First order of business was tryouts. We started off gradually with some basic workouts and an agility test; Gabby led the women and Christian blew up the men's test - a real jump for a skier who started his college career as more of a distance/grinder type guy and is now looking like a pretty legit all-arounder. After a little recovery/intro to pool running, we hit the second half of the week hard: first a good batch of skate intervals where the group looked sharp and competitive, and then double fitness tests with the 2000m erg test in the morning and the Morse Mountain uphill run in the afternoon. Zach set a new combined run/erg record, edging out the old standard set by Mac Groves '17 - pretty impressive showing for a first-year - while Gabby and Lily both broke Renae's team record. Lily also shattered Hannah Miller '17's old erg record. The whole group put up remarkable numbers - fitness-wise, this group is far ahead of any previous Bowdoin Nordic team. Exciting way to start the season!
We kept the momentum going with a trip up to Carrabassett Valley for Fall Camp. About half the team jumped into the Sugarloaf Uphill Climb while the others did a bounding workout up the mountain and cheered them on. Again, they showed great fitness, this time against outside competition - Christian and Gabby were both second overall and Lily was fourth. Zach and Meredith were the top juniors, and James was third for junior men. After an evening recovery jog we settled in for a nice dinner orchestrated by Russell and some quality team time.
Next day was the iconic Bigelow Traverse - an 18-mile run/hike of the Bigelow Range. The older skiers ran the entire 18 miles and five peaks; we played it safe with the younger skiers and sent them down Horns Pond Trail, cutting off Cranberry Peak. We had some pretty tired folks that night, but not too tired to rally for a long classic roll on the Long Falls Dam Road - another ski team favorite. By the time we got back to campus, everyone was exhausted but happy - great training, great team time, perfect weather, and some of the most gorgeous fall colors any of us had ever seen. One other great thing about camp - we ran into lots of Bowdoin Nordic alumni! James Crimp '13 and Tyler DeAngelis '15 raced the Uphill Climb, Jackson Bloch '15 was there coaching with Colby, and Tess Hamilton '16 crossed paths with us while leading an Outing Club trip in the Bigelows and later ran the traverse, met us at Long Falls Dam Road, and rode along with us while the team skied. Thanks to Tess for several of these great photos. Also, many thanks to our hosts, Ronn Gifford and Mary Denison, and Linda and Marty Kenniston, for providing us with comfortable lodging. This camp would not have been possible without their help!
Since then, we've settled into our regular fall training routine, and we've been hitting up our favorite training venues, including our first beach skiing workout of the year. A nice hard workout on a wide open beach under blue skies - couldn't ask for better fall training. One more big week of training and then it's time for a well-earned rest!
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