First practice....

....will be CLASSIC skiing! See you Tuesday January 4th. We will meet at 3:45pm up in Molly's Meadow. If your skis need wax (ie. if you DON'T have fish scales), I can help you with it before we go up to the meadow, or if I have already left, I will bring some with me or (if you know how to apply it already) you can also ask at the front desk and see if the box of training wax is in the lodge.

What to do on your winter break!

If you are feeling a bit bored over vacation...start thinking skiing!!

Things you can do in the next two weeks:
(****these are just suggestions and videos are just for helpful hints if needed, watch videos at your own risk and do activities at your own risk :o) remember to start out slow! and my apologies that the videos aren't fitting quite right)

-go skiing!!



-other aerobic activity (go for a run, go snowshoeing, ride a bike, etc.)

-STRETCH!



-strengthen your legs - squats, lunges, etc.





-strengthen your core - sit ups, crunches, other ab exercises (no need to use any special machines or as seen on TV specials, you've got your body so use it! some of these in the video are pretty tricky, but if you want to give them a try, go for it!)











-strengthen your arms (while engaging your core) - push ups, triceps dips (you can use a bench, the edge of a chair, etc. and may do them with knees bent or with legs out balancing on your heels)

cyclocross nationals and article on SKIDA!

Check this article to see how one of our skiers did at Cyclocross Nationals out in Oregon...hint, he did pretty darn well so you won't have to look very far down the results list before spotting his name. Very impressive and a big congratulations!!!

In the December 2010 issue of Vermont Sports there is an article on SKIDA, the company that we are getting our hats from this year!

Additional info for the upcoming season!

Thanks to those who were able to make it to the parent meeting tonight. It was good to see familiar faces along with new ones!

There are a few things that I will be posting in one long post:

-health info
-schedule (this is the same as what was handed out at the parent meeting)
-How to Buy Nordic Equipment
-What to Wear Nordic Skiing
-NENSA website

Health info!
I forgot to talk about this tonight. Please let me know before the start of our season if your skier has any special medical or health concerns. It is very important to know if, for example, a skier has an inhaler, epipen, or other medications that they will be bringing with them to practice, or has particular dietary needs (sometimes I bring snacks), but this is certainly not a full list of things that could impact their ski experience. It is my goal that each skier has the opportunity to participate in all aspects of our program so please inform me of anything that would be helpful to know about your skier and how they can best be supported in pursuit of this goal.

Schedule
Please see the schedule for this season below. Practice runs from 3:45-4:45 (though sometimes we can be closer to 5 as it is hard to squeeze everything in) on Tuesdays and Fridays, though many Fridays will run longer if your skier wants to wax his/her skis before a race. If you already have a preference for what race the team should go to as far as January 14th or 15th, please let me know. As far as the races on February 4th at Sleepy Hollow or February 5th at Trapps, most likely we will do the Sleepy Hollow race as a team and skiers are certainly allowed to do the Trapps race independently if desired. The same is true for other Bill Koch races that we are not attending as a team as long as they don't conflict with our race schedule, so if you've got a racer that just can't get enough, go for it!

Tuesday January 4th – 1st practice
Friday January 7th – practice
Tuesday January 11th – practice
Friday January 14th – practice or freestyle race at Colchester*
Saturday January 15th – freestyle race, U-32*
Tuesday January 18th – practice
Friday January 21st – practice
Sunday January 23rd – freestyle paintball biathlon race at Mountain Top
Tuesday January 25th – practice
Friday January 28th – practice
Sunday January 30th – classic race at Breadloaf
Tuesday February 1st – practice
Friday February 4th – practice
Saturday February 5th – classic race at Sleepy Hollow**
Sunday February 6th – potential freestyle race at Trapps**
Tuesday February 8th – practice
Thursday February 10th – optional freestyle relay race at Colchester
Friday February 11th – practice
Sunday February 13th – classic race at Sleepy Hollow
Tuesday February 15th – practice
Friday February 18th – practice
Tuesday February 22nd – optional ski day***
Friday February 25th – optional ski day***
Saturday February 26th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!
Sunday February 27th – Bill Koch Festival at Breadloaf!!!

*TBD, team will decide to do freestyle race at Colchester Friday evening or go to U-32 on Saturday
**TBD, team will decide to do classic race at Sleepy Hollow on Saturday or freestyle race at Trapps on Sunday
***optional ski day due to school vacation week


How to Buy Nordic Equipment
As Sarah (CVU coach) mentioned, she has some handouts about selecting equipment that can be found HERE

What to Wear Nordic Skiing
The handout about clothing selection can be found HERE

NENSA
We also spoke briefly about the NENSA (New England Nordic Ski Association) website. THIS PAGE was also mentioned as a good resource for selecting equipment. The full NENSA website is HERE and there are several components including a kids/BKL section.

Parent Meeting Wednesday December 8th!

Just a reminder to follow up on the emails that Molly at Sleepy Hollow has sent out. We are having a parent meeting for all Sleepy Hollow Bill Koch participants on Wednesday December 8 at 6:30pm in the CVU cafeteria. We will have a short meeting for Junior High Racer parents at the conclusion of the big group meeting.

We will go over schedule, expectations, and give the opportunity to order team hats for this year! Check out the picture...pretty snazzy! Hats are from Skida. If you can't make the meeting, shoot me an email if you are interested in hats!

Looking forward to seeing everyone!!!

Sleepy Hollow has 5k rolled for skating as of tonight --- let it snow!

Ski season already!?!

Hope you've all had a great summer full of activity and that the school year has started well. I had the pleasure of seeing many of you at bike races (we've got some really fast riders on our team!), farmers markets (we've also got some really great bakers on our team!), and around town this summer!

Well, it's not quite ski season, but in Vermont it's time to at least start thinking about it. It's SKI SWAP season!!! Apologies for already missing the first one (South Burlington had theirs a couple days ago), but here is the list for those of you scouting new equipment for the upcoming season. I cannot guarantee the availability of nordic equipment at these sales or the quality (as with alpine stuff, it can be hit or miss), but Colchester is known for really good nordic stuff so it's a good one for anyone looking to get off the waxless skis or to update their collection. Cochrans is also well known. I am not sure about nordic stuff at Smuggs, but the sale has gotten really big at the fairgrounds in the last few years. I haven't been to Waitsfield in a while, but what I remember is that it was pretty limited on nordic.

Colchester High School Ski and Board Sale- Saturday, October 2nd 9am-4:30pm and Sunday 3rd 10am-2pm

Smuggs Ski Sale, Champlain Expo Sat Oct 9th, 9am-5pm and Sun Oct 10th, 10am-2pm

Cochrans Ski Sale, Saturday November 6th, 8am-4pm and Sunday November 7th, 10am-3pm, Camel’s Hump Middle School, Richmond, VT

Waitsfield Ski and Skate Sale, November 13th and 14th, Waitsfield Elementary School, Waitsfield, VT

So....now that you know when the sales are, what do you do? If you need help with equipment, please feel free to send me an email or give me a call and I can try to help steer you in the right direction. I may be able to come help you shop if we set up a meeting time for Colchester or Cochrans. So let me know. I do think that some waxable skis for some of our skiers would be a wise investment as far as classic skiing goes!

Looking forward to seeing you this winter! New info will be posted on the Sleepy Hollow webpage in the coming weeks and registration will be available then. In the meantime, if it is helpful for scheduling we will be having a team meeting at CVU in December (date is being confirmed) and the season will start with our first day at Sleepy Hollow on January 4th. Practice will go through February 18th but our grand finale will be the BKL Festival which is actually at Breadloaf in Middlebury this year (yay for a nearby location!) February 25-27 after school vacation. I will keep you posted as things evolve and season planning continues.

THANK YOU!

Just a quick post in case anyone is still reading this. Our season came to a close with a great potluck dinner at Sleepy Hollow on Tuesday. I must say that you have all made the inaugural season of the Junior Race Program a great success. It went by quickly but that must have meant we were having fun! All of the skiers were absolutely wonderful to work with. The enthusiasm for being outside, being on the snow, and getting in some skiing was really remarkable - we had some tough spots there with bitter cold temps and lack of snow but everyone pulled through and stuck with it. Having parent and family involvement was another really positive aspect of the season. All of the efforts made by parents and siblings, all of the time put in, all of the driving, we thank you for your commitment to this program. Couldn't have done it without you! And thank you for the wonderful thank yous that you gave us! Your generosity and creativity (what a great ski!) is really appreciated. Until next season! Hopefully we'll see you out on the trails whether it be on skis, on foot, on wheels, etc. Please let me know how I can be of any assistance to you all in the off-season as your skiers continue on with their nordic endeavors wherever they may be!!

YUM YUM YUM

Our end of the season potluck is on for Tuesday March 2nd at 5pm. You are welcome to partake in pre-potluck skiing on your own, but there will not be an organized practice as I will be inside prepping and hopefully doing whatever needs to be done so that our meal goes smoothly. There has been good response for RSVPs so far and it looks like we'll have a good group. Please continue to let me know if you will be attending or not and what you plan on bringing if you haven't already.

Lots of snow out there --- a bit heavy and somewhat challenging for the skinny skis to plow through, but, hey we take what we can get here in VT, right?! Great to see the few skiers who have been able to make it out during vacation week. I love the enthusiasm and have had a blast with this group.

Amazing! And...MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Today was great --- our skiers were so impressive. After seeing off our girls at the start, I didn't stick around for the boys and headed backwards out on the course. I stopped to cheer our skiers on at a pretty steep hill and was just blown away by the skill that these guys have. When it matters, they are all putting it down. Even if some of the other skiers may have been faster on the course overall, our skiers got up the hill a lot more smoothly and quickly than the rest of the field. Where everyone else seemed to be using herringbone up the hill, it was great to see Sleepy Hollow skiers standing up, gliding, and using their diagonal stride. I was so impressed! It was the start of school vacation and everyone had many other commitments preventing them from lingering around at the race, but the skiing that I saw was absolutely amazing and I want everyone to know it! What an awesome way to finish out our racing together -- and we were even joined by a couple skiers who hadn't raced yet this season and they looked incredible out there!!!

Also -- mark your calendars for a team potluck to conclude our season on March 2nd. That is a Tuesday and it will be at Sleepy Hollow. We will need people to sign up for an area of food that they will be bringing. I am going to check with Molly if we can use Sleepy Hollow dishes to reduce waste (I'll wash 'em with the fancy dishwasher when we are done -- I actually used to be the night innkeeper there, so it'll be just like old times!). Please send me an e-mail with what you would be willing to provide:
-drinks
-main dish
-salad/appetizer
-dessert
-other
Also - put in votes for the time for this thing -- I want to try to accommodate as many families as possible and I know it is town meeting day and then back to school in the morning, so we won't go too late, but if you have a preference for time let me know. 5pm?

Thanks for all the support from parents and families this season. I have really enjoyed having everyone in the program and sharing the sport of skiing with you guys!!

Don't forget - Tuesday and Friday this week will be our last two sessions. Skiers can pick skate or classic and we will meet at the usual time starting at 3:45pm.

Friday!

It's almost school vacation for all our skiers! How exciting! Tomorrow we'll be classic skiing and will go from 3:45-4:45pm. Skiers who wish to wax their skis for Saturday's race may do so after practice - I don't know how long that will take so just a warning. The mention of going to CVU to wax has been complicated by the fact that CVU has a half day so we won't have anyone going to CVU and we will wax AT SLEEPY HOLLOW after practice if skiers want to.

