UVM/SuperTour Classic

Yesterday's classic race was an adventure. We had warm temps and a bit of rain overnight - by morning the snow was wet and transformed - pretty straightforward klister conditions. Ollie, Wilson and I were up at the venue early, and we had the wax dialed in pretty quickly. Right about then the weather got biblical - snow/sleet, huge gusts of wind, and even some thunder in the distance. Pretty soon, klister was too much but hard wax wasn't enough - everyone's favorite conditions. We finally broke down and tested hairies at Wilson's suggestion - they were working great, so we made the call and put them on the women's skis, with much help from Matt and Elissa. As the race got underway, the temps started to drop, the wind kept up, and the snow dried out - trouble. Predictably, the skis weren't so great, and the women did a lot of running up the hills. Amazingly, we still ended up with some of our best results of the season - Courtney scored a huge PR in 32nd, with Erin 44th and Olivia 49th. It wasn't exactly a satisfying day, but there was a lot to be proud of - everyone was struggling with the wax, and our skiers held it together as well as anyone.

Things settled down a bit for the men, but the conditions were still variable all over the course: windblown powder, slush, glazed tracks gradually turning to ice - a mess. We ended up with klister covered - not an easy application, but fortunately Nick's sister Kate (a former all-American for UVM) had volunteered to help, and we were able to get everyone's skis waxed on time. Things worked out OK - Spencer and Nat had carnival PRs (34th and 49th), and Scott tied yesterday's PR of 35th. The race of the day belonged to Shem, though - he skied smoothly, caught rides off faster skiers, and looked great throughout the race. He's been working hard and making big technique gains this season, but until yesterday he hadn't put it all together. Overall, the team showed some toughness on a brutal day, and I'm pretty happy about that.

A lot of people took good care of our team this weekend. Lots of parents and siblings were on hand to cheer and take photos. Kathy Bishop (Jeff's mom) set out a huge spread for the team on Saturday, and the Shepards brought their usual tasty lentil and chicken apple sausage soup (the Shepards and this soup are responsible for 100% of my meat consumption in the last 6 months). Wilson was a tireless test pilot and wax tech, and his hairies skills were stellar. Matt and Elissa were also indispensable at the wax table. Lastly, special thanks to Kate Crawford for volunteering to get her hands covered with klister when she could have been relaxing and enjoying a great day of racing. Thanks to all of you for helping us survive a very challenging weekend.

Here are a few photos by Andy Shepard from the men's races - more online here. We had tons of other folks taking pictures out there, so I'll post some of those when I get them.

Spencer getting nice and tall.

Tom Cook had a solid weekend with two good races.

Walt chasing Sylvan Ellefson around a turn.

Niko showing no signs that he spent the fall in the rollerski-free zone of Copenhagen.