A Special Guest Blog from PRO SKIER Beth Taylor

Heyo everybody, this is Beth Taylor, guestblogging from the couches of Alumni Gym in Lewiston, Maine. First of all, I guess I should explain what I am doing here. Back in early September, I realized I would never make it through my first fall as an alumni without Tollhouse pie, Commons' apple cider, and of course my bobcats and kittens. I caved, bought a plane ticket, and made Becky promise to keep my return a secret. Fast forward to this past Friday, when I strolled into the ski room like I had never left.

My first few hours at Bates were everything I could have imagined and more. After several hours of double takes, hugs, and getting slide tackled in Commons (Hallie...), I was skiing through postcard-worthy New England scenery, getting caught up on everything I had missed in Bates life. My welcome to Maine was completed with fresh apples and cider donuts at Becky's house post-ski. By 7:30 PM, I found myself in an electric yellow, blue-flowered pair of snowsuit overalls, surrounded by equally stylish teammates, strapping on rollerskates and trying to do the Gangnam Style dance on wheels without falling on my face. Stars of the evening were Mr. Nick Michaud, gettin frisky with gender boundaries in a kimono and matching hat; Ms. Sally Ryerson, whose dinosaur suit inspired a young fan to ask for her autograph; and Mr. Jordan Buetow, whose skating skills cannot be matched.

Taking over the Rollodrome in a storm of neon.

Sally and Britta's biggest admirer

Early the next morning a squad of Bobcats and I got up early for the annual Dempsey Challenge charity run. Highlights of the day were several 10k titles (Filly for the men, Hallie and I for the women), a lot of awesome Bobcat spirit as everyone cheered for everyone else during overlapping points in the run, and the discovery that Patrick Dempsey was repping a Bates Skiing hat (thanks to Avril Dunleavy). That afternoon I got introduced to Lucas' new core workout (very simple: do core for thirty minutes, straight up), and began to understand the abundance of six-packs on the team.

Beautiful Bobcats with some average-looking dude

Yesterday while some of us did a skate roll/run workout around Pineland, most of the men's team, plus Hallie, Jane and Caroline, braved the rainy conditions to bike anywhere from 25 to 100 miles for the Dempsey ride. Overall sounded like a pretty awesome ride (shoutout to Filly, who broke his chain within six miles and had to trek back to campus), with a pack of Batesies leading the century just behind the lead car. 

At this point everyone is studying hard to get midterms done before we head out to Rangeley Wednesday morning for some serious uphill time trials and some even more serious apple pie baking and football playing. (check twitter for live updates on the annual and highly anticipated Rangeley Bowl.) as always, it's a good day to be a bobcat....and it's good to be back.

The very illustrious and very professional Beth Taylor.