Then, next week is our last week! Time flies!

Speed Skiers and Race Info!

We had some speed skiing around a lovely oval of orange cones today --- we did a few relays inspired by all the speed skating we've been watching in the Olympics! We did a straight up "freeskate" relay (no poles) and then one that involved slalom, too! There were some messy handoffs in the tag zone, but I suppose with long skis on the feet that could be expected. All in all a good day -- nice snow and no injuries!

We'll be classic skiing on Friday in preparation for the race on Saturday. If there is interest - I can take a group to CVU to wax skis after practice and to check out their wax rooms -- fancy stuff!

We will meet at 9am at the range in Jericho for the race which starts at 10am. It is a 3km race. There will be heat and bathrooms available inside at the Walker Building and lots of times they have chili and stuff in there, too, but I am not sure about that this race.

Sounds like there will be many skiers missing during vacation week, but skiers can pick either skate or classic - whatever their hearts desire - on those days and we'll do some fun stuff.

As our season nears the end...

...we've got lots of fun still to be had!!

We had a great day for our exciting mass start race at Sleepy Hollow this morning. While we didn't up our average skier attendance at this race (so sad! But, hey, more valentine's day chocolate for me since we had soooo much left over!), we had some great skiing and good team spirit. For all of our skiers who have not been racing with us, please know your presence is greatly desired - while on our cool down ski today, one of our racers said "Man, we really need to get more of our teammates to race with us!" I agree that it is very lonely out there for the few skiers that are attending races.

The race course was well tracked thanks to wonderful grooming by Eli and Dave Enman and the BKL race happened before the regular Ichabod's race so our skiers got FRESH tracks! As mentioned above there was a mass start with all BKL skiers but different grades cut off on different trails to complete their course. We had one skier who did the 5/6th grade course (Liberty Meadow to Lower Saddle) and then 4 who did the 7/8th grade course (Liberty Meadow, Lower Saddle, Sap Run, Eli's Escape to Upper Saddle) and although there were some challenges (as there always are, sometimes big, sometimes small) I think we had a successful day. The Valentine's chocolate that we all shared at the end probably helped the cause!

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS: So looking ahead our season is really nearing the end. It has gone by so quickly! We have our last scheduled race on Saturday at the Ethan Allen Firing Range in Jericho. This is a classic race at an excellent facility and everyone is expected to participate in this race as this finale is mandatory for our race program. Practice this week will consist of skating on Tuesday and classic on Friday in preparation for our race. We will race on Saturday and then the next week (our last week) we will allow for a choice of classic or skating both on Tuesday and Friday. Please let me know if your skier will be absent so I know what numbers to expect for practices - I know it is school break.

OTHER RACES: The BKL festival is in Maine that last weekend in February, but I have not heard of any interest for our group so we did not register. If there is a desire to do the Stowe Derby short course at a discounted rate, I need to know by tomorrow so that we can get info to the CVU coach in time (she is who will be able to register you at the discounted rate).

TEAM DINNER: If anyone would be interested in hosting a celebration team dinner, I am willing to arrange a date and time when we can use the inn and do a good old spaghetti dinner or some sort of pot luck to conclude our season as a group and to share a meal together. I would need probably two parent organizers to help with this so please let me know if you would like to volunteer.

Just in case you're up late...

...and thinking about the race.

There has been a course change! See updated webpage here. 7th/8th graders are still at the 5k distance, but different trails, 5th/6th course is 2.5km and different trails as well. Check it out if you are having a sleepless night.

http://www.skisleepyhollow.com/skiing/ski-races/20-races

No waxing tonight

In an effort to prevent our practice from going late into the night, I have decided that we will not wax tonight. I am hoping that we will have the whole team participating in the race on Sunday so that would just be too many people to wax and get home before midnight! I don't see waxing as a high priority for Sunday anyway since we are just racing for fun. We will do kick wax for those who need it on Sunday morning before the race.

See you all tonight! Practice will end at 5:30pm.

Let's get ready to race!

Sounds like all went well yesterday and, for the most part, everyone has skied their respective race course for Sunday's Ichabod's Revenge! The race will be a classic race so we'll be classic skiing on Friday and have Elissa Rehm joining us to help us with technique and to chat about race prep and having a pre-race routine, etc. That'll be great with our entire team racing on Sunday!

Practice will begin at 3:45 as usual and we will probably ski til 5pm then go inside for some snacks/waxing/chat.

We'll try to make Sunday a great day for everyone with lots of encouragement, team spirit (if anyone wants to bring any eccentric accessories they are more than welcome!), maybe some posters/signs/pom poms if any of our parent support staff feel inclined, and some good eats as a post race treat. If anyone is willing to provide any of this for Sunday, please send me an email so I can know how much to expect and then what I should fill in with! Thanks so much for the wonderful continuous support from our ski families -- this program couldn't do it without you! Maybe we'll even have some parent racers on Sunday that WE can cheer on instead!

Trapps weekend and the week ahead...

We had a great day at Trapps with our BKL race following some pretty impressive skiing by the collegiate skiers and Eastern Cup racers. Sleepy Hollow's own Eli Enman totally smoked the classic course and was chilling out eating triscuits after his race like the whole thing was no big deal. I guess after so many years of racing and so much success you get used to it!

A small turnout of 5 dedicated Sleepy Hollow Junior Racers toed the start line for a 2.5km skate race on the well groomed trails at Trapps. We had some strong skiing with our racers practicing their V2 and showing us some great tempo on the uphills. The mass starts proved to be a little tricky and some of our boys got blocked in behind the bunch for a while - they were being so polite!

After the race, older Colin and I met up at the Lake Champlain Chocolates store in Waterbury and just so happened to run into several of our racers -- we should have had a post race get together there!!! I guess smart minds think alike -- nothing better than some Vermont chocolate (and apparently some Vermont cheese for a couple of our racers) after being out on the snow.

