A little place called.... Aspen

I just returned from Aspen, Colorado.... Just.

It was a long journey home, thanks in part to a flat tire on our trailer in a rural area... on a Sunday evening... Not a good combination. We combed Glenwood Springs for an open garage to fix our broken valve stem but found nothing. We jumped on I-70 and hobbled down the road to Rifle where we were lucky enough to find a SprawlMart that had a repair shop... Unfortunately there were a handful of cars in line in front of our tire. It took a few hours but we finally got back on the road as the sun was setting on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains.

As I may have related in my last post, my first real test after this last period of training was to be the Owl Creek Chase. Before the OCC was a 10k Classic Supertour race, attended by many of the top racers not in Vancouver for the World Cup and the Western Colleges. Classic skiing can be a bit up and down for me and as such, tends to be a good test of my fitness. The race went well dispite feeling a bit flat in warm up. I skied strong on the second lap which was crucial at 8000+ ft. I ended up in 4th place, less than a second from the podium and within 30 of the leader. Not a bad start considering where those skiers placed at US Nationals.

That result gave me a lot of confidence going into the Owl Chase, a race that I have won in the past and never been off the podium in. As the race started, I took a shot at going off the front which was followed by an attack from Tad Elliot. I gave chase thinking it was our chance to ski away with the race but I couldn't hang on and fell back to a chase pack of three other skiers. I tucked in to recover as a few of the others skied away. From there I just never quite came back. I made a serious tactical error in the late km's of the race and combined with some questionable maneuvering from another racer, I was never really able to challenge for third until the last few meters at which point it was too late. Rossi teammate Josh Smullin was third and I was fourth. Matt Gelso and Tad Elliot, both on the U23 World Championship team, were just ahead of us in 1st and 2nd respectively.

Looking back on the race I can't help but be a bit frustrated. My fitness is back and I felt strong but just didn't ski the race I needed to in order to win. I have a few more weeks now before the Boulder Mountain Tour. I may travel to the midwest to ski a few more races in the meantime but that has yet to be decided. Some logistical issues need to be sorted out.

The past month has been an excellent one in terms of training. I am still not able to accomplish the volume that I have in the past, however I have found that I can handle more intensity than usual. That intensity is what I have to thank for my current fitness. I plan to continue on a similar plan for the next weeks/months with addition of some more highspeed training to prepare for sprint finishes. I felt like a donkey in the finish lanes of Saturday's race and it didn't get any better when I got knocked out in the early rounds of the nighttime drag races in downtown Aspen... Not acceptable but a good lesson to learn right now.

So from here on out my schedule will roughly entail the Boulder Mountain Tour, The Moose Chase, the American Birkebeiner, the Engadin Ski Marathon, the Gold Rush and Long Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, AK. I may also find my way to the City of Lakes Loppet less than two weeks from now.

See you out there.