Team Birkie Takes on Canada
My teammates and I outside of the building where we stored and waxed our skis.
Welcome to the Team Birkie blog, the premier news source for your favorite midwestern professional nordic ski team!
Though the team is based out of Minneapolis, MN, we got the opportunity to spend the last two weeks in Canmore, Canada for our first on-snow camp of the season. We skied pretty much every morning and many afternoons on a ~2.5km long loop of snow called Frozen Thunder at the local nordic center, putting in lots of hours working on our technique, testing out new skis, and even jumping into a couple of time trials hosted by Nordiq Canada.
Here are some highlights from the week:
Canmore showing off some alpine glow from the parking lot of our condo.
Early morning interval/technique session with the whole crew.
Big thanks to our coaches Caitlin and Leo!!! They’re the ones greasing the wheels for this team and making it all happen.
(And rhubarb cakes and danishes are the ones greasing the wheels for the coaches.)
The team checking out some different terrain near Lake Louise after the time trials.
Besides getting reacquainted with snow-skiing and discovering the best pastries in town, we also discovered that our team has some true midwestern qualities during this camp, as documented in the photos below:
Flatlander instincts came on strong at the top of Ha Ling peak on a team hike.
Cottage cheese consumption was off the charts. According to the eminent Chef Zak, it goes on everything–quinoa, oats, stir-fry, pasta, salad if you have to, tuna–everything.
(Actual footage from our fridge.)
Can’t-eat-the-last-bite syndrome was raging at camp. In fact, I heard Tony still has a piece of streusel from camp that he just keeps eating half of because it would be rude to finish it.
(Not an actual photo from camp, but emblematic of the phenomenon.)
After a fun and productive two weeks, we arrived safely back in Minneapolis, and we are taking a little rest week before diving back into training and gearing up for the start of our race season. Thanks for following along!
