Nepal - Bodhnath Stupa in Kathmandu - the temples were pretty cool to see! © Devon Kershaw

July 30, 2014 – God, it’s been a long time. Why is that a familiar refrain with me regarding the frequency and consistency of website blog updates in my time? I could cowardly hide behind any number of reasons – my old age/general luddite-ness (what’s a “snap chat?”), poor internet connections, a ton of travel, racing below expectations, and thus a bit too down to write about it, or just plain old I didn’t think I had anything interesting to say – but that would probably be stretching it.

Not the fact that I don’t have much to say, but perhaps more along the lines of what I have to say may not be interesting… I digress… Either way, it’s late July… 2014. The last update was back in October of 2013. As the adage goes, “my record speaks for itself.” There will be no promises this year, no “weekly blog goals,” or the like. Instead, it will be more like those flowers your boyfriend/husband gives you randomly; impossible to predict, perhaps a little too infrequent for your liking, but heartfelt and exciting when it happens nonetheless.

Nepal - Prayer Wheels in Kathmandu © Devon Kershaw

To begin, I’ll breeze through the 2013-2014 season. Those of you who read this already know what happened and odds are you’ve spoken to me personally with regards to it (I know the extent of my “reach”). In a word it could be summed up as: disappointing. There were some highlights – most notably the 2^nd place finish in Oberhof at the Tour de Ski when Alex and I went 1-2 for the first time in Canadian men’s World Cup cross country ski history (that’s a mouthful). That was more than cool.

Then, you all know how the Olympics went for our whole team. No need to beat a horse that has already been processed into glue – so I’ll just say, “yeah, that happened.” We are all motivated, (hopefully) learned from our mistakes, and have made some changes this season moving forward to get back to where we belong/expect as a team – international success.

Nepal - Kristin and the team heading on' up Mera (to high camp actually...)! © Devon Kershaw

So with that out of the way, I am happy to report that this spring has been exciting on a few fronts. I will really blast through some of the highlights in the most boring and predictable way possible: chronological order.

Nepal - Believe it or not, under all those clothes is a smiling Kristin on the summit of Mera Peak! We were engaged about 3min later 🙂 © Devon Kershaw

Spring 2014
It was a big one. Not the actual spring itself, instead the “life monuments” that occurred. In bullet point form this is what went down.

– Dream trip realized to Nepal with Kristin and a group from “the North Face” for some trekking and climbing
– Made it to the summit of “Mera Peak” a 6,476m mountain with spectacular views. * side note: above 6,000m you body seems to feel like total ass.
– Asked Kristin to marry me near above stated summit – taking advantage of her hypoxic state. She said yes, we both cried a bit, then had some rock-hard frozen Freia chocolate in celebration. The ring didn’t get stolen or lost – so in addition to the “yes” answer the verdict was all positive.
– Made it safely down, then Kristin got quite sick – and really, really toughed out some miserable days of climbing and trekking under major stomach troubles. *side note: not sure if this was an adverse reaction to her realizing she indeed said yes to spend her life with me…  I blame the bug she caught. Perhaps best not to think about it.
– We cut our trip a couple days short and I headed back to Canada for the next bit of exciting news
– I got to move into my very own house! I had bought a half duplex in Canmore last fall, but it was right before traveling for the racing season, so I did not move in until I returned from Nepal in late April.

Nepal - This was Kristin and I's home for the better part of 3 weeks amongst the world's biggest mountains. © Devon Kershaw

Life lesson(s):
– My friends are fantastic.
– Moving multiple times in the short span of 1.5 years is not recommended for awesomeness.
– Having my own place again is a fantastic feeling.
– Painting takes longer (I feel) than it should
– I wish I had the man-skills of my dad, or at least I wish that my dad didn’t live 3,000+ kilometers away (in Canmore, as a ski racer, you aren’t getting a “new house” let’s just put it that way).

Nepal - Up on the top of Amphu Lapcha Pass looking over at the immense South Face of Lhotse © Devon Kershaw

So – in conclusion spring of 2014 was big, exciting, energy giving, awesome, busy and a great way to kick off the next season – which while we will have to wait some years before any Olympic-redemption, the next best thing  – ie. The World Championships (this year in Falun, SWE) are on deck and we are in two words: stoked/motivated.

Nepal - Kristin rappelling - she had some rough days - not feeling good at all, but what a trooper. © Devon Kershaw

Professionally speaking – I come back to that one “change” that was made this spring. The hiring of a new coach – Tor Arne Hetland, or TA as the nomenclature will be known as hence forth – a Norwegian ex super-boss (Olympic champion, World Champion, Sprint Cup winner, Top 3 Overall etc…), and ex coach of both Germany and Switzerland.

He has been a great addition to our team – great guy (so far, haha), and works really well (again, so far) with our current coaching staff (Justin and Louis). We’ve changed our philosophy slightly moving forward – but I’m trying to keep this somewhat digestible, so let’s just say athletes are happy and from an athlete’s perspective coaches seem to be happy (on the World Cup Team level).

