December 01, 2011 – It’s a staple on the World Cup circuit – and this was my 5^th anniversary enjoying (cough) the Lapland gem? It doesn’t change much. You all know it’s dark up there. Like 2:30pm it’s black type dark. You know we eat boiled potatoes – bunches and bunches of them. You know the courses are tough with monster climbs which seem to laugh hysterically through the darkness at your legs when you approach their steep angled slopes. You know it’s a mini-tour format for the second year in a row – meaning that this past weekend there were three tough little races in three days – starting with a classic sprint on Friday, a 10km individual start skate race Saturday, and an old style 15km classic pursuit to finish the whole shebang off.

Thanks to all the technological advances, you probably also know that the first two races continued to be dismal for me personally. You also probably know that my last race on Sunday was much improved – when I moved from 37^th up to 20^th in the pursuit and posted the 8^th fastest time of the day. I heard that Sudbury rejoiced, and a parade is planned. You probably didn’t hear that part – probably because there is no way in my lifetime there will ever be a parade for anyone or anything other than the Sudbury Wolves hockey team in Sudbury.

Ok, so how was Kuusamo then?

Well, Lenny is the bomb-diggity of everything skiing right now. That’s something new and exciting. The weather was strange this year too. When you are flirting with the Arctic circle in late November you expect cold temperatures (last year it was -20 on the daily), and snow covering the bleak landscape. In your mind, the wind is howling and trees are creaking and bending in their battle with nature – a breath away from tumbling down into the snow covered blandness below. You picture your face being battered with icy/snowy pellets – like a pack of 100,000 angry Ninjas throwing miniature Ninja stars at your face, and long, pale expressionless faces.

I can only confirm it was windy. I guess I can also confirm that the landscape remained bleak. But the snow and cold temperatures were lacking. Don’t worry – Saturday’s race had nasty weather – but in the form of rain – which was, well… wet.

I’ll breeze through the races now.

Friday – Classic Sprint
I was terrible. I mean, really terrible. I failed to qualify and was nowhere close, finishing a distant and depressing 56^th. Seeing how I usually qualify on Kuusamo’s hilly classic sprint, I was disappointed. I still wasn’t feeling great energy-wise, but I wasn’t expecting to be that bad either. I did my best – but my best on that day was an F.

Highlight of the day went to Lenny throwing down a 5^th place. What up. First time in the finals for the 6”6 super talent, and everyone on the team was so fired up for him. The guy is going to be scary good for years and years. Awesome breakout for him! Chandra also qualified for her first time ever (in 10^th too!) on the hilly Kuusamo course – which was super duper cool. Joining them in the heats were Alex and Dasha – but sadly they all (sauf Lenny) got bounced in the quarters.

 Saturday – 10km Ind. Skate
Quite the day. It was wet out there – I felt like I was on the coast of Newfoundland in early November as a Nor’wester was rocking me – rain and wind smacking me around from all sides. The course was the “classic” tough 5km – with three big climbs to make grown men like me (almost) cry per lap.

I was getting frustrated at this point. It had been a few toughy race days in a row, and I was ready to just hammer and see what happened.

That’s what I did – I went out “hard” and then blew up a bit, really fighting the last few kilometers as I hobbled to the finish. Man, I was hurting bad – it wasn’t pretty. I ended up 32^nd, which was another disappointment and I pushed so, so, so, so hard for that. I was blasted at the end, totally knackered. I was happy I “went for it” but the body in its two week revolt didn’t seem to be. It was “occupy Kersh” – bad energy/feelings edition, and there was no way they were going to vacate their tents, pack up and go home. 

Babs was the Canadian man of the day that day – posting a Kuusamo-best 16^th in the race. The dude loves climbing, and the course was perfect for him. Everyone was stoked for the bulldog! Harv’ was pissed and said that “he felt like total shit out there” but still managed to pick up a few points – finishing 27^th.

Sunday – 15km classic pursuit
I was happy this thing finally came around. After Sjusoen where I bailed hard, lost a ski and got scrapped up pretty good in the only other distance classic race I’ve done this season – to say I was looking forward to a classic race would have been an understatement.

Conditions were finally stable too with tracks that were a mix of soft(ish)/sugary conditions and pretty decent hard(er) tracks too in places.

The race went out whack-fast. Everyone was blazing up the trail to catch the dudes ahead of them. I was finally feeling good but charging really hard. A little too hard I guess, because I had a few “tough” kilometers in there where I felt like a slobbery dog at the end of a long summer run – with no water in sight – still moving forward but starting to be glassy eyed and wavering.

I brought it back and had a solid last lap (it was a 6×2.5km lap sufferpallooza) to finish 20^th in the mini-tour. Seeing how I was 10^th here last year, the overall result for the Ruka-Triple was a a bit of a disappointment for sure, but to finally have had a “solid” race was much appreciated. It felt good to be able to push over the tops of hills again. Really good!

Alex was the man – finishing 11^th overall and skiing the 15km course 1 second faster than me to finish 7^th on the day – and Lenny hung in there for his first-ever top 30 in a distance race – I told you that kid is the man. And ladies, he’s good looking and single. Just saying.

Now.
There’s no snow in Central Europe. None in the Alps, and temperatures are unseasonably warm during the daytime. Still – to see the sun again for the first time in almost a month has been welcoming. The food as well has been divine, after Scando, the food in Italy is a borderline religious experience

The team is split right now – the distance-oriented crew is here in Livigno enjoying every single minute of the Bivio (the boss hotel we rock while we are here) and the sprint-oriented crew is in Davos – our Canadian team’s unofficial “European Base” for over two decades.

Italy rules – we all know that. But the skiing could be better. Livigno’s conditions are really good but the loop is short – 2.2km at the moment. Davos is even worse right now – as there are three separate loops happening there: a) 750m (in the stadium) b) 1.4km (up high in Fluella (on part of the race course) and c) 800m on the golf course.

Still, life is good. The cappos are going down smooth, croissants are being devoured, faces are being tanned, saunas are being had, lots of banter and smack is being verbalized (mostly by Alex) and Babs is in heaven every morning when he sees and dives head first into the 10kg Keg of Nutella. What’s not to love!

Woo!
Devon