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Hi Comp Families,

Attached you will find the weeks schedule. At this point in the season we find ourselves with somewhat different goals. For some, our most important races of the year occur in the next two weeks and the best thing to do is to rest and save our energy for the final JNQ weekend. For others, the high level racing season has already been extended through the second week of March so we can do some more serious training now to avoid peaking too soon and to continue to build on fitness. For those of you in the first group, I would recommend taking Thursday off or going for a short easy ski. Also on Sunday you may choose to ski a little less than those skiers going to JN’S.

Final payment for the McCall JNQ trip is due on Saturday 2/4 so I can submit race entries on Monday 2/6. I’m expecting most of you will want to do the “overnight trip” option but there is also the option to ride up in the van for the day trip on Saturday. The day trip option will cost $40 and will cover the vans, waxing and race entry fees. The overnight option will cost $225 and will include lodging, race entries, a trail pass for Friday, coaching and waxing, vans, Saturday’s Banquet and Friday dinner courtesy of the Greenberg’s.

On a side note, we had an excellent weekend at the Soldier Hollow JNQ. After heavy rain for Thursday’s drive down and ski on the courses we had bright sun for the two race days. Friday’s classic sprint was probably the best results the team has had at a JNQ this year or last with a lot of skiers high up on the Intermountain results lists. Saturday was kind of a mixed day with Jackson and Cole probably having the best races yet this year. Results can be found at www.summittiming.com Big thanks to Eric Jensen, Mikey and the other parents that helped us out.

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Hello Comp and Comp-Devo Families
Four things to discuss in addition to the weekly schedule:

1. Soldier Hollow trip next weekend- I actually was supposed to collect final payment today but I was slow sending out a reminder so please get that to me ASAP.  Unless I hear otherwise I’m going to register the following people for both races and the banquet: Eli, Eve, Sumner, Tristian, Bridger, Cole, Liam, Peter, Danny, Dessie, Jackson, Brooke.  Please let me know by Monday at the latest if I have this incorrect.
As always any comp team members not going to the qualifier are welcome to attend comp-devo practices on Thursday and Saturday.

2. Thursday comp-devo workouts- I’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback that due to the late start to winter at Bogus, comp-devo would prefer to be at Bogus for on Thursdays instead of in town as originally planned.  We’ll give this a try for at least a couple of weeks and see how it goes.  The schedule for Thursday will be pretty much the same as Tuesday’s.

3. The Clinic Next Sunday January 29th:  We really need your help getting people singed up.  This could be a great way to get your friends and colleagues interested in the same sport that you love or it could be a great way to brush up on your own skills.  I think it would make a great gift and couples, Valentines day is coming up soon!  Registration is available here: www.bluecirclesports.com
Athletes, you guys will be assisting adult instructors and coaches by giving some pointers and showing some examples.  The van leaves the offices at 8:30AM and will head back down the hill after the first clinic session ends around 11:30.  We could also use your help for the afternoon clinic and you could catch a ride back down with the Youth Rec athletes after the second clinic if you can stay for both.  If you’re staying up for both sessions please bring a lunch, spare skiing layers and a dry change of clothes.

4. Upcoming Events for the next month:

• Banff Fundraiser/Raffle: February 5th, 6th and 7th- Be sure to keep collecting raffle and silent auction items
• McCall JNQ February 11th and 12th- I’ve been in touch with a number of you about the trip for the weekend.  We will also try and offer a day trip to the Saturday February 11th race since the race that was scheduled for today was canceled.
• Western States Youth Ski Festival February 17th-19th- Open to all J3/J4s and novice J2s in comp devo
• February 25th- Potential race at Bogus

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The big unknown is the weather but right now its calling for significant accumulation at Bogus on Wednesday-Thursday.  Its likely that the nordic lodge will open by the end of the week but until it opens be sure to bring a headlamp and everything you need in the vans as the lodge will be locked up. I’ve decided to hold a “normal” schedule during finals week and I recognize that a number of you may miss a practice or two for studying. Don’t worry about missing some but do try and stay active as best you can. Sometimes the best thing you can do to prepare for a test is to clear your head with some outdoor exercise!