This week:

Tuesday - Skate skiing!

Friday - Classic skiing! We will go til 5:30 - so 3:45-5:30pm for Friday's practice. We are hoping to get in some more technique work on our classic skis and we have Elissa Rehm coming as our special guest. Those skiers who want to wax their skis for Sunday will be able to do so as well (we will try to incorporate this within the 5:30 time frame for those skiers).

Sunday - Classic race at Sleepy Hollow! ALL OF OUR SKIERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE! We haven't had the participation that I was hoping for at our races so far this season and it would be great to have the rest of the team join our regulars for this race. This is a great race for you to get out there and try racing -- these are your home trails and the more people we have there, the more fun it will be. It's a totally low pressure race situation, it's not far to travel, and it's amongst all your BKL friends so I am expecting that the majority of our team members will make an effort to race. If you only do one race, make it this one! You've been putting in lots of time on your skis this year and it's time to see it all come together! You are on a Junior High Race team afterall :o)

Back on snow!

Yesterday was actually a great practice back on the skis even with the icy surface beneath some pretty good grooming. We started off with a very popular game of limbo on skis - so popular that it was difficult to stop people from limboing so we could get on with the rest of our activities. We split into two groups. Luckily older Colin was there to help out and we had some parent assistance as well. One group went and did ridge road to bear claw with Colin and parents while another group went out with me for a liberty meadow and lower saddle ski. Many skiers were able to work with Colin on their V2 and V2 alternate techniques and others chose to play a game and try some one-ski balance activities. All in all, it was good to be back on the snow with everyone and we're looking forward to Friday.

The plan for Friday is to have some CVU skiers come lead some activities for us on skis. We'll be in groups and on our classic skis. If there are skiers who wish to skate ski in order to work on their V2/V2 alternate and technique stuff in preparation for the race this weekend, they may do so.

As far as the race. The race is a freestyle race at Trapps in Stowe. It's a big weekend there with an Eastern Cup race so there will be lots of fast skiers to watch. Definitely a good environment to check out technique and get some hints. Registration for the BKL race is from 1pm-2:15pm and there are age category wave starts beginning at 2:30pm. I would like for us to meet there at 1:30pm. Race distance is said to be about 2km. I will be wearing my green headband and hope that everyone who is racing will bring their head/armband as well so we can keep track of each other. Unfortunately, I haven't found the time to handsew the Sleepy Hollow Worms spandex suits that were enthusiastically requested at previous races...yet :o)

Waxing will be available on Friday after practice with tools, wax, and guidance provided so keep that in mind as far as pick up time if your skier will be racing and wants to wax at Sleepy Hollow. PLEASE E-MAIL ME ASAP IF YOUR SKIER WILL BE RACING AT TRAPPS ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON. I currently have three skiers interested - CS, CW, and BL - so you don't need to further notify me about that.

Practice this week!

Apologies for any confusion and inconvenience that was caused by the cancellation of practice on Friday. This was a huge bummer for me as I was really excited to have a guest for the afternoon. It was just too cold and Molly decided to call it. I apologize that people were not notified with much advance notice. Apparently there was also a misunderstanding about what indoor facilities would be available to us for a potential indoor practice as there was actually a group that had the whole Inn rented out.

Anyway, let's look forward to this week and hopefully some good practice time together.

Tuesday - skate skiing

Friday - classic skiing (ski with a CVUer - we may participate in some cool activities led by CVU skiers) - and remember we do not have a special guest coming this day so we will have regular practice from 3:45-4:45pm.

Thanks for everyone's patience! Get pumped for Tuesday and being back on skis!!!

Weather tomorrow...

I have seen NOAA listings for wind chill values as low as -23. I have said in the past that as tough Vermont skiers, we'll be out there in all conditions, but -23 might be a little much especially on less than ideal snow. We will not, however, cancel practice.

I think that doing activities as a team, no matter what they are, is valuable. After our circuits on Tuesday, we all sat around and stretched (some of us more than others!) and watched some old World Cup races with Bjorn Daehlie and Thomas Alsgaard (this video was also on while we were doing circuits so some stations like wall sit, tucks, sit ups, could watch while completing their tasks) and I think this was actually pretty fun for our skiers to be in a relaxing atmosphere together and not out moving on skis where it's difficult to carry on a conversation.

Anyway, with that said, we'll make the call about being outside tomorrow, but just a warning that we could end up inside doing some strength or other circuits, having a snack, maybe watching more race/instructional videos, and hanging with Jake, hearing what he has to say and seeing how well he fields questions from our curious skiers. We could also do a very short outdoor session with Jake and then do the remainder inside. So we'll see how it all pans out.

PRACTICE STILL ON, GUEST STILL COMING, ACTIVITY TO BE DETERMINED!

Guest change for Feb 5th and other notes

Unfortunately, Jesse Downs will not be able to join us on Friday the 5th due to a big race that he has on Saturday the 6th. We are looking at new dates for his visit and I will keep you posted.

CURRENT UPCOMING GUEST SCHEDULE

Tomorrow (Friday) January 29th - Jake Hollenbach - practice 3:45-5:30
Friday February 12th - Elissa Rehm - practice 3:45-5:30

Also - I still have not received detailed information on the Eastern Cup BKL race at Trapps the weekend of the 6th and the 7th. I will let you know as soon as I have it. There is no racing for us this weekend, so enjoy the break!!

Still haven't heard back from Molly regarding tomorrow -- we're going to have to just go with the flow.

Practice tomorrow

Looks like we're only going to have to endure the one day of off-ski practice this week. Although we had lots of fun doing a hill bounding routine and some circuits (anybody sore from their push ups, dips, sit ups, tucks, calf raises, lunges, wall sits, etc?) on Tuesday, we're getting on snow tomorrow.

