Burgers and Birthdays! Episode 3

The title just about says it all.  Well, I guess it described what was happening outside of training…on one night.  This past Monday a few of us got together to celebrate a certain someone named Hannah’s birthday!  It was cool.  Now about the stuff that really matters…. (just kidding!  Birthdays matter too!)

Our training this week looked a lot like it did the week before, but better.  Tuesday we were back on the bike path cruising through town on our roller skis, taking a water break to watch Cully shred some river in his kayak.  No tragic crashes or broken hands this week, which is pretty rare on the bike path.  Maybe someday all those sketchy sections will be fixed (with pavement please!!).  Our main focus was on ankle bend and keeping our weight forward over the ball of our foot, but once it started raining on the way back, a little of that focus went to speed!

Wednesday we just “jumped” around from place to place, speed hiking with heavy med balls, big jumps on steep hills, ball throw relay TTs (I’d say races, but we were really just racing against ourselves), and of course….parkour (the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment). 

Saturday was a steamy one.  It finally started to feel like summer again, especially the heat.  We hit the pavement for a technique focused session, shooting some great video and getting time to analyze it right away.  I look forward to more of these workouts over the next few weeks until we really start to get out technique dialed in.  Maybe a little less shirt stealing next time.  Maybe….

So, you think you can Jump?!?, Episode 2

Wow, what an interesting week. But super fun. Us Nordic-ers started the week off on a rough…errr…path. Yeah, the bike path. Initially I was nervous, as I was one some super fast and sketchy roller skis as Haakon borrowed mine. But, things started off going pretty well, with a short lived race against some DEVO riders as they cruised by. We took some time at the end of the path to talk about positioning in more depth and check out a groovy new patio. The trip back proved to be a little more interesting with a crash or 3. I seriously though Lily was going to lose a tooth.

Wednesday I decided to try out a new workout that I’ve been thinking about. The goal is to help us increase our explosive strength, leading to better sprinting as well as use of power during distance races. The workout involved steep hills, a lot of jumping, med ball double pole races, sprinting, and tons of fun.

This weekend was an incredible one to be in Durango for. Beyond the roller ski video session, and the fabulous weather, it was also Taste of Durango and dance performances from many current DNSC members. Kaylee, Lily, Mattie, and Maggie along with many other dancers from Durango put on a wicked cool show on Saturday night. For me it was cool to see those guys in a different context, having fun, and putting on a great show!

Here’s looking forward to next week and remember…just two more weeks of school!!

Mtn Bike Worlds Race Recap from Tad Elliott

I was riding well I started dead last out of 70 riders and moved up ok. 48th on the first lap. I moved up to a group of 30th through 25th. Felt strong my 4th and 5th lap. My times on those laps were 19th and 18th fastest laps. It was hard having dudes bobble in front of you and get gaped off the pack. I cracked hard with half a lap to go only 10 minutes to go and I went from 30th to 36th. Just spent to many matches during the race. If only I could have better UCI points and gotten a better call up at the start. Damn.

Went on a ride today saw a blue and red Parrot saw a Kangaroo jump a fence and petted a mini horse on the bike path all in ten minutes. Pretty cool. Eating a Steak dinner tonight at the hotel. Kangaroo steak that is. Should be cool. The Ausies hate the meat here for some reason. I watched all the four cross last night and that was really cool.

Also, Todd Wells was 8th. Congrats to both Tad and Todd.

