Hello Durango Nordic!

Greetings from Geilo, Norway. I have been busy settling in to the cultural changes and the living. Here are some pictures of the experience thus far. Everybody loves pictures!


Geilo, Norway. One of the Alpine areas at about 15:00, when the sun is setting and the sky turns fiery red when you're lucky.

Male 19/20 Sprint Quarter-Final Sprint race in Sjusjøen, Norway.

Female 19/20 Sprint Quarter-Final Sprint race in Sjusjøen, Norway.

Me doing reconnaissance skiing the day before the 10km Classic race in Sjusjøen, Norway. Great sunset.


Sjusjøen, Norway.


Geilo, Norway.


A tunnel I ski/pass under on my way into town and training.


A fog hangs over the lake in Geilo, Norway. There is a perfect 12km loop around it for distance.


Things are going smoothly. It is great to be around people that are so driven by skiing and how it is just a part of who they are. I've been skiing at least 2-3 times a day. There is a 5km lit loop, so skiing after dinner is great. Plus, there is a lake loop, that is 12km, and takes about an hour or less to ski easy around that is perfect for distance training, it just never gets old. Ski tracks surround the town, so not only is it a great way to train, but a great way to get around. The level of competition is extremely high. Norway goes hard, always. The training is rigorous, but worth it. The food is great, and Hamburgers are a big hit here. There is a bowling lane here so I've been perfecting my technique. Obama's visit here was a huge deal to the people in Oslo and in Norway. Sometimes I feel like I am in America because everyone listens to our mainstream music and watches American movies.

I hope everyone's training is going well. I have a lot of core/medicine ball exercises to show the team, it will make you so fast! Good luck this weekend in Crested Butte!

Skål,
Rogan Brown

8 Days in West Yellowstone:

The majority of the J2+ skiers and I just finished am 8 day training camp in West Yellowstone, MT. Here’s a brief recap of how it all went down.

Whoever thought it would be a great idea to stick 12 junior Nordic skiers plus a coach in a condo that is meant to sleep 8 would be a good idea? Well, it was. Sure, our space might have been a bit cramped, especially around lunch and dinner time when 8 Crested Butte athletes would show up to scrounge for food, but it all worked out well enough. The main goal of our 8 days spent in West Yellowstone was time on skis, and of that we got plenty. Over 20hrs of training, plus up to 3 races and still no one wanted to go to bed early by the end of the week. I’m not sure where all the energy came from, but heck, it was contagious!

From the coaching aspect, our team more than accomplished their goals.

Ski Related Goal:

1. Lots of volume training

2. Technique work, especially in classic

3. Intervals to get used to absolutely flying over snow

4. And racing. That’s what we do.

General Goals

1. DNSC Team bonding

2. Learning all the words to “Big Green Tractor”

3. Official forming of South West Colorado Nordic Alliance

The skiing goals were easy. “We are here to ski, that’s what we are going to do” was a quote often heard within our cabin. The level of commitment to the “plan” often amazes me. Of course it didn’t hurt that we had totally amazing ski conditions for the whole week of our trip. Every practice we were able to walk right out the door of our condo, put on our skis and ski down the middle of the road for about 5 minutes to the main trail head of the Rendezvous Trail System. From that trail head we had over 30km of groomed and classic tracked ski trails at our disposal. It’s great to have that type of terrain to choose from when doing a 3 hour distance ski.

Outside of all the distance training, we were also able to mix in some racing. The SuperTour series was in town so West Yellowstone was host to a Classic Sprint Qualifier, 10/15k Skate, and 5/10k Classic. These races were a great opportunity for athletes on our team to go head to head with some of the best skiers in the country, both juniors and seniors. The US Ski team was in attendance, as were many professional and college ski teams. There were also many junior teams from within our region there for training and racing. Early season races are always good because it reminds us all (yes, coaches too) what it’s all about. Over the summer we forget how to wax skis and ski fast, so this series was a great “wake up call” for all of us. Race #1, classic sprint: after waxing late into the night, I woke up early to head to the race venue to test kick wax. After getting everything all set up, it finally dawned on me why I was feeling that I was forgetting something. Yep, left all my test skis back at the wax room. Very smooth. From the racers point of view, everything was great! Alicia, Hannah, Gino, Sepp, and Haakon all raced their first 10km, and all of our healthy/non-injured athletes were able to race at least one. Success.