On Saturday both Comp and comp-devo are meeting at the Bogus offices at 8:30.  Those athletes getting a lot of travel in with the JNQs are encouraged to go up to Bogus and do an intensity workout while those who have not had many opportunities to race this winter are encouraged to travel to McCall for a low key 3km skate race with the Payette Lakes ski club.  If going to McCall please bring $20 to cover trail passes and vans, a change of clothes and lunch/snacks.  The trip to McCall is somewhat weather dependent and we will probably just go to Bogus if its raining in McCall or the roads look especially treacherous.

I also wanted to give you a heads up about two upcoming fundraisers that we could use your help on:
1. The public ski clinic on January 29th: We host a clinic with a morning and/or afternoon session for new skiers to learn how to nordic ski or more advanced skiers to improve their skills.  The event flier and more information are available on our website: http://www.bogusbasinnordicteam.com/ Please spread the word about this clinic or consider signing up for it yourself.  Register at www.bluecirclesports.com
2. The Banff Mountain Film Festival is coming to Boise on February 5th, 6th and 7th.  Tickets can be purchased here www.egyptiantheatre.net and more information can be found here http://nordicgroup.squarespace.com/.   We want to get a lot of people to the event but BBNT is also holding a raffle and silent auction.  Each family is expected to come up with a raffle or silent auction item and to help sell raffle tickets.

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ey All,
I apologize for the midweek changes to the schedule, I never like to make last minute changes like this but I think this will be worth it as it allows us to ski two days this weekend without nearly as much driving.  Anyhow I got a tip (thanks Steve) that there was skiable snow at Bogus on the Nordic Highway although the Nordic Lodge and mountain are still fully closed.  Conditions aren’t great but I was surprised to find quite good snow (no bare spots, hard packed but not too icy)  for 2km on the Nordic Highway once you get out about 1.5km from the lodge.  For comp and comp-devo skiers I would recommend skating for now and not using your best skis if you have multiple pairs.  If you just have one pair of good skate skis, it will still be fine but you will want to walk portions of the first 1.5km from the lodge where there are some bare spots showing.  The Nordic lodge will still be locked up so please have everything you need (skis!) and be dressed to ski in the van.

I have attached the new schedule for this week but here is the plan:
Wednesday/Thursday- Same as before with dryland at Fort Boise
Saturday 1/14- Depart the Bogus Offices at 9:30AM, return around 12:30
Sunday 1/15- Depart the Bogus Offices at 11AM, return around 2PM

Other Quick notes:
If the trips up to Bogus go well this weekend expect a more “normal” winter schedule for next week.
Comp athletes staying in town- You are encouraged to join in the workouts that are going on in town and do some training on your own on Friday.

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Hi Comp Families,
Attached you will find next week’s schedule.  It is a low volume week after our last big push of the year this past week although the weekend might be a little bit more strenuous because we are still trying to bulk up our snow time.  Stay tuned for another email about JN qualifier weekends and basic training strategy for the next 6 weeks.

As a reminder there will be no practice on Tuesday of this week as we are taking advantage of the day off of school tomorrow (12/2) and training a little earlier in the day (See previous schedule).  As usual Wednesday will be the typical run/strength at Fort Boise at 3:45 with Luke.  Thursday we will be rollerskiing from Camelsback Park at 3:45 to try out L3 classic striding in “The Bowl”.

For Friday you have the option of putting some wax on your skis at my house from 3:30-5:30.  This is by no means critical though and you are either welcome to wax on your own or not worry about having your skis waxed for the weekend (they will still be pretty good).  If you are waxing on your own, feel free to call for a “wax recommendation” but at the minimum be sure to have your names on your skis, glide wax scraped, your kick zones clearly marked and your kick zone either completely clean or with a thin layer of binder.  If you are waxing with me, we will get your classic skis all set up and could probably do a little “routine maintenance” waxing on your skate skis as well if there’s time.  I live at 3322 Crane Creek Rd, just off of Bogus Basin Rd and you don’t need to arrive right at 3:30 but please try to get there before 5:00 at the latest..  Also on Friday I’m recommending a short 30 minute run on your own as its the day before a race but this will not be an organized event from my house.

