December 03, 2014 (Ruka, Finland) – SkiTrax caught up with Team USA’s Erik Bjornsen after he competed at the 2014-15 season opener Ruka FIS World Cup #1 in Finland, his first. He finished 52nd in the 15km CL event and tells us about how he feels at the start of the new season, his thoughts on summer training, as well as his goals.

Erik Bjornsen (USA) © flyingpointroad.com file photo

What are your thoughts as you start your season?
Erik Bjornsen: I’m really happy with how my summer training went and I can already feel it paying off. Last year I made the easy mistake of training way too hard in November and this year I tried to be a little more conservative. I feel very lucky and happy to be starting my season over here and I want to make the most of all the WC starts I get. Coming into it I knew that these first two world cup weekends were going to be some of the hardest for me. Not only are they in Scandinavia, which means lots of fast national group skiers, but I also tend to start off the season a little slow.

How did you feel out there?
EB: I was surprised with the race feelings the last couple of days. The body has felt pretty good even though it has been a little flat the last couple weeks. I can tell that the fitness gains I made this summer are going to pay off. Today’s conditions (15km CL) were quite tricky for me. I did a lot of running outside the tracks and hard double poling. I’m working with a new tech and a new fleet of skis so it’s going to take a couple of weeks to get it all dialed, luckily both are top notch!

Today I started the race VERY slow. Last weekend in Muonio I made the mistake of starting the men’s 15km CL time trial too fast and it hit me hard on the second loop. I guess I was a little gun-shy this morning. It’s all about finding the sweet spot, I thinking I’m narrowing down on it. I haven’t done much racing in the last six months and the body feels a lot different then the last time I raced. I was able to push hard today and recover on the downhills.

Are you happy overall?
EB: In general I’m happy with where the body is at.  I’m sure nobody back home is impressed with my results but don’t worry guys, I promise you it’s coming! 🙂

What are your goals this season?
BB: My goal this season is to get as many World Cup starts as possible and to learn from each of them. In a year or two I would love to start consistently scoring points in sprint and distance races. Now is the time to learn all the venues and the flow of things over here on the World Cup. I want to go home next summer knowing exactly what it takes to ski with the best in the world.

Thanks for your comments and good luck this season.
EB: Thanks for the interview.