink

Day two saw an early morning trip to the Mall of America. The mall was lovely at 10:00 in the morning, as there was barely anybody there. We had most of the stores completely to ourselves, save for the slightly bemused workers. As Alex and I visited Pacsun, the girl at the front inquired as to "what the heck you guys are doing here this early in the morning?" Our reply was simply to glance at the empty store, meet each others eyes and grin. Alex and I had a successful shopping trip, which was a surprise, since we both agreed that we're about as at home in a shopping mall as Corey is at a choir concert.

Amelia and Anais, on the other hand, were reportedly the terrors of the mall. They were on a mission to visit (and buy up) as many stores as humanly possible in two hours. 

From the mall, we went back to the hotel to eat lunch and regroup before heading to the venue to preski.

Minneapolis is seriously lacking in snow, and so the course at Theodore Wirth Park consists of a 3.3 km loop that will be very skied in by the time the races are over. The snow conditions are weird. It's artificial snow, and I suspect that they've put fertilizer on the course in order to keep the snow, as I could feel the cold buffer of air that tends to rise off the trails in that kind of conditions. The course is fairly nice; it reminds me of Windsor Park, but is on the whole more technical, as there are lots of sharp turn sections and some longer uphills. I'll try to get the course preview video we shot up on youtube at some point.

start/finish area

windy top section

a longer uphill

another windy top section

fun (and wickedly icy) downhill

finishing stretch

After heading back to the hotel, a serious stretching session and dinner, we had the team meeting. Corey waltzed into the room positively glowing. "It's not what I'm used to," he commented regarding the coaches meeting, "they didn't have course maps, charts or anything. I just walked in and they handed me a beer!"

From there, it was straight to the wax room. I hooked up the GoPro again, in the hopes of stringing together some sort of video to send back to everyone at home, but it's going to have to be a project for when I have some more time. Here are a few shots of the action, though.

hooking up my "chest cam'

removing grip

pretty...

fun with rotobrushes

more alex. 

alan and corey. there needs to be more pictures of these guys, as they do the lion's share of the work. unfortunately, the camera only points in the direction i'm facing...

 Now it's off to bed. Racing starts at 10:30 am for the girls, and the rest of us not until around 12:00, so it's an easier morning. However, Do's been snoring up a storm, so we're passing out the earplugs and making contingency plans to force him to sleep in the stairwell. More updates to come, time allowing!

- Red River Nordic race team, from Minneapolis