I am writing as we travel to the Midwest for the first series of Supertours, taking place in Duluth, Minnesota and Cable,Wisconsin. It’s exciting to finally be starting FIS racing, and especially that which will draw all of the top competition from across the United States. Its go time, and I and the rest of the team are ready. We have been putting in work together for the past 16 months, and personally as a competitor, I am chomping at the bit to get back out there and race. I am particularly motivated by, and proud of, the strength and cohesiveness of our team at the moment. Since our inception, we have built and grown, through our training, the confidence we currently carry in knowing that on any given day we have men and women that can compete for the win, and are ready to finally showcase the BSF Pro Team in our inaugural season on the Supertour.
The last two weeks since our initial block of on snow skiing and first races in Canmore, Alberta, have been focused on nailing down some race specific intensity and preparations for these races. With snow scarce in the west, we have had to adapt our training modes slightly in continuing to rollerski. Personally I am a big proponent of continuing roller skiing, especially double pole, even throughout a season, due to its inherent continuity and muscular load/adaptation that isn’t as present and thus a great benefit in on snow skiing. That being said, I spent the first week back home in Steamboat on Rabbit Ears Pass, one of the few places with natural snow at the time, working on transitioning the technical innovations I have developed in roller skiing onto snow and then continuing the development process.
Last week Bozeman received a bit of snow, which gave us a chance to ski a bit both in West Yellowstone and on some more local forest service roads. Due to the unfortunate cancellation of the West Yellowstone Ski Festival, including the planned FIS race, we held an intersquad time trial on a modified course instead. Although the conditions were a bit sloppy, the focus was on executing a race effort and skiing technically well. I really enjoy environmental adversity whether it be poor weather or track conditions as it requires and therefore helps me to center and focus my mind on simply executing the movements that induce fast skiing, in order to simply ski. I was thrilled to get to push and test myself on skis once again, refining my technique and capacity, and am ready to do some work on Supertour period one.
