An update from Gary Richter, reporting on Kai’s experiences in British Columbia this year!
Pugs from afar
One of our original Pug-era skiers, Kai Richter, reporting in from afar, continues to spread the MNC spirit and work ethic.
Consistent and typical of his style, Kai reports near death experiences running at 11,000 ft.+ elevation near Mammoth Lakes, California with his new training partner, Remi Drolet and Alex Harvey. Yes,….that Alex Harvey. See attached. The super thin air made him “…feel like I was dying!” or at least hallucinating, so took this snap to confirm reality. Of course speaking of near death, now that he has had a shirtless hug from Alex, he can stoke that off his bromance bucket list.
Kai has just finished three weeks of altitude training there with the Black Jack ski team of Rossland, B.C. Although Kai reports that the Canadian national team program appears to be currently in a shambles, it was cool to have constant access to them and talk and interact with athletes at that level.
Kai reports that he has learned the most this season from a blind man. Yes,…the most decorated blind skier in history, Brian McKeever of Canada’s Paralympic team, has provided extensive technique instruction including some totally new insights to this pug. Brian’s 13 paralympic medals including 3 golds in Vancouver give him huge cred and Kai reports his sense of humor and approachability make him a real contributor.
(For those not aware, Kai is doing his grade 12 year in Rossland, B.C., skiing with the Black Jack Ski Team, coached by 26 year veteran former national coach Dave Wood, and studying at Seven Summits Learning Center. Rossland has 200 km+ of maintained single track, lit ski trails that pass under the highway from Kai’s host home on lower slopes of Red Mountain to town, commonly used by bikers, skiers and black bears, and a cappuccino cafe : human ratio of about 1:200,…or so it seems,…maybe it’s the caffeine. Oh,…and he is also working on his Canadian accent, eh? )
Buff season is officially here, as workout gear is chosen based on keeping skin warm rather than getting skin bronzed. You could say it’s a little harder to motivate and get after it when the hail is blowing sideways and the ski and trees alike are all shades of grey. Doesn’t stop us though. This week was crammed with some tough workouts that seem to make the weather go away in the spur of the moment…double pole test, Bolton uphill run, and a long ski/run combo in Pleasant Valley that began with plenty of shivering.
About 10 minutes before a small hailstorm started in Williston on Wednesday!
Our ski in Pleasant Valley capped off a week that now leads into a bit of a break…although it wasn’t planned, some of the testing has essentially told us that it’s time to back off a bit and recovery before things get quite busy in November…with Thanksgiving Camp and the first snow skiing of the year being eagerly awaited, it’s easy to give it a little too much gas. We’ll mix it up this week with some different workouts and activities and plan to make the most out of November!
Skiing toward the snow…and toward “that spot” in Pleasant Valley, one of the most photographed barn+mountain shots in the state
Here’s a short video edit of the day…a pretty simple workout (skate for 1 hour, run for 1 hour) but a beautiful spot to do it in. Scenic roads to roll on and about 2 cars seen total, and then a vast network of singletrack to run on…we aren’t big fans of running on pavement and I think the only time we actually do it is when we are forced to in order to reach a trail!
What a big day! 172 racers made for the biggest rollerski race in North America! Thanks to everyone who competed, volunteered, and came to support. It truly felt like an Eastern Cup on rollerskis,
The MNC crew had a great time, with some standout performances! Hanna duked it out with some strong Canadians to finish 4th in the 5km race…but 1st American 🙂
Aidan won the U16 5km race by 2 minutes, while Sammie put the hammer down at a race she was looking forward to for a long time. She was 1st place for all the U18 racers and you could tell just by watching her ski that she was going to win. Really cool!
Sammie and Ali striding up from Badger loop!
What’s more, Julia and Meredith battled it out the whole way to push to times far faster than this same course back in August…in slower conditions nonetheless. Brook snuck ahead of some college racers and skied with great tempo the whole time, while Ali and Magda laid down a solid ski working their strengths.
We ski on these trails all the time, so it’s great to see so many others racing hard. With a lot of starters and a 3-lap race it meant that some of the girls got to ski with Olmypians like Caitlin Patterson and Ida Sargent, while the guys got to share the trail with pro skiers like Kyle Bratrud and Adam Martin.
Brook pushed to the max!
Happy Pug gang!
Thanks again for a great event…results and photos (thanks Dave!) can be found on the previous blog post. We’re proud to have played a role in such a big event and we’re looking forward to even more next year. Can we surpass 200 racers??
Some trusty volunteers headed home after a long day…Rick, Rose, and Lily 🙂
We’re in the midst of peak foliage right now, which means that even when the days are grey and misty, the scenery still can’t disappoint. That was nice to have this week, since we were trying to fit in a lot of big training and saw everything from sun and vibrant colors to rain and clouds. Fall sure makes for some great photos and videos, though! There were a LOT of sessions this week and hopefully some of the media captured just how busy we were.
