1/4/2008 Does it get any better?
I've been getting in some sick skiing lately, and think I'm turning the corner on the health front. Skiing 4 hours a week and sleeping 8+ hours a night will do that when you have mono I guess. Rewind to last Monday. Eric and I did a sweet ski on the World Cup trail at Telemark. The trail hadn't been groomed, and really hadn't crusted up very well, but had maybe an inch of fresh on top of a rock solid base. We walked the uphills and cruised on the downhills. It was amazing. I skied a couple times this past week, the best of which was on Saturday. It was about 50 degrees. I tried out some red/yellow klister mix with no luck, then I grabbed my new zeros and had a fabulous ski up at Ashwabay. Seriously awesome skiing. I don't really know why anyone would skate in the spring time, especially once it gets warm. I didn't ski Sunday so I could get some stuff done on my rain bike. Then it started snowing and blowing like a banshee during work yesterday and I had a sweet ski on the Ashland trails last night. I started out with a really globby layer of VR55, then covered it with multigrade violet and had marginal kick. It was sweet to be skiing. I tried out my zeros and it was just a hair cold for them. Keep an eye out for a review of zeros/multis coming up. There seems to be a lack of good information about how amazing these skis really are, plus I have a pair for sale.
In other news, we here at Nordic Nuts have some inside information that we've been waiting for the right time to make public.. Apparently Northland College has picked up one heck of a recruiting class for next year. Rumored additions include Petter Northug, Toby Angerer, Alex Harvey, John Kristian Dahl. Chandra Crawford, Therese Johaug, Anna Hanson and Liz Stephen. Our sources indicate that there are other skiers who are who may be making the move next season. When we contacted Northug, he indicated that he was looking for a new challenge, and that the central collegiate skiing conference offered that challenge. "From what I hear the pole tips are sharp and the elbows are sharper, and that makes me pretty excited". Northug also indicated that he has been unhappy with the coaching situation on the Norwegian national team, and feels that he will recieve more personal attention and stability from the coaching staff while skiing for Northland. Hansson indicated that the training opportunities are a primary reason for the switch, "Well really, when you consider the skiing opportunities in the immediate area, including the Elks golf course, it's really a no brainer. You can have your glaciers. The opportunity to train with the 4H-CANSKI Nordic Nuts over the summer months is also a huge plus. I'm really not aware of a summer training program that operates on their level of sophistication." Johaug expressed a similar sentiment stating "I'm really excited to ski for Coach Beeksma at Northland, but what really sealed the deal was the Nordic Nuts program being in the area, I hear the head coach is really dreamy and has really great hair." Angerer had different reasons, feeling that the educational environment was unparalleled, "My education is really important to me. I had offers from Dartmouth, and some other schools, but when you boil it down, none of them really come close to Northland's acedemic reputation. I don't want to get my degree from some online diploma mill." Reactions from around the conference varied. Sten Fjeldheim was very positive, stating "You really have to hand it to Coach Beeksma being able to pull in such great recruits into such a young program. I think having such great skiers in the conference will push our athletes to the next level." Chad Salmela had a slightly different reaction, "I'm not really sure if I've heard of any of those skiers before, isn't Petter Northug a rally car racer?" At any rate, it promises to be an interesting season next year in the CCSA. Remember, you heard it here first.