A to Zeller, a Tad Late, from Tour de Ski Stage 4

Nathaniel HerzJanuary 3, 2012

A          Aston Martin:   Spotted one out on the roads today.  Huh?  Pretty fancy car for pretty crappy roads?  Oh wait, there goes Petter!

B          Blue:   As in blue sky!  OMG….. we almost gave up on good weather.   It was only a tiny bit of blue, but appreciated immensely.

C          Cash:  $89,420.  Marit Bjoergen’s cash winnings this season.  Therese and Justyna are way back in the $40,000 range….

D         Duct Tape:   Many racers had it on their boots today.  Just cause Northug did it a few days ago doesn’t mean that everyone has to copy him. C’mon! Lol …

E          Euro:  The Euro.   Much stronger than the US dollar……what is wrong with the US economy anyways?

F          FB:   The laugh, the belly, the language, the guy.  This is an inside joke….. gotta be a ‘ski groupy’ to understand.

G          Gluhwein:  A fantastic German beverage served warm.  Popular stuff in town and at the venue(s).

H         Hungover:  Pretty sure more than just a few fans were suffering from the par-tay the night before….

I           Internet:   An addiction.  How hard is it to get a decent connection around here!

J           Jello:  A feature dish at the German new year’s breakfast yesterday.  Strange.

K         Klinik:   Ivan and Holly, please stay out of that place.  No more!

L          Lauglauf: German for skiing.   Last time we’ll be hearing that….on to Sci di Fondo.

M         Magnar:   (Dalen)  Head coach of the Finnish Team.  Hands down, gets the  ‘biggest belly’ award at the Tour de Ski.  Jochen Behle is a close second.

N         Nun-chucks:   What the media thinks Petter will bring to the next stage to beat Dario into submission.

O         Oberstdorf.   Good bye…. Moving on to O’Toblachif  (land of rain???).

P          Patience:   Petter and Marit have shown incredible patience thus far in the Tour.

Q         Quips:    (a quote)…. Justyna describing last hill on the course:  “It’s a problem!”

R          Rest: (day) …..tomorrow. Thank goodness. Is this better for the athletes or for the support staff/press/volunteers/organizers?

S          Stop:   Lukas Bauer immediately after he won the second classic preem on the monster hill.  He sprinted and won, and promptly stopped and walked on his skis, due to sheer exhaustion.

T          Three:   Degrees Celsius at race time of the men’s race.

U         Up & Over:   We are surely going up and over a few mountain passes en route to Toblach.  Not sure which ones, but we’ll let the annoying GPS voice take care of that.

V          Voodoo:   Apparently Petter Northug keeps a ‘voodoo’ doll of Dario Cologna in his room at home.

W        Wrist:  Ivan Babikov’s crash on the downhill finish.   Initial report’s were he broke it, but x-rays negative.  Haven’t we had enough wrist injuries?   Brooks first, now Ivan. Both went in for x-rays today, Ivan’s urgent, Holly’s overdue.   Enough, no more, please!

X          Xtreme:  The BMW ‘driving course’ set up the valley.   Go to the BMW test and supposedly one can take a demo Beemer up the valley and rally it.

Y          Yawn:   Everyone is tired.

Z          Zeller:  “The leap into the quarterfinal was a nice financial statement!”   Quoted from the sprint race on day 3.

Nathaniel Herz

Nat Herz is an Alaska-based journalist who moonlights for FasterSkier as an occasional reporter and podcast host. He was FasterSkier's full-time reporter in 2010 and 2011.

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