Back to Bates, back to blog

It's been many long months since this blog was last updated. The blame for this lack of communication could be attributed to any combination of laziness on the part of blogmaster Max, thesis writing, internet problems, and simple forgetfulness. But instead of dwelling on my mistakes, I'll try to give an idea of what the Bates Ski Team has been up to in the 125 days since the beginning of school.

September:
In September, the captains led a series of awesome practices which were well received not only by the team, but by anyone who happened to be lucky enough to watch us work out. Highlights include an absurd amount of laps around the rollerski loops near campus, and a failed attempt to organize a trip to New Hampshire to bag some peaks. In addition, we got to know our new first-years (there are seven of them last I checked).
October:
In October, the coaches took over and the season really began. Practice slipped into a fun routine, and we enjoyed our annual camp in Rangeley, ME, where I got to sleep in a bed larger than my room. Also, two of our teammates celebrated their 21st birthdays with seltzer water and rollerski intervals.
November:
In November, we got a real taste of a Maine fall, as in addition to rollerskiing in increasingly wet and cold conditions, we got to go to the Milliken's house on Mt. Desert Island. This trip was, as usual, awesome. The Milliken's spoiled us, we ate lobster on the beach, saunaed (is that a verb?), and got to hang out with Lucas. We also went up to Quebec for Thanksgiving camp, where the mens team rocked little black dresses so we could be cute and classy.

The boyz in Acadia (photo by Newt)

Focusing on lobster (also by Newt)

Seniors in black dresses. Sorry mom (can't remember who took this one)

December:
To be honest, the first half of December is a little bit of a blur highlighted by too much thesis. What sticks out is wet and cold intervals in between snow storms that never really dropped enough snow to ski on. In short, it was yet another experience of how New England makes you tough. The second half of December we all returned to our respective homes to celebrate the holidays with family.
Now:
In the last few weeks, a significant portion of the team came together in Colorado for a brief altitude training camp before going to Senior Nationals in Soldier Hollow, UT. Special thanks to the McDonalds and Blakslees for their hospitality and kindness.

In Utah, we raced a distance skate and sprint classic on back to back days. The distance race was a 15k for the men and 10k for the women, and took place on a rather difficult course. The men were led by Parker McDonald in 83rd place and first-year Graham Houtsma in 103rd place. Laurel Fiddler put up an awesome 53rd for the women, followed by Halie Lange in 102nd. The field was a little stacked.

The second day was a classic sprint in wet and sloppy conditions that had many of us using our zeroes on the course. No one made heats, which was a bummer, but I think that coach James Upham might have been glad not to have to find a kick wax that works for 37 degrees and a rain/hail/snow mix.

Halie crushing it (photo by Sandy Gray)

The last starter for the men (S. Gray)

P$ looking real athletic (S. Gray)

(for more photos go to Sandy Gray's Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/146561453@N07/page1)

After those races, we all headed back to Bates to begin a whole new semester and race season. We will be racing the Eastern Cup at Quarry Road this upcoming weekend, so keep an eye out for a blog post on that, as well as the first installment of first-year introductions.

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