Good, Better, Best

Our great blog has not been updated since the ever-accurate Max Millslagle told the world what the Nordic team is up to based on Facebook, Snapchat, and Google Images (I’m thinking “mountain in California,” Max). Lucky for us, Max is usually right so most of the things he wrote are true. We’ve been scattered around the country doing what we do in the summer, but were all hit hard with the news of Coach Flynn’s passing. Whether it was Coach’s pre-race speeches, him yelling some rendition of “get your ass in gear” during a race, or having a conversation with him while in Becky’s office, Coach has affected all of our experiences at Bates and will be remembered in a myriad of ways. More than anything, perhaps, the Good, Better, Best speech will be resonating with us for the rest of our lives.

In the end, this post isn’t about Bates or Coach really, as I don’t want to attempt to speak for all of us. This is about bettering yourself and never giving up. This is about the commitment to excellence that Coach embodied and that Bates Nordic works towards on a daily basis. Right now, for me, this is about a boy who weighs about 100 pounds and is going into his sophomore year in high school (which really is hell). This is about Lucas.

When I first heard that we were adopting new kids into the dryland program for Mammoth Nordic Racing Team, I was skeptical. It wasn’t just dreading once again teaching kids how to rollerski, but I was particularly worried about the liability of one kid. For the past two summers I have assistant coached this program. We have a great group of kids who have, over many summers, learned how to train for Nordic skiing. I didn’t want to lessen the challenge of our hikes for the new kids or break them into two separate groups for workouts. In the end, I had nothing to worry about. The two new kids are crushing in every way possible. And Lucas is not a liability.

Lucas made the transition from alpine to Nordic last winter and enjoyed it enough to join the competition program this summer. Lucas has more “problems” than any kid I know. He has an autoimmune disease causing him to have rheumatoid arthritis, tendinitis, Raynaud’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. He goes to San Francisco periodically to get treatment, often which makes him very sick. His mom assured us that the training had been good for his health, both mental and physical. I had to see it to believe it.

Lucas often shows up to practice shivering since he has trouble regulating his body temperature, but always with a huge smile on his face. On his first day rollerskiing, I had to let him borrow my new skis, which he proceeded to break within the first two minutes. I used a pair of skis that was probably made in the 80s for three weeks after that, but it was all worth it. Lucas has impressed me again and again. He is getting stronger in strength, more skilled on his rollerskis, and is making some major health improvements. With strength work his tendonitis is improving and he is going in for treatment less frequently. Last week we did running intervals on a tough forest loop. One of our older boys, who has been with the program for four years, gave up mentally as his times dropped. For all of his experience, he blew the workout. Lucas ran each of his repeats faster, beating the older boy in his last one, all with a huge smile across his face.

What does something like excellence mean if you are Lucas? I once thought that the exercise was simply good for his health, but now I see a drive that might be greater than every athlete I coach. No one on our team complains anymore because they know that if Lucas doesn’t complain, then they shouldn’t either.

If Lucas wasn’t proactive about his issues, he would be in a wheelchair. We did our last hike of the summer last weekend- a double peak challenge. As I neared the top of the second peak, I looked up and saw Lucas leading the charge to the top. And he wasn’t doing it for his health, but for something much greater.

So today, I am inspired by the kid whose best, against all odds, is pretty darn good. Lucas is, as Coach would say, “biting the wicked bullet.” This, in itself, is excellent.

Looking forward to having the Bates Nordic gang back together very very soon!

Snorel 

Most stoked kid I know (after Henry of course)!

¿Donde está todo el mundo?

Hola Amigos,

Long time no blog. Five minute ago I was sitting in the intensively modern University of Victoria Library killing time before my final New Zealand exam (Geography if you're interested), when I was struck by the realization that this blog has been sorely neglected in the past three months. So with no research beyond basic social media, here is my attempt at guessing what everyone is up to!

The Seniors Graduates: After goodbyes and tears, I assume most of our grads are either taking advantage of their newfound youth by living life to its fullest. Hopefully they can come back to Bates for Alumni weekend and relive their glory days. Miss you guys!

I recently saw a facebook post of Halie, Wade, Hadley, Samantha, and first-year Tucker Pierce at the beach (el playo), presumably relaxing after super intense rollerskiing or somesuch. If that beach is in Maine, than I'm betting Dylan is somewhere in the vicinity. It seems a safe bet.

