Mansfield Nordic Club

Lake Placid wouldn’t be too far of a trip if not for the daunting large lake that separates Vermont from New York. On a clear day you can see the slopes of Whiteface from Burlington, and the hilly, wooded terrain feels a lot like Jericho or Underhill.

But sometimes the place feels a world away, and this weekend was one of those times.

From the haphazard caravan journey to the wacky weather and misplaced tactics or untimely falls, things started out rough for the Pug crew. We’ve had a lot of experience with sprinting and, in particular, classic sprinting this season. But Saturday was just not our day on the whole, and there were varying reasons for sure. That’s not to take anything away from some great individual performances, but we do work hard as a team and of course strive to do well as a group.

The thing about an Eastern Cup weekend -and this can be good or bad- is that after the first day you’ve gotta just turn around and hit the race course again 24 hours later. In the best-case scenario this means an opportunity to get after it again and show what you’re made of. On the other hand, it means a lot of extra digging and mental tenacity to re-wire and re-focus. Sometimes that’s easier said than done.

On the whole, things shifted back into a more positive direction on Sunday. A mass start is a great chance to be a little bit angry and a little bit aggressive. Seeing exactly where you want to be, in real time, is empowering. Maybe that’s the approach we need to be continually reminding ourselves of: where exactly do I want to be? What stands (or strides and glides) in between where I am now and where that is? What can I do to keep closing that gap? It was also great to have a weekend where many of our younger Pugs got into the races and could see the Eastern Cup all coming together. Way to go Rachel, Carly, Lydia, and Carl!

One thing is for sure: we’re ready to throw more into each weekend as they come. It’s true we were under-staffed this past weekend. Without Sara and Dan I’m not sure what we would’ve done. It’s true we were in a different environment, with different courses and a different home to sleep in and the third weekend in a row with single-digit temps. But this is the gang that’s had some killer races fueled by “Room Pasta” cooked on a hotplate in a hotel bathroom (never again, Fort Kent). This is the gang that cuts blue shop towels in half with a hacksaw to make the roll last longer. The gang that isn’t afraid to do bounding intervals up the mountain’s grassy slope in the summer and then pull ticks off their clothes for the rest of the training camp. The gang that shows up to ski when it starts to get dark out, finishes under the lights, and THEN goes home to eat dinner and do homework.

You get the picture.

So it’s no surprise that a tough classic mass start in soft snow could be one of our better events. But the other thing is, we’re only at Eastern Cup #2. There’s half the Eastern Cup racing left, and more than half the races left considering the Saturday of the final weekend features two races in a day. We’re at a point where you’ve gotten into your tuck and started picking up speed in the tracks. Only option is to keep charging.

Charging hard through the snow. Not easy, but it’s what we’re in this for.

It had been high time since the gang had gotten in a real adventure…that is to say, it had been about a week. So it was time for another journey to crash in new places and race in the cold: this time across the pond deep in the Adirondacks.

As the light was fading on Friday evening we piled into two cars and crossed the bridge into New York, cruising through old mining towns and lakeside camps en route to the bustling hub of Chestertown. A town of one stoplight, one Stewarts (it is a mandatory state law that each town in NY is bestowed a Stewarts gas station) and one “Topps” supermarket, our accomodations were a lovely bed and breakfast recently purchased by an older couple from Florida. The decorations were slightly different than our usual East Cost AirBnB rentals, with nice southern charm and even a bowl of oranges waiting for us.

While Aidan, Meredith and I shopped for our remaining provisions at the bustling market, Eli and Julia somehow got a fire going without any paper of kindling, and I admit I had little faith in them and almost purchased a Duralog at the store. But if we’re ever trying to really save on lodging costs (moreso than we already try to) we can rely on those two to get the fire going in our igloo and keep us warm for racing.

After spaghetti, pizza, and salad we played a heated game of spoons and woke the next morning to another frigid cold race day. Kinda used to that at this point. The venue, just 20 minutes away at the base of Gore Mountain, is very new to the ski scene but a really awesome facility. It’s located at the base area of an alpine mountain, utilizing a lot of the former terrain. The base of the first significant climb actually ascends up the outside of an old halfpipe, while at the high point you speed down an alpine trail with only a few V-boards separating the Nordic race from the open alpine area…folks cruising in on their downhill skis must’ve been very amused as both types of skier barreled down the liftline toward the finish.

It was a brutally hard climb each lap though, which follows the trend toward harder and harder courses. It made me realize right away that next summer, we’re going to need to make some tougher timetrial and race courses by “reconfiguring” the loops at the Range when we can, so to speak. It was excellent practice, however, for the daunting Ladies 5km course that the mass starts will be held on this coming weekend in Lake Placid.

The races went well, and although Adam’s super-thin binder job didn’t exactly hold up for the entirety of the women’s race, adjustments were made to get a bit more grab in the men’s skis. The ladies stacked the top-15, and Aidan, Eli, and Cameron also got themselves in the top-15 with Aidan winning the entire race by 30 seconds. It was a nice change of pace from Vermont, and the race was hosted by our “sister” club in NY, the Hudson United Racing Team (HURT) so I was excited that we’d get to support their efforts by bringing more racers to the event.

It has been a while since the Pug Vlogs of old, but I resurrected the tradition to put together a video from the weekend. I hope you’re ready for more lifestyle clips than skiing clips…usually a bit more busy on race day and it’s harder to actually take video!