And the Winter Season begins

Another Bolton Season opener is in the books. I managed a solid 6th place finish. My hope was for a top 5 to start the year - and I was close. The course was mucho hard. Start heading straight up World Cup loop - down onto Broadway and down around Teardrop - then back up Broadway, around the Pond - right into a second lap of the same (pain).

I definitely felt fit, but definitely felt sloppy. Eli took a solid win and looked good. I've got to get training with him more over the next couple weeks. Get the pain train moving in the right direction.

In International news, Tim Burke - from over in Saranac Lake - is the #1 ranked biathlete in the world currently...No big deal? Wrong! HUGE friggin' deal.

On the home front - I skied the new Salomon Equipe 10 skate skis for the first time. They glide very, very well. I definitely had more speed than most on the downhills. I hadn't really spent any time training on them yet though and forgot how different skis can handle differently. Climbing on them didn't feel quite natural until about 15 minute into my cool down. Lesson learned.

My sister (hostess), Helen (timing guru), and Damian Bolduc (club organizer) did an awesome job putting on the Bolton opener with all the other volunteers. An interesting sighting for me was seeing Matt White - of cyclocross fame - at the race. Matt and I have had many enjoyable battles on the road bikes, when I was with CCB and he was with FiordiFrutta. He was giving the nordic ski racing thing a go - had some equipment problems - but I hope I keep seeing him out there.

It was cool to see Stratton skier Skyler Davis win the opening Eastern Cup of the year up in Maine this weekend. It looks like he crushed the field in the skate sprint. We helped him get some boot issues worked out this fall at the Skirack for an ankle that was giving him trouble. Its good to see the boots are working - the lad is strong.

On the trainer, I've been mostly been rocking out to Grace Potter. That song Mastermind is awesome.

Get out and ski.

Fall Training - Smooth is the word

Hey gang - so the word I would use to best describe this past falls training is smooth. Things have actually gone very well - good weather, no injuries, and I have a good feeling going into the winter's x-c ski race season. The only bump was when I found out Alpina wasn't going to be supporting a ski team this season - but I was able to connect with Salomon and am really excited about racing with their new equipment. So, things stayed smooth. Salomon has actually created some ridiculous new boots in the S-lab Pro. Check 'em out.

The last race of the bike season was the Boston Criterium - where my teammate Clayton "Big-Show" Barrows went on a $100 bill vision-quest and won all sorts of money - which definitely made paying the bills in the fall a bit easier. So, once again, thanks Clayton! I'm riding again next year with Empire Cycling - and promised Clayton I'd finally make him some money.

After that race, I listened to Helen's sage advice and took a week completely devoid of exercise - as much as it pained me. It was a good choice though, and something I mistakenly didn't do last year. As a result I've had good energy and motivation this fall for training.

I've been basically doing the standard stuff - rollerskiing, running, strength exercises, and riding the bike. I've actually been able to ride more this fall because its been reasonably warm. I even made a pass over App Gap in November with Steve Francisco. With rollerskiing I've been mostly getting out a couple days a week with Eli Enman. I really enjoy training with Eli and hopefully I can race more with Eli this season (at the front of the pack, drilling it).

I was able to get together one weekend with my Alpina teammate from last year, David Cahill, for some great training. We did a time trial up Honey Hollow, which UVM uses, and that went very, very well. Helen and I are going to head out to Wisconsin this winter to race the Birkie and David (a Birkie vet) is helping us figure our travel and lodging arrangements, which I really appreciate.

The highlight of the fall training was easily Helen & Jake's Gourmet Training Camp at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT. Over the summer I had a good day at the Equinox Hill Climb and ended up winning. The winning prize was a full weekends stay and accommodation at the resort. Helen and I used the stay over Halloween weekend and we made the most of it - taking in some seriously plush rest and relaxation, but also some great long run/hike training in the mountains around Manchester. You'll be seeing me at more of the hillclimb races in 2010 that have bed and breakfast or resort/spa prizes. I'm a fan.

On the home front Helen and I were really able to get settled into our house in Winooski once the fall came around. The house is in a great location and is very comfortable now that everything is settled. We even hosted the famous "elastic waist band" dinner just last weekend - which strangely has become a who's-who of 20 and 30 something x-c ski people. So, needless to say lots of food was eaten and sizeable amount of beer and wine was enjoyed. Yay elastic waist bands.

Here's a smorgasbord of fall pictures..

Helen relaxing in the back room

The view from the top of Bromley
Oh, yeah - I did the Westford Turkey trot. Cruising with Binney Mitchell.
The view up the Lye Brook waterfall.

We were running all over the mountains.