Cookies (and other things) in the 970

The Adventures of the Cookie Clan.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Hallie arrived at the Zdechlik household to freshly baked, right out of the oven, chocolate chocolate cookies. After munching on a few, we headed out into the Wild Wild West.

While driving through the open range of the Wild Wild West to make cookie batch #2, we encountered some furry friends, who clearly wanted some cookies also. 

Then we took a cruise through Vail, obviously passing the new cupcake shop, though not stopping in, and got confused for a moment. We could have sworn we were in Europe!

While in Europe, we decided to go skiing. Hallie did not know what to do about the powder. 

After our strenuous day of alpine skiing, after Nordic of course, we needed to refuel. And what better recovery food than Christmas cookies?!

We also encountered another furry (or not so furry) friend. He was clad in the holiday spirit. 

Santa stopped by, and was on the cookie train too, and dropped off some edible coal!

Much love,

Lauren and Hallie

PS. We actually have been nordic skiing too. The skiing is beautiful and our mountain backdrop makes it even more gorgeous! 

Hallie working on some classic technique

Buffalo and Red

It was a bit chilly this morning

Lauren's skiing with a sweet new retro vest!

Making the Most of What We've Got

My mama has always told me that what separates the best from the rest is being able to make the most of what you have available and then effectively implement plan B when plan A just doesn't work out.

Despite the rapidly falling snow at the Craftsbury Eastern Cup last weekend I knew that I was heading home to a rainy week. So, I got ready to make the most of what I would have available: I pulled my helmet, sneakers, and reflective vest out of my duffle bag, switched my pole baskets to rollerski ferrules, and did a little mental prep to keep myself psyched about racing season even with the lack of snow. So far, it has worked perfectly well, though eager (as always) to be on snow, I am happy with what I have!

Many members of the team have been able to get on snow for the past week and are making the most of some good skiing, while others are keeping their spirits up and training well despite the lack of snow in the East. For example, Helen is doing Besh Cups in Alaska (Go Helen!!) and Catherine, at home in New York, has used her rollerskis, running shoes, and YMCA membership quite a bit since she left school. Either way, Bobcats do the best they can with what they've got, and you can be sure that we're all psyched for racing season! As Dr. Jerry Lynch would say, we all have "a fire in the belly!"

Happy break everyone and keep up the good work!

-Jane

P.S. Remember to keep faith, there is snow in the forecast for the East Coast...

UPDATE: The east HAS snow.

One of Margaret's beautiful photos (McCall, Idaho)

Break!!!

After the exciting weekend of World Cup and the even more exciting week of finals that followed, we all went our separate ways for the holidays. Last weekend, the group of East-coasters headed up to Craftsbury for the first Eastern Cup races of the season. From what I've heard, it was a lot of fun and a good way to rev the engines for the upcoming race season! 

Here are some of the ladies at Craftsbury

 BRITTA

 GRACIE

HALLIE

Here in Fairbanks I've been enjoying the new snow as long as I can stand to be outside.

A selfie at -19 degrees

Get stoked for JNs 2013!!

Also, it snowed at Bates!!! Hopefully we'll be on snow when we get back :D

Alumni Walk lookin' good

I hope everyone has a lovely break!

-Helen

A Weekend of World Cup: Feelin' Lighter Than Air

Bates Alumni Sylvan Ellefson Racing the Qualifier

"Bobcat of the Week"

    Rock skis? Check. Water belt? Check. Homework for the weekend? Check. Deodorant? Double check. This is the mental check list I found myself making automatically while I packed my gear for the Bates Nordic ski team’s trip to the World Cup sprints in Quebec, Canada. As I proceeded through my mental inventory of items I needed and ones I could do without, I thought of prior trips I had taken. I was often guilty of bringing things that were not really needed. After all, were three pairs of running sneakers really necessary for the one, potentially two, scheduled "on foot" weekend workouts?
   Shaking my head, I tossed my muddy grey Nikes back into my locker bin. I thought about recent other times I had brought things with me that I didn’t actually need: stress to study sessions and a somewhat preoccupied mind to practices. Worrying too much about training hours, finals, or papers, only adds unneeded stress to the bag of other things we are already carrying. To enjoy the trip to the World Cup this weekend and enter the racing season ready to go, therefore, means not packing any doubt, worry, stress, or negative energy. It means trusting yourself, your plan, your coach, and your teammates. It means remembering that, while watching Kikkan Randall, Bates native Sylvan Ellefson, as well as the number of other U.S. ski team members and world class athletes ski by, dreaming is what makes the journey possible. And going into exams week and racing season, it means looking out for Bates Nordic because this year, we are brilliant, fast, and packing real light.

