With the Mora Vasaloppet getting cancelled this weekend it was a great opportunity for me to go try a new ski race somewhere up north, but I didn't. Instead I stayed home and did my dishes and laundry, both projects long overdue. There was some excitement to be had though, here's a rundown.
Sunday Gravel Ride - Played hookey from church to head out on a gravel ride Sunday morning. I had planned to go with earlier in the week, and tried to get other EMVC riders onboard. It's good I did, because I was thinking of skipping Sunday morning until Jim told me he was going, so I figured I better too. I quick swapped the tires on my ever versitile Gary Fischer hybrid and hit the road. It was a chilly start, especially since my riding tights do not have a bit of wind stopper to them, but a well positioned glove part way through the ride eventually fixed the problem. There were hills a plenty to get the heart rate up and a nice pace with few breaks kept things moving well. There was one unexpected stop when I got my wheel caught in a rut and suddenly found myself sailing for the ditch with the bike still firmly attached to my feet. A bruised and slightly lacerated hip was the only bad result. It made for a bit of a stiff start off whenever I stopped pedaling, but a couple days later it is already feeling much better.
P90X - I have been hearing about this workout program that a few people have been doing and I was kinda getting tired of that horrible lady, so I thought I'd give it a try. I typically only use my muscles in a few very specific ways, so this muscle confusion thing is leaving me sore for sure. I'm excited to build a bit of general strength though, always useful for preventing injury and engaging in random physical activities.
World Cup Relay - Saturday was not the best day for the USST in Nove Mesto. After some amazing performances in weeks past not a single US athlete made it into the points. Kikkan sat the race out, Holly had to drop partway through, Sadie is getting ready for U23's, and nobody on the mens side has been consistently in the points at all this season. Sunday turned things around though, at least for the women, with a historic 5th place in the relay. I love this event because it is a true team event and covers both disciplines. While the Norwegian women continue to be unstoppable the US showed that it is within striking distance of a podium position. Brooks led off and lost time to only a few teams. Sargent raced an amazing race and while she did lose some significant time to Johaug, who can blame her for that, she held her position well and kept the team in the running. The same can be said for Liz on the third leg. Jesse Diggins continues to impress and is quickly learning tactics. She started even with Olympic champion Charlotte Kalla and held on to her for the entire 5k, even taking the lead for a while. She ended up losing the finishing sprint to Kalla, but still posted the fastest time of the day.
Finlandia is this weekend, my second attempt at racing for the season. A few warm days has erased all the snow from south facing hills on the east end of the course, so it will be 2-3 laps of the hilly west side this year. This could make things interesting for the Pursuit. I haven't decided for sure which race I plan to do this year, may depend on if I can see the start list when I get up there, but am hoping for a podium in any case since not many big names show up at this race on a good year, much less on a short course year.
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