Will we be on snow this week?

Wondering what AI thinks ‘October Nordic ski training camp in Leadville, Colorado’ looks like? Well, you’ve come to the right place…

That’s actually not that bad….

How about “Very fit cross-country skier going up a mining district road in Leadville, Colorado with his German shepherd-border collie mix.”

Second one really captures Turquoise Lake Road, I think. I like how Ajee and I are sharing the skis.

Ok, one more.

Perfect!…wait…where’d the other dog come from?

One longtime listener, reader, friend and Nordic news correspondent is in a good position for some October on-snow training. Dan Batwinas, sent us a text from Canmore, Alberta last week.

My Canmore snow pile is waiting for me — 11 days until Frozen Thunder,” the former president of Leadville Cross-Country Skiing and the founder of the Equinox 24-hour Ultra Ski stated.

“The roller ski track is huge fun. A little scary for Popi Dan.”

Batwinas has been up in the Banff area this fall, enjoying carless mountain roads. Last Thursday, he said he rollerskied the Banff Golf Course loop road.

“Best 4x5k I’ve ever done,” he said. “Elk everywhere, coyotes and ravens singing non-stop, perfect pavement, and the right amount of hills.”

We’ll see if we can get him on the line for some coverage of Frozen Thunder in the near future.

As for the rest of us, we’ll just keep waiting for Hagerman/Turquoise to get blanketed and car-groomed!

Equalizing Equinox: Leadville’s 24-hour ultra-endurance ski brings a wide swath of Nordic skiers interested in finding out how far they can go

Eagle Valley Nordic skiers eclipse 200k distance in 24-hour event

Ski newsbytes

• Sophia Laukli is making a comeback to the Golden Trail Series. She shared an announcement on Instagram stating her intentions to compete at the grand finale in Ascona, Switzerland Oct. 17-20. Considering the whole reason the defending overall series champion dropped from the tour earlier this summer was because she was feeling a little burnt out and wanted to focus on skiing, I find this a kind of odd. I wonder how much was due to sponsorship pressure…then again…the more I think about this, the more I’m not opposed to this. I actually think the real reason she was feeling somewhat cooked was because she got off on the wrong foot at the beginning of the trail run season — from an injury standpoint. She never found her groove, probably felt like she was subsequently trying to make up for lost time, all while skate skiing a crap-ton with Aker Daehlie. Now that she’s gotten a little reset, I’m guessing her fitness stacking could bode well for this race. I haven’t done a deep dive on the course, though, and maybe that makes a difference for her….who knows.
• I have to say, I’m somewhat inspired by Julia Kern’s training recently. Kern is currently with the U.S. Ski Team at their fall altitude camp in Park City, but she hasn’t been free to hammer on rollerskis. Instead, she’s had to be in the pool, on the bike and inside rehabbing. In an Instagram post, she stated “Back to the basics, but working on weaknesses and imbalances so that when I’m back to skiing, I’ll hopefully be stronger than ever. Often, PT and injury recovery takes as much if not more time than a normal training week.” That’s so true. The monotony of those drills and pool workouts, combined with the frustration of not getting to freely train outside in the beautiful fall weather — all while being amidst what could be the turning point or the ‘over-the-hill’ era of her career — can’t be fun. She’s handling it like a champion, though, and maintaining a selfless mindset throughout — which might be the most amazing part. In an Oct. 9 SMS blog, she mentioned going back to her Boston roots to help inspire the next generation and work with them on technique. If I was in her shoes, that would be the last thing I’d feel like doing, to be honest. It takes a lot to impress this author — who runs a podcast built on criticism — so, cheers, Julia.
• Jessie Diggins was interviewed by proxcskiing.com. In part 1, she opens up about reasons for talking so openly about her eating disorder; there’s isn’t anything really new to American fans who’ve followed her throughout the last couple years, but you can check out the interview here.
• Johannes Klaebo revealed the new Norwegian national team’s kits for the World Championships in Trondheim next winter. I think they’re a bit better than previous designs.

