Sometimes very simple, real-world examples playing out in front of my own eyes remind me why rollerskiing is important, and why being strong is such an integral part of ski racing in 2018.
The videos below show some double pole test footage. The first clip is Magda and Sammie in the summer of 2017, followed by a clip from this past week (2018). The clips were taken in the same spot about a full year apart:
Equally impressive are some clips of MNC racers who hadn’t rollerskied as much but have really put in the time this summer! Case in point? Meredith, Ava, Brook, Julia, Hanna, and more. It’s fun to see times on the double pole test drop dramatically and continue to get lowered as progress happens.
But before we get too carried away…this week wasn’t ALL about rollerskiing! On Wednesday we had a really fun run at the Mobbs Farm trails. It was maybe the 4th run this year we’ve done in 90+ heat but that didn’t stop the gang. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a really cool swimming hole deep in the woods near Tarbox Rd.
95 degrees, bring it on
Magda taking a refreshing dip
Then on Saturday, we woke to cold temps but faster running…we showed up early to the Burlington Invite to race the Citizen’s event (same course, before the big HS events) and had a pretty fun time getting used to a “real” race again. It was pretty hard to hide how much fun we had but we tried to have at least one “apathetic running picture” in honor of Conor Munns:
Hard to look apathetic on a nice day, with a fun race AND some legit matching singlets
Big shoutout to the speedy Ava Thurston on getting 2nd in the Varsity race (only her 2nd HS race ever!) and clocking in at 19:59 for her first sub-20 ever! Congrats to Greta too, who took the win in the Middle School race! Lots of other MNC skiers out there racing fast…Peter V, Julia Thurston, Carly Trapeni…way to go!
Since it was a volume week and we’d already had our fair share of awesome double sessions, that plan continued with the crew taking a few hours to go out to lunch and shop-it-up on Church Street before we paid a visit to the infamous “127 Bike Path” for an easy double pole recovery ski. Julia and Sammie were pretty tired but decided to take a mid-ski rest stop by some of the more dope (and internet-appropriate) graffiti on the path:
Tired gang, still making sure to honor James Franco
BUT WAIT, you’d think that after all that action it would be time for a break. But not for the Pugs. On Sunday we traveled to Huntington for a nice long ski from the Brewster Pierce School. We began at the school and skated out to Hinesburg and back on a relatively flat stretch down Hollow Rd. Then, we got back to the cars at 1.5 hours and switched into classic gear to ski up the lower portions of App Gap from the West side. Not a bad way to end a week at all, and people were psyched to have another big ski in the books.
Mitch, Timmy, and Aidan leading out the gang
Casual roadside balloon cop
Nope, not an actual MNC van (thanks St Mikes) but maybe someday 😉
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