Unsuprisingly, Henry looks ecstatic (Source: Halie Lange FB)

Speaking of our Firstyears, I can only wildly speculate on what they are doing, as none of them have seen fit to contact me. This is either because they have their stuff together and can find better people to get advice from than someone who was late to a mass start, OR (and this is vastly more likely), they are too intimidated to contact a writer of my indisputable calibre. Notice that posh spelling.

That reminds me, Nate is at Oxford (not the one in Maine, the one in England), studying the complexities of the English Language. People I've met here in NZ have assured me that Oxford is an institution that's "Bloody *****ng proper." I'll take their word for it.

I saw on an Instagram post that Parker was in Oregon, I can only hope that he visited my parents and told convincing lies about my good character.

I think Sadie is still in South Africa. If so that sounds pretty awesome.

Connor is somewhere in Montana, probably mountain biking or skiing or something. If all goes swimmingly, I met catch him in Dunedin as he begins his study abroad down here.

I have no idea what Bria is up to, a survey of FB yielded little of use, so I imagine she is spending her summer in LA, working the rings on Venice beach while surfing everyday.

Laurel I'm sure is in Mammoth, probably running up mountains and inventing stories about her cats. I noticed she provided food for nordic retiree Ben Pratt as he worked his way north up the PCT, so that was probably fun.

Mountain in California (Source: Google Images)

That brings us to my favorite subject: me. I'm still in New Zealand, and just about down with school. I spent the dead weeks before exams hitchhiking from Auckland around the Cormandel  Peninsula and down to Wellington, and I've been here for a few days taking my two exams. The next move is heading to the South Island, which I've been looking forward to for a long time. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, so far I have been astounded by the amount of water that comes out of the sky, usually accompanied by high winds.

The pinnacles view I was promised

The pinnacles view I got

Anyway, my studies have been going very well. I have run into some trouble writing essays, receiving such comments as "there is too much personal voice in this," "keep your opinions to yourself," "essays are not the place for jokes," and "great analysis!" I blame these comments on this blog, which was my sole academic pursuit in the past ski season and seems to have colored (or maybe stained) my writing style. (Don't worry Mom and Dad, voice and style usually only accounts for like 5% of an essay grade).

I've also been working out a respectable amount, anything from hiking around on the side of the road trying to look pathetic enough to catch a ride to actually running up mountains and unusually tall hostels.

I've also gotten to sleep in such places as: The ground outside a public library (2/5), a hammock across a drainage ditch (a surprising 3.5/5), the cheapest hostel in Wellington (1/5), and a double mattress on a strangers floor (5/5).

Proof my HR has gotten elevated at least once

NZ has a lot of stairs

Black Swans! 

So looking at the clock it's about time to go sit in a 200 person exam and get lectured by a bored proctor about the evils of non-transparent water bottles.

Adieu,

Max Millslagle

hour 0 to hour 30

I'm sitting here realizing that blogging is hard. Max, I'm with Halie: I'm giving you a lot of credit for keeping our blog updated. Feel free to continue from New Zealand (how are you doing, by the way? An update would be cool).

Becky and I made it to Colorado last night and nothing seemed to go wrong (knock on wood): we had no delays, our bags and wax boxes all made it through, and we even had a nice man carry everything out to our car for us when we arrived in Denver. We've been in Colorado for about 24 hours now and between that and our travel day, a lot has happened. Below, please enjoy the "Becky and Sadie travel day to NCAAs" play-by-play:

Hour 0.0: Becky realizes she almost forgot her phone in her office.

Hour 0.5: Halie sends us off in Portland and takes the Yuke back to school (thanks gf)

Hour 4.5: Arrive in Charlotte, NC.

Hour 4.75: Becky states she is experiencing culture shock as we walk to the next gate.

Hour 5.5: Board flight to Denver. Becky has something "old and brown" on her seat and the flight attendant essentially claims that Becky is fine (fine in Halie Lange terms). Sadie also tries to fasten her seat belt with Becky's. She fails. 

Hour 5.75: Becky equates us to teenagers because we're being those loud people on the plane that cannot control their laughter. Two minutes later, a flight attendant tells us to "settle down and stop texting."

