Pressure and stress can do some crazy things to a person. Whether you stay up late, wake up early, fidget with your nails, grind your teeth, or pace every time you stand up…you know what your ‘ticks’ are. For the past two weeks that deep-seeded feeling of anticipation has set in as we’ve crashed head-on into the final two Eastern Cup weekends. I can’t speak for everyone on the team, but for the past week in particular I’ve been singularly-focused on Eastern Cup #4. Add in the forecast for wild weather on Sunday, the very last Eastern Cup race, and you can imagine the insomnia.
We’ve been boosted, though, by so many things. Positive attitudes and the knowledge that the hard work is paying off…particularly after a few great days at Eastern Cup #3. Combine that with a deeper staff of coaches at races to dial in everything from skis to on-course management, AND a giant heated wax trailer big enough to fit 4 wax stations and enough skis to form a wallpaper of base material…and the ingredients for kicking butt are starting to simmer.
This final weekend was our best yet, unequivocally. Saturday rolled around and found us at a new venue, the Dublin School. With a course full of
Aidan firing on all cylinders
gradual climbs and hairpin descents, aggressive and powerful skiing were rewarded. It had Aidan’s name all over it, given his penchant for big jumps, spins, and tele turns. In a combined field of U16 and open skiers together, Aidan skied to 11th place in both the morning 3km and afternoon 1.5km (winning both races for U16). Timmy slid across the line next for the Pugs with two solid races that immediately bumped him WAY up into the points standings for Junior Nationals. Eli, Brook and Charles felt a bit flat but all had good performances. Particularly relevant for Brook and Charles was the chance to do well against some competition they’ll face in a few days for the State meet.
In the women’s race Ava crashed on a corner by skiing TOO aggressively into the trailside crust, but rebounded for the afternoon. A lot of nervous energy was spent by coach anticipating how some of our JN “bubble” skiers (those very close to making the team) would do. For the women this was a good number of skiers…Rose, Meredith, Sammie, and Ali all were in striking distance. On Saturday it was Ali who really started to get her groove back and was skiing with confidence and lots of SPEED.
It reminds me of a quite underrated Disney movie from my childhood, The Emperor’s New Groove…the search to get the groove back, that is. Which is doubly ironic because Ali actually has an extreme Llama phobia (no joke).
Ali’s New Groove
Having the kind of races that put them right in contention were Rose and Meredith. In particular, watching Meredith attack the V1 sections with a furious-but-stable hop-skate was such a great example of how far she’s come this year, from barely ever rollerskiing to training like none other. Both her and Rose set themselves up to fight for a JN spot the following day.
Meredith charging!
Rose charging!
The Dublin School was an awesome place to ski. The school is investing a lot into Nordic right now and you can tell: modern courses, snowmaking on the way, a yurt that’s likely to be a real lodge very soon, and the logistics to pull off a great Eastern Cup. Also, the weather was FINALLY warm on race day for the first time in…months? That brought out the spectators, and having four races in one day also meant other skiers went out to yell at their teammates and cheer them on. It was starting to feel like serious spring skiing fun out on the snow.
Hanna skied to 13th for her best U16 finish yet!
Charles skiing with a lot of dynamic confidence
After a really nice team dinner at our favorite Covered Bridge restaurant (thanks parents!) we woke up on Sunday to find…Holderness Crazy Weather Eastern Cup Round #3. That’s right, for the 3rd year in a row it was quite a day out there, with a classic race at 32 and snowing…heavily. Then sleet. Then a brief break…then more sleet. Then more snow…you get the idea.
I looked back at the testing/wax log and counted up that we put 13 different kick wax options and combinations on the snow that morning. 14 if you count zeros. Thanks to all the club members and friends who chipped in to contribute to our big fleet of zero/waxless ski options! We ended up at 50/50 for the most part in the women’s race, and all of the open men raced on zeros.
Sammie taking. No. Prisoners.
There was panic in the wax trailer, no doubt about it. The schedule and race starts wait for no coach, so we were in full scramble to get wax on skis for the older women’s 10km. I’m really proud of how several girls handled the chaos without freaking out…because there were moments when I certainly was! In fact, this might’ve contributed to what was the womens team’s Best. Day. Of. The. Year. I am hypothesizing that everyone was so frantic and focused on what the heck they were going to have under their feet that they forgot about the fact that they had a big race on the line. So when Sammie blasted through the lap zone having caught and passed a big competitor, AND put another 30 seconds into her…I was losing it! It was the Sammie Nolan we saw this fall, skiing like she was chased by wolves and crushing the competition with tempo, power, glide, and climbing speed.
