The End of an Era

For the majority of my life I have driven around the country to ski races in one car. My 2000 Dodge Durango, fire engine red and covered in ski racing stickers, ping ponged around the Western US when I was at Rowmark, and it brought me across the country to Williams College and thereafter. I would conservatively put the number of different ski hills that the Durango has been to at over 50. So last week when I decided that after 188 thousand miles it was time to part ways with Big Red, it was a bit of an emotional experience.

As my Nordica rep Ethan Korpi said, it’s always good for a skier to have a project to do when taking time off. Selling a car and buying another one while taking a week off in DC proved to be plenty time consuming, especially since I had to overnight the tags and titles back and forth from Alaska (thanks Mom!) in time to drive to VT this weekend. I even got in some time at the BGC. It all worked out and I believe that the Durango has gone to a worthy owner that will treat it right, not always a guarantee when selling a car worth significantly more when it has a full tank of gas than when it is empty.

On the buy side of things I am now the proud owner of a 2003 Volkwagen Passat wagon. The car doesn’t have quite the flare of the Durango, but I am pretty sure it will get me to more ski races than if I had not made the switch. I could only find one photo of myself with the car, and it is right before I picked up my date for senior prom. Yes I dressed up as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever, and yes that is stick-on chest hair. What can I say, when you ride in a rig like that sometimes you have to step up your game. Thanks for the memories Big Red, you will not be forgotten.

Skiing in LAX

A few weeks ago I got an invitation from race organizers in La Crosse, WI to be a member of the pace team this weekend for the Dan Nagy Memorial. Since I got back from Europe I took two weeks off to get better from a bone bruise in my knee, and this seemed like a perfect way to start up the engines a bit and get ready for the second half of the ski season. Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were putting a little coin in my pocket. The organizing committee did a great job of putting together a quality race and treated myself and the rest of the pace team far better than we deserved. I had a lot of fun over the weekend and as the race announcer was quick to remind the crowd multiple times, was my first win since 2008. I also scored a sweet Mantac scraper sharpener for winning, in addition to getting my name on the annual trophy.

From here I am heading back to Burke where I am looking forward to a training block with a few races and working with the Burke Ski and Ride Program. The mid-season break was much needed but I am excited to get some training in before the final push of the season in March/April.

A special shout out to Warner Nickerson and Dave Chodounsky who are racing this week in Garmisch at World Champs. They are both fellow college grads and have been hammering away for quite a while without the support of the USST. It’s great to see where they are, let’s hope there’s more to come!