Flexibility for the mid-winter stretch

When I flew out of Montreal toward Munich on Thursday, January 18th I never would have guessed that I'd be writing a blog post from Norway three weeks later. When I left Lake Placid that Thursday morning, I had a return ticket booked for Sunday Febuary 4th. At the time I thought I'd probably need to move my flight up to Sunday, January 28th - one men's US team athlete was going to be sent home after the European Open Championships, and as the most inconsistent shooter of the bunch I knew my chances. But I had confidence I could at least ski well, and despite the misses on the shooting range I skied just fast enough to get a start spot for IBU Cup 6 in Martell the week after European Championships.

It was after the first race at the European Championships in Ridnaun that I sat down next to my American teammates Paul Schommer and Max Durtschi and a Canadian biathlete, Aidan Miller, at the post-race lunch (at what they call the "Family Club"- basically the race organizers provide a bunch of food made by the local Tirolean volunteers: pasta, goulash, salad, and bread). Paul, Max, and Aidan were talking about IBU Cups 7 and 8 - which are scheduled to take place in Russia, and how both the Canadian and United States teams will not attend them (unless they are moved out of Russia) because of Russia's anti-doping noncompliance. This would mean that IBU Cup 6, in Martell, would be the last international racing opportunity for many of us development-level biathletes (the IBU takes a break during the Olympic Games, so there are no IBU Cups during that time). Aidan was planning on heading to races in Norway - he told us about a race series called the DNB Cups or "Norwegian Cups", and how if we participated in these races we'd be competing against a deep field of strong Scandinavian biathletes. It didn't take much convincing to intrigue Paul and Max, and soon I was convinced as well.

Moosing it in the Ridnaun sun with this great Norwegian Moose that mysteriously appeared in the middle of the race venue. Moose do what they want I guess.

A few days later, we had a plan to get to Norway. Ironically, Aidan traveled instead to Morocco. After the conclusion of the final race in Martell, we loaded ski bags full of ammo, skis, a scope, clothes, and all the food we could fit (grocery prices in Italy are less than half of what we expected to find in Norway) into the Norwegian wax truck. We rode with our US team up to Munich, where we spent the night and changed our flights from leaving February 4th to mid-March. Then we drove a USBA van to Garmisch, Germany, where Max Olex, an Alaska-Fairbanks alum and friend of ours from NCAA college racing in the CCSA region, hosted us. Garmisch is a beautiful Bavarian town, nestled in a wide valley surrounded both by beautiful jagged peaks and large hills. The mountains reminded me of those surrounding Canmore and the hills reminded me of the Green Mountains of Vermont. In Garmisch we went for an incredible ski, enjoyed incredible Bavarian food, and were blessed with incredible weather for a short recovery period.

Beautiful ski outside of Garmisch, Germany near Leutasch, Austria. Pictured L to R Paul Schommer, Germany's Max Olex, Logan Hanneman, me, Max Durtschi, and Reese Hanneman. The Hanneman brothers were on their final day of the pre-Olympic training camp. Really neat and a little out-of-place to see the Central Region guys we use to race against, now on the other side of the globe! Photo from Reese Hanneman.

On Wednesday, Feb 7 we left Garmisch and drove back to Munich, where we picked up two more of our team vans. Three men, three Czech vans, three guns. Not sketchy at all. We drove the vans to Prague, with Paul's van and phone GPS leading the way. Darkness descended upon us as we entered the Prague highway system. Paul, using the GPS on his phone, led Max through a random highway stoplight. There was one car between Max's van and mine, and so I was at the mercy of the driver as he slowed to a stop as the light turned yellow. It all happened in slow motion, Max's van rumbling away into the darkness ahead, me powerless at the wheel, contemplating my doomed fate. So there I was, a man with a rifle and a van, alone in the dark in a foreign land, lost with no service and (a mistake I'll never make again) a map.

And that's when McDonald's saved me. After driving the van all over some random area of Prague, getting more and more lost and stalling the van a few times frantically trying to turn around, I found a sign for a McDonald's 2.5km away. At the Golden Arches of grace I used the wifi and found a text from Paul saying they were going to drop off the van's at IKEA. One hour and a few more wrong turns and prayers later, I made it to IKEA and kissed the ground of the parking lot (I did not, but I was pretty happy).

Czech food is delicious and cheap. It was quite a surprise when we got off the plane in Oslo and Max tried to buy a yogurt at the airport with his leftover 6 euro in cash and couldn't because it cost 9 euro! It was indeed a relief to find that yogurt wasn't quite that much in the grocery store. Thanks to many friends and biathletes in Norway and to our sponsor Fast Big Dog who are helping to make this racing tour happen.

