Tour of Anchorage

Somehow summer zipped by and school starts again next week. I can't say that I have been up to too terribly much. Andrew came and visited for two weeks. This time was highlighted by hiking Lost Lakes and going on a three day sailing trip. I also forced Dad and Andrew into slave labor in order to help complete the renovation of the AMH apartment. A blog post describing that project with pictures is to follow.

A highlight of August was the biking Tour of Anchorage. Again, bike racing continues to be an experience for me. Racing five times in four days, including three races in 20 hours was challenging as well. However, bike racing, unlike ski racing, is not an all-out all the time kind of event. The group races are cagey and you spend large parts of the race spinning and biding your time.

A short 5 mile time trial prologue on the first night.

Friday night was a 32 mile road race, where I broke away after around 21 miles and then crashed on the final corner, but got up to limp in for the sport win.

Saturday morning we rode up Rabbit Creek from Potter and finished at the Upper Huffman trailhead-- a real lung buster.

Looking fast, but going slowly on Saturday afternoon at the Portage TT.

The final day was an 80 minute (plus a lap) crit on the new MLK boulevard. I won both bonus sprints and the final. I guess it's time to move up to expert!

Back to the Grind

I just finished spending the entire week in intensive classes. Whew, what a week! It was both physically and emotionally draining. We did three solid days of counseling, where we were either the counselors or the clients, and I can say I feel very connected to my classmates. The last two days were spent with a specialist in suicide and eating disorders-- very important, but very tough stuff.

Other than that, I've been bike racing. It really is a huge learning curve. Everything is new and exciting: first time trial, first road race, first hill climb, and so on. I'm realizing how much I don't know, and how much experience I just don't have. It really is refreshing to show up at a race and go as hard as I can and have no real expectations for myself, except to leave it all out there.

The next few weeks should be extraordinarily hectic, as I have to now wrap up a semesters worth of work to close out the summer term. At least there's lots of daylight, as I won't be getting much sleep!

A nice day for a Moose Run time trial.

I also did my first triathlon!

Almost finished, 43rd place.

Freedom to Play

School is over for a few weeks, and I have been able to enjoy a little of my free time (apart from the fact that I haven't moved from the couch today, as I am currently sick). Last weekend I headed up to Puritan Creek with some friends to see if any of us could remember how to climb after a long winter of skiing. Some of us seemed a little less rusty than others, I was definitely one of the "others". The weather started out promising, but deteriorated to hale, rain, and snow with temperatures in the 30s!

Paul photographs Jason as he starts up a 5.9 trad route.

Britta gives a friendly belay.

A view from the base of the crag.

Paul heads towards the 5.10c rope eater roof.

Norwegian Invasion

We have had house guests the last week and a half. I promised Kikkan I would not act like too much of a groupie, as one of the guests is a former Norwegian national ski team member. I promise I didn't ask her if she knew Marit. Ella Gjømle and Øyvind Berg came to visit with dreams of epic Alaskan backcountry skiing and, epic American burgers (well, Øyvind anyway).

I was lucky enough to get to tag along for a couple of backcountry, and food outings. I even practiced a few words på norsk (men, eg har glemt nesten alle de ordene...). Below are a few pictures from a day of skiing up Hiland Valley in Eagle River. Overall the weather was sunny and the skiing was quite good. Kikkan and Jeff jetted off to Hawaii and the Norwegians back to Oslo-- so now the house is empty and there's nothing left for me but dishes, laundry and my last two written exams.

Øyvind, Ella and Lars headed up the valley.

It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains.

Spring Crust

Even though I am usually exhausted by the time April rolls around, and this year is no exception, it is the best time to ski. On Wednesday, Judy, Trooper (misbehaving brown dog) and I drove out to Portage Lake to get in on what we had heard was perfect crust. We met up at 8am, meaning that we were headed across the lake by 9am. The crust was rock solid and fast as could be. In less than an hour, including dinking around taking pictures, we were overlooking Whittier. We zipped back down and checked out the glacier, before skiing back to the car, and back to town in plenty of time to get some homework in and head to my afternoon class. A glorious Alaska morning!


Portage Lake.


A perfect day for crust skiing.


At the top of the pass with Trooper.


Delightfully fast crust.


Future AMH calendar shot.

March!

It is Sunday night, spring break is over! This is why I am writing a blog post and procrastinating finishing some homework that is due tomorrow. It's been clear and cold for the last two and a half weeks. Consequently, it's starting to feel a little like spring when the sun is shining midday. However, my trip around the middle fork this evening was anything but spring-like. I decided spandex with only long john shorts were adequate bottoms, and boy was I wrong. I felt like someone was jabbing tiny pins into my knees the entire second half of the ski. Fortunately the conditions were quick, and I got around in about 85 minutes. Tonight is another beautiful sunset, and maybe we will have the spectacular northern lights we had last week.

Since I last wrote, we had the Sven (good race) and the Tour (a character builder). I am happy to be done and rest up a little bit before I start training for the Gold Nugget and bike season. Spring adventures and pictures will hopefully be forthcoming...

Pias!

I must say that I love Pia's Classic. Yes, I had a good race, and I was skiing strong for most of 30km yesterday. But Pias is the best race of the year, and I had a blast. Today I am exhausted and actually feel on the verge of being sick; I'm lying in bed, hoping the feeling will go away with a little rest and caloric recharge. For the first time I felt like I skied a race and kept fully focused for 30km. This marks a new high in fitness for me, the ability to really race for 30km. It really is an awesome feeling.


Kick double poling it on lap one.


photos by Barry J

I've also been busy with school. I just started my Masters in Education in Counseling program at UAA. I think I'm already flying by the seat of my pants, but I'm enjoying my classes for the most part so far.

It's a New Year.

This is that time of the year where I find myself stagnating a little bit. It's cold out. It's dark, most of the time. And for whatever reason, this is the second year in a row where I thought that January would be the best time to bog my life down with insane busyness. School starts tomorrow. That is a point of stress, and additionally, all the other winter things are swirling around me (literally, and figuratively). In the back of my mind live the constant thoughts of planning for the rest of my life (a disease born of being a Gardner). My only salvation appears to be skiing, and my friends. And though my friend time is sparse (as is my tendency), I find that a good dose refreshes my soul.

As to what I have been up to-- let's see, I spent Christmas with my parents, Nellie and Aunt Lynnie, and it was a blissfully simple. We went to church had a relaxed Christmas morning, I skied and then we ate Christmas dinner. Apart from having to work on the 26th, all was well. New Year's found me out in Willow at some friends' cabin. We had an epic ski, ate too much good food and blew things up (albeit on a relatively small scale). All in all a great weekend, again slightly ruined by the need to return to Anchorage, and work on the 2nd.


A poor picture of the December eclipse.


Yahtzee had us captivated.


This was as close as we got to spelling 2011.


Happy New Year!