Hour 9.0: Becky and Sadie do three deep, diaphragmatic breaths (a stress management technique that Sadie learned in Health Psychology) to control their stress levels when the plane starts shaking uncontrollably. The unfortunate man who was placed in the same row as us laughs.

Hour 10.0: Arrived in Denver. Becky leaves to get the rental car and Sadie collects two ski bags, two duffel bags, and two wax boxes. She proceeds to sit there for 30 minutes and is asked three times by the same man if she has somewhere to go.

Hour 12.0: Arrive at Vanda's, Becky's long-time friend and Nordic racer (they met at JNs), and are greeted by Inga, the cutest black lab ever. Becky finally sighs, acknowledging that the travel day is over.

Hour 14.0: Becky goes to sleep after 22 hours of being awake.

Hour 26.0: After driving to Summit County and saying different variations of "wow" probably 173 times, Sadie understands why everyone is so obsessed with Colorado.

Hour 27.0: Becky decides it's "time to check back in with the world."

Hour 29.0: Becky, Sadie, and Vanda go skiing at Frisco Nordic Center and ski for about an hour. In the words of Becky, "this doesn't suck." It was by far the best skiing we've had all year: blue sky, sunny, no ice, and more than 3k of groomed trails–imagine that! Max altitude was 9,315 ft. Lungs surprisingly feel good (channeled my girl KC during the ski, Snorey)

Hour 30.0: Becky orders Sadie to go stretch and roll, and then sit. Becky proceeds to go for a long walk with Vanda.

Tomorrow we're heading to Breckenridge to ski and having dinner in Vail with some Bates alumns. On Monday, we head down to Steamboat, pick up James, and get settled into our condo for the rest of our time out here. We'll get some more updates out, but here are some pictures for now!!

-Sadie

Beginning of the ski at Frisco

Skiing on REAL snow...something we've had little of on the East Coast!

End of skate ski at Frisco

Midd Recap

After being personally attacked by Max in the last blog I felt as though I had to take on the responsibility of writing the recap from the Midd carnival. So, Max I am sorry for not saying goodbye, and here is my effort at making up for that.
The crew gathered at Rikert on Friday afternoon (a day later than originally planned due to conditions) and previewed the course. We all stayed at Britta's house, where most of the boys and Britta had spent all of break week. Huge thank you to Tony and Sheri for hosting us! Friday evening we had all the skiers and our families together for dinner at Blueberry Hill Inn. Again, the food was amazing, and the company even better. We mingled as many athletes tried to keep a watchful eye on their parents, trying to reduce the number of embarrassing stories told. But inevitably the stories were shared despite some of our best efforts. Tony (Britta's father) gave a speech about the place of the nordic community in his life, and we all signed a lovely picture of Britta when she was younger. John (Corky's dad), Deb (Gracie's mom), and Hank (my dad) all made similar points about how special this time in our life is, and how the memories we make today will carry us for many years to come. A few team photos, dessert, and some last embarrassing exchanges capped a wonderful night.

Saturday (5k/10k Skate)
The boys started the day off with a 10k individual skate race. Considering the circumstances it was incredible what Rikert was able to put together. Everyone who made these races possible deserve a huge thank you, but with my limited power the best I can do is a shout-out on this blog!! The boys were met with fast conditions, and some icy downhills. The men were led by Corky in 27th, with Nate and Parker scoring for the team. Henry made his EISA debut, and put forward a valiant effort.

After a regrooming of the A climb, the ladies were off for their 5k skate. Sadie set the pace for the day finishing a career best 14th, followed by Snorel in 20th, and Britta (on her home course) in 25th. The course was fast and furious. We laughed the night before when Becky called it a 12 minute 5k... she wasn't wrong.

Sunday( 15k/20k Classic)
Again, the boys started off the day with a 20k classic mass start. The course broke down fast and left many K's to be skied through slush. Again, Corky led the way in 30th, followed by Nate in 36th, and for the first time Wade scored for the team in 51st.

The day only got warmer, and the course more broken down for the women's race. I heard many adjectives describing our race, many of them I cannot write on this blog, so I will just tell you it was brutal. However, Bobcats are tough and Sadie skied to 12th, qualifying herself for THE BIG SHOW (NCAA's)!!!! Gracie to 30th, and well Bobcats do like to travel in packs so Britta, Laurel, myself, and Helen finished 35, 36, 37, 38 respectively.

