Wrapping Up

I'm back in my own home now, looking out at the patchily melting snow and thinking back on the whirlwind ride that the last two weeks have been. I never posted on the last two races at nationals. In short, my skate sprint day was dampened by a fall in the morning qualifier. Despite getting up angry and hammering through the rest of the race, I didn't qualify for the afternoon heats. I came back up to Birch Hill in the afternoon in time to watch future Williams skiers Luke Costley and Eli Hoenig race in the heats. For the closing 15km classic race, I was plagued by back pain from the 5km mark on and finished in 41st in the men's OJ field.

After the end of the week of racing, I stayed on with my teammate Vanya Rybkin in Fairbanks and then drove to Alyeska Resort near Anchorage for some end of season downhill skiing. We trekked from Fairbanks to Anchorage (356 miles) by way of Denali state park and had a look at Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in the US. We stayed over with the a teammate's family in Anchorage (thank you to the Knapps!) on our way out, and I got to check out some Anchorage nordic skiing at the Kincaid Park before I flew home to recover and sleep.

My overall sense from my trip is one of being small. Between being dwarfed by the Alaskan countryside and skiing in such a competitive field it was a humbling experience. At the same time, it was a reminder of how strong you can get if you really push yourself. It was an unforgettable experience that was nothing like anything I'd done before.

I have a few more pictures from some of our off days during Junior Nationals and downhill skiing at Alyeska afterwards.

northern lights on the last night in Fairbanks

Rion dog sledding

Fabian shredding as a musher

it would't be a trip to Alaska if I didn't ski with a moose

the north face of Alyeska

Views from the top of Alyeska

High Traverse Bowl with Vanya

Mountainscapes on Mountainscapes

Pictures from Nationals

I just got my hands of some pictures from this week. Thanks to Evan Dethier and Calvin Wight.

Working my way up a hill for the skate sprint

Skate Sprint

I took a fall in the sprint and came up angry.

Course Preview on Saturday with Calvin and Jackson

Dev and I moving at the end of our relay leg

Some of the guys checking out the world ice sculpting championships on an off day

Skate 10km and Classic Relay

The last few days have been a whirlwind of racing. We started Monday with a skate 10km individual start race up at Birch Hill. The trails were hard and fast, and the men's fields were deep. I came out of the start feeling pretty flat, and I never really felt like I accelerated into the race. I finished 39th in the OJ age category just behind my highschool friend and teammate Luke Costley who had a similiar off day. I guess some things never change. Many of the other guys from the New England team put up solid times, and future Williams skiers Eli Hoenig (3rd) and Jordan Fields (10th) put up strong finishes in the men's OJ race.

The 3.3km relay on Tuesday ramped up the excitement with a chaotic mass start. I led off for my team with the scramble leg. I had a strong beginning out of the after starting more or less in last place. I tangled with another skier near the end of my leg and hit the ground, but was happy with my recovery tagging off to my teammates Rion O'grady and Tyler Deangelis right around the other New England teams.

We had a recovery day yesterday and did some course preview for today's sprint in the morning. In the evening, my fellow Williams teammate Vanya invited me and the other current and future Williams skiers to his house for a dinner away from the event.

Today continues our races with a sprint qualifier at 1 o'clock and heats under the late afternoon Alaskan sun at 6 o'clock local time. New England is currently trailing Alaska in the overall point standings, so the pressure is on to perform this afternoon. I'm excited for this sprint, the course looks hard and fast like all of the Birch Hill race loops. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Race results for Monday's skate race are available here and relay results are available here.

First Days

Hey guys, sorry about the radio silence. My computer rolled over and died somewhere over Pennsylvania on Friday and I've sort of been scrambling since. I've now been in Alaska for about two days and everybody is gearing up for the first race tomorrow. I went out with the other OJ and J1 (18-19 and 16-17 year old) guys and did some short speeds on tomorrow's course this morning in preparation for tomorrow's 10km skate race.

My trip started early Friday morning when I took off from Albany International Airport. Four flights, sixteen hours and a couple of tight connections later (my connection in Washington DC started boarding before my plane landed), I connected with the New England team in Fairbanks, AK.

Yesterday morning we shuttled up to Birch Hill with all the other regions for a first look at the course.  We've been graced with unseasonably warm Alaska temps in the 40s and many people were bombing around in T-shirts. My first look at the course yesterday was phenomenal, ripping down the rollers in the opening downhill and the winding back up. The conditions are hard and perfectly groomed, like skiing is meant to be and it's tough to stop skiing at the end of the day.

Tonight we have the opening ceremony and tomorrow we start our race week tomorrow morning. I'll try to get some pictures up then. Let's get started.

I've already been awed by the outflow of support and donations that I have received so far. Thank you all for your interest. I've waited a long time for this opportunity, and I'm grateful that I have such supportive friends and family to share my excitement with. Four days left until Alaska.

One week

A week from today, I'll be waking up in Fairbanks, and I can't wait to get started. In the meantime, there are skis to wax, bags to pack, homework to do, and midterms to take. I guess this is par for the course for starting spring break a week early. I also have one last race before I leave, the equalizer race up at the Stratton Mountain School on Sunday. Looking forward, I'm nothing but excited. It's been a great season and I can't think of a better way to end it. Here we go.