The Athletes Report- Vol. VIII

We had a fun last day here in Ostersund. It started off with getting up at 8:15 to say good bye to the Alaskans. Things were hectic and it was not pretty around Camp Sodergren. Needless to say they made it out fine and everyone went back to bed. We decided to go for a short ski and had a good time laughing at Dylan trying some tricks on the “jumps”. Our next stop was the famous swedish vintersportcentrum. Its basically this sick place where they test all the best athletes from all over Sweden. This place was off the charts! They had a treadmill for both skating and classic equiped with like ten 3d cameras for technique. They even had a place to warm up the rollerskis so each pair is the same temperature when you use them. Just the treadmill alone cost $100,000! We got a tour from the worlds most famous ski researcher HC Holmberg and he was very welcoming. We said bye to HC and decided to go for a little last trip shopping. Kate and Matt found this sweet retro ski store and we scored some cool new gloves and hats. After a delicious Amercan meal of tacos, were back in our rooms trying to pack for the early flight out tomorrow. Its a difficult task because we all have about double the gear we came with. We are living by our motto “When in Rome” and heading down to the sauna now. Its been a great trip and we are all sad to leave this wonderful country!! See you back in the States!!—- Jack