I am still trying to figure out what technique, however. Snow cover leans us towards skating, but I had agreed to let Molly and the Friday BKL skiers use the rental skis (there is worry about enough skate rental equipment if both groups do skating on the same day) and that's why we had switched to classic previously. I am waiting for Molly to call me back and will post here as soon as I figure out what technique we should be doing. I know that she has said that her 5-8th graders can try skating tomorrow, so I think we're looking at classic, but I just want to confirm that. With all that said, if you have both sets of equipment (not a renter) and it is possible to bring both so that we have our bases covered, that would be great.

We will be having our guest, Jake Hollenbach so practice will go until 5:30pm.

PRACTICE TOMORROW (FRIDAY) - 3:45-5:30pm WITH GUEST JAKE HOLLENBACH
TECHNIQUE TO BE DETERMINED - IF YOU ARE ABLE TO BRING BOTH KINDS OF EQUIPMENT, PLEASE DO. THANK YOU!

Belated U32 race pictures

Many thanks to Kristen Needham for these great pictures!! Maybe we should hire her as our official race photographer!

"DRY"land practice tomorrow & Stowe Derby

We are going to do a dryland practice tomorrow, same place, same time. I was thinking of trying to get us to have practice at CVU, but as of now, we're going to be up at Sleepy Hollow. Please bring sneakers for outside and some indoor shoes as well.

Thanks for hanging in there....maybe part of our workout will be a snow dance!

Also - a quick note on the Stowe Derby. This is a great race on Sunday February 28th this year. I haven't discussed going to the BKL festival in Maine with any of the skiers yet, and from what I understand, going to the BKL festival is not something that Sleepy Hollow has done in the past. I am thinking that the Stowe Derby would be a great finale as an alternative to going all the way to Maine. There is a short course (6km) for the Derby that would be open to our skiers (you need to be 14 to do the long course, so I don't know how many of our group that includes). I have always known this race to be put on really well, both as a spectator and participant. I am also aware of a discounted race fee that is available to us, but skiers will need to let me know of their intent to race by February 15th. The short course fee is usually $25 so it would be less than that. I am definitely in favor of us attending this race. Please let me know your thoughts when you get a chance. You can copy and paste this to see the brochure - my apologies for not being savvy enough to figure out linking it - http://teammmsc.org/stowederby/DerbyBrochure2010.pdf

TECHNIQUE CHANGE FOR THIS WEEK

We will be switching techniques this week. We were originally planning on doing classic tomorrow (Tuesday), but we are going to switch to skating. We were going to do skating on Friday, but we are going to switch to classic (if snow allows...skiers who do not rent skis - if it is possible for you to bring both sets of equipment then we'll have things covered).

So...

TUESDAY JANUARY 26th SKATING
FRIDAY JANUARY 29th CLASSIC

*Sleepy Hollow is currently closed as they are trying to preserve their base.

Eastern Cup at Trapps

WE WILL GO AS A TEAM TO TRAPPS ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 6th
WE WILL NOT GO TO THE COLCHESTER FREESTYLE RACE ON TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9th

Here is the schedule for Trapps on Saturday (I don't believe we have any J2's - the skier would have to be born in 1995/1994)
Saturday:
10:00 J2 Boys
10:30 J2 Girls & Women 5km
Noon Podium Ceremony: J2 Boys & Girls, Eastern Cup Women, EISA Women
12:15 Men 10km
2:00 Podium Ceremony: Eastern Cup Men, EISA Men
2:30 BKL Races: Freestyle (the other races are classic, but the BKL race is freestyle)

This is Sunday's schedule, but there is no BKL race.
Sunday: Freestyle
9:30 J2 Boys 5 km
10:00 J2 Girls 5Km
10:30 Women 10km
Noon Podium Ceremony: J2 Boys & Girls, Eastern Cup Women, EISA Women
12:15 Men 10km
2:00 Podium Ceremony: Eastern Cup Men, EISA Men


More race details to follow.

Upcoming events

Here is what we've got lined up for the next few weeks. Guest speaker dates are being confirmed but not completely set in stone.

Tuesday Jan 26th classic practice

Friday Jan 29th skating practice with guest Jake Hollenbach.

Tuesday Feb 2nd practice

Friday Feb 5th practice with guest Jesse Downs.

Saturday Feb 6th/Sunday Feb 7th - NENSA Eastern Cup and UVM Carnival at Trapps. I have heard there are BKL races happening in conjunction with this. I would like for us to attend this race as a team but do not know which day the BKL races are. We are in the process of getting information and I will pass it on as soon as possible. There will be lots of great racing to watch this weekend, as well.

Tuesday Feb 9th practice (or race at Colchester Freestyle relays -- if we are able to go to the BKL race at Trapps, we will not do this race at Colchester)

Friday Feb 12th practice with guest Elissa Rehm.

Sunday Feb 14th Ichabod's Revenge classic race at Sleepy Hollow

Races! Races! Races!

Lots of fun racing to check out this weekend!

There's the BKL race at Bolton on Saturday that all of our skiers are eligible to participate in as NENSA and BKL members. Check out the post below for more details.

If you're not into racing yourself, but want to check out some fast skiing, there is the St. Michael's College Carnival at Sleepy Hollow. This is Friday (tomorrow) and Saturday with numerous collegiate racers battling it out on the same trails that we ski each week. Pretty exciting to have this level of racing and be able to get up close and personal. Saturday is sure to be fast with relays included!

See you all tomorrow for some skate skiing.

Today and more info for Saturday...