We took the opportunity for a week without a “race” effort to get some good L3 work in. On Tuesday morning we were still overcoming a bit of the sickness from the past week and missed a few of the gang, but the crew got in a really good set of skate intervals working on staying smooth and working transitions well. Hopefully the video conveys a bit of that, as I tried to take clips on flatter and mixed terrain instead of the usual “uphill interval” style clips. I also figured out how to do a better job of creating and uploading thumbnails to our Youtube videos, so hopefully they are even more engaging…be sure to subscribe to the channel and all that!
Gravel grind on Old Pump Rd
Wednesday was the first “rough” day of the week in terms of weather. We were supposed to have a fun MNC Bikegang mountain bike ride at Saxon Hill but a ton of rain closed the trails. Instead of ripping berms and flow, we went on a foliage tour up through Essex and into Jericho.
As you can tell in the above photo it wasn’t quite “peak” yet but getting close. A few more cold nights afterward helped.
It’s also important to keep fueled during your workouts…so even though we were mostly on dirt roads seeking the finest views and country life in Vermont, we also made sure to get back to the pavement before our crew had to go to school…because on days like this coffee is essential.
In the afternoon, we had a big group out at Mobbs Farm but the weather remained it’s dreary self. With the dropping temps and occasional shower and frost it’s easy to lose motivation. Thankfully, everyone comes to training with good energy and we usually find a way to make things fun even when it’s not picture-perfect outside.
Jax getting his strength gains going!
Things were bright again for Thursday afternoon, when we got our big gang together including St Mikes for some towing strength. We’ve done this workout basically all fall and will continue to do so weekly…we ski up a gradual hill 4 times…if skating, we alternate V2 and double pole. If classic skiing we just double pole. Each week we extend the distance of the tows just a little bit, and this week we also added in two speeds up the hill WITHOUT towing after everyone had their turns pulling their partners. We’ll keep progressing like this as we go along through fall.
We were in for a treat on Friday morning. This is a workout we tried once earlier this fall with similarly amazing weather and sun, and this day was no different. If you’re anything like us, you’re sick of rollerskiing out-and-back on Cochran Road all year…so, this workout changes it up! It involves a pre-drive of the route to check on the “trail conditions”, so to speak, on Dugway Road, but if all systems are go there you end up with an awesome route. Starting at the Round Church, taking a right onto the dirt road at Dugway, emerging into the beautiful valley in Huntington, and skiing up to the town library.
The dirt road is all gradual uphill, the scenery is unbeatable, and the traffic is pretty much nonexistent on a Friday morning at 8AM. Even when you get onto Huntington Rd, almost all of the traffic is headed toward Richmond and is going the other way, not trying to squeeze around a group of skiers. It’s by far one of the most scenic rollerskis you cold do outside of Pleasant Valley!
Dirt or pavement? Almost hard to tell in this photo…
On Saturday, we returned to another “favorite”, this time getting treated to another of the most scenic rollerski routes you could find in our area. We were ready for some classic intervals up Road 101 at Smuggs, made famous a few times earlier this year by both Juniors and Masters alike. This hill is great, and the setting is astounding. We made 3 trips up the hill, each one taking between 15 and 20 minutes. The first 2/3 of the intervals were smooth L3, and then cranked up to race pace once the steep sections hit and the pedals went down. We got some nice footage from this ski:
After the ski we had a nice team lunch down in Jeffersonville, and then headed BACK up to get in a ride and run on the mountain bike trails right off the side of Road 101. Lots of fun!
NOTES OF INTEREST
Be sure to register for the Fall Rollerski Classic: registration closes WEDNESDAY at 5pm!
Signup to contribute to the concession table here. Thanks 🙂
The chilly mornings and long sleeves are here. Changing leaves, sickness and schoolwork all collide right about now…making for some interesting sessions as wel work toward the cold rain changing to cold snow!
Sammie skating up Bolton Notch Rd…according to some bike blogs it’s 28% grade at the steepest pitch, which is steeper than any part of Lincoln Gap! Since it’s not a mile long, it doesn’t get any street cred but that’s a mean hill. So of course it’s been on the radar to attack for a while now. In the video below you can see just how steep it is and just how hard it is to skate up without rolling back down the hill! Makes for a fun Wednesday morning:
Not all about the rolling though: we did a really good set of bounding intervals with our friends from St Mikes on Friday afternoon. We started at the Round Church alongside the UVM team who was coincidentally also training from the same spot. They were out for a roll/run combo toward Cochran’s but we took the other direction and headed to the new trails at Chamberlain Hill. It was sunny and the leaves had just begun to change, and things really felt like the crisp hard training days of autumn.
Richmond, VT lookin’ fine
Running out to some sweet trails. About a mile of pavement but after that it’s all dirt
It was back to wheels on Saturday for a bikegang ride at Perry Hill, and then a rollerski adventure in the Capital District of Montpelier!