I’m not saying it was all smooth sailing. We had a clothes fire (no, you should not dry ski clothes over a lamp), couch fires (heat guns are hot, even after you turn them off), and an overflowing dishwasher (dish soap and dishwasher detergent are two different things). Lucky for us, with all the parents cooking food and bringing it over at dinner time, there were no kitchen fires.

More to come….

Winter is almost here! And the team leaves for west yellowstone in 5 days!!! yeah!

Last weekend Molas pass was hit with about 18" of snow and it was incredible. Can't wait for snow in town.

Durango Nordic has had an excellent fall of training and preperation. Watch out! We have had great weather and as usual great training opportunities. From the TT's to the "epic" hikes everyone has put in a great effort.... let's see where it takes everyone this winter.

Make sure to check the website - durangonordic.org for results on our tt's from this fall.

As well as all the training we have helped out with building a couple new trails at the Nordic Center. One is north of Boyce lake, and the other is north of North Loop. It will be great to have some extra terrain to ski.

Well hopefully you here from us in West Yellowstone!!! Everyone cannot wait!

Think Snow!

Mtn Bike Worlds Race Recap from Tad Elliott

I was riding well I started dead last out of 70 riders and moved up ok. 48th on the first lap. I moved up to a group of 30th through 25th. Felt strong my 4th and 5th lap. My times on those laps were 19th and 18th fastest laps. It was hard having dudes bobble in front of you and get gaped off the pack. I cracked hard with half a lap to go only 10 minutes to go and I went from 30th to 36th. Just spent to many matches during the race. If only I could have better UCI points and gotten a better call up at the start. Damn.

Went on a ride today saw a blue and red Parrot saw a Kangaroo jump a fence and petted a mini horse on the bike path all in ten minutes. Pretty cool. Eating a Steak dinner tonight at the hotel. Kangaroo steak that is. Should be cool. The Ausies hate the meat here for some reason. I watched all the four cross last night and that was really cool.

Also, Todd Wells was 8th. Congrats to both Tad and Todd.

More from Tad Elliott at World Championships

Things here are looking good. I broke my race shoes, went to my back up pair and then was able to repair my favorite race shoes. My knee is sore from the new position on the shoes but Bernard is here on will dial me in for the race. For the hammer head section on the course. I am going around the easier safier way which may be two seconds slower. Also going around is US National Champ, Jeremy Hogan-Kobelski, Colin Cares, World Cup leader Wolfram, and the Junior Women are riding it. Sketchy! Rob Squires crashed super hard there today and hurt himself. He is OK to race but he is sore. Man, still no Kangaroo sightings. I Saw a mini horse but no Kangaroos. I guess I repel them. Todd Wells is staying at our hotel. So is Bury Stander, and Christof Sauser. Pretty cool to see them eating breakfast with us each morning. The Ausie people are super nice. They have been helping us out a lot. Also they come over and talk to us about our bikes and travel and America. It's pretty rad. When I talk, people instantly know where I am from. I am resting up well and hope things will go OK. I start at the back so hopefully I can move up well. Weather should be good and cold. temperature will be around 60 degrees. Should be nice for racing.

you can go to cyclingnews.com to check out photos from the race course they are pretty rad.

World Championships for Mountain Biking

Tad Elliott is at the World Championships for Mountain Biking on the USA Team racing in the U23 class in Canberra, Australia. Tad is a product of the Durango Nordic Ski Club, Rocky Mountain Nordic and the Durango DEVO Club. He left last Friday and I believe he will race this Friday or Saturday. Canberra is 14 hours ahead of Colorado. Todd Wells from Durango is also there. Here is a little blurb from his trip so far:

Flight went well, economy plus on the isle with no one next to me. I slept for 7:30 hours straight no sleeping pill. Woke up ate some food then took another 1:30 nap. I had so much food I did not even eat the airplane food. Very Nice. Course is good with a lot of single track and tons of option lines with jumps over ditches, drops, and fun stuff. It is a lot like Colorado trails. I hope to do well. Colin Cares and I are roommates. Hotel room is so swank. Two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, big flat screen TV, movie channels, two bathrooms and showers, plus our own laundry. So nice. Food set up is rad. Walk downstairs and there is 4 star restaurant preparing our meals. We see tons of Cockatiels and Parrots flying around, Kangaroo dead on the side of the road, I have not seen a live one yet but I hope to soon. It is very cold and windy here. Thermal stuff like spring in Colorado. Talk to you more when there is something cool to report.

New Race Suit, Take 3 (final round)

Hey Skiers. Final round of voting on the new suit design. Here are the top three choices:

Option#1

Option #2

Option #3

Email your votes to joshdalley@gmail.com