Pre-Race food, meet the Freshman, and Waterville

Waterville, ME- We are less than 18 hours from the start of the first carnival of the year. Conditions have drastically improved from the ice and dirt that were left after the rain storm last Sunday. The rumor mill has even got us hoping for a chance at skiing the full 5k loop come Saturday (knock on wood).

Here are a couple reactions to our coming race:
"I'm ****ing pumped!"- Sadie James
"Stoked"- Connor Gray
"Hella' Pumped, it's gonna' be so much fun!"- Henry Colt
Dancing with joy- Britta Clark

In other news, our new jackets (courtesy of L.L. Bean) showed up yesterday. That was huge news, because although we don't need any help being the best looking team on the circuit, our vintage Patagonias were great at looking hip, and not so much at keeping the wind out.

The Past:
We have slipped right into our usual race season routine, but as I write that I realize that most people probably have no idea what that is, so let me elaborate:

Monday: On Monday, we rest. Some people use our official off day to catch up on homework, others like Haile spend it, "Singing the Frozen theme song."

Tuesday: We did intervals at the race venue in Waterville. The idea was more or less to remember how to go fast, which we accomplished by doing 5-6x 3minutes of L4 (Hard) skiing on the sprint loop. Personally I felt real shaky, but hopefully I got that out of myself during the intervals rather than saving it for the races.

The crew before intervals

Wednesday: We did a distance classic ski with some specific strength (double poling on the uphills and no-pole striding) at Pineland. Honestly it was the first time most of us have classic skied in quite a while (the snow's been too shallow for tracks), but everyone seemed to remember how to kick, and the day went pretty well.

Thursday: The day before a race we ski the course, doing race pace speeds on key parts, and generally getting a feel for things.

Waxing for the first time in forever

The Future:
Friday: the women start their qualifier at 9:30am, and the men follow at 10. If we qualify some people for heats, those will go off starting at 12:15

Saturday: Women start at 10am for a 5k skate, while the men go off at noon. Temps are forecasted to reach a balmy 33 degrees Fahrenheit with high chances of "wintery mix." So keep an eye out for rose tinted lenses, soft skis, and coaches on fish-scales.

Freshman Feature:
I recently decided to begin including brief bios on my teammates in these blog posts, in the hope that cheering parents will be able to recognize us. Since I don't want to write them all at once, I'm going to break them down by class year. So without further ado, I present the Bates Nordic Freshman class.

Hadley Moreau

Class of 2019, age 19.
Hometown: Falmouth, ME
Spirit Animal: Golden Retriever
Major: Undecided
Favorite Song: Boys, Boys, Boys by Lady Gaga
Dream Date: Hot air-balloon ride followed by a picnic in scenic Switzerland

Hadley knew from a young age she was destined for greatness. She spent her early years playing with barbies and tea kettles, but she soon came to her senses when she attended her first Fallout Boy concert. A brief rebellious phase culminated in falling into the Erie Canal, an event which caused her to reevaluate her priorities and sign up for the local nordic team. Initially drawn by the hot chocolate and cookies, she soon discovered the joys of cleaning klister and rollerskiing in the rain. Before long, Hadley new that she wanted nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of her older brother and attend Bates College.

At first, she was quiet and respectful, but it didn't take more than two weeks before she started giving me excessive amounts of sassy responses to simple requests like "can you wax my skis," "will you write this essay for me," and "my toenails need clipping." In class, I am told that she manages to restrain her sass, and sources say she is a model student. Her goals for the race season include collecting a large number of carnie-crushes, learning how to wax, and perfecting her snow dance (which has so far been unsuccessful).

Sam Pierce

Class of 2019, age 19.
Hometown: New Gloucester, Maine
Spirit Animal: Fawn
Major: Undecided
Favorite Song: Rock Star, by Nickelback
Dream Date: "I have a boyfriend, back off Max."

Voted most datable member of Bates Nordic, Samantha Carrs Pierce spends the majority of her time politely declining requests such as "let's study together," and "my toenails need clipping." Despite the burdens of her good looks and charming personality, Sam manages to find time to wax all of Max's skis, excel in her First Year Seminar "The Roots of Non-Violence," and apply this knowledge to beating up Corky. Sam describes her spirit kitchen appliance as a "drawer with lots of chocolate in it," which is fitting given her senior superlative of "Most likely to not know what the word appliance means."

After some digging, it was uncovered that Sam was the most popular girl in her middle school class of 20--she credits her collection of Aeropostale Tees and a personal style modeled after Hilary Duff for propelling her to the top of the social ladder. More recently, she has adopted an interest in astronomy and now spends many nights staring into the night sky, wondering if we are alone in the universe.


Keep an eye out for Sunday's post, which is going to cover our illustrious sophomore class!

Until then, here's a picture of Britta, Hadley, Henry, and Connor making fun of me for having them pose for a picture: