A Bowl of Cereal

Wendy and Bill Seline managed to evade their son's defenses and introduced themselves to the volunteer assistant coaching staff the other day. So that was nice. Apparently, they'd visited Anchorage earlier this fall, but Matt kept that a secret, too.

As if they've never seen skis before and don't know what they're for...

Pascale

Tuva

Matt

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After the racing is over and everyone's gone home for the day, that's when the coaches can go out and get a little exercise, too. Unfortunately, Toomas has been watching me eat breakfast at the team house lately, and it's had a bad influence on him. Toomas is generally a two-eggs-and-three-slices-of-toast-for-breakfast man. I'm a cereal-eater myself. A bowl of cereal in the early morning will reliably power me through until around mid-evening. Not so for Toomas. He found out he needs his toast and eggs.

Here's Toomas, five kilometers into a 20-kilometer outing. He had bonked about four and a half kilometers ago.

Toomas is never one to complain...

...but he was pretty pooped out.

Nevertheless, Toom is not gonna give up.

The final afternoon of a long road trip.

So I knew I could finally beat Toomas in our little sprint. I've been trying all week. Every time we come into the stadium, I lie and cheat and plan a surprise-attack to beat Toom across the finish line. So far, nothing has worked. This time, though, I was feeling fresh and Toom was worn out and seeing stars.  It wasn't really fair, I didn't think. So waited until the last moment, when I thought he wasn't paying attention or had forgotten about sprinting to the line. But he heard me coming, and without really any effort at all, he easily skied away from me in the final 20 meters. It was pretty humiliating.

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We finished up our business in Bozeman over the weekend. It's exciting to see the sun and feel its warmth. But for me, every descent of the 737 into the Anchorage Bowl after a trip down south is a reminder of why I love living in the north.

Biggest Problem of my Life

 We Seawolves have been enjoying our time in Bozeman. We've been breathing the fresh mountain air and wearing our sunglasses and sunscreen. The other day, the girls let me come along on a tour around their new favorite Montana ski trail.

Tuva

Per Magne's barnebarn.

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Today we had our first "real" RMISA race of the season. One way or another, our team is currently ranked second in the MSU Invitational.

The coaches tend to start early in the morning on this team.

Before the crowds arrive.

Discussions and debates about the kick wax are a regular morning activity.

The men's race

Peter and Maggie

The word on the streets of Montana is that Matt's parents are here in town to watch the races this weekend but Matt won't introduce us to them. I don't know why. Is he embarrassed of us?

Ari won this battle in the end. I was impressed.

Astrid and Tuva

The racing continues tomorrow.

Crossing the Country

Houghton was a whirlwind. We spent a week there. I don't remember much about it. We didn't see much of the place besides the race loop and the inside of our team house. It was nonstop go-time. But we left Michigan a few days ago.

Everyone told us that if we were going to Houghton, we absolutely needed to stop at Roy's and order a pastie. So we dropped in on our way to the Minneapolis airport at the end of the week. It was the one place we went in town, other than the race loop. The verdict: pasties are pretty good.

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But now we're in Big Sky Country, and everyone's happy to be back in the West and see the sun again. We race Friday and Saturday this week. 

Team meetings are a regular feature on this team.

Ski stadium reconnaissance. 

Trond and I are getting so we require more and more stretching before practice to keep us in shape to ski with the team.

Toomas has been on fire this week.

At our team house.

Thanks for the photo, Ari.

The Green Machine

Mixed Bag

We've got our first RMISA race behind us. 10km for everyone yesterday here on the Keweenaw Peninsula. It was a start. We have some work to do, but the college racing season is just beginning. 

My early mornings begin here in the livestream studio. (https://livestream.com/engagelivetsream/2023usnationals)

There's always the question of which pair of skis to use each day.

We like to share a wax shack with the Winter Stars whenever we can. Here's Jenny Kimball and Jan Buron.

One huge benefit of the flouro wax ban is that the coaches can spend less time testing flourinated powders and liquids and more time actually coaching. Here's Trond discussing sprint tactics with Pascale.

Dinnertime each day is for togetherness. It's an important part of our team culture.

Delivering groceries to the boys' house in the afternoon.

The boys have a view over Houghton from their house.

And from their wax bench.

Ready, Set, 2023!

Toomas is ready. Trond is ready. Jan Buron is ready.  

 Yuriy, the livestream producer, is ready.

My office this week

Are our Seawolf skiers ready?  Am I ready?  These questions will be answered tomorrow at 9:30am when we kick off 2023 with our first RMISA college race of the winter, here in Houghton, Michigan. 

If you'd like to watch this week's races, be sure to tune in to https://livestream.com/engagelivetsream/2023usnationals on your personal computer, where you can cheer for your favorite Seawolf in the comfort and privacy of your own home.