Racing is Underway!

A big week of racing in Sun Valley, Idaho is underway!!! The men's 50k classic National Championship race kicked off the series yesterday. Unfortunately, the guys awoke to freshly fallen snow with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, making for difficult waxing conditions. They skied 7 laps on a relentless course with a total of 4491 vertical feet of climbing! Whoa! Talk about a tough race!!! Just to give you an idea of how hard it was, 10 guys dropped out!! Congrats to the guys who hung in there and finished the race! Way to go!

Today was the women's 30k classic National Championships. Luckly we woke up to quite different conditions that the previous day. Instead of clouds and snow, we had blue skies and sun!!! Instead of soft slow tracks, we had solid fast tracks. Instead of warm temps with slippery conditions, we had cold temps with bomber kick conditions. To say the least, the women lucked out with a perfect Sun Valley day of skiing! This however did not make the race easy. The pace was pushed right from the start...within the first couple kilometers of the race the field of skiers had already broken up. A lead pack of five girls took off, with girls strung out behind. I maintained 10th-11th place for the first couple laps and managed to move into 9th by the end. It was a tough day of race but fun none the less.

A beautiful sunny day at Lake Creek

Making my way up one of many hills

My number one fans, Noi and Rob

We have a day off tomorrow and then the Super Tour Final takes off on Tuesday! This will include:

Tues: 2.8/3.3k skate prologue
Wed: 10/15k classic race
Thurs: off
Fri: Classic sprint
Sat: 5k skate hill climb

Its going to be a tough week of racing but I am excited and ready for it. Lets hope for some sun and some good ski conditions!

A view out the kitchen window

A huge pile of snow from the storm last week...leaving 2+ feet!

Keep you posted!