span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; “br /This past Monday Sadie, Scott and I got home from Super Tour Finals in Fort Kent, Maine. The races were held in a Tour-style competition. A couple things usually happen during a tour; first, there is usually no rest days in between races, as this is better for spectators but harder for racers to recover. Second thing that happens in Tour-style competition is that on the last day you do a handicap start. That means that they add the time back of your first two races and that’s what time you start at. For example I started the third day 3:03 back from the leader. These couple of changes make for a more friendly spectator event and also I find them pretty fun.br //spanbr /span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; “The first race was a 11km classic mass start over a pretty gentle course. We did 3 laps that went 2 or so kilometers up a gradual low incline hill and then turned around and came down. It was a hectic start; there where 100 guys trying to fight for position on a pretty narrow course. I managed to get through without falling, and after a lap in it started to spread out. I felt like I skied the last couple laps slowly picking guys off and managed to out sprint a someone right at the line to finish 32nd./spandivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; “br //spana onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pZgXW6b1QMk/S7oqZkDgZOI/AAAAAAAAAHc/w-Iecg4y2ZI/s1600/IMG_2510.JPG”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pZgXW6b1QMk/S7oqZkDgZOI/AAAAAAAAAHc/w-Iecg4y2ZI/s400/IMG_2510.JPG” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456720517176255714″ //adivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=” ;font-family:Helvetica;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 12px; “br /The second day was the classic sprint. It was on a fun course with a good size hill in the middle of it. The qualifier was held in the morning, still cold enough that the tracks where hard and fast. I had my usual pretty good qualifier, qualifying 21st, but knew where I could make some changes to make a fast performance in the rounds. There were three or four hours before the rounds so I got a chance to relax and shortly talk to Torin Koos, US Ski Team athlete, and get pumped for my race. I was in a heat with Andy Newell, a US Ski Team athlete and Ivan Babikov, Canadian National Team athlete, along with three other guys. I had a great start and got into 3rd position. Before long I had made my position up into second behind Newell before the downhill corner. I was feeling good and knew if I could stay in position around this corner I would have a good chance at moving on into the semi finals. Babikov was slowly gaining on me from behind. I took the corner pretty sharp cutting Babikov off a little and just as we made it around the corner and I thought I had made it, Babikov falls over beside me and we get tangled up. I got up as fast as I could and to try and catch back up to the group, but I had lost too much time in the fall. That’s how heats sometime go; it was a little unfortunate but I was happy with how I felt./span/span/span/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;”br //span/divdivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=” ;font-family:Helvetica;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 12px; “img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;” src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pZgXW6b1QMk/S7opP2_ug0I/AAAAAAAAAHU/bAr15GRZGPM/s400/DSC_0256.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”” id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456719250950357826″ /div style=”text-align: center;”(Trying to get untangled)/divdiv style=”text-align: center;”br //div/span/span/span/divdivspan class=”Apple-style-span” style=” ;font-family:Helvetica;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: medium;”span class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-size: 12px; “The third race was the hill climb, the one I was looking forward to the least. I had an alright race, but it was a tough course. It did 3 km on a rolling course and then up a downhill area finishing with a kilometer or two.br /br /I ended the week in 37th overall. It was one of the best sets of races I had this season although the results might not show it. Now it’s time to relax for a bit and get excited to start a new year of training!/spanbr //span/spanbr //div/divdiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2910103639238326543-853534314812752726?l=methowolympicdevelopment.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div