More from Tad Elliott at World Championships

Things here are looking good. I broke my race shoes, went to my back up pair and then was able to repair my favorite race shoes. My knee is sore from the new position on the shoes but Bernard is here on will dial me in for the race. For the hammer head section on the course. I am going around the easier safier way which may be two seconds slower. Also going around is US National Champ, Jeremy Hogan-Kobelski, Colin Cares, World Cup leader Wolfram, and the Junior Women are riding it. Sketchy! Rob Squires crashed super hard there today and hurt himself. He is OK to race but he is sore. Man, still no Kangaroo sightings. I Saw a mini horse but no Kangaroos. I guess I repel them. Todd Wells is staying at our hotel. So is Bury Stander, and Christof Sauser. Pretty cool to see them eating breakfast with us each morning. The Ausie people are super nice. They have been helping us out a lot. Also they come over and talk to us about our bikes and travel and America. It's pretty rad. When I talk, people instantly know where I am from. I am resting up well and hope things will go OK. I start at the back so hopefully I can move up well. Weather should be good and cold. temperature will be around 60 degrees. Should be nice for racing.

you can go to cyclingnews.com to check out photos from the race course they are pretty rad.

World Championships for Mountain Biking

Tad Elliott is at the World Championships for Mountain Biking on the USA Team racing in the U23 class in Canberra, Australia. Tad is a product of the Durango Nordic Ski Club, Rocky Mountain Nordic and the Durango DEVO Club. He left last Friday and I believe he will race this Friday or Saturday. Canberra is 14 hours ahead of Colorado. Todd Wells from Durango is also there. Here is a little blurb from his trip so far:

Flight went well, economy plus on the isle with no one next to me. I slept for 7:30 hours straight no sleeping pill. Woke up ate some food then took another 1:30 nap. I had so much food I did not even eat the airplane food. Very Nice. Course is good with a lot of single track and tons of option lines with jumps over ditches, drops, and fun stuff. It is a lot like Colorado trails. I hope to do well. Colin Cares and I are roommates. Hotel room is so swank. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, big flat screen TV, movie channels, two bathrooms and showers, plus our own laundry. So nice. Food set up is rad. Walk downstairs and there is 4 star restaurant preparing our meals. We see tons of Cockatiels and Parrots flying around, Kangaroo dead on the side of the road, I have not seen a live one yet but I hope to soon. It is very cold and windy here. Thermal stuff like spring in Colorado. Talk to you more when there is something cool to report.

Finishing up at REG

We’re wrapping things up here in Park City. Today was the last day of official training for the REG and as far as things go, it was pretty epic. Today’s workout started out with a classic roller ski up Emigration Canyon, about five miles of climbing to the summit. At the top everyone changed into running shoes for a 2hr high ridge run down to Parleys Summit. I think the kids managed to find every bit of mud along the way!

Leading up to this morning Over Distance workout, we took yesterday pretty easy, starting off with an explosive bounding workout. The REG kids were joined by some USST members. Check out the pictures of Noah, Rogan, and Alicia killing it below.

Thursday was cool, with some early morning skate roller skiing back at SoHo for a distance workout and some video and technique sessions.

BUT, I think Wednesday was the most fun. Hands down. That morning was Agony TT, which is a hill climb just outside of SLC. The trail climbs 1327ft over 1.08 miles (credit GPS watch). Anyway you look at it, the climb was a leg burner! After Agony, all the fun begun. We bussed it down to Raging Waters Water Park for some fun in the sun. The highlight was ‘King on the Tube’, where if you didn’t nearly drown or get kicked in the face, you weren’t trying hard enough. Three days later and I’m still sore…

Update from REG

REG is off to a great start here in Park City. REG is a weeklong training camp for elite junior skiers from the western region. After a recovery run and team meeting on Sunday afternoon/evening, the training really got underway yesterday morning with level three skate roller ski intervals at Soldier Hollow. As always, the main focus is on body position: mainly achieving the correct hip position and proper ankle flex. Doing level three intervals gives everyone a chance to focus on their race technique in addition to getting in a great aerobic workout. After completing the intervals on the access road to the ski center, we headed out to the trails for our cool down. Wow is it great to have paved (and swept) ski trails at our disposal.The workout was a huge success and we coaches even got a chance to grab some video footage to review later this week. Day one was finished off with an easy recovery trail run along some rolling trails with views of the Olympic Jumps and Bobsled track.

