Rolling into February

We're rolling into February in a snow challanged winter! The walk across campus has been easy. Warm days and a lack of the huge snow banks to crawl over has made it simple for the team to get to the ski room and into the vans.  The talk at the early Eastern Cup races and carnivals is all about the difficult snow year.... 

But not so fast! The SMC gang, it seems, has had no problem finding the white stuff.  From long over-distance days on the rolling terrain at Craftsbury to mid-winter conditions at Trapps to interval training at The Range, the Purple Gang has not missed a beat.  It seems that it is good to be a nordic skier in Northern Vermont. 

The season is well underway and the Big Purple is getting fit and looking foward to another great weekend of skiing at Trapps in the UVM Carnaval and Eastern Cup races.  We'll see you there!

-Lary

(Once again, this was posted by Sam and I couldn't help but share pics of my dear old dad absolutely KILLING it in the coaches race. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the massive wipe out at the finish...I think his face in the last pic says it all.)

Last minute decision to join the race!
Big Purple was PUMPED!

Off he goes! Just look at that form!

Nice work, Lar!

First Week of Class Endeavors

We have a Facebook page! This is going to be short and sweet because it is late and we leave for Rumford tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure it got on the blog before the weekend. This is a new thing for the team and I'm going to see if maybe when I have service/wifi at carnivals I can post results and whatnot to the page before they're online (although the EISA is usually pretty speedy.)

The boys (and Gabby) give the van a little push

An exciting adventure the team had this week was when we attempted to get in some intervals on Tuesday. We went up the the Range in Jericho only to find that the road leading up to the biathlon range was a little icy. And by a little icy I mean a complete ice rink that was impossible to even try to walk on. We got part way up the hill in the van only to have my dad maneuver us carefully into a driveway. After getting slightly stuck for just a minute we unpacked our skis and began to walk up the ice covered hill. On the walk up we encountered a school bus in a snowbank, a woman in a Subaru that gave my dad the keys and let him do the driving, a fishtailing, skidding van, and, finally, a dirt truck that came to everyone's rescue.

High fives for getting the van out of the snowbank

Pumped for the arrival of the dirt truck

We made it to the top and the skiing was still good, but unfortunately just before we really got rolling the National Guard decided to call it quits and shut down the operation. While our workout was less than desirable we got to ski the Range and test out potential interval loops for the following weeks.

Big Purple leaves tomorrow at noon for the Bates Carnival at Black Mountain! I made the girls purple and yellow hair ribbons earlier in the evening so we're officially ready for the race season to begin!

Make sure to check out and like our Facebook page and wish us luck!

- Sam M.

Let the Games Begin (Fall '11 Recap)

Things seemed to get off to a slow start back in September as I headed out to Sun Valley with Evan.  As I returned for the first of October the team was somewhat splintered. Joe and Molly were keeping a large part of the troops on their game with the cross country team.  Sam M., Emily, Silke, and Brian (BFV) were all ready to roll, and so we did. 

Night time bounding at Cochran's in November

Halloween seemed to come out of nowhere and we were hitting the road for long rollerski days, intervals, and technique.  Cochran’s became a staple as we bounded right into the dark, but even the dark could not derail the pain. “Just pull this switch,” said the incredible friendly folks at Cochran’s.  Let there be light, and the team was as one.  3 hour roller skis, bounding and Joe’s team core were all part of a great fall of training.  But… the fall would not be complete with out Joe’s fun…. “It’s time for SMC to TT up the Bolton access road.”

Gabby and Sam-Dan were treated to a Thanksgiving with the Martell’s and a great week of on snow training.  Hard’Ack, Mike B’s gym, and incredible skiing at Craftsbury all came together to provide a great week of training.  By Friday the numbers began to grow as the on snow skiing was extended right though Saturday.  Sunday found everyone back on campus and a long roller ski.

Isaiah in the EC sprint

The Craftsbury gang worked their buts off and pulled things together for a fun weekend of racing as the first Eastern Cup went off with out a hitch.  Sam M., Gabby, Colin, Isaiah, and Sam-Dan jump-started their season against some of the toughest competition in the country.

Winter camp found the gang putting in long hours of skiing at Trapp’s.  The team put together 10 days of long skis, countless intervals, and a TT with the UVM and Dartmouth ski teams. But wait…we could not stop there, so we headed northeast to the long rolling trails at Craftsbury for a 3 hour ski and the 11^th day of skiing followed by pizza all around.

The girls putting in a solid 3 hours at Craftsbury 

Three more training days and the games will in fact begin. The college season kicks off as we roll into Rumford, Maine for a 5 & 10K interval start skate on Friday and a 10K mass start classic on Saturday.  This weekend is the first of six weeks of Carnivals and the team is ready, so… “Let the Games Begin”.

-Lary