Tuesday, November 24, 2009

West Yellowstone - updated number one

Day 1: Wake up at 4:50AM, travel all day, work until 11PM. Check.
Day 2: Test skis like a madman, work until 12:50PM. Check.
Day 3: Repeat day 2.

Too tired to provide a better update for now. Nathan Schultz has crafted some details here - BNS update.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Only thing that's on my mind...

... is who's gonna run this town tonight.



Hints:

- We are.
- This town = West Yellowstone
- Tonight = this week

Thursday, November 19, 2009

It begins - 2009 Edition

Ladies and gentlemen...

Welcome to the 2009 cross-country ski season. In reality, the 2009 season began in May or so, but this is a good time to catch up.

First, a few housekeeping things to take care of:

1. I've updated the "Where's Patrick" section on the right hand side of the page. So, if you're a family member wondering where I'm at or when I'll be in Vermilion, etc., that is a good way to check.

2. Things are going to be a little bit different on this blog for the upcoming year - In the past I've been very open about our testing results as well as race updates. For this year you will notice that the posts will still include lots of testing results (just not in as much detail) but will focus more on the races themselves.

The reason for this is simple - over the past couple of years we have been working hard to develop advantages in the preparation of fast skis. This is something that we've actually done a pretty good job of and people are starting to take notice. Given that this is a qualification year for the Olympics, world junior championships, and U23 world championships we're just not in quite the same sharing mood.

Additionally, I have had several opportunities to work with Zach Caldwell of Boulder Nordic Sport and the USST as well as Mike Mappin of the Alberta World Cup Academy. In fact, I've been absorbed into the AWCA along with the Fast Trax Pro Team. Both of these guys are respected members of the service community and it's only fair that I protect their intellectual capital.

Anyway, enough about that...

This weekend I am off to West Yellowstone to work with Boulder Nordic Sport for eight full days. This is going to be a fantastic learning opportunity and I can't wait. There is a good picture on the BNS website that shows what I'm in for - picture. A little while ago Zach sent me an email outlining my agenda as follows:

Day 1
Locate good spot for speed trap, set up for testing.
Zero test new Madshus wax testing fleet.
Run grind test on old Madshus "APU" fleet.
Rewax the wax fleet with Paraffins after consultation.
Run wax test.

Day 2
More or less the same thing with interchangeable fleets and test
variables.

Day 3
Eat a double-helping of Wheaties because you'll be dragging ass and
we're only just getting started!
Repeat day 2.

Day 4
Etc.


It really doesn't get much better than that.

At this point it is way past my bedtime and I have an audit committee meeting first thing in the morning (we've got auditing dialed). More updates to follow. Stay tuned.


PS --> Did I mention that I got some new skis? Pretty sweet :)