I Think Maybe Rollerskiing Season Has Ended

Our hillbounding workout a couple days ago ended in snow that was almost a foot deep. I crossed paths with a friend on the trail who asked why we were hillbounding and not skiing?  To me it seemed self-evident. This was likely our last good-quality bounding session this fall. And I think it's also unlikely that the rollerskis will see pavement again before 2021. 

Toomas explaining the rules of the workout.

Siggi

JC and Derek

Though the conditions seemed more suited to skiing, an informal survey revealed that all of us were really pleased with the hillbounding workout.

During the warmdown. Helen and Uno.

We went skiing this morning. This is Derek. On his rock skis. Which turned out to be unnecessary.

Midwinter conditions and 12 degrees F. Pascale and Carly.

Toomas.  Even when he's coaching, he squeezes in a few laps wherever he can.

Hey Everybody, Hannah's Back In Town!

We've been doing our usual thing around here, while trying our best to keep our team Coronavirus-free.  So far, so good...

It's beginning to look more like winter around here.

Sigurd in uphill time-trial mode.

Espen & Pascale

The hill-bounding feels more like skiing when there's snow on the ground.

Add your own caption here...

JC and Coach Toomas.

Time-trial time again. JC and Derek.

JC and Espen. Seems like JC was everywhere at once that day.

Last weekend Sigurd pulled into practice driving some sort of Ford Explorer, which I assume he must have bought recently. I was about to ask him about it when Hannah Rudd climbed out of the back seat - but I thought Hannah was living in Bozeman these days! I was so shocked that I forgot to ask Sigurd about his car. Hannah's spent the past week here, training with us, and her presence has added to the quality and good vibe of our sessions. It's been really nice to see her this week, and I hope we'll cross paths on the racing circuit this winter. Here she is, racing our Potter Valley uphill time trial a few days ago.

Tuva Uno

Tuva The Deuce.
The skiable ice-free section of road is getting narrower all the time.

 

In the background: the Pacific Ocean. In the foreground: Tuva

In the foreground, our rollerski road. In the background, downtown Anchorage. In the distance 300 miles away, Denali (20,320 feet)

The final sprint to the finish line.

In the hills above Anchorage.

In the hills above Palmer.

I was real pleased with the quality and spirit of the womens' intervals this morning. Here's Toom leading the final meters of one of the later rounds, with Hannah, Pascale, and both Tuvas in the mix.

Thank You Dan!

 

Thanks for the rollerskis, Casey!

Things are as normal as can be expected, considering all the abnormality surrounding us for the time being. I've been able to join the team a few days per week with the classic rollerskis that Lasse gave me and the classic boots that Marine gave me.  And earlier this week I got out with the team for some skate action with the skate rollerskis that Casey Wright gave me.  If it wasn't for these gifts from former Seawolves, I probably wouldn't be able to do hardly any workouts with the UAA Ski Team!  I'd have to stay home on the couch and each potato chips. So I really want to thank Lasse, Marine and Casey for supporting the cause! 

But I visited the 314er website the other day and I noticed that rollerskis weren't the only contribution that Lasse made to the Seawolves.  I saw his name on the list as a "314er" too - somebody who's made a $1,000 contribution toward the $314,000 that the UAA Board of Regents asked us to raise if we want to keep the Ski Team intact.  Lasse and I have crossed paths several times since he left UAA some years back, and every time we see each other it immediately feels as familiar as if we were still hanging out at ski practice together. Obviously, Lasse still feels a strong connection to this team. Otherwise, he wouldn't be a 314er. 

JC was the dominant sprinter at Monday's practice.

But we also got some good news from Daniel Leever earlier this week.  Dan has never been on the UAA Ski Team, but I'm sure his name is familiar to you.  You probably know Dan from such shows as Squawk Box on CNBC and Bloomberg Daybreak. As you may be aware, Dan's son Alex skied for the University of Denver Pioneers recently, and Dan himself recently purchased Ski Racing Magazine. Dan has been very outspoken in his support of NCAA skiing as a development pathway for elite-level skiing, and he has a solid record of putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to his support for NCAA skiing and the opportunities it provides for developing ski racers.  Earlier this week, Ski Racing Magazine announced that they will match all contributions, no matter how big or small, up to a maximum of $50,000, toward the UAA Ski Team.  In other words, Ski Racing Magazine is willing to pony up $50,000 to support us, if we can just scrabble together the other $50,000.  I've just peeked at the 314er website; it looks like we're just above $115,000 at the moment. So with Ski Racing's help, we have an opportunity to reach $215,000 quickly. 

Pascale. Pre-workout medical check. If you wear your new Seawolf PPE to practice, you're probably going to get your photo in the blog.

I think it's important that we take advantage of Dan Leever and Ski Racing's offer right away, and get this $100,000 banked as soon as we can.  That will get us within $100,000 of the $314,000 that the Board of Regents has ordered us to come up with. In my opinion, the sooner we get this money together, the more leverage we're going to have for future discussions with the Board and the administration, as we will be able to demonstrate unequivocally the support we have from the community. 

In the few weeks that have passed since we started this campaign, we've made substantial progress toward the goal. But we're not there yet, and even with Ski Racing's help, we still have a ways to go. If you've been thinking about contributing to the cause, I encourage you to do so sooner rather than later, and to take advantage of Ski Racing's generous offer.  

The thing about Ski Racing's generous offer is you don't even have to be a 314er to get Dan Leever to match your contribution.  You can contribute any amount you wish and Dan and his crew of journalists will pony up a matching amount.  So if you'd like to maximize your contribution to keep the UAA Ski Team intact, I encourage you to visit Ski Racing Magazine's dedicated UAA Ski Team webpage, and contribute there. 

 When all this is over, we're going to owe Dan Leever a whole shipping container's worth of those 314er sweatshirts!

Again the website is here:  https://skiracing.com/save-uaa-skiing/. Let's get this done and behind us, and get back to ski racing!