Christmas and New Year

Christmas and New Year's happens around the end of December each year.  But apparently, not everyone agrees about that. I'm told that the Chinese celebrate the new year in February, and the word on the street is that the Jewish new year is coming up later this month.

As for me, the new year starts at the beginning of September and my "Christmas" (the best week of the year) happens the week before, during my annual camping trip in the Nevada desert with my friends. We give each other gifts and we frolic around, and at the end of the week I come back to start a new year with the UAA Ski Team, refreshed and in good spirits.

What place could be more fun than this?

Though the team has been training together for a couple of weeks, I've missed it because I've been out in the desert.  But I did make it to my first UAA Ski Team practice today, our annual Nordic vs. Alpine Soccer Game, indoors at The Dome.  It's an annual September tradition.  I think this year's game was the best game we've had in years, with a good vibe and some really nice goals. I won't bore you with the final score because that's not important, but the result was really no surprise for those keeping track of the Nordic vs. Alpine Soccer Game over the past few years. (Lukas Ebner can rest easy for another year.)

Here's about 90% of this year's UAA Ski Team.

I feel trained and ready for the fall program.  Thanks to the generous support of ex-UAA skiers Lasse and Marine, I had the best equipment available, and got out for two solid rollerski sessions over the summer.  That's twice as much as last summer.  That probably means I'm twice as prepared.  This is going to be a good year!

Thanks Marine and Lasse!