• In advance of its 16th Pro Tour season, Ski Classics announced that currently 42.8% of all Pro Team athletes are women. That number will probably only go up, as 57.1% of the ‘youth’ category skiers and 69.2% of the new ‘Cubs’ category skiers are girls. “We are very happy that the number of women in Ski Classics will soon reach the target of 50/50,” David Nilsson, Ski Classics general manager. “This shows that the measures we have initiated over time have worked to increase the number of women in Pro Teams.” Ski Classics introduced a new rule that each Pro Team must have at least three men and three women in order to obtain a license. “As we said last year, we will not be satisfied until we have reached the goal of 50/50,” Nilsson continued. “But we do not see equality as a major problem for the Pro Tour to continue to develop. The most important challenge now is to get more nations onto the podium in our events.”

The Ski Classics Pro Tour season kicks off on Dec. 14. Pro Teams are being revealed daily starting on Oct. 10 on skiclassics.com.

Ski Classics Pro Tour Season XVI:
Event 1: December 14, Bad Gastein ITT
Event 2: December 15, Bad Gastein Criterium
Event 3: January 11, 3 Zinnen Ski Marathon
Event 4: January 12, La Venosta ITT Kapron- Melago
Event 5: 18 January, Engadin La Diagonela
Event 6: 26 January, Marcialonga (Grand Classic)
Event 7: 9 February, Jizerská50 (Grand Classic)
Event 8: 15 February, Grönklitt Criterium 61
Event 9: 16. February Grönklitt ITT
Event 10: March 2, Vasaloppet (Grand Classic)
Event 11: March 15, Birkebeinerrennet (Grand Classic)
Event 12: March 22, Marcialonga Bodø
Event 13: March 29, Reistadløpet
Event 14: March 30 , Grand Finale Summit 2 Late

Ski Classics is still largely a Scandinavian affair, with 36.4% of athletes hailing from Norway and 24.15% coming from Sweden. Germany is the third-most represented country at 8.9%.

• Interesting opinion piece from former Seder-Skier Podcast guest, Teemu Virtanen on the problem of inactivity, obesity and other markers of poor health in Finland. Virtanen argues that technology is a part of the problem. He quotes the host of the largest podcast in Finland, Esko Seppänen, who puts some of the blame on lazy adults who let this happen: “we adults have bought ourselves temporary relief by putting smart devices in front of our children. When it is continued quite innocently one little piece at a time, then we will soon have a generation on our hands that doesn’t even know what real exercise is.” Virtanen also proposes a few solutions, such as the government financially incentivizing people to be fit — since there is an obvious cost for them being out of shape anyway.

Email of the week

SEDER,

Is this for real? How have I never heard it??

Tacobell50k.com

This looks amazing. 150 participants! I need to just organize a Duluth/Superior version. We need your brother and his team to get in on it.

TBGUY

Incredible. In my home state no less….let’s just say I don’t plan to make my 50k debut there.

From the archives: Vail Trail – Nov. 30, 1979

A little background on Bonne Bell.

“Bonne Bell was founded in 1927 in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, by cosmetics salesman Jesse Bell, who named it after his daughter.[1] Bell made his products on a hot plate in his basement and then sold his skin care products door to door.[2]

In the 1950s, the company pursued the outdoor market and developed sun blockers, heavy-duty moisturizers, and lip protectors for skiers, hikers, and joggers. In the 1960s, Bonne Bell sponsored the U.S. Ski Team and many other amateur and professional sports events. In 1972 the company sponsored 10K marathons in 15 cities and many charitable races. By 1985 the business had grown into a $50 million enterprise.[3]” – Wikipedia

So many thoughts….

First, what is the point of this? Like, was the goal to make it so we could have Nordic handicaps – just like in golf? — all based on the assumption that Mark Pearson is going to give perfectly equally performances at all four locations (which have completely different terrain demands….and are held at different altitudes haha).

Also, speaking of Mark Pearson….it says it was his second year doing the pacesetting duties. Talk about an awesome little gig. “Hey, want to get paid to travel to four really awesome Nordic ski venues across the country and race a 5k?” ….ok, so I don’t know if he got paid, but seriously, Mark Pearson, if you’re out there, let’s get you on the podcast!

Second, what happened to this? After hearing about the rise and fall of the Keystone Caper – which had over 400 participants in its first rendition (and a vision for surpassing the Vasaloppet …yes, that Vasaloppet…in popularity) in the first weekly wax of the month, I come across this forward-thinking project! Here’s my main takeaway: I now think that if I want to be remembered in the lore of Nordic skiing, I need to launch a crazy race and run it at least two or three times.