January 20, 2015 – Olympian Tours, a Colorado-based custom bike and ski vacation company, has announced its 2015 fundraising event May 21-25 in conjunction with the Oregon Nordic Ski Foundation for the United States Biathlon, Cross Country, and Nordic Combined teams in Bend, Oregon, featuring Olympians Billy Demong, the Fletcher brothers, Tim Burke, Lowell Bailey, Kikkan Randall, Andy Newell and Liz Stephen – and 90% of the proceeds will be split evenly three ways and go back to their respective programs.

Bend Trifecta ©Olympian Tours

Live, train, and eat with athletes from the U.S. Biathlon, Cross Country, and Nordic Combined Teams as you spend a day with each team.

• Friday – Ski with U.S. Nordic Combined Team members in the morning and then ride McKenzie Pass in the Afternoon.
• Saturday – Ski with the U.S Cross Country Team in the morning and run the Deschutes River Trail in the afternoon.
• Sunday – Ski with the U.S. Biathlon Team in the morning and then join all the teams and the community of Bend for an evening of celebration.

The U.S. Biathlon, Cross Country and Nordic Combined Teams currently boast members who have medaled at the Olympic Winter Games, Nordic and Biathlon World Championships and World Cup, and they do so with resources that are a fraction of the best ski nations. This is an opportunity to share three intimate days training with these pioneering athletes on their Olympic journey.

Your support will provide the additional funding needed for these athletes to continue achieving excellence and supports up-and-coming athletes, the future of Nordic sports.

Details

Private Chef: Healthy and delicious meals will be prepared each day by chef Mike Keuler from Go Bistro Foods.

Ski and Bike Rental: Give us your ski and pole sizes and bike dimensions and we will reserve top of the line ski and road bike rentals for you.

When: May 21-25, 2015

• Arrive on Thursday, May 21 and depart on Monday, May 25
• Friday – Sunday: ski, ride and run

Where: Bend, Oregon

• Bend is an outdoor playground paradise in the spring. You can ski in the morning and ride and run in the afternoon. Typical daytime temperatures are 65-70 degrees for late May.
• Bend has a vibrant cultural life with lots of live music, plays and festivals, and you can sample award-winning beer from 15 world-class brewpubs in town.

How much: Suggested donation of $10,000 ($8,000 of which is tax deductible).

Your Guides
Carl Van Loan and Jed Hinkley are co-owners of Olympian Tours, a bicycle and ski touring company. They are both former U.S. Ski Team members and during their skiing careers they were members of multiple World Championship Teams, the 2002 Olympic  Team (and Carl was also a 2006 Olympian) and both were Junior World Champions. They have also raced bikes for many years and worked at bike shops. Currently Carl is a Certified Personal Trainer and Nordic ski coach in Denver, Colorado, and Jed is a Graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill pursuing his Masters in Public Health.

Beneficiaries of Bend Trifecta: The beneficiaries from this event are the Oregon Nordic Ski Foundation (10% of profit) and the U.S. Biathlon Team, U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and the U.S. Nordic Combined Team who each will receive a 30% share of the profit. ONSF is a non-profit organization with IRS 501 (c) (3) designation as a public foundation (Tax ID # 94-3088221). Since 1989,  ONSF has provided over $1 million dollars in grants to athletes on the U.S. Biathlon and U.S. Cross Country Teams and to cross country skiing grassroots organizations.

More info here (PDF).