For the weekend you have two options:
Day Trip to Sun Valley- Depart the Bogus offices at 6:30AM Saturday, arrive at Prairie creek around 9:30AM and race starts at 11AM.  Its an interval start 7.5k classic race (Bridger/Danny/Jackson- you could do a 15k instead but I’m not recommending it).  After your race you can grab a bite to eat from the lunch you pack take a breather and then go back out and ski for another hour or so before driving back to Boise around 3PM and arriving around 6:00PM.  If you’re not interested in racing this trip could be a good way to get some snow time in too.  Be sure to bring classic race and warm up skis, skate skis for the afternoon, warm ups and warm coat for outside (there’s no lodge), lunch and snacks (nothing to be purchased on site), a dry change of clothes, money for snacks on the road and $35 (cash or check to BBNT) to cover your race entry fee and vans.

Overnight Trip to Sun Valley- Depart the Bogus offices at 6:30 AM Saturday, arrive at Prairie creek around 9:30AM and race starts at 11AM.  Its an interval start 7.5k classic race (Bridger/Jackson/Danny- you could do a 15k instead but I’m not recommending it) . If you’re not interested in racing this trip could be a good way to get some snow time in though too.  After the race, we might go back to Ketchum before skiing again or we might just eat a snack in the van and then head back out skiing.  SVSEF has generously allowed us to stay in their Lake Creek Hut for the night but the accommodations are minimal to say the least (there are bathrooms but I doubt showers).  You will need to bring your own sleeping bag and pad.  We will eat in Ketchum for Dinner on Saturday and Breakfast/Lunch on Sunday but you will be on your own for paying and what not.  On Sunday we will ski in the morning from around 10-noon and then I expect to arrive back in Boise around 4:30PM.  Be sure to bring classic race and warm up skis, skate skis, lunch and snacks for Saturday (nothing to be purchased on site), a dry change of clothes, money for all your food, sleeping bag and pad and $45 (cash or check to BBNT) to cover your race entry fee, trail pass and vans.

I’m not worried about running out of space for either the day trip or the overnight but we are limited by the ~13 seats in the two vans.  If there are space issues, priority for both trips will be given to older athletes fist.

You most likely already know this but the clinic we were hosting this Sunday (1/8) has been postponed but the date is TBA.

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Bogus Challenge Race scheduled for 12/31 is canceled!

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For this week ahead we have practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a break from organized training until the following Wednesday.  You probably already guessed this but the race scheduled for Bogus on Wednesday 12/21 has been canceled.  A few quick notes on the week:

• Tuesday 12/20- Comp athletes arrive at Fort Boise at 3:00 for strength training outdoors then plan on being joined by comp-devo who should arrive at 3:45.  After 3:45 we may be joined by some BBNT alums.  Either way we will run, do some drills and play a game finishing off around 5:15/5:30.
• Wednesday 12/21- Comp and Comp-Deco meet at the Bogus Offices at 1PM for an exploratory trip to Banner Ridge (by Idaho City).  Reports are there was good skiing there two weeks ago and if its like Galena, the snow that fell in late November is still holding up pretty good now.  I’m not sure how the grooming will be so I’m recommending classic skis and bringing a pair of running shoes and in the worse case we can go for a run at high elevation in preparation for skiing at elevation later in the season.  I expect to be back in town around 5:30/6:00 but we’ll call from the road again.
• Training from Thursday 12/22-Tuesday 12/27- I wrote some guidelines for on your own training over this period on the schedule but I would recommend getting to snow if possible or keeping up with the dryland training we have been doing.  I think you guys mostly know what to do but drop me a line if you have questions.

