Colorado Altitude Training

Brian and I flew out to Eagle, CO a day after the Tour de Twin Cities ended. As hard as it was to leave my own bed, I knew it would be a good decision for my training and racing over the next couple of weeks. Brian found us a great flight from Minneapolis to Chicago and then from Chicago direct to Eagle, CO. We had a bit of a bumpy landing in Chicago but our next flight was the best flight I have ever been on. Our captain came out from the cockpit and introduced himself to the entire cabin of passengers. Fortunately we only had about 15 people on the 757 so Brian and I had an entire row to ourselves which we loved after our 4am wake up.

During the flight the captain would occasionally come on the intercom and tell us about different land features or cities we were flying by. As we came into the Vail Valley to land the pilot again told us about the maneuvers and "tricks' he was going to use to get the massive 757 to land amongst the high mountains of Colorado. I felt like we were on a tour bus! It was so much fun!

 After the flight I asked to say hello to the pilot because it certainly seemed like he loved his job. The pilot got out of his seat told me to sit in it and then put his hat on my head! I couldn't believe it! I have never been in the cockpit before and I was amazed at the number of buttons, levers and gauges that were there.

The pilot escorting me out of the plane.

 Brian and I have been staying at his Aunt and Uncle's house for the past two weeks and have had a fantastic time training in the sun and mountains again. We have been very focused and so most of our adventures have involved training. We found some great trails through the canyon nearby that we backcountry skied and we have been traveling to Vail to hang out with the local Ski and Snowboard Club Vail kids too!

Our racing has started and it started off great with a double victory for us at the Vail Mountain Games at the Vail Golf Course.

Local skier Sharon meeting her first Olympian.

 Today was the Owl Creek chase and despite feeling great my race was not as stellar as Brian's. I struggled with some slower skis and found myself pushing really hard just to get 5th. Sometimes that's how racing goes. The best part is...that at every race we have twice as much opportunity to have a win in the family :)

Enjoying the trails of Eagle, CO at night!

Hard to imagine it ever gets cloudy enough to snow!