Heads up: As per the headline, I do not anticipate publishing any new articles on this site for the next two weeks.
On the one hand, the second half of April is definitionally a time of rest and recovery for pro nordic skiers, so there is relatively little news to report these days anyway. On the other hand, there is a reason that pro athletes take April off, and, after working weekends through most of the World Cup season and standing around outside at many long race days, I need a break for many of those same reasons.
Because I am not, actually, a World Cup athlete, but rather am a father of two, I am going to spend the next two weeks waking up and driving my daughters to elementary school, the same as I do every weekday. I am also going to, well, go to the dentist, maybe even go in for a yearly physical, too. Scintillating stuff, really. I am also going to finally clear out my email inbox after operating in triage mode for much of the World Cup season. Basically the same as sitting on a beach drinking large fruity tropical beverages out of coconuts here.
Okay, the skiing is still really good in southcentral Alaska, so I hope to ski for two hours a day as well, while working up to progressively longer runs in anticipation of summer training. I was going to say that this at least likens me to a World Cup skier, but from everything I’ve seen they can afford to be a little more abrupt with the transition back to running, being 20-something rather than 40-something.
Thanks for following along this past winter. I’ll be back at full strength on May 1, skier’s new year, with a lot of exciting new articles. (Disclaimer one, if the crust skiing is really good that week, there might not be as many articles up then as I would like. #priorities Disclaimer two, if U.S. Ski Team nominations are announced before May, I will of course cover that when it happens.)
And again, thanks for reading and for your support. I’ll have a more formal year-in-review post up in May, but the short version is that I’ve worked really hard, had a lot of fun, and like to think that I have done something to help American skiing via this humble labor-of-love website. Excited to see what I can do in year two. Stay tuned.
P.S. Go vote in the Readers’ Choice Awards if you haven’t yet.
— Gavin Kentch
Enjoy your time off!