After the 4th wettest June on record in VT, we have been greeted with a relatively dry July. August hasn’t been shaping up too bad, either!
But for those rainy afternoons (or for an evening kick-back-and-veg session) here are some recent Nordic videos that are a blast to watch…not the least of which is from our own sessions!
First, here are some clips from recent MNC training. This first one is the most ‘serious’…a compilation of some striding after we finished out classic workout at the Range. I use an iPad app to take video, replay it in slo-mo, and disseminate it among the skiers. But those clips are all individual and sometimes it’s cool to see everyone in one place:
Now we will move on to two less serious videos that nonetheless demonstrate some of the skill and dexterity of the MNC athletes. The first is Greg Burt doing a little ‘drifting’ at Mud Pond on his rollerskis. No wonder everyone is always having to order new wheels around here:
The final video from the MNC clip section is of Charlie Maitland having a run-through of the new balance and coordination drill I cooked up. Each ‘footprint’ has a label of LEFT or RIGHT foot in order to purposely throw off coordination. I have asked around and haven’t seen evidence of it anywhere else so I am laying claim to this as my first big contribution to the ski world. After some difficulty coming up with a name “hopscotch from hell”? “crazy-dance”? “crazy boogie”? I finally settled on “hammerdance” after I found the perfect soundtrack to this clip of Charlie running through it. Special props to Ben Longenbach, who helped capture this moment by slowly pushing my on my rollerskis as I let the camera roll…only took us 3 takes!
Moving on, a big event last week was the Blink Festival in Sandnes, Norway. This festival is a series of Biathlon and Nordic races all on rollerskis. Trust me, it isn’t your average Co-Op pursuit race! These races were pretty much a World Cup in the summer…the event kicked off with a brutal race called the “Lysebotn Opp”. I’m not big Norwegian speaker but I think Opp simply means “Up”…this is an all-uphill climb up endless switchbacks of a beautiful fjord.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf-DC7SBwX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9v-hw56GLI
All of the videos of the festival (including biathlon, nordic sprint and mass start events, and more) are available on the channel of Norwegian biathlon star Emile Hegle Svendsen. It’s particularly incredible to watch the mass start races where a giant mass of rollerskiers are all shoulder-to-shoulder ripping around corners and somehow not crashing or breaking equipment. Very cool.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rxo0R0xnaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWDJABEqtk
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