Then when Rose and Meredith both came by about to catch their competition for JNs from multiple bibs back, the excitement only got higher. How do you know it was a good day? Rose saw who she was catching, knew she was skiing herself onto the team, and looked at me with a smile and stuck her tongue out as she headed onto the second lap.
I got to be there when those first three crossed the line, with huge high-fives. In fact there were a LOT of high fives that day. Sammie ended the day 9th overall! Meredith and Rose were next in 11th and 12th. Following that was Julia in 20th for her most killer race of the season, and then Jenny (29) and Lily (31) also popping HUGE races!
Difficult classic conditions? Julia doesn’t make it look like it!
With all the best Juniors in New England in one spot, THIS is how we knew we could race all year
The only bummer was Ali, who raced without having taken her inhaler beforehand and struggled with breathing problems…she looked AWESOME on the first lap but you could tell it was fading fast when you can’t take in air. But like I said earlier, that groove was back…especially when she hit the big optional jump they included coming down the hill into the lap zone…whether or not hitting that jump was intentional on her part or not, I won’t say 😉
Coming up next was the open men. Timmy laid it ALL on the line to race into 13th overall. In a CLASSIC race! He did all he could to nab that trip to Alaska, but either way he looked phenomenal double poling. The effort he’s put into getting stronger in the gym this year is evident. Charles and Eli both beat several racers they hadn’t been close to all year, and were skiing great.
In fact, results notwithstanding this day showed the value of so many things we put effort into practicing. Crazy difficult classic conditions require great snow-feel, balance, coordination, and patience. Often, skiing “hardest” is not the way to ski “fastest”. We do lots of weird things to work on this…sometimes when rollerskiing I’ll spread leaves on the trail and dump water on them to make the pavement slippery. Sometimes we’ll wax with less kick than normal on purpose. We hit ladders in the gym, jump onto Bosu balls, and use the TRX to hone our core strength…and seeing everyone manage the skis out there was amazing. For example: Sammie. Meredith, Lily and Hanna were on kickwax: mostly a combination of two waxes I boiled together in an old soup can earlier in the week (no joke). Rose, Julia, Jenny, and Ali (and all three guys) on the other hand, raced on zero skis. It’s important to note that zeros are not like skins or fishscales: they do not provide “easy, perfect kick”. They require finesse and a keen technique to ski them well. The fact that half our group skied on one thing and the other half on something completely different, with great skiing from all, shows how that hard work pays off.
Speaking of hard work paying off, after the wet, snowy races it was time to gather for the naming of the Junior Nationals team. Already locked-in were Aidan and Ava! Next up was the older group naming. Skiers were called, and familiar names were rattled off. And then, in the 11th U18 spot was…
ROSE CLAYTON!
And called up two names later…
MEREDITH STETTER!
It was hard to contain the emotion. JNs is a huge goal and EVERY ONE of the Pugs worked incredibly hard. It came down to the last weekend, and when all the cards were on the table so many of the MNC gang threw down their best races of the season. A bittersweet nod goes out to Timmy and Sammie. As of right now (Monday night) Timmy is the first alternate not yet selected, and Sammie is the second. MNC club members: do your lucky dances and charms because other skiers (particularly those busy college kids) have until Wednesday to possibly decline their spots.
Junior Nationals Pug Squad ’19! Ava, Meredith, Rose, Aidan. Adam (U18 men’s coach) and Sara (U16 women’s coach)
You can read a bit more on the JN team and MNC presence HERE.
Regardless of Junior Nationals, Eastern High Schools, U16s, or Eastern Cups…I am SO PROUD of everyone on this team for what they accomplished this year. It was not an easy year. A very “heavy” year, as I’ve put it several times. Having everyone accomplish what they did, at every level, feels like such a fitting way to head into the post-season of final races. So much of what these skiers did was a mix of personal drive and team support, and when that balance is on the vibe is at its most killer. After a spring, summer, fall and winter of ‘cultivating the vibe’ this group of Pugs made it happen.
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