As I am still recovering from this weekend of racing, writing this has made me tired (Max- this is kind of hard, new found respect for what you did the past two months). Many pictures were taken, and posts written so I am going to let those do the talking. But one (or maybe two) last things: Thank you to all the parents who traveled around New England this winter for their cheering, food prep, and most of all their support. This wouldn't be possible without you.

Congratulations for an incredible four years to our four seniors: Corky, Britta, Gracie, and Helen. Enjoy retirement!

Corks

C.Gray

Colt

Ladies Start

S.James

Britta (is that almost a smile?)

Helen

Gracie

Snorel

H.Lange

The Boyz

As James says "You can take a nap in the snow when you are done." 

I am sure there will be more posts to recap the season, but until then it is on to NCAA's, and Marathon season! 

The next episode

Lewiston, ME- It might be fitting that this is both my last and latest blog post. I'm boarding a plane that'll eventually drop me off in New Zealand here in about 11 hours, which leaves me just enough time to recap my last weekend of the season and make some wild predictions for the team's performance at the upcoming Midd Carnival.

The Williams carnival somewhat confusingly took place in Lake Placid, NY. I'd blame the awful winter we've been having, but I'm worried that doing so would anger Ullr even further than whatever we've already done to deserve a February with more rain than snow. So anyways, we went to Lake Placid and skied on the paved loop at the ski jumping arena. A paved loop means that a course can be groomed with very low amounts of snow, and so the 2.5k course was in great shape despite the general lack of snow. The course itself was partially designed by our own assistant coach James Upham (who recently celebrated his 29th birthday on February 20th), who was able to give us an in depth guide to each twist and turn. I'll summarize that guide into: the course went uphill for a while, then it twisted down for a while, then it lapped through a flat stadium.

The carnival itself was a 10k skate race, and then a 5k pursuit start classic. I haven't done a pursuit since high school, nor has anyone else to my knowledge, so it was an awesome change of pace. The skate took place on conditions best described as "thinly covered ice," and some of the turns were a little bit spicy. But we put up some awesome races anyway, with Laurel skiing to a career-best 12th place, Grace in 18th, and Britta in 22nd. On the men's side we had a tight pack of me, Corky, and Nate in 24th, 25th, and 27th, all separated by about 15 seconds total.

The next day was a battle for spots, where you started based on your time back the first day, and were scored based on your finish order, rather than time. Temps pushed into the high 40s, and waxing was interesting, to say the least. Nevertheless, Sadie James crushed it, posting the 11th fastest time and moving up 13 spots to 25th.

After the races, I stoically said goodbye to everyone but Halie (who disappeared without a word, thank you) and drove off back to Lewiston. Since then I've been treated to snap stories from the crew staying with Britta in Middlebury, sketchy ice fishing, and lots of time to speculate on how we'll do at Middlebury. The races have been moved back a day due to excessive rain, which if you ask me favors those teams from Maine because if nothing else we've gotten used to rain. We will also see Henry Colt's scoring debut at Middlebury, where the newly 21 years old loose canon could shock the circuit with some stellar results, as long as he keeps both skis on his feet.

I guess that this is where I'll leave this last blog post, I really don't anything more to say besides a huge thank you to the whole Bates Nordic Family for all the support and love. Every weekend I'm humbled by the incredible display of support that our parents put on for us.

So until next semester, thanks for putting up with my poor spelling, grammar, and humor.

Max

Better late than never

Lewiston, ME- Once again I am late in updating the blog. Even more disgraceful, I didn't even manage to write a post last Thursday. But, as the title of this post says, better late than never.

Last weekend we raced a 20k classic mass start at Dartmouth's carnival in Craftsbury. Unfortunately, I kind of missed the beginning of the mass start and started a bit late(sorry Becky). Fortunately, this gives me perfect material for a blog post! So instead of the usual boring summary, I'm going to try something new this week and give a detailed timeline of how I missed a mass start, titled "How I missed a mass start."

2 Weeks to race start: Max gives a brief lecture on how stupid you would have to be to miss a mass start.

18 hours to race start: Max previews the course, decides that the best strategy is an aggressive start.

13.5 hours to race start: Max promises Becky that he will be skiing in the top 20 out of the starting area.

11 hours to race start: Max visualizes his first few laps and psyches himself up to stick with the lead group.