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1. Next Weeks Schedule- Practice Tuesday and Thursday next week will be the same as this past week and we will take off for Sun Valley on Friday.  As with last week be sure to bring helmets, poles and skis if you have them on Tuesday as team supplies will be stretched thin.  On Thursday please bring court shoes although if the weather is good we will likely stay outside one again.
2. Christmas Classic Trip Next Weekend- I have put together a schedule for the trip, packing list and final costs.  I do apologize, the costs ended up being a little higher than my initial predictions but we plan on covering all expenses once you hop in the van on Friday at 1PM.
3. Tentative Winter Break schedule-  I put down a rough draft of the winter break schedule to help you out with planning purposes for the time off of school.  We will continue to put together weekly schedules that have the specifics with times and locations.  Given the uncertain snow conditions there may be more drastic changes to it as we go along.

After next weekend we do have a couple of events/races that will affect our schedule but we won’t have any more out of town trips until February.  A couple of dates for your long range calendar:
February 17-19th Western States Youth Ski Festival in Bozeman
March 17-18th Tentative Overnight Yurt Trip

As a final reminder parents are encouraged to attend the parents meeting this Tuesday (12/13) night at 8PM at the Bogus Basin Offices.

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Hello Comp Families,
Attached you will find next weeks schedule but there are a lot of notes to go with it so read carefully:

• On Tuesday- Please bring your own rollerskis (skate or classic), helmet and poles as I expect our collection to be in high demand with both comp and comp-devo using them at the same time.
• On Wednesday- We now have access to a portion of the Fort Boise Rec Center gymnasium but they requested that we bring separate “Court Shoes” that won’t track dirt in after our run outside and won’t leave black marks on the floor.
• Friday is the deadline for going on the trip to the Christmas Classic Races on December 16-18th.  I need a $50 deposit in hand by then so we can cancel unneeded hotel reservations.
• There is not even a chance of snow in the long range forecast and I would like to get some snow time in so I am pulling together a spur of the moment trip to Sun Valley for Friday and Saturday.  I totally understand that you might not want to do it because it will mean being gone a lot of weekends in a row.  Training on your own or with the comp-devo athletes on Friday and Saturday would be very worthwhile as well.  If you would like to go please let me know by Tuesday at the latest.  We will need at least 5 athletes to make it worth while and due to our limited housing we can’t take more than 10.  Basically the on the fly plan is to depart the Bogus offices at 8AM on Saturday and drive direct to Galena Lodge.  We would try and get over 3 hours of skiing in on Saturday with a break for lunch in the middle.  We would then drive back to Hailey and would crash on the floor at the homes of a couple of SVSEF families that I am connected with.  On Sunday we would drive back to Galena, do the Winter Start race then return back to Boise as early as possible in the afternoon.  The total expense might be around $50
• As mentioned previously hats are available for pick up or purchase and the parents meeting is now on Tuesday December 13th at 8PM at the Bogus Basin Offices.

If you are in need of any inspiration during this snow-less December you might be excited to know that the US nordic, biathlon and ski jumping teams have had a very impressive week on their respective World Cup circuits.  The highlight was probably Kikkan Randall’s world cup victory in the Duseldorff sprint yesterday.  Potentially more exciting than the win was that she was established as the favorite going into the race.  It has probably been 30 years since an American was the favorite in a cross country world cup and maybe the first time ever for an American woman.  You can see a short video of the final heat here by clicking on the “Randall Shines Again” link: http://www.fiscrosscountry.com/multimedia/race-video.html

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Mother nature didn’t exactly cooperate with our plans to be skiing this week so it looks like we have at least another week of dryland training ahead of us.  I scoped out Bogus today and while it might be skiable in places, its clear they don’t want people out there so we will have to wait for more snow.  I appreciate your patience/flexibility while we wait for winter to fully arrive.

Pay close attention to this weeks schedule though as it is a little bit confusing