Bend Camp

It is hard believe, Bend Camp, already! This past month has flown by. I feel like it was two days ago I was arriving home from Europe, the Olympics, and my first five month trip away from the US... but it turns out that was nearly two months ago!

Found "Mazama" in Bend- at COCC :)

A huge supporter of ours, and a great dude! Andy Fectau and his talking bird :)

Back at Bachelor

Always some sun for us on this trip!

Sun and lots of smiles!

Noah Hoffman photo- some great skiing in Bend!

Bend Camp has always been a love hate relationship for me. I love it for many reasons. I grew up racing here, so it almost feels like home. When the weather is nice, it is so fun to ski in the sun. Bend is a fun town, so it always provides great social events. After not seeing your teammates for a month, we are re-united with many "non-skiing" stories from our month off, etc. But for the past couple of years, I have come to Bend with a little too much excitement and determination, and I walk away from this camp limping full of little overuse injuries from 10 days of excited training. What I have learned from these experiences is that taking three weeks away from skiing activities invites weaknesses. For that reason, adversity at Bend Camp is my friend. So- this year I sat down and made a better plan, scheduling a swimming and running day every third day in order to avoid some of those over-use injuries I pick up from too much excited time on the snow.

story hour

Noah Hoffman photo

Girls night out with the huge US Team truck.... perfect parking!

Three girls in a huge truck

Getting some awesome outdoor swimming in- Thanks to Bend Athletic Club

Waxing up before training.

Fortunately we were blessed by the weather gods this year- so we had 10 days of amazing weather. This made for great skiing, great swimming outside, and one sweet "snowy day" that we got to break out our hairies. It was awesome!

Sun with smiles!

A little mid-week girls trip

Noah and Liz cooking the team an awesome breakfast before skiing

MMMM!!!

Mid-camp we fit in a Fast and Female event with the local girls. This is my favorite Fast and Female of the year, because we get the girls from my hometown, and my home region- which I love to see! It has been amazing to see the increase in participation over the past couple of years. Three years ago, there was one or two PNSA girls out there following us around skiing. This year, there was a group of at least 25 beach babes ripping around in sports bras, working on technique, and having a great time! These are the types of things that make me smile inside!

I got to work with the 14-19 year olds for this event- which was awesome, because I have gotten to know most of them over the last couple of years- and they have so much enthusiasm!

Acting out all the Olympic Events

Talking with the girls about the pressures of being in high school, how to choose what to do after, how to learn more about colleges, the possibilities of finding grants and financial support if you take a Post Grad year, etc. The great thing is that every US Ski Team girl took a different path. Some went through NCAA, some went straight to skiing, I tried every different option.. etc. So we have lots of different experiences; and it is proof there is no ONE option!

Autograph Hour

My awesome PNSA girls!

This cutie little girl and I learned that we share the same birthday.

One of the local talented Methow girls, Olivia Ekblad. So fun to see her here, and getting stronger each year!

So many PNSA girls!!

Unfortunately there was a little accident of the Bend Camp including Soph, her mountain bike, some clipless peddles, and her elbow. Sadly it resulted in a fracture in her elbow; but she has been doing amazing. It has been amazing to watch her just put a smile on her face, and keep going. These are the sorts of things that just happen with some bad luck... but can be incredibly frustrating. Soph has been getting after some no pole skiing, stationary biking and hiking... so I am sure this is going to turn into one of those things that is a blessing in disguise. She is going to have the strongest legs and buns out there in a month from now!

Following the speed demons!

With one functioning elbow- I get to do the honors of picking Soph's hair do of the day- high ponies are my favorite :)

A determine diggy!

Diggs isn't a huge fan of that biking stuff.

I am now headed to the Methow for a short little break before getting back to Alaska for another training block that will have me up on the Glacier in just a few weeks already. For those of you that are around- please come out to the Mazama Community Center Sunday night at 7PM for some Olympic Stories!

Enjoying some sun the last afternoon of camp

Resting and relaxing in the sun after a hard 10 days of training.

Thanks to Dave Cieslowski for some great PT work this week!

Woman's Team enjoying some Froyo.

Matt- tired after 10 hard days of training!

Thanks to Bend for a wonderful camp, thanks to the weather gods for some amazing weather this year, and BIG thanks to Mt. Bachelor for some wonderful grooming!! See you next year.