Forni di Sopra to Davos

Last weekend we raced in Forni di Sopra, a little ski town in the Italian Dolomites. It had been 25 years since they held a high-level race but they did a great job. Friday was a classic sprint race. I felt better then I have in a while and I qualified in 13th. I didn't have quite enough gas in the finishing stretch and I came 4th in my heat, not quite fast enough for the lucky loser position. That put me in 17th spot.

Saturday was a classic individual 5km. They were 30sec starts and I skied alone the whole race which is rare in Europe! I felt pretty good and ended up 29th. Sunday was a 10km skate pursuit start based on the results of the previous two races. I was getting tired from all the racing and a 10km skate is never my best race but I ended up 29th overall.

The stadium in Forni di Sopra

Watching the men's race on the last day

After the weekend the team split up. Most of the team drove back to Zurich to fly home and five of the guys headed off to another town in Italy to do a sprint and a loppet. Sara Hewitt and I decided to stay in Europe for another weekend of races. We got dropped off at the Sport Gymnasium in Davos and have been training here all week. We will race two Swiss Cups this weekend in nearby Gibswil. Christian found a Swiss team willing to adopt a couple Canadians for the races so we will have some support. Saturday is a 5km classic mass start and Sunday is a 5km individual skate. After that we'll take the train into Zurich and explore for a day before flying home on Tuesday. That's the plan as of now... it could change as apparently Lufthansa pilots are planning a strike next week!

OPA Tour: Canmore to Campra

Greetings from the land of the Swiss! I left Canmore Sunday afternoon and arrived in Zurich Monday morning. We drove straight to Davos to train for a few days and get over jet lag. Coach Christian is from Davos so he told us all sorts of interesting facts about the areas which made it a very entertaining drive. We stayed at the Davos Sport Gymnasium which is where Christian used to work. The skiing was fabulous (it was nice to see lot of natural snow) and it was a nice ski town to hang out in. We went tobogganing on the second afternoon at one of the downhill areas which was a blast. We rented wooden sleds, rode up the gondola then sledded down a 3.5 km switchback track to the bottom. It was quite sketchy and I had a few good crashes but it was really fun once I figured out how to brake and steer!

Davos

The first morning

Preparing for our first toboggan run

Erin Tribe in one of the igloos we found in a village at the end of one of the ski trails

We trained Thursday morning then drove through the mountains towards Italy. The races were at Campra but we stayed at Olivone which is down in the valley below Campra. Saturday was a skate sprint. The course was tough with an uphill and flat section into the finish that killed the legs. I felt flat and my legs seized with lactate so it wasn't a pretty day for me. Yesterday was the 10km skate. I really liked the first half of the 5km course as it was rolling with rest after the bigger climbs but the last couple kilometres were really tough. A short steep pitch then a long gradual hill then another steeper pitch. My energy was way better than the day before but I didn't have the speed to compete against the fast Euros!

Skiing on the rec trails at Campra this morning

We spent this afternoon in Locarno, which is a town about an hour south of Olivone. There were palm trees, ducks, a beautiful lake and lots of nice cafes. We also drove up to Verzasca dam which was in a James Bond movie. Looking over the railing was more than enough for me but people actually bungee jump off of it in the summer! We threw snowballs over the edge and it was over 10 seconds before they hit the ground.

Locarno

We are staying in Olivone for one more day then we'll drive to Forni di Sopra. We race Friday, Saturday and Sunday before heading back to Canada.