Summer in Bend

One of our skiers, Joel Bransky, is spending the summer working and training in Bend, Oregon! Here's a little bit from him about how it's going. Good luck with summer training everyone!!

This summer I’ve trained in Bend, Oregon with the Bend Endurance Academy. The program is coached by Ben Husaby, who went to the Olympics in 1992 and 1994, and who now rides his dirtbike and imparts wisdom. Among the training group are Dakota Blackhorse von-Jess, who’s skied on the World Cup, and a few NCAA qualifiers. Those guys are about a lightyear and a half ahead of me in most workouts but I hope to be quite a bit faster next year.

Rollerskiing out here is pretty sweet, if you know where to go, which Ben does. The climbs are not nearly as steep as the Midwest’s but go on forever, the roads are smooth, and we get views of volcanoes and pine forests to boot. Other days we bound on purpose-made trails or do a gnarly strength and soccer session that leaves me wrecked for two days.

Outside of the program I spend most of my hours mountain biking or running the trails in the national forest west of town. I’m not a prolific mountain biker but supposedly Bend is one of the best mountain biking towns in the U.S. My friend, roommate, and fellow CCSA skier Tony Squillace and I sometimes do strength at an elementary school playground near our apartment.

Tony and I also cook the best, cheapest, and healthiest food in North America. Last night saw freshly-steamed rice, black bean stew (lots of garlic), and eggs fried with onions and more garlic. Juanita’s tortilla chips are also a staple. Sometimes we eat kale.

Last note: the Canadian national team has been out here lately and I saw them rollerskiing, and I think I now know where they live. I’m going to go over at midnight and usurp some speed through osmosis, just like in Space Jam.

Here’s to a good ski season, and keep the roads warm for me in Minnesota.

-Joel 
Skiing on the Mt. Bachelor trails early June
Coming back into the trees after a sunburned hike up South Sister
Sunset behind Mount Hood

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

USCSA's aka The Bend Blizzard

Image
This year, we traveled to Bend, Oregon for US College Nationals. We fought through altitude and more snow than we have ever seen in MN to 1) find the trailhead and 2) race! It was an absolute joy to see so much snow. St. Olaf killed it at USCSA’s with 10 top 10 finishes! As we all know, 10 is better than 6. Before the racing started, we got to explore the beautiful Smith Rock State Park. Brochman ran while we walked. We also took our first trip up to Mt. Bachelor and were met with more snow than most of us had ever experienced before.  Over the next week the mountain received about 4 feet of new snow, making for some soft conditions during the races.   The parking lot snow pile. No wonder we couldn't find the Nordic Center behind all that snow! Smith Rock State Park We finally found the mountains when the sun came out on the last day! The Women's and Men's USCSA Teams The first day of racing was the 7.5k classic individual start, which too
Read more

Wrapping Up CCSA

Image
For our last CCSA race of the season, the Oles took our largest team up to the infamous hills at Al Quaal, in Ishpeming, Michigan. Unfortunately, our attempts at intimidating the NMU’s and Green Beans with large numbers weren’t super successful and they still showed up in full force. Saturday’s races were mass start: a 15k skate for the women, and a 20k skate for the men.  It was a beautiful day, and more than a few of us went home with a sunburn!  Bri and Shelby took advantage of a great opportunity to race well, finishing 22 and 28, respectively.  The men were led by two fantastic freshmen, Tyler in 40th and Spencer in 44th.  Chris and Leif also made statements with their headwear choices: a sparkly red baseball cap for Chris, and a Pokemon had for Leif.  In their 2017 debuts Andrew and Molly performed well and we were glad to have them back from the Mediterranean.  I’d tell you where they were, but I wouldn’t want to get it wrong and make that the only mention of their season.
Read more

Meet the 2016-2017 Team!

Image
Seniors Leif (Captain) is a senior from Northfield, MN. He is majoring in biology and after graduating is planning on taking a gap year (or two, or three, or twelve…) before becoming a surgical physician assistant. Leif’s favorite things about skiing include enjoying the beautiful outdoors with wonderful friends and beating Chris “Topher” Prokosch in races. Outside of skiing, Leif enjoys extreme unicycling, watching soccer, and taking long walks on the beach. Leif holds the (very) unofficial St. Olaf school record for fastest walking mile at 9 minutes and 48 seconds. His patronus is a swallow, although he is literally a piece of toast.    Liza (Captain) is a senior from Acton, MA (just takea I-90 for about 24 hours). She is majoring in Sociology/Anthropology, and she does not know what she wants to do next year, thank you very much. Her favorite part of nordic is enjoying the outdoors with friends and playing in fresh powder. When she is not skiing, Liza loves fall, hiking, sailing,
Read more