Day 1 in Norway after pre-race intervals at the Nordåsen Biathlon Stadium in Bjerke. We were told by the organizers that it would be a "small race" and maybe we wouldn't want to attend. There are 450 athletes signed up. This is Nordic sport in a Nordic country!

So after a whirlwind of travel, we now are unpacked in Bjerke and readying for our first race this afternoon. The moment is an opportunity to reflect on the last few weeks and the races in Italy:

Open European Championships; Ridnaun, Italy

20km Individual - The course was difficult but with straight, non-technical downhills for recovery, just how I like it. The course consisted of 4 long gradual V2 climbs (reminding me of the long climbs at Houghton) with one 3-tiered brutal V1 climb between the third and fourth V2 climbs. My Salomon S-Lab Carbon yellows were fast, too, and I came in ready to rip in my first international race of the season. I was the third-to-last starter of 117, so by the time I hit the course the downhills were well skied-in and fast, even a little glazed, and the uphills were a little choppy but not bad. I started out strong, skiing smooth and controlled. I entered the range with confidence and hit 8 of my first 10 shots. I kept skiing strong and knew I had a decent race going. But I let the opportunity for success get to my head and missed 5 of my final ten shots. I ended with the 20th fastest ski time, but 7 misses in an individual means a 7-minute time penalty. I ended up 74th.

10km Sprint - Making the pursuit was my goal in this race - to make a pursuit (a 12.5km race that takes place the following day), a biathlete must finish in the top 60. Of 140 athletes in this race, I finished 84th and missed the pursuit by 38 seconds, which is quite a bit (at last year's IBU Cup in Finland I missed by three seconds with 5 misses- that one was painful). I was disappointed with 4 misses, but even though it was a worse result than the Individual I was pleased with my shooting process, which was much more assertive. All of my three misses in standing were good, assertive shots. I was not nervous, but confident. The targets just didn't go down - three misses just millimeters to the right. I'll have to reasses my natural point of aim as this trend continued in Martell.

IBU Cup 6; Martell, Italy

After Ridnaun, we drove through the town of Bolzano and the apple valleys (they look like vineyards) of the South Tirol (Italy produces nearly 20% of Europe's apples) to the steep hollow of Martell. All of Martell lies in a steep ravine descending from the mountains above. The 4km of biathlon trails and the Biathlon Martello shooting range are squished into this narrow "valley." A fantastic course with three difficult climbs at over 5500 ft of elevation, Martell was a great course for me. The biggest challenge for me would be the difficult range approach: a 500 meter false-flat leading into a short V1 pitch right before the range. This would make shooting difficult, but I knew how to handle it.

10km Sprint - Another sprint, another (1,3) 4-miss performance. This one left me shaking my head. I know I'm capable of better. I skied smooth and relaxed, and took the range approach really chill. I felt great in prone, like I could have skied quite a bit harder into the range. I simply threw one shot away, but the others were bullseyes. I caught and settled in behind a Norwegian skier for the last part of my second lap. He was skiing slower than me, but I knew it was more important to relax behind him and focus on the range. As we skied into the range entrance I skied in front to take the first standing point- which may have been a mistake. I missed three of my first four shots. I re-settled and breathed heavily. I relax, steadied, and hit my fifth. The Norwegian skier had shot 15 seconds faster and was long gone when I left to ski my three penalty loops. I got a split from Erik that I was in 36th (out of 49 so far, with another 40 starters still to go) so I knew I would have to hammer over my last 3.3km to make the pursuit. I gave it everything and finished with my best IBU ski rank - 13th fastest ski time. I finished 43rd and made the pursuit, as did all of my US teammates. We weren't satisfied, but it was the first IBU Cup where the US qualified all 4 athletes into the pursuit.

12.5km Pursuit - Russia's Alexander Loginov won the sprint by 1:15 over second place, and I started 3:20 behind in 43rd. Loginov shot 19/20 in the pursuit, and Max, Paul, and I all missed 5 shots in our first two stages. The wind was tricky for us and I did not respond with a proper sight adjustment. Paul and Max did take clicks for the wind, but not enough. We all got lapped by Loginov and pulled from the race. Alex Howe was our lone US finisher, moving up to 30th and scoring IBU Cup points for our team.

Standing shooting at the sprint in Ridnaun. A late starting number gave me some airtime on the range after the bigger names had finished.

Found the finish line at the sprint in Ridnaun

The Martell crew in Bolzano, Italy where Otzi the Iceman lives.

Next on the calendar are four race weekends (in Bjerke, Karidalen, Molde, and Voss) over our five-week tour in Norway. You can follow us via Paul Schommer's entertaining instagram story (@pschommer_) and the hashtag #teamUSAprojectNorway.

In the meantime I'll be rooting for the stars and stripes in Pyeongchang. Go Team, and go USA!