Trying New Things

Living at the Outdoor Center has provided me not only with the opportunity to train full-time for skiing, but also the opportunity to try new sports I might not have otherwise been exposed to. This summer, I've enjoyed rowing, mountain biking, and shooting. In August, some of us non-biathletes put our basic shooting skills to good use and competed in the US Biathlon Trials, which was quite a fun experience. I did the sprint, which is a 7.5k race with two shootings - one prone and one standing. I went into the race with the mindset that any target I hit was a bonus and one less penalty loop for me to ski. I ended up hitting two targets and was quite pleased.

Emily, Caitlin, Heather, and me after a workout at 

the range in Jericho 

(photo @greenracingproject Instagram)

Racing at trials
(photo: Paul Bierman)

While I have rowed and mountain biked on occasion prior to this year, I decided to do more of both this summer in an attempt to improve my mediocre skills. I would say my mountain biking has now gotten to the point that when I head out onto the Center's singletrack trails, I spend more time actually biking than walking my bike. Twice this summer we've done OD (over-distance) workouts where we rollerski to East Burke and then bike on the Kingdom Trails which has been a fun way to mix up some long workouts. I can't say my rowing has improved all that much, but it's always helpful to have the GRP rowers around to give technique advice.

Rowing on Hosmer - I need to work on sitting 

up straiter... 

Here are some more photos of summer training and various other activities.

Providing the chickens and geese with entertainment 

in the form of grass skiing speeds in Elinors Field

(photo: Caitlin)

We finished up our most recent testing week with the 

Race to the Top of VT. Here are some of the GRP 

ladies at the summit with SMS-T2 

skiers Erika and Annie.

At the end of July, we hosted a BKL camp.  Here is one 

of the adventure race teams running down

Ruthies in their PFDs.

Each team of campers had to close five targets
as part of the race, in addition to a variety of other
adventursome activities.

Picking (and eating) lots of blueberries at Brown's

(photo @greenracingproject Instagram)

Our skeletal tomato plants after

considerable leaf-removal in an 

effort to combat the dreaded blight

Despite the blight, we've harvested

many tasty tomatoes

Braiding garlic before hanging it to dry

Some colorful mushrooms we came across on the 

singletrack trails during one of the Center's 

wildflower walks. I'm not much of a mycologist 

so I'm not exactly sure what they are...

Yesterday we arrived in Ramsau, Austria for an on-snow camp on the Dachstein Glacier. It has rained a considerable amount in the valley today, which means it's likely to be snowing on the glacier. Hopefully we'll be able to ski in the morning!