I may not be skiing in Europe, but I have gotten to ski at three new ski areas in the past four days. First, Como Park in the twin cities -- the sign said "Mount Como," which I'm assuming was a joke. Yesterday I got to ski at Trollhaugen, a fun little loop with a good man-made base. And today was my first time skiing on the famous Telemark trails!

I had a tough time preparing mentally for the skate sprints today. My mind was off wandering around Austria where it still thought I should be. I had moved on from SuperTour races emotionally and couldn't fully embrace the idea of racing here again. And last night didn't feel like a pre-race night either. We went and lifted weights in the afternoon, I hadn't skied the course yet and so couldn't imagine racing it, and in the evening I was way more concerned with beating Kuzzy at cribbage then getting psyched for my race.

I came in third in the qualifiers, putting me in the second semifinal heat (they only took top 8 into the heats so we didn't have quarters). I thought I could get through the semis without too much trouble since it was just Martina Stursova and the girls who finished in 6th & 7th, two UAF skiers. Thought. Because then I got dropped. Here is the message: do not underestimate the girl in the hot pink fleece hat. So Stursova and Paula Daabach started to drop me and I had to work pretty hard to catch up. I could tell I wasn't skiing at my best today; nothing was a sure bet. I managed to catch Stursova and Daabach and advance to the A final. Compton, qualifying in first, annihilated her semi.

The A final started out with Stursova leading, Compton in second, Kate Whitcomb in third & Miss Valaas holding on in fourth. Whitcomb & I started to drop off on the second climb. Then there was a downhill into a flat heading back to the finish and one last hill. The last flat had a significant headwind and I knew if I wanted a shot at winning I had to bridge up to Stursova and Compton by the time we hit the wind. Well, I didn't spend all those years bike racing for nothing, so I skied really really hard for ten seconds and got into Compton's draft. Phew, I had made it. Compton made her move around Stursova and I kept right behind her until we hit the last steep pitch before the finishing straight where I moved around her outside and pulled ahead. Today, anyone had a legit shot at winning.

The men's races where exciting too, with a tight finish in the men's B Final between Eric Strabel, Garrot Kuzzy & Bryan Cook (finishing in that order). Lars Flora won the men's race.