1 hour to race start: Max puts on his ski clothes, goes over his warmup plan one more time and grabs his watch so he can stick to the plan.

41 minutes to race start: Max returns his race skis for the first of two re-waxings, continues warmup.

28 minutes to race start: Max practices some start speeds, knowing that it will be his best chance to make up some ground.

11 minutes to race start: Max's race skis are ready to go, he runs inside real quick to change his shirt and throw his bib on.

5 minutes to race start: Max leaves his watch in the lodge, runs to the bathroom, and grabs his skis.

4-1 minutes to race start: ???? somewhat unclear

1 minute to race start: Max compliments a girl's hair in the parking lot, and happily runs towards the start pen.

10 seconds to race start: Max realizes something is wrong when his spot is the only unfilled spot in the start area.

-5 seconds to race start: Max, still with jacket on and skis off, lets out a heartfelt inappropriate exclamation which draws the ire of a nearby elderly spectator.

aprox. -30 seconds to race start: Max succeeds at putting his skis and poles on, and starts off after the disappearing pack.

The rest of the race: At this point I think the coaches and women's team assumed I had fallen and broke a pole, so I was actually getting cheered at instead of receiving the disappointed glares I probably deserved. It took me another minute or so to really realize what I had done, and to reevaluate my goals. I just decided to start picking racers off and see how far up I could get. I believe that the lead group was actually moving pretty slow for the first two laps or so, which helped me to no end. I ended up racing the best mass start I've ever done and finishing 28th. I am disappointed in myself for screwing up such a simple task like getting myself to the start, and for letting the rest of the team down, but I was really happy with my effort and glad for the learning experience.

The rest of the crew also had some strong races, with Corky in 24th and Nate in 35th. The women fared a bit better, with Sadie skiing to a strong 13th, while seniors Britta and Grace finished 24th and 26th respectively. It was one of those days that was just difficult racing, with temperatures for the girls race only borderline legal (around -4 degrees F), and not much warmer for the men's race. Our skis were crazy fast though, so a big thanks to the coaches.

Other important news: Happy 21st to HENRY COLT!!!! I'm not sure if the Blue Goose is open on Mondays, but if it is, don't enjoy yourself too much.

Stay tuned for my penultimate blog post on Thursday previewing the Williams carnival, which will take place in Lake Placid, NY.

UVM Ups and Downs

Lewiston, ME- After a brief hiatus, I'm back to bring everyone more bloggy awesomeness. Shout out to Bria Riggs for doing an awesome job filling in last Thursday! I had really meant to get this post out yesterday, but due to a combination of being tired, lazy, and asleep, I didn't. Anyways, back to carnival season (which coincidentally lines up with Carnaval do Brazil)!

We save this sort of stuff for next weekend's Carnie Crush

We spent the last weekend in Craftsbury because UVM's home course of Stowe was more grass than snow. The races were skate and classic 10ks for the men, and a 5k skate and 10k classic for the women.

Results:
Well Saturday went pretty well for must of the squad. Conditions were best described as sugar over ice, which made for a wicked fast race. Each 2.5k lap was taking around 5 and a half minutes (which makes for a blistering speed of 27.27km/h). Described by retiree Ben Pratt, the snow was "corny choss." Although Ben wasn't there and I'm not sure what that means, it seems to fit. Anyways, here are some highlights:

Britta Clark bringing it in in 15th place, followed .7 seconds later by Laurel in 16th, and Sadie 2.5 seconds after that in 18th.

Nate Moreau had a breakout race, finishing in a career-best 24th. He was followed by me in 27th and Parker in 28th, making this the first time in quite a while that the men's team has had all three scorers in the top 30.

I think it goes without saying "training together equals racing together," there was only a combined 12 seconds separating all of our scorers.

We ended the day with our women in 5th place and our men only 7 points behind Middlebury and Colby, who tied for 5th.


It seems that good things usually get balanced out, because our Sunday performance was a little lackluster. The flat course had a significant portion of the men's field choosing to double pole on skate skis, a feat that for me at least would have been inviting a hernia. Regardless, our hours practicing for the hills of Stowe and Oak Hill didn't help too much, and as a whole I don't think we skied the way we had hoped. Regardless I think that everyone is hungry for next weekend, when we'll get a chance at some redemption.