We had a little classic skiing scavenger hunt today which seemed to be enjoyed by all. In groups of 4 (well, they were supposed to be 4, but there was some inevitable mixing around), skiers combed Sleepy Hollow trails bringing back particular items (fallen twig on the side of the trail, snowball, leaf), looking for others (Eli's Escape trail sign, Fellowship of the Wheel trail marker, the number of doors on the round barn, Butternut Cabin), and even doing some activities along the way (doubling poling for 10 strokes on at least two sections of trail, using the herringbone technique up three hills, doing two step turns). By the end of the session, it seemed like most of the tasks were accomplished (there were even more than what is mentioned above!) and I witnessed some snowballs being used as ammunition on one of our ever helpful parents. I suppose I should have expected that after encouraging the making of such tempting items. Ow!!!

Looking towards this weekend. It seems like a few of our skiers will be heading to Bolton and more are welcome. I have confirmed that the use of Sleepy Hollow rental equipment at this race is possible and we can wax in the wax room Friday night. Please let me know if other skiers are interested in the race and what I can do to help support you all.

Coming soon are some great parent photos from the race. I'll post when I get a chance, so get ready!

Don't forget, Friday is a skate day.

BKL Race at Bolton Jan 23

There is a pretty exciting sounding BKL race at Bolton this coming Saturday hosted by Mansfield Nordic. We were not planning on attending this race as a team (our next race is not until the weekend of February 6/7 if there is interest in racing at Trapps for the Eastern Cup, otherwise we are looking at freestyle relays on February 9th) and I just got the info on it, but skiers are encouraged to attend on their own if they would like. I can supply wax and help in the wax room on Friday after practice if desired. This would be a good opportunity for racers to work on their wax skills and it would be a small group with plenty of guidance as needed, so please let me know if there is interest.

They are calling the race a duathlon -- meaning that it has both classic and skating techniques. Skiers will do a classic loop then switch equipment and head out for a skate loop. Also advertised are great refreshments, awards, and a pool party. The cost is $6 and includes the pool party. Timing is as follows: Registration 10:30-11am, J2 & J3 (12-14 year old) 4km race at 11:15, J4 (10 & 11 year old) 11:45. There is also a lollipopper and J5 race. There are also slingshot relays (2 skiers and a rope) at 12:45, awards & refreshments at 1:15 and then the pool party at 1:30-2:00. Hey, wait a second...shouldn't that food come after the swimming?!

Here is contact info for the race:
Pat Harmeyer, marmotdude at aol dot com
Murray Banks, murray at murraybanks dot com

**For those of you who rent equipment from Sleepy Hollow, I will check with Molly about using the equipment for this race and will get back to you as soon as I can.

Long wait, great race!

We had a lot of waiting around on Saturday, but the weather was nice and everyone was very patient. Although it was a confusing course (and when I contacted the race director about some of our girls going off course he said that even his top middle school girl had the same directional difficulties as did some from other teams, so we weren't the only ones), there was some really good skiing out there on some tough terrain. Steep downhills, steep uphills, flats where you had to maximize your efficiency, and apparently some rollers in the woods. Our skiers had no fear and mastered the course with some impressive skate skiing. Everyone is improving their timing and pole planting, really upping the tempo on the hills and getting in great rhythm. Some of you are really quite graceful!

Thanks to all the skiers and parents for their patience and help with getting our crew going and cheering them on. There is amazing team spirit on our team already and some requests for homemade spandex uniforms and a new team name of the Sleepy Hollow Worms. I guess those arm/headbands just don't cut it. We'll see what we can do for future races :o)

Here are some pictures. A few are actually from practice on Friday. I keep making it my goal to get some good shots, but then I get all distracted cheering and fumble with the camera, so I guess we'll just go with whatever we can get with my limited photography skills and poor multitasking abilities. If any parents have pictures they want to email to me, I can post them to the blog to share.

Race at U32 - arrival time

Let's shoot for 10:00am as our arrival time at U32. We will be somewhere near the CVU team. I will try to have my fluorescent green headband on (those who raced last weekend will know what I am talking about). The race will actually start sending high school skiers out at 10am, however, so be aware that the parking lots will be full and we might have to work a bit to find a place to warm up as there will be racers on course. I know this isn't ideal, but I don't feel like it is reasonable for us to be there several hours before our middle school race start which follows all the other race starts. In contacting the race director, I got an answer of "probably 11:15 at the earliest" for when the middle school racers will go off. Hope this is somewhat helpful to people trying to plan their day. It really is right smack in the middle of your Saturday, but it's great to see dedication from skiers and parents making the trek and supporting our program!

V1 Technique

This is the basic and most versatile skating technique that we introduced on Tuesday. The skating that they are doing out of the start is pretty exaggerated with such a high turnover and not very much glide, but this video has some good slow motion as well where you can really look at the compression that they are getting in their legs (bending knees, ankles, getting toes, knees and nose lined up over each ski) and how they get even lower on uphills. It's also good to notice their tight poling with poles/arms close to the body and poles being planted at an angle, not perpendicular to the snow for more efficient weight transfer (you put your poles in perpendicular to the ground and that's where your energy goes - into the ground! but you want it to keep moving you forward). Planting poles at an angle will make your arm strokes much more fluid and efficient.

Practice tomorrow - ski groups!

Due to our increased skier numbers we are going to start dividing into groups for practice. We'll try this tomorrow and see how it goes. Groups are posted on here with skier initials.

BLUE GROUP
CS
CW
BL
PU
EN
MJ
SH

GREEN GROUP
AK
ESt
JR
NE
SP

YELLOW GROUP
KM
TB
KB
ESl

RED GROUP
KT
CA
ASt
MM
CM
CB
AH

The plan:
1. We will all meet in Molly's Meadow and do an activity while we wait for everyone to arrive. Then we will split into groups.
2. The YELLOW group and the GREEN group will stay with Andrea and Colin to do technique work. The RED group will go ski Upper Saddle - Sap Run and the BLUE group will go ski Zig Zag - Ridge Road.
3. The RED and BLUE groups will then meet with Andrea and Colin to do technique work. The YELLOW group will go ski Ridge Road - Bear Claw and the GREEN group will go ski Liberty Meadow - Lower Saddle.
4. We will meet all together for a quick game.
5. We will go inside for the wax clinic.

