Tag: Skinastc
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This is how the Men’s US Ski Team Gets it Done!
Men’s speed group charged through Napa on bikes
by Hank McKee
Published by Ski RacingGet a bunch of large athletic men together, put them in a competitive environment and you got yourself a testosterone fueled freight train. That train, consisting of the men’s speed group of the US Ski Team, recently ravaged the roads of Napa, California on bikes, riding between 60 and 100 miles day, sleeping on the beach and eating an incredible amount of food.
“It was a chance to kind of shed the winter coat and get working so that we can train harder and have more power when it gets closer to race time,” said Marco Sullivan. “In five days we covered 400 miles on road bikes, camping on the coast on the beach every night. It was simple living for sure” Get up, put the shorts on and start riding. Ride all day, stop for lunch, get into camp at night and set up tents and each as much as we could.”
Speed coach Tommy Eckfeldt was the trip organizer said the “Tour d’Cali” originated as a way to drive the conditioning program in the preparation period and to simply travel it was tacked on to the end of an on-snow camp at Mammoth.
“It was great fun once we were able to start riding as a group. The last day heading into Napa from the coast they averaged around 28 to 30 mph. These are back roads with a 50mph speed limit. Cars were having trouble passing us on the downhills.”
Eckfeldt said the narrow roads necessitated a lot of single file riding, but outside from the expected flat tires and a broken derailleur, there weren’t many problems. “We were pretty well prepared for the minor stuff,” he said, and they simply sought out a bike shop when they ran into more complex problems.
They ran into one day of poor weather and had the opportunity to cool down (recovery) in the ocean. “You couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” he said.
“The whole idea was great,” said Andrew Weibrecht. “It gave us something to focus on and train for, and then the actual trip was really good, basically hammering Napa and up and down the coast. There were no stragglers. It definitely schooled the competitive vibe in a good way. It was a great way to really kick off the summer training, shocking the system like that.”
Weibrecht said the bulk of his riding before this trip had been shorter rides, ones, he said, he had been able to complete essentially using his quad muscles. The longer rides of the Tour d’ Cali meant using a whole new set of muscles. “I pulled in ways I never pulled before,” he said. “It was cool to know you can do something like that, meet a challenge like that.”“We put together some decent rides,” said Eckfeldt. “camped at national park sites, set up tents, had bonfires and made good time.”
About the only thing that slowed the train up was a work zone woman holding a stop sign.
“Yeah we were on a 101mile leg, coming down a hill and it turned into a construction lane,” said Eckfeldt. We waited about 20 minutes and we had been averaging 27mph up to that point.”Eckfeldt said Steven Nyman was at the front of the pack more often than not. “An incredible motor and horsepower,” adding that Weibrecht spent plenty of time among the leaders and that Travis Ganong was right up there as well.
“It was hard work for sure,” said Sullivan, “but having all the guys there made a team bonding thing as well. Nyman was our workhorse, he was at the head of the pack a lot, but we got into some good biking strategy, taking turns at the lead. We thought we were pretty cool.”
The bonfire sessions, after dinner, didn’t usually last very long.
“We camped pretty much on the cliffs,” said Weibrecht, “rode up the coast, looped through the Redwoods. We were definitely blitzed by the end of the day. About 8pm guys started nodding off. The biggest obstacle was falling asleep when it was totally sunny.”
With a couple of chase vehicles, conditioning personnel and a nutritionist on hand, the team had little to worry about but keeping the train running over the rolling hills of Napa. – Hank McKee
Photos by Steven Nyman
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New U.S Ski Team Women’s Tech Coach
New U.S. Women’s Tech Coach Pfeifer Sees Promise
By Eric Williams
Published on Ski Racing
Recently named U.S. Alpine Ski Team women’s tech coach, Roland Pfeifer has his work cut out for him.The Austria native is charged with bringing the program “up to speed” after last season saw the team pull in a meager 10 top-10 results and just one podium. Though he hasn’t met most of his new stable of athletes, he’s already formulating plans for the season and anxious to hit the southern hemisphere snow later this summer.
Pfeifer comes to the U.S. Team with a wealth of experience as both an athlete on the World Cup and U.S. Pro Tour as well as a coach at Ski Austria feeder program, Vorarlberg Ski Team. After his daughter turned 18 in January, he made the decision to hit the road and step up to the sport’s top level.
Pfeifer will focus most of his efforts on working with gate racers Sarah Schleper, Resi Stiegler, Hailey Duke, Megan McJames and Mikaela Shiffrin, while occasionally providing support to all-around skiers Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso.
His recipe for success calls for fun, communication and lots of work. “We need to make them ski relaxed. We need to bring some fresh motivation and fun into the team,” said Pfeifer. “We need to convince them of what we are doing and we need to talk a lot, and train a lot.”
“I haven’t met them yet but I know Schleper and Stiegler are top competitors and can get to the top-10 many times this season and some podiums as well,” continued Pfeifer. “Duke and McJames’ goals will be to consistently make the top 30 and progress up from there.”
Pfeifer’s first exposure to his new squad came last week at an on-snow camp in Mammoth with reigning slalom national champion, 16-year-old phenom Mikaela Shiffrin.
“I’ve got this unbelievably talented and gifted Shiffrin. She is skiing like a grownup already,” said Pfeifer after spending several days on snow Shiffrin. “I’m not putting too much pressure on Mikaela because she is 16 years old, I’m not going to set any goals for results, just to qualify top-30.”
While Pfeifer isn’t setting result expectations for Shiffrin, he is confident she is ready to compete with the world’s best. “She shows really good skiing, I like the way she skis and I like her,” said Pfeifer. “I’ve never met a 16-year-old that knows so much about skiing and she loves it. There is no reason to hold her back, I see her absolutely competing on the World Cup circuit, no doubt about it.”