Bates Winning

Thanks for letting me on board Bobcats and don’t forget: Dream Big.


XoXo Gabby

Kikkan Crushing

But wait, bonus round!!

A great picture of Gretchen and Nate's American flag face, courtesy of Jane and Britta

Proud to Be An American

Lucas, Pete, and Filly with Texan guest star, Jordan Buetow

Britta Clark: A Crazy American Fan

The Venue From Afar

A Margaret Pope Special of Kikkan Waving the Stars and the Stripes

VT Chillin'

This past weekend, a group of Bobcats longing for snow headed back to Vermont to try and get in some hours on real skis. Though the trip's logistics were last-minute and a little messy, everything worked out great: myself, Hallie, Nick, Andrea and Margaret headed to Burlington and stayed at the Grossman's new abode (the first time Hallie had seen it since her family moved in) and commuted the 1+ hours to Craftsbury. We got fed home-cooked meals and were able to visit some friends on the UVM team. It was the perfect escape from end-of-the-semester mayhem on campus.

Lucas, Sean and Jordan stayed at Burke - Jay and Lucas got to catch up with some folks who they know from their time there, and Sean learned a lot about why the two of them are the way that they are.

We met up Saturday morning at Craftsbury to do some on-snow threshold intervals with speeds thrown in. Besides the 1.25 km loop (expanded since Thanksgiving), it could have been February: cold, snowy and perfect skiing. There were plenty of others taking advantage: Middlebury was out skiing, UVM was doing a time trial, SMS and CSU and some very big groups of Quebecois skiers were all getting after it.

(Photo brazenly stolen from the SMS blog)

The dudes must have been a real sight: hammering 15-someodd laps around the loop in a big pack, weaving around a bazillion little quebecois kids, all wearing matching clothes. Intimidation is everything I guess. We got a lot of cheers.

We skied again on Saturday afternoon, and on drizzly Sunday morning we came back for a classic OD. Some of us took the opportunity to explore the trails beyond the manmade loop. The entire 5k race loop was rolled out, along with a good bit of other terrain, but it was mostly rock skiing.

UVM and Midd were out on OD skis as well, so we got to catch up with some friends who we had missed while we were hammering the day before.

All in all a great escape from school and a perfect end to our big-volume training period! Now it's time to get sharp for race season...

Stay tuned for updates from this weekend's trip to the Quebec World Cups, where a bunch of us will be going up to watch alum Sylvan Ellefson '09 (along with other friends!) race with the best in the world. Maybe Becky will even let us take up the Midd team on their offer to have a dance competition on Saturday night...

Thanks for reading,

-Filly

Cheesin'

Movember Recap

         Rabbit Rabbit. Lo, its finally December and only two long weeks stand before us and academic freedom. In the weeks following, members of our team will race at the first Eastern Cup weekend in Craftsbury, Vermont followed by a short Christmas break before U.S Nationals and then finally Carnival Season. However, instead of contemplating and planning for the future as Cross Country Skiing demands, I'd like to dedicate this post instead to November. 

          November was the month for the Bobcats. November saw Bobcat victories at the Lobster Roll 15km, relaxing in Acadia, much hill bounding at Lost Valley, being reunited with on snow skiing and then being torn away, Paula Dean style Thanksgiving dinner and mustaches. Yes, mustaches.

                                              A very cleanly executed mustache by Nate Fuller.

           November is not only a month following October and subsequent slaughter of American Turkey populations, however a month for both men and women to come together to embrace the breathtaking beauty and power of a good moustache. Moustache + November = Movember. In actuality, Movember is a month where men dedicate their upper lips to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Forming a team headlined by former Batesie and current U.S Ski team member Sylvan Ellefson, and to the dismay of the female team, the Bobcat men celebrated Movember. 

Our fearless Movember team Captain, Sylvan Ellefson 

              With all that being said, Movember was a lot fun for all those involved, except perhaps the female team who reluctantly gave us the support we needed to preen and grow our crumb catcher's. 

                                   Sophomore Nick Michaud casually sports his Parisian inspired moustache

                                                    Senior Kevin Daniel Kuzio and his impressive 'stache.

                                                           Me (Peter Cowan) and my precious Mo.

                                         Bates Nordic's biggest fan Brendan Johnson ('14) and his well groomed moustache.

                                                                                   We even got some skiing in!

                       There you have it. November at its finest. The past week for the Bobcats has been a rather quiet one with a low hour recovery week, however a good opportunity to view all that video from Craftsbury. As November winds down and the Bobcats look towards December and the months to come, we can truly say this was a great month of training and individual competition. 

                                                          We salute you November.

         More photos to come I'm sure from the small crew that headed back to Craftsbury this weekend.

                                                                                                               -Peter Cowan '14