Pics:

They call them freedom, just like a waving flag

Bates Sports shamelessly tweeting a horribly out of date (but totally bad***) pic of P. Mcdonald

Team Update!

Carnival season is in full swing, people are prepping for the UVM carnival/E Cup/Supertour this weekend, and there isn't much snow on the ground. This time last year campus was covered in a beautiful glistening blanket of snow and it was so cold that I was questioning my decision to move from California to Maine. Today it's 52 degrees and everyone went running in shorts and t-shirts. But this post isn't supposed to be about mother nature's decision to move to the West coast for the winter, it's about how we've all managed to stay pumped and positive despite the conditions.
If you don't currently follow our team instagram page, you should drop everything and go follow us right now, @batesnordic. This way you wont actually have to waste energy reading words, but you can still follow all of our adventures through beautiful pictures. Just kidding, don't stop reading the blog, but do start following the team on instagram. So back to my point, you can tell that the conditions aren't great based on our instagram posts, but we've still been having lots of fun and training hard.
On Tuesday, some of the team tested their downhill skills and got some great pics in the process. Below you can see Connor Gray sporting his tricks that are normally saved for alpine skiing and Britta giving us a glimpse into her future in the modeling industry.

Source Credit: Connor Gray's Instagram
Photography Credit: Halie Lange

Everyone has somehow managed to still be stoked to enjoy the warm weather that we've been given so far this winter. This weekend we get to travel to the great state of Vermont and race at Craftsbury (races were moved this morning from Trapp's). It will be the first carnival of the season that isn't at Quarry Road, and I think that everyone is excited for a change of scenery and some new courses. So as the hustle and bustle of waxing continues in the fabulous new and improved ski room, we are all internally doing a snow dance and hoping fro improved conditions in the coming weeks. And as a more random/general update, here are some photos I've collected from the past few weeks. Enjoy!

The Dream Team: Halie and Helen after their amazing
performances in the skate team sprint at Colby Carnival 

Hadley as the MVS (most valuable spectator) for the
men's race at Colby Carnival

A beautiful sunset from the top of Lost Valley to round out a
beautiful ski! 

Happy Snow Dancing,

Bria 

 

Lewiston, ME- Normally on these Sunday night posts I get to regal everyone with tales about our races. Since it's an off weekend from racing, I don't get to do that so you will have to hear my talk about what I want to talk about. And what I want to talk about is the teams slow transition to cross country running JV squad. With the forecast next week calling for mid 40s and rain, Becky had us break out the running shoes last week and do a few jogs so we don't kill ourselves trying to do an entire week of workouts on foot. I think if we keep up our training we can get the whole mens team down to a sub 20 minute 5k in the next few months.

Training: It wasn't all running last week, Pineland has held snow surprisingly well, and we actually got to skate a few times. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent skittering around on bombproof ice, and have convinced me to invest in a pair of edged nordic skis. Fortunately, it snowed ever so slightly on Friday afternoon, and so we got a real solid set of intervals in on Saturday. We did an L4 ladder workout, with varied rest at the beginning and end. Here are some reactions:

Nate Moreau: "Ouch."
James Upham: "You didn't look pretty, or fast, or smooth, but at least you showed some heart."
Laurel Fiddler: "Sadie snowplowed every downhill and so that's why I did too."

Today we traveled all the way to Bethel, ME to find some classic tracks for our OD. Wax call of the day was Gold Rex Klister. Although lacking the temperature range of universal klister, it was effective for today's conditions. Many people hate klister, but personally I love it, if only to watch the poor Colorado kids try to figure out how to put it on.

Little known fact- rubbing klister in your hair is a great way to clean it off!

The best skiing of the day was ironically found on the ungroomed "Corkscrew" trail. By best skiing I mean the trail had the coolest downhills and icy creek crossings. I think I saw at least six good falls out there, which means we must have been sending it.

Racing: From here on out we are racing every weekend, and things start to blur a little bit. We have UVM on the 5th and 6th, and fortunately Trapps has plenty of snow. As a team we will try to stay focused on racing, and look to match or improve upon our earlier results. Personally, I have my eye on Dartmouth Carnival, where I'm hoping to PR in carnie crush results and maybe even break into Mid Top Ten.

Seniors: The final edition of our team bios, here is the senior class!

