A new ski adventure on tap

Anyone that reads this blog might be thinking that the months of December through March are one big ski adventure (and in some ways it is), however, the majority of my races are only at a handful of locations in the Northeast. For example, I've made the drive to Lake Placid three times this year for a total of five races. Other than last year's trials in Minnesota, I've never competed in a ski race that's further than an 6-7 hour car drive away. However, later today I'm flying out to Salt Lake City, where I'm going to meet up with my buddy Jamie, who I played baseball with in college, and tomorrow, we are driving up to West Yellowstone, MT where I will compete in the Rendezvous Ski Marathon on Saturday.

West Yellowstone is something of a mecca for US cross country skiers. Every November, there is a huge ski festival the week of Thanksgiving which also represents the first SuperTour races of the year for the elite XC skiers in the US and Canada. I've never been out there and am very much looking forward to skiing and racing on these famous trails. I'm not sure what to expect about the race itself. This will be the first year that I've done two 50km races in one winter. The LP Loppet was exactly a month ago and I'm sure that I'm recovered from that and feeling pretty good, but my race in the Loppet wasn't spectacular to begin with, so who knows. The other obstacle involved in this race will be the elevation. I've never raced at an elevation higher than 3-4 thousand feet before. WY will be about 7,000. I've gotten some good advice from some folks that have though, it includes:

- Don't worry, just stay hydrated, that's the biggest factor.

- You're going out there on Thursday and racing Saturday? That's the worst combination, good luck!

- You'll be fine, just don't do anything stupid, like you did in Lake Placid.

- There's nothing you can do except stay under control. At least it's not a sprint, that would hurt a lot more.

- You're screwed, just enjoy the trails.

The confusing part is that everyone of the people who gave me this advice has actually skied this exact race. So, given all of this sound, yet conflicting advice, I'm a little nervous. It'll be an experience though, and I'm looking forward to getting out there and getting the race going!

After the race, we're headed back to Salt Lake, where Kevin is skiing with his uncle (who lives in SLC) and father. I'll spend the five days after the race doing a combination of downhill skiing (maybe let gravity do the work for a change), back country skiing, and some nordic skiing. Basically, I don't have much of an agenda after the race other than to scope out what it's like to ski in Utah and the surrounding area and hang out with my buddies. Jamie's moving out of SLC after the winter, so I figured it was pretty much now or never to check out that neck of the woods.

I should be able to update throughout the trip as long as I can get on the Internet.