Today was day two and we again woke up to blue bird skies and headed out for a classic roller ski on the Mirror Lake Highway. My van was rocking out to Queen and Rod Stewart on the drive out to the start of the ski. Today’s focus was on double poling, as the road was mostly flat or gradual uphill. USST coach Pat Casey came by last night to show some video and demonstrate exactly what we were to focus on during today’s ski. The answer: body position. We were to focus on bringing the hips and hands forward together, getting the hands up high in front of our face, then exploding down with a hard crunch (punishing the pavement)! The ski session ended at the base of a waterfall, but no kayakers today. This afternoon we are heading down to do strength at USSA’s Center of Excellence.

The big excitement is about tomorrow. Early in the morning is Agony Hill Climb, followed immediately by a trip to a water park. Look for some more updates to come!

Tad Elliott on Houffalize World Cup Race

Houffalize was awesome for me. The town is so sick. It is really small with stone buildings cobble stone streets. We stayed in a small hotel 10k away from the venue. I got my own room because I snore and keep everyone else up. I am not complaining. The elderly Belgium couple cooked all of the meals for us, and it was to order, so we ate well. The course was rad, we started right in town and went up a road climb and then jumped onto the course. The road climb is in Leige Bastone Leige and is 14 percent and about 3 minutes long. There was still paint on the road cheering on Frank and Andy Schlek. The course was long at about 25 minutes per lap with some longer climbs, technical rocky single track climbs, and steep rough descents. I liked it, and hoped it was a chance for me to make it all the way through the race without being lapped. My start number was 107, but the UCI implemented an "Insert rule" where they could insert riders they deemed fit to start higher up in the call up. I was one of these riders. I was called up 68th out of 230 riders. Before Jeremy Horgan Kebelski. No rhyme or reason just the UCI thought I could do well or something. I didn't ask too many questions. The start climb was again CRAZY. I was staying in position and even started to move up a bit. I even caught up to Sam Schultz. Then I had some Euro take me out. I was riding strong and I was around top 80 going into fourth lap and in the middle of the fourth out of five laps I started to go under. The fifth lap I went under major. Both quads, calves, triceps, and forearms started to cramp. I took in a lot of fluids, but I approached the race as a four lap race and wanted to be able to finish and not get lapped, I accomplished this goal, but only if I could have held on. I ended up 114. I raced the whole time, never tried to recover, and was always looking for speed, until 20 minutes to go. I ended up being the second American in the race. JHK crashed out Todd did not start; Sam Shutlz had a rough day. I passed him on lap three. So I was riding really strong which feels good over here.

There were 30,000 fans. All crazy about cycling and you can hear them roar all around the course when the leaders come through. When I came by it was pretty silent. Some fans love the US and I got some good cheers. On the last lap I was hurting up the climbs and I think they could tell, so the cheers picked up and were pretty loud. In lap 2 and 3 I was riding with the U23 world cyclocross champion and 2nd place finisher in Cyclocross Worlds last year from Netherlands. Holy cow were the fans going crazy when he came by. In the lap we rode through town and it was hard to breath with all the grill smoke, cigarette smoke. The weather during the race was different. The warm up was cold. The race started cold, then it rained, then it got really hot and sunny. Europe Weather?

Rob, Was 146. He blew his rear shock in the race, flatted, messed up his shifting somehow and he got pulled with one lap to go. In the pre-ride Ethan Gilmore’s tire was defective and rolled off the rim. He crashed hard, which swung his bars around sending his stem into his top tube on the carbon frame. The stem hit the frame so hard it broke. Ethan was ok but his bike was done. He ended up having to ride Marc G's Large epic instead of a medium frame. He had a hard day and got pulled with two to go. Adam Craig learned that Ethan needed a new bike and offered Ethan either one of his race bikes. Hard Tail or Full suspension. His quote "Choose your poison." That is crazy nice of Adam. Ethan stayed on Specialized to not get Marc in trouble with sponsors, even though Adams bikes would have fit him better. That is all from here.