Christmas came early this year. Yesterday Sasha, the head Europa Cup coach, explained to all of us how important it is to hydrate at altitude… blah blah blah and he mentioned how we should all have two water bottles and to stop by his room to pick some up. Since I only had one water bottle, I stopped by his room to snag another one and he picks up a new ski team training jacket, rain poncho, a pair of training shorts, a GS suit, and a pair of gloves. And says, “Congratulation, welcome to the US Ski Team this will hold you over until November” (in November next year’s uniforms come out). And I replied with, “Sasha, I was merely looking for a new water bottle.”

Today was our first day of GS training, and third day on snow, here in Pitztal, Austria. It looks like bad weather is coming into the area tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night so hopefully we’ll have some quality training in the morning before it arrives. Next week’s forecast is calling for warmer conditions so we’re really trying to take advantage of the few potentially good days. I hope all is well. w