Britta Clark

Class of 2016, age 21

Hometown: Middlebury, VT

Major: Philosophy

Favorite Song: I'm So Paid by Akon

Dream Date: Corky Harrer

Currently pursuing the title of "Most Academic Skier," Britta can often be found practicing debating herself in the mirror. Although she loves getting into debates with the rest of the team, most of us find ourselves lost after she starts talking about "Inherent value," "Nebulous concepts," and anything that she heard on NPR. Britta was not always like this, in fact in High School she was a basketball standout and was proud of her record as three time Homecoming Princess.

While racing, Britta follows a carefully outlined warmup designed to maximize her Arousal Curve. She spends 23.5 minutes before breakfast reaching the Alpha State, before putting on her self recorded pre-race pep talk. None of us have ever heard the entirety of this pep talk, but a highlight is 7 minutes of Britta yelling the chorus for Eminem's Lose Yourself in French to herself. Whatever the rest of the tape is, it must be good at getting her in the zone because she can be relied upon to produce the best pain face on just about every race.

Corky Harrer

Class of 2016, age 22

Hometown: Minneapolis, MN

Major: Philosophy

Favorite Song: RGF Island by Fetty Wap

Dream Date: Britta Clark

Passing up on a promising  NJCAA Football scholarship to Bismark State College, where he was recruited for both Wide Receiver and Quarterback. After deciding that he wanted the intimacy of a Liberal Arts school and choosing Bates, Corky signed up for skiing on a whim. He now brings his skills as QB to the annual Rangeley Bowl and All-EISA Quebec Pro Bowl. His stats currently stand at 26% completions with an average of 5.7 TDs a game. Analysts point to his mediocre receiving squad as the cause of his low completion rate.

Recently, Corky has found himself leading the Bobcats in many races, posting extremely solid results especially in Classic races. I find him to be the best draft on the team, mostly because he is the only one on the team who puts up with me skiing on their tails for 13k (I usually get dropped on the last lap). Throughout the rest of the season keep an eye on Corky, not only for good results, but because he is always up to date on the current ski fashion.

Helen Sudkamp-Walker

Class of 2016, age 21

Hometown: Fairbanks, AK

Major: Psychology

Favorite Song: Love Yourself by Justin Beiber

Dream Date: "I just want to hang out with their dog"

Known to wear shorts and a T-shirt to warm up for all but the coldest races, the Alaskan-born Helen can often be found applying sunscreen before in the start line, and triple checking with the TD for moose warnings. She has recently seen a pretty significant improvement in results, a phenomenon she attributes to training only 450 hours  in the past year and "Finishing Thesis."

Off the track, Helen is the only member of the team with the future together, intending to study nursing. Compared to other's plans of joining the navy, manual labor, and failing their Short Term class so they have get to take another semester at Bates, her level of post-collegiate preparation is astounding. More proof that she has her life together on a level we can only imagine is her success at holding a steady significant other for longer than three months, a task that has proven impossible across the board for the rest of us.

Grace Wright

Class of 2016, age 21

Hometown: Rutland, VT

Major: Mathematics

Favorite Song: "Im in Love With the Coco by O.T. Genasis" covered by Ed Sheeran

Dream Date: "I don't do dates"

Much like Batman, Grace used to live a double life. A skier in the winter, and a Lacrosse player in the spring, she confounded all expectations placed on her by both teams. Fortunately, after quote, "Yellow House swallowed my spoon [Lacrosse Stick]," she joined the nordic team full time. Despite skiing full time, she continues to defy convention, refusing to buy into the much lauded practice of having multiple skis for different conditions, she instead keeps things simple, only choosing between a pair of classic skis and a pair of skate skis. Despite this, she still manages to post stellar results, much to the annoyance of those of us who donated plasma for two months to afford a new pair of kilster skis they still haven't used.

Speaking of race results, her recent 12th place finish is a team best for the year, and their is a good chance that more like it will soon follow. She can usually be picked out from a crowd courtesy of her tempo, which averages twice as fast as anyone else's. Grace's non-athletic likes include: The Bachelor, The Bachelorette (and their associated brackets), prime numbers, and selfies.

Okay, so that's the team. I think I've just about filled my quota for selfless reporting on the rest of the team, so look forward to Thursday's post, "An In-Depth interview with Max Millslagle" by Max Millslagle.