Over Christmas break I played it safe. I didn't go out to all of those Christmas parties, I didn't play a lot of hockey or interval workouts in -30. Even so, I did manage to get sick. Only for a week though and I was healthy just in time for trials in T Bay.
Being sick just prior, I didn't have a whole lot of time to prepare but I was pretty confident none the less. I didn't have to have stellar races to qualify… and I didn't. I had three decent races, unfortunately for me a lot of other guys seemed to pull the race of their life that weekend. So here's how it went…
The first race was a 30km Pursuit. In a pursuit race you change equipment (poles and skis) half way through the race; starting in classic and finishing in skate. These are always fun because we usually only get to do one or two of these a year if we're lucky. It was a mass start and the pace was slow of the start. It was more of a ski 15km and then do a 15km skate race. A big group of skiers came into the exchange at the same time. All of a sudden the race started in the skate portion and I got dropped pretty hard. Not a bad race but far from what it could have been.
Sprint day was similar. I qualified seventh (first U23). I made it through the quarterfinal and had the option of using David's skis for the semi. They were lightening fast but when I came to the big hill half way through the race course I was slipping all over the place. I finished the day in second U23. If I'd won i'd be going to Czech. So close…
My quarterfinal photo by John Sims
I still had a chance. All I had to do was have a good race in the 15km skate. I had an good race, but it turns out some other guys had great races and I ended up just short. They took five junior skiers to Czech and four U23. If they took 5 of both I'd probably be going. Everyone going is a year or two older than me though so I have a couple more years. My teammate Colin Abbott pulled off some really good races last weekend and made the team so I'm happy for him.
I'd sort of expected, even planned on being in Czech Republic this coming week but instead I'll be racing some Super Tours in Minnesota. I'm actually really excited because I haven't done many of these and you can often get better points here than racing overseas.
The weather is dismal and skiing is hard to come by but I have no doubt the races will go on. After a good rest during Christmas I think it just took a weekend of racing to get me back in shape and I'm expecting to see some Yukon Elite squad on the podium in the Tour de Twin cities in Minneapolis.
