Anchorage to Sweden

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. The past two weeks has been filled with lots of powder, and lots of tying up business in AK for the winter.

Due to the lack of snow in Europe, the first FIS races were cancelled in Beito, so the APU skiers opted into staying in Anchorage for another week to get some more training in. Lucky for us, nearly 2 feet of snow fell during that time allowing us to get in some great skiing as well as a couple practices races before we headed over seas.

APU Woman's Team after our Sprint Race

Ladies Starting the A-finals

Lucky for me, I got to get some of the early season cob-webs out of the system before my first World Cup. It is always an adjustment during the fall time for me going from hard interval pace to pushing myself beyond pain racing pace.

My plan is to be on the road racing all winter until the end of March for Distance Nationals, so it takes a little thought while I am packing. I have to think about things like where to put my car for the winter, cancel my car insurance, who is going to check my mail.... etc. I found myself making lists about a month out because I knew that as I got ready to leave I would just be thinking about racing and too excited to remember anything important. I managed to get a lot my ducks in a row, but of course managed to forget some things.

Early sunday morning I took off for Norway. For the past week it has been snowing every day, so sunday was no different in Anchorage. After our plane was stuck to the jetway for an extra hour in Anchorage, I luckily still managed to make my flight in Seattle, and then on to Amsterdam and Oslo.

We arrived in the dark last night to Torsby, Sweden where we will be training in an underground tunnel for the next three days. There is no snow anywhere in Scandinavia, nor Europe.. so we are left with few options. Opting out of the 45$ a day ski on the 1k track in the tunnel, Holly and I decided to take a tour of town on our rollerskis today. Since we have been skiing for the past month, we figured we could handle some roller ski training. It was super awesome, we found ourselves skiing right down main street and exploring on the roads surrounding the town. I took a few pictures along the way. One of us skiing through the cemetery, where the bike path went straight through.

Cemetery

Holly skiing up the streets in Torsby

The ski tunnel facilities are super awesome. We are staying right here at the tunnel, in fact I am sitting in a study room at the moment looking out at the tunnel. Not too bad.

Thursday evening we will take off for Sjusjoen where the first World Cup will take place, just outside of Lillehamer. Good fun to come soon!! Can't wait.