Here are some images from our first week here in Falun! I have been having such a great time here, the team energy and spirits are high, and I am just SO EXCITED TO GET RACING ALREADY!!! I can hardly wait. 🙂
I’ll take you through a typical day here, starting with breakfast and then catching a shuttle to the venue. We never really know if we’ll all fit into the car that arrives, so that makes it exciting, but sooner or later everyone gets up to the venue!
Dakota taking the Dalarna horse for a little ride…
We go to the wax cabins and check in with our coaches and techs. They have been so hard at work all week testing every wax and topping, and in addition to getting race boards ready they have training day skis set out for us as well!
Gus picking out some skis from the wax room
Then we get out on the trails! Yesterday I was so psyched to be out cheering for my teammates racing the classic sprint, the first race of the World Champs. I hiked up through the woods to get as close as I could to the base of the big sprint hill.
One of the spectator camps set up in the woods
There were so many fans out there! It was really amazing. The energy in the spectator area and stadium was electrifying!
I had a pretty good view from where I was standing!
Patrick “Touque” Moore next to our wax cabin
The coaches outside the wax cabins, waiting to see who made it through to the sprint heats
The stadium was packed full of fans! Well done, Falun!
After training, we’ll catch a shuttle ride back to the hotel and eat lunch, then we have a few hours to relax. I usually Skype my friends or family, walk around town, read or watch netflix.
We’ll also get some PT or massage work done each day. We are so lucky to have such an amazing staff here! Zuzana Rogers and Ana Robinson have been working 24/7 to keep us injury free and keep our muscles working at their best!
Zuzana and I in the wax cabin! (photo by Zuzana)
Greg, one of our team Doctors, Ana and Zuzana out for a ski! (photo from Zuzana)
In the afternoon we might go for a jog to stay loosened up, or a short walk just so we’re not spending too much time in our rooms. Then after dinner we’ll have a team meeting, which I love because it’s a chance for the whole team to check in and plan out training times and race details for the next day!
Playing a card game with the team!
Our first day here we also had such a fun experience getting to ride around an ice track in the Audi cars at the venue. They had rally car drivers, and at first they said we’d be able to drive as well but then the course wasn’t wide enough, and, well….they didn’t want us to crash the cars! 🙂 But it was exciting getting to ride in the passenger seat as we drifted around corners and navigated on ice!
The team with the drivers! (photo from Kikkan)
The venue set up here in Falun is unreal. There are banners everywhere, and it reminds me a little bit of the Olympic park! There’s expos, sponsor setups for spectators to come check out, and fun things like the Audi-ice-experience for people to try out. Just outside the venue there’s an entire tent village with Norwegian flags everywhere, so people are camping as close to the race trails as they can get! There are food vendors everywhere and the fans are super pumped to cheer!
