div style=”text-align: center;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zp9euTZMI/AAAAAAAAARA/Io0_NvVLwv0/s1600-h/IMG_2458.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zp9euTZMI/AAAAAAAAARA/Io0_NvVLwv0/s320/IMG_2458.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443983292012651714″ //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”Erik leading his heat up the hill/span.br //divWe just returned from our last weekend of races as a MOD group. Tomorrow we meet up with about 15 other US athletes and several coaches and head to our last weekend of racing in Europe in La Fleclaz, France. We spent the last four days in Feutersoey, Switzerland where we competed in some Swiss Cup races. The competition was not nearly as deep as the OPA Cup races but there was still many strong skiers to knock heads with. divbr /div style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”A series of aggressive moves by a swiss skier./span/divdivdiv style=”text-align: center;”a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zqOmdafAI/AAAAAAAAARQ/FtxPLkmn0LY/s1600-h/IMG_2474.JPG”br //a/divdivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zqF-v1bjI/AAAAAAAAARI/YgTXp5_4Lqc/s1600-h/IMG_2473.JPG”img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zqF-v1bjI/AAAAAAAAARI/YgTXp5_4Lqc/s320/IMG_2473.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443983438047964722″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zrxgrSZnI/AAAAAAAAARw/syVXBqeSF7k/s1600-h/IMG_2474.JPG”img src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zrxgrSZnI/AAAAAAAAARw/syVXBqeSF7k/s320/IMG_2474.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443985285401699954″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adivbr //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zr8iF8_zI/AAAAAAAAAR4/8Q7c6TBCSOs/s1600-h/IMG_2475.JPG”img src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zr8iF8_zI/AAAAAAAAAR4/8Q7c6TBCSOs/s320/IMG_2475.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443985474760539954″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adivbr //divdivSaturday was a classic sprint that ended up turning into a double pole race. The fairly flat course mixed with the really warm conditions created a perfect course to use skate skis and double pole the entire classic course. I have never done this before so it was fun to try it out. It sure does kill your arms pretty quickly. Once again I was reminded how aggressively these Europeans ski in sprint races. We had some strong finishes for the group overall. Erik qualified 3rd in the juniors, Sam 12th in the senior men and me 3rd overall in the ladies, so we all made the heats.br //divdivdivbr //divdivSunday was a distance mass start skate race. When we showed up to the venue it was about 5 degrees (Celsius) and raining. On the 5k course there were about 7 road crossings and none of them were covered. They had some patches of snow in the middle so your skis did not scrape across the pavement, but many times it was so dirty that I almost considered taking off my skis during the race before crossing. It was sure a race of a different kind./divdiv style=”text-align: left;”br //diva onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zqvYHQ1xI/AAAAAAAAARg/sDMZXG8eZgA/s1600-h/road+crossing.jpg”img src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_l4L_01UOs1s/S4zqvYHQ1xI/AAAAAAAAARg/sDMZXG8eZgA/s320/road+crossing.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5443984149231752978″ style=”display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; ” //adiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold;”One of the seven road crossings. They all looked about like this. Sam crossing during a race./span/divdivbr //divdivDirty courses and not much snow mixed with a rain storm made this a unique race. The races still went very well though. Along with Sam, Erik and I, three other US athletes joined us for the weekend: Marshall Greene, Noah Hoffman and Katie Ronsse. It was fun to have a larger group over the weekend. Noah won the distance race and Marshall and Sam were not far behind. Erik finished 5th in the Junior category. I skied the entire race in a pack with two other Swiss skiers who ended up taking me in the last .5km, putting me in 3rd place for the day. Katie, the other American girl followed in fourth. It was fun to be able to ski the entire race in a pack, working on tactics and switching leads./divdivbr //divdivScott left back to the US today so we are now working as a larger team with some new coaches. It will be fun to meet up with some new faces and feel like a part of a big team again. A lot of these skiers were with us at World Juniors in Germany so it will be great to meet up with them as well. Word is there is plenty of snow at our race venue in France and it is really sunny. Should be a nice way to end the trip. The weekend will entail a team sprint on Friday night and a mass start distance skate race on Sunday. /div/div/div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-1424302972553050559?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
