It’s been a really long time since my last post… since the last post I’ve raced in Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Italy. I’m not even going to try to cover it all, but make sure to check out the video I made from the OPA trip on the videos page.
I’m currently in California to wrap up the ski season at Supertour Finals. We’re staying about a mile from Lake Tahoe in an awesome condo offered through one of Jordan’s family friends (link here). The beach is walking distance from the condo.
Because of relatively low snow, all the races so far have been held up high at the Auburn Ski Club. We raced a 3k skate prolog on Thursday, and 15k classic mass start on Friday, and a classic sprint Saturday.

Skate prolog. Photo: Mark Nadell, http://macbethgraphics.smugmug.com

Sophie skied a strong 10k classic mass start.
I felt really good in the classic sprint, especially in the qualifier. I had a few slips and technical bobbles, but overall skied strong and ended up in 18th (coincidently, the exact same place as last year at spring series in Craftsbury). In my quarterfinal, I got out to a good start, tucking in behind Ryan Scott on the first downhill and skiing at the front of the group. I felt comfortable and relaxed, but then right before the big climb my pole basket snapped off. With my pole plunging into the snow, I lost composure and tensed up on the climb and started losing places. I ended up finish in 5th and failed to move on.

My teammate Andy Newell took a commanding win for the sprint.
I skipped out on the hill climb today because of a lingering cough, but I am really looking forward to racing the 50k on Thursday. Until then, the name of the game is rest and recovery!
After spring series I’m headed to Alaska. I’m looking forward to visiting home!