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• kletz 1:40 pm on June 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Get Your Nordic On! Rochester Clinic Recap 

  
  Rochester, MN
  June 7, 2009

  The 2009 rollerski season is underway! The Rochester Active Sports Club and Rochester Nordic Ski Team hosted a great early summer rollerski clinic led by US Ski Team and CXC Elite skier Garrott Kuzzy. By attending, clinic participants earned the technique clinic portion of the USSA Level 100 Coaches Certification.

  The Rochester Active Sports Club is a conglomeration of silent sport enthusiasts in the Rochester area. In only a few years, they have developed an extensive trail network with the help of a great volunteer workforce, allowing local skiers to ski on only minimal amounts of snow. In addition to the trail network, they have grown their junior program to over 100 skiers, led by about 12 volunteer coaches. The enthusiasm for skiing in Rochester is infectious; look for the club to expand both their trail network and skier base in the coming years.

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  During the clinic, Kuzzy led skiers through a progression of dryland drills, both on foot and on rollerskis, to develop a strong technique base upon which to build over the summer and fall. The basics were taught in an easy to follow progression used to teach USSA Level 100 Coaches Certification. The coaches at the clinic will be able to use many of these drills when coaching their skiers this fall and winter. The skiers at the clinic will have skills to master throughout the summer so they are ready to fly when they get on snow this winter. A big thanks to the Rochester Nordic Club for doing a great job getting the clinic organized and even hosting informal rollerski practices over the past couple of weeks to get newcomers comfortable on their rollerskis before the clinic.

  For more information on getting a clinic for your Nordic Club this summer or fall, contact Garrott Kuzzy – garrottkuzzy@yahoo.com.
   

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• kletz 12:47 am on January 21, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Whistler World Cup Qualification 

  by Bryan Fish
  We departed Anchorage, Alaska after delays and cancellations to US Nationals. It was good to get the skate race and classic sprint in, but everyone was hoping for more events to be held due to all the previous cancellations of SuperTour events.
  US SuperTour standings after the US Nationals selected the athletes to compete at the Whistler World Cup scheduled for January 16-18th. The modified West Yellowstone SuperTours and the two US Nationals competitions were the only events the athletes had to prove themselves. US National events score double points, so these two races weighed heavily on selection criteria. It was great for those that took full advantage of these few opportunities and unfortunate for those that might have had an off day at US nationals. It seems ironic that athletes train for years to get such an opportunity but selection be based on such as small sampling. That is just how it played out this year. What else can anyone do? All in all, I was very happy how decisions were made about the events. There were a lot of cancellations, but the cancellations had the athletes’ best intentions. Sending out athletes in dangerously cold temperatures and less than marginal conditions would have been worse.
   

• kletz 12:30 am on January 20, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  2009 Seeley Hills Classic Video 

  The 17th annual Seeley Hills Classic ski races on Jan. 17 were dedicated to the memory of Seeley entrepreneur and ski trail developer Gary Penman.
  The Seeley Hills Classic is a Birkebeiner qualifying race and is sanctioned by USSA. Special thanks to the race director Dennis Kruse!
   

• kletz 4:36 pm on January 14, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  What a Difference a Day Makes Part I 

  
  I started to reminisce about the first portion of our race season as we reunited with our van in Seattle, WA. We had left our van in the greater Seattle area at Bob and Kelli Owen’s home since flying back to the Midwest on December 15th. It was cool looking at all the gear left in the trailer from the pre-holidays western SuperTours, including rock skis, rollerskis and helmets – all reminders of the challenging snow conditions left behind. A bright spot that made me chuckle to myself was the two cases of Athlete Honey Milk remaining. Athlete Honey Milk is a new product that our athletes were testing as an all-natural recovery drink including lactose-free milk as the protein source and honey to replenish carbohydrate stores immediately after training. There are all kinds of products out there, but this natural and ingenious combination was a hit with our athletes. Good taste is always a necessary for an athlete to make nutritional items a habit and it was one thing that required no reminding after workouts.

  Today, Caitlin Compton, Matt Liebsch, Garrott Kuzzy and I drove through the rain in Vancouver and Squamish, British Columbia en route to the Whistler World Cups. We were quite excited to see rain. Not a common response for skiers but I think we were all welcoming warmer weather after the bone-chilling cold we left behind this morning in Anchorage.

  Looking at the first portion of the 2008-09 race season – overcoming adversity and irony were the first things that come to my mind. No one could predict how things would shake out as we departed Hayward at 6:00AM on November 14. The forecast and conditions looked extremely bright as we departed. Snow and cold temperatures blanketed western Minnesota and the Dakotas – such conditions are an uncommon site at that time of the year. Driving was challenging but the excitement of snow overcame the slow travel.
   

• kletz 9:16 pm on January 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply  

  Finn Sisu Fine Grinds 

  By Bryan Fish (CXC Elite Team)

  

  The snow here at US Nationals in SLOW and COLD & ski structure is as critical as nailing the wax.  We have been waxing day and night trying to get all our skis up to speed in these extreme conditions.  We are working on skis from a number of grinders and our wax trailer unanimously agree that your Finn Sisu fine grinds appear to be the most well manicured.  We are testing many of the athletes’ skis through speed trap and “feel” testing to help them make their ski selections and what we see in the wax trailer is confirmed in speed trap tests.  The Finn Sisu grinds are our best running skis.  It is not an exaggeration to state that these fine grinds are world class.  Every well ground pair of skis has one thing in common – a knowledge operator that has a sincere desire to provide the skier with great skis.  It is apparent that Finn Sisu has this..

   

  It is also true that the Finn Sisu grinds have been our fastest skis in the last two American Birkebeiners, which shows the versatility.

   

  I sincerely thank Ahvo and Finn Sisu for the GREAT skis. I like to see skiers enjoy fast skis & I strongly feel that the care Finn Sisu shop puts into the skis will no doubt provide a great skiing experience.

   

  Thanks for helping Matt and Caitlin with their podium finishes.  Jesse Diggins was also the 3rd junior and 1st J1.  I strongly feel that the skis played a major role yesterday.