***These groups are subject to change with attendance, etc., but we are trying to be more organized for tomorrow. Parents on skis would be helpful to go out with these groups.

Practice today and race this weekend!

Today was our first day skating. We had a huge group of skiers, so things were a little bit more chaotic than usual when I realized that all of us skiing as a big group out on the trails like the last practices wasn't going to happen. My apologies for that. Thank you to the parents that were there to help round up skiers and attempt to keep things organized.

Also a big thank you to Colin Masseau who was generous enough to come teach some skating basics with me. He enjoyed our group so much that he is interested helping us out some more this season when his schedule allows. This is great news as Colin is an excellent skier and comes from a skiing family (his father is the South Burlington High School coach and Colin and his brother were both great leaders on the CVU team when they were in high school) so he has lots to bring to the program.

We had a pretty successful day today although a bit disorganized. Our whole group did really well and even our first time skaters were getting the basic striding and pole timing down pretty well for the first day out. We reviewed some basics in the meadow and did some no pole skiing, which I have learned these guys aren't really fans of, but then got our poles and had a choice of skiing around a Lower Saddle-Tina Turner-Liberty Meadow loop or working on some more technique on Lower Saddle. Then we finished with a little downhill slalom course which helped us to work on snowplowing or step turning and keeping light on our feet while going downhill.

The U-32 race is going to be later than Sleepy Hollow was. The middle school start might not even be til 11:30am since they go after both the JV and Varsity high school skiers. I am double checking on estimates for start time and then will let you all know an arrival time for our group.

Friday will be skating again and don't forget the wax clinic!

No race fee for U32

We are covered under CVU's race fees for the U32 race so that should make things a little easier for us all. No money needs to be collected and I will just send in a running order with the skiers who want to participate and that will take care of registration! I think there are going to be lots of schools at this race because it is so spectator friendly and they have advertised that they have a course that can handle lots of traffic if need be.

Skate race this coming weekend, Saturday Jan 16th

We have a skate race coming up this Saturday at U32 in Montpelier. I may be able to drive a few skiers if needed. Please contact me about this. The race is right at the school - they've got a whole trail system right near the school so it's really spectator friendly. We'll be skating both Tuesday and Friday at practice in preparation for the race.

The Middle School race goes off after the High School race (versus how the middle schoolers went first yesterday), but immediately after - they do a running clock I believe. The course is about 2 miles...might sound like alot, but skating is generally faster than classic and everyone did really well with the distance yesterday.

If skiers/parents could let me know whether or not they will be attending this race via email ASAP that would be great. I do not think there will be a race fee for this one. If there is, it is only $3, but I am working on getting us in without a fee.

WAXING for this race: As this is a skate race, we will be glide waxing where we hot wax the entire base of the ski with an iron so that the wax soaks in and then we scrape off the excess wax with scraper and brush. We will have a wax clinic for this right at Sleepy Hollow on Friday after we ski and I hope that all skiers will be there regardless of whether or not they are racing on Saturday. It will be really beneficial for everyone to be there so that they know how to wax for future races and it will be beneficial for everyone's ski bases!

Ideally, every skier will have their skis waxed. Waxing, however, can be a long process. There is a wait time for wax to cool in between application and scraping of the wax. I am hoping that we can have multiple benches going so that we can get through as many skis as possible as a group. I am expecting that I will have to stay late and wax the remaining skis so if your skier does not get to wax their actual skis on Friday, I will do this for them and will bring their skis to the race for them on Saturday. As there is downtime when waxing, it would be helpful to bring some sort of activity, homework, something to do if necessary. I am going to see if I can get something set up so we can watch some world cup videos or some sort of ski videos as well because, really, who wants to do homework on a Friday.

WE WILL GO FROM 3:45pm to 5:45pm FOR PRACTICE ON FRIDAY JANUARY 15th.

Cross country skiing?

We have several skiers who have already been working on some of their freestyle skills when we've had downtime...I had mentioned Andy Newell to you guys and here is a video of him on his cross country skis doing some stuff that is usually not considered cross country. Obviously this won't be the focus of our practices, but some of this stuff really does help you get comfortable on your skis and with balance, moving in space, weight transfer, etc. I do need to say, however, do not try this at home and WEAR A HELMET! (also, I didn't listen to the lyrics of this song very closely, so play at your own risk)

Newell X Ski from Andrew Newell on Vimeo.

Race day...

We had an awesome first race. We had 4 in the boys race and 3 in the girls race and everyone did really well. It was a tough course with the big uphill on Ridge Road, some rolling terrain on Bear Claw and then a downhill on Potato Farmer into the uphill finish. Fortunately, we had skied each section of the race course in our practices already so the course was familiar.

We waxed up tips and tails with a little F4 rub on to maximize our glide and the trails had nicely set tracks among a few inches of fresh fluff. The skiers got out and did a little warm up on the course, made up some flashy armbands, and had a rousing game of Twister to get our stretching in (we even had a player lose a tooth, though, admittedly this was a tooth that was ready to come out and not due to any sort of wild game play).

After the race, we did a little ski on Liberty Meadow and up and down Tina Turner. Some of our skiers really took to the pow on that one and wanted to take several more runs!

I will send out results via e-mail or post them here when I get them!

Great job to all and thanks to parents for all the help :o)

Apologies for the not so good pictures - that's all we got before the camera froze/died.

Going to be a cold one!

The view from Butternut Cabin taken when I was in high school and skied at Sleepy Hollow.


