By Gavin Kentch
CANMORE NORDIC CENTRE, Canmore, Alberta — My devotion to American athletes is likely pretty apparent by this point in the life of this site. But I’ve also filed too many words out of Canmore already, and there’s still a women’s race yet to cover tonight. And maybe it would be nice to get out for a little exercise myself today as well? So, for once, here is a relatively pro forma account of what some of the eleven American men in today’s 20km mass start classic thought about their race. Refer to the lead article for some thoughts from some Norwegians.
Gus Schumacher, 20th
“It was tough again, kind of like the other day. But I feel solid about it.”
I saw you get dropped by the lead pack on the start of lap six. What did that feel like?
“I mean, that happened on the hills every time, and the first couple it was like tight enough that I came back on, but when it’s just stretching and stretching, and then I was getting tired and didn’t have enough to get back on. And even if I had gotten on, I would have just gotten spit out. I probably would have lost even more time if I’d done the work to get on. So that was kind of a pacing game for me there at the end.”
Is that a ski thing, or a fitness thing, or something else?
“I think this place is like long climbs and altitude, and I feel like I’m built for more like transitional sea-level stuff like Kincaid [the main venue in Anchorage], because that’s what I grew up on. And when I’m here, I’ll fight it out and get better at it every time, I’m sure. But this is not like my forte I’d say.”
Zanden McMullen, 36th
“That was hard. Tough course, tough conditions, bunch of fast skiers to chase. Kind of a combination of altitude and the really sugary snow makes you blow up, and it’s really hard to get kick. But I kind of hung in there. The bad thoughts definitely crept in about halfway, but I kind of just took some deep breaths and just tried to ski my own race. Not quite one to write home about, but not as bad as yesterday.”
I saw a lot of people slipping, a lot. Was that a quality-of-the-snow thing?
“I think so. When you get tired, it’s hard to really dig in and get kick in the first place. But also the snow is super granular, it just kind of turns to sand. So your kick might, you know, might stick to the snow, but the snow is kind of shearing out from under you. So that’s kind of what causes some of the slipping. And I mean, toward the end of the race, it’s harder in general to really get some good pop.”
This is a 20km, you’re out there for close to an hour, it’s presumptively pretty hard. When did you realize that it was maybe going to be a little tougher than you wanted?
“Like lap two, lap three. The front guys started putting it down, and I was kind of not where I wanted to be.”
So there’s a lot of race left at that point. What do you tell yourself then?
“Sometimes it’s possible to, you know, fight off the bad thoughts. At one point I was like, You know, it’s just not my day. But that’s not what you want to be thinking. So I kind of reassess the situation, like, Alright, maybe I’m not gonna get a personal best on the day, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a good day. And you know, look around, see who you’re fighting with, and just be like, Alright, do everything I can to beat these guys.”
By this point you’re no Jessie, but you’ve also done this for a lot more than just one race now. How much do you know about the characteristics or the strengths of the guys around you by this point?
“Way more than when I raced about two years ago, for my first World Cups. And that was probably one of the biggest takeaways when I went there a couple years ago. Not only do you learn the courses and how to race at the highest level, but you also learn the people that you’re racing with, and you know what their strengths are.
“And you know, okay, this is not someone I want to be stuck with on the finishing stretch, or like their strengths are climbing, just hang in behind them. And that’s something that maybe people, when they first come on the World Cup, don’t know.”
Michael Earnhart, 44th
You said that your first distance race here was humbling, and not confidence-inspiring. What about today?
“Today I felt a lot better. I felt like I really settled in; it felt more like a normal race. Granted on the SuperTour, I’m normally in the front pack and I was only in the front pack for maybe, you know, 6.5km today, but that was definitely an improvement. I felt a lot stronger. Just felt more relaxed. I felt like I belonged a little more today, and felt like I could see a future on the World Cup.”
Do people here ski differently than on the SuperTour?
“Everyone’s just kind of better at skiing and fitter. But that’s just part of the natural progression of things. I mean, my first time on the SuperTour was a similar experience. I feel like going from just local races in Anchorage up to that level. So just kind of a natural progression.”
Did you have fun today?
“I did. Today was a good experience. [Because] I felt better and could see so much improvement just on race day three already. The first day was tough, and I felt like I didn’t belong a little bit. But — I don’t even know what my place was [today], I don’t know if my place is really that much better. But just like feeling-wise, it felt so much better already, that I’m just really happy with how quickly I can improve on this level.”
Graham Houtsma, 56th
“It was very difficult, to say the very least. A good learning experience, but it was a a very difficult race today.”
Was today fun?
*pause* “To a degree, it was. I tried to find some fun in there somewhere, but it was mostly just kind of hanging tough, being mentally strong, and seeing the race to the end.”
Everyone has tough races. What do you say to junior skiers whose tough race comes at like a JNQ, or at the high school state meet?
“You won’t always be on. You learn a lot from the days that you get, quote unquote, ‘shelled’; you learn a lot about yourself. So yeah, it sucks when you get absolutely blown out the back. But you learn a lot about yourself and how you respond to that. And you also learn where you’re like, Alright, I I got blown out on the climb, or I got blown out on the flats, so you’ve learned about an area that maybe you need to improve upon yourself.”
Other Americans who raced today were David Norris in 33rd, Hunter Wonders in 34th, Luke Jager in 43rd, Peter Wolter in 45th, Will Koch in 46th, Reid Goble in 50th, and Braden Becker in 53rd. Scott Patterson did not start.
There are more reporters at these races than in Soldier Hollow for U.S. Nationals, but not that many, and I am probably the only one reliant on a GoFundMe to get here. Travel for in-person reporting is not cheap, and travel to anywhere from Alaska is particularly not cheap.
Last season’s GoFundMe is literally the only reason why I turned a profit in year one of Nordic Insights, and in turn the only reason why there is a year two of Nordic Insights for you to be reading now: I was okay with working for very little money to get this love letter to American cross-country skiing off the ground, but I didn’t want to lose money for the privilege of doing so. If you would like to support what remains a brutally shoestring operation, this season’s GoFundMe may be found here. Thank you for your consideration, and, especially, for reading.
