Nordic Nation: The Lowell Bailey Session

BEND, Ore. — At 35 years old, U.S. Biathlon’s Lowell Bailey is the consummate veteran: he’s been racing on the World Cup since 2002. And this past winter on one day in mid-February, Bailey was perfect. On Feb. 16, he won the 20-kilometer individual race at the 2017 International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships Hochfilzen, Austria.

Lowell Bailey celebrates after crossing the line to win gold in the 20 k individual at IBU World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria. (Photo: Glen Crawford)

Ten days ago, FasterSkier sat down with Bailey in Bend. The US Biathlon team was in town for an on-snow camp up at Mt. Bachelor. Bailey, of Lake Placid, N.Y., is a biathlon lifer, a husband and a dad. He plans on racing one more season through the 2018 Winter Olympics and them moving with his family to Bozeman, Mont.

And yeah, if you heard rumors of Bailey pursuing a career as a bison rancher, you’ll hear Bailey set the record straight when it comes to his post-World Cup career.

Bailey = renaissance man.

He’s clearly a world’s best biathlete. He’s also a musician. As a bit of a bonus, Bailey allowed us to include one of his songs in the podcast titled Shores of Horicon. Here are Bailey’s notes on the song and the album.

“It’s the title track of my solo album, ‘Songs of Logging’ (2005),” Bailey wrote. “This album was a historical theme album dealing with the history of logging/forestry in the Adirondack Park region of upstate NY. This particular song deals with the history revolving around the Battle of Lake George during the French and Indian War (1755). In that battle, Sir William Johnson, fighting on behalf of the British, fought in alliance with more than 200 Mohawk warriors led by Chief Hendrick Thianoga (various spellings). Hendrick died in what was one of the bloodiest battles of the war. William Johnson was one of the first landholders in the region and one of the first white settlers to become friendly with members of the Iroquois people.”

Listen to more of Bailey’s music here.

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Have a podcast idea? Please email nordicnation@fasterskier.com.

Jason Albert

Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.