It's going to be cold at the race tomorrow -- I just saw a high of 11 degrees F for tomorrow with a wind chill of -8 degrees F from the NOAA. Hand warmers are great if you get cold easily and Dermatone (the stuff in the blue and yellow tub or tube) is good for protecting cheeks. I believe the round barn will be open for skiers to hang out in (the perfect location for our special activities!) so we'll have to stake out an area in there early. Waxing, however, will be outside under the pavilion.

See you in the morning :o)

Yay for day #2 and looking ahead...

Another great day out on skis with the group. We went over a few classic ski technique tips in a true or false format. The group was right on and very good at sorting out what was true and false about classic skiing. Some of them we had to talk through a bit and think about, but overall, they've got great classic ski knowledge. Here is what we reviewed.

Glide wax gives you grip under your foot. FALSE
Your skis remain flat throughout classic striding. FALSE
Skate skiing is not allowed in classic races. TRUE
Shorten your stride when going uphill. TRUE
Shake your butt/swing your hips. TRUE
A slapping noise lets you know that you are dropping your foot early (TRUE), this is good. FALSE
Stand up when going down hills. FALSE
Transfer your weight fully onto each ski. TRUE
Keep your pole straps loose. FALSE
Lean forward into the hill. FALSE (A tricky one because that's what your body tends to want to do.)
Allow your weight to fall forward onto your poles when double poling. TRUE
Punch your kick zone/wax pocket intoo the snow with each stride. TRUE
If you are slipping on an uphill, try stepping out of the tracks. TRUE
Herringbone or duck walk techniques are helpful on steep downhills. FALSE
Keep your hands in front of you on downhills. TRUE
If a skier behind you yells "track" you should step out of the track so they can pass you. TRUE
The basics of classic skiing are kick and glide. TRUE

Tomorrow we have our first race. Very exciting!!! Once again, this is a classic race at Sleepy Hollow. We will meet around 8:30am. Race start for middle schoolers is 10am. We've got lots of stuff to do before the race - prepping our skis, a special warm up, and making our team armbands/headbands. I am not sure whether this will be a mass start or interval start, but we practiced our double pole starts in a relay format today, so we should be all set whatever the race start is like!

Today we also worked on some no pole skiing and some hills, both up and down! Everyone did very well and I am thrilled to have this group of great skiers.

Next week: skate/freestyle skiing! This is both Tuesday and Friday (with a wax clinic so practice will go late) and then we have a skate race hosted by U32 on Saturday. Scroll down in the blog to see the schedule of skate and classic practice days so you can be sure to have the right equipment. I will notify of technique changes as necessary.

Classic ski technique!

Today we had great weather, great snow, and a great time. We started with some classic skiing basics - more to come as well - skied a little loop out Ridge Road and connected to Potato Farmer and then played some Sharks and Minnows on our skis!

Here is a video that has some helpful info on classic skiing. Some of the terms might be a little tough to grasp, but even just watching the skiers is helpful. We'll work more on this on Friday.

Tomorrow is our first day!

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow Tuesday January 5th for our first meeting! We'll start at 3:45pm and it's a classic ski day. We'll wax up (if needed - I myself will be on waxless - they are my favorite pair of skis!) and head up to the meadow to review some classic basics. We'll check out some trails and then do some ski games. Get all your stuff together tonight so you don't forget any gear!!! Make sure to bring water and layers of clothing!

Race entry fee

There will be a $5 race entry fee for the race on Saturday the 9th which is paid to Sleepy Hollow as the race site. As I understand it, this is the normal fee that will be required for the other middle school races this season and will be paid to the individual sites. I do not know if this applies to Ichabod's Revenge on February 14th and I know that this does not apply to the NENSA races at Trapps on the 6/7 of February. Those will have different registrations altogether. If there is any issue with race affordability, please let me know and we can look into getting a scholarship together or some sort of financial assistance.

Wax clinic!

Wax makes skis glide faster and grip better!

We'll review the basic concepts and tools of waxing on Friday January 15th, hopefully with a few guests from the CVU nordic team. For this practice, skiers should expect to stay late so practice will go from 3:45-5:30pm. Definitely bring clothes to change into after we ski. We have a skate race the following day, Saturday January 16th so we'll be waxing with those conditions in mind. At this point, practice and the wax clinic are planned to take place at Sleepy Hollow. I will update if this changes.

Our first race - January 9th!

Our first race is coming up soon. It's on Saturday January 9th at Sleepy Hollow. The race is hosted by South Burlington High School and includes middle school and high school racers. Race start for middle schoolers (that's you!) is at 10am. I would like everyone to be at Sleepy Hollow at 8:30am. Parking is tight there so carpooling is recommended if possible.

There may be a $5 race entry fee. I am looking into this to be sure.

This is a classic race so we generally want to get to classic races and prepare earlier than a skate race due to waxing duties. While some skiers will have waxless skis (those with the fishscales on the bottom), I want to give enough time to wax up those who do not have waxless skis. It's good learning for all skiers. If skiers wish to glide wax their tips and tails, there is the opportunity for them to do this at CVU on Friday, the night before. This would be hot waxing the skis with an iron and then scraping and brushing it off. I do not see this as a priority for our first race, but will leave it open if there are skiers who already know how to wax and wish to do so. We will have a waxing clinic hopefully the second Friday of practice and for this first race, I will bring some F4 which is a glide wax that can be applied right before the race to tips and tails. If none of this makes sense to you and seems like a different language, whether parent or skier, that's totally fine. The program is here to develop this knowledge and it's not expected that you know about waxing at this point.

I will be asking skiers of their intent to race when we meet on Tuesday, but if skiers already know, it would be great to get their info so I can register them. I will need name and school. The middle school race is expected to be about 2.5km long.

If there are questions, as always, please let me know. We will go over more of what to bring to the race when we meet.