Norway - This is only 5km away from Kristin's pad! Oslo Fjord is pretty sweet © Devon Kershaw

Camp-wise this year to date we’ve had two great ones.

1)   Sunshine/Canmore in mid-May
– The skiing was stellar
– A bit weird not heading down to Bend, and I must admit I am not a super fan of the “at home training camp” as you aren’t really in a training camp environment living at home, but the conditions were great up at Sunshine and with our budget being cut somewhat dramatically – it was a great option
– Cool to get to know TA and work with him a bit

2)   Bend/Canmore in late June – early July
– Awesome training camp down in Justin’s hood – Bend, OR for the first 10 days of that camp
– I love Bend. It’s a fantastic place for a training camp. Lots of great roads for rollerskiing, super trail running options, nice town, cool scene.
– It was a really cool camp in that both the CNEPH (Quebec training centre) and NTDC (Thunder Bay training centre) came down to join our National Team. To see the enthusiasm of the next generation of racers and to have their coaches’ work hand-in-hand with the National Team coaches is a structure which I think will lead to dramatic improvements. Bend is not close to Mont Ste. Anne or Thunder Bay – so I want to say thank you to Louis Bouchard, Timo Puiras and all the athletes from their respective Training Centre’s for making the trip.

Norway - We rollerskied up Trollstigen - a bad ass road if I've ever seen one in Norway © Devon Kershaw

Moving along with this “too wordy, hard to follow, long overdue diatribe,” let’s talk about recently.

Norway - This is the most random thing ever - on the top of Trollstigen I ran into our team's physio from 2009/10 - Ronny. He's Norwegian, but I hadn't seen or heard from him for 4 years and he was up there waiting for the weather to break to go climbing. He's a total beauty, haha. © Devon Kershaw

After the training camp ended on July 7^th, I had some chill days at home in Canmore before flying over to Oslo, NOR to be with my fiancé (isn’t that word so weird/awful?) and spend some weeks in Norway. This trip marked my first-ever trip to Europe in the summer, and I must say these last 18 days that I’ve been here have been fantastic. I love it.

Norway - All smiles up there! © Devon Kershaw

Here are some first-impressions of a Norwegian summer.

1)   I always knew that Norwegians loved sun. BUT – to see just how much they love sun, come here in summer. Every park, grassy area, beach, rocks – essentially any space with direct access to sunrays – there are people scantily clad and getting some Vit. D. Wow. A synonym for Norwegians in the summer could be as simple as: Tanning.

2)   The produce and food in general in the summer here in Norway is awesome. I hate to admit it (because they don’t need more encouragement), but their strawberries are the best I’ve tasted. Just don’t tell Kristin.

3)   Oslo rules. It rules in the winter too, but in the summer – wow. It’s so sweet. Great training, great rollerskiing actually (I know right?!), running, and in 5km of town-biking you are swimming in +21 degree water. For a big (ok, not big, but by Norwegian standards) city – it’s paradise. If only it had mountains too…

4)   I have never eaten so much brown cheese

5)   The coffee scene in Oslo is awesome. If you come here – make sure you hit up “Java” in St. Hans Hagen (neighborhood) or Tim Wendelboe in Grünerløkka (neighborhood)

6)   I have been crushing big days of training but when fueled by kanelbulle, it’s nothing

7)   Everybody coming to Norway in the summer has to check out the West Coast. Wow. Just look at the photos below. Real mountains. Fjords. Unreal.

8)   Yes – it’s expensive in Norway. For a Canadian, mind-blowingly so. Best not to think about it.

9)   I don’t know if this is normal July weather, but it’s been between 25-33 Celsius and sunny since I’ve been here. Tanners (recall: that a synonym for Norwegians) everywhere are psyched.

10)  It’s been a blast, I’ve loved meeting some more of Kristin’s crew, traveling around the country a bit, in short – I’ve had a wonderful time

Norway - Offering great views!! © Devon Kershaw

So, with that, consider yourselves up-to-date! I now have a week left in Norway before flying down to the Eastern USA for a training camp in Stratton, VT with the World Cup Team that begins on August 4^th. I am looking forward to it and as summer ticks by I feel really good about the training and preparations I’ve been doing.

Norway - Kristin and I on the last summit of the Vengetind Traverse © Devon Kershaw

Up next are some rollerski races in Western Norway – the BlinkFestival – starting with my white whale: an uphill skate race on Thursday up the fabled Lysebotn Opp – a real bastard of a climb. Wish me luck. If Kristin beats me I owe her dinner. Which is Norway is like ½ the value of my house in Canmore.

Norway - he whole crew up on top of Bispen - thanks so much Marit and Hakon for a great few days out West!! © Devon Kershaw

That’s the news of sorts – check back later and Happy summer to all.

Ha Det.

Devon.

Norway - Great times so far in Norway these last weeks. Great weather, great people, great days. Takk! © Devon Kershaw