Hello!

Reid here, checking in after our first SuperTour races!

As most of you probably already know, we just finished our first races of the season in the Midwest. These races were period 1 of our SuperTour schedule where we raced the fastest people in the country, competing for standings and world cup starts. The BSF team and myself had some very solid results and are looking forward to more racing.

We started the first race off in Duluth with a Skate sprint, which I was very excited for since I was not able to do any last season. The qualifier went well and many of us got to race in the heats. Unfortunately, I fell on an icy corner during the quarterfinal and did not move any further, but got to watch my teammate Logan make it all the way to the final. Our second race in Duluth was a 10k skate individual start. We only had about a two kilometer loop which basically went up the alpine hill twice, followed by a twisting downhill. It was a really fun course and we were given some tough conditions with freezing rain the whole race. This made the snow very loose and hard to see through our glasses! These kinds of conditions are always a great experience since not every race can be firm, fun skiing. I ended up in seventh place for this race.

After our weekend in Duluth, we headed to Cable, WI for our races the next weekend. The Midwest got a bunch of snow at the beginning of the week, making it feel like winter, but I was also reminded what it was like to be cold, with temperatures around 0ºF for the first half of the week. Our first race in Cable was on Friday, a 15k skate mass start. I have to say I was equally nervous and excited for this since I had not done a mass start since February of 2020. I was seeded a few rows back from the start and knew that it would probably be a bit hectic, but stayed relaxed until I had an opportunity to move up to the lead pack after our first lap. I felt very good in this race and led for a bit, but ended up falling on a corner going into our last lap. I was still able to be at the back of the lead group but then my ski went into a broken pole’s strap and I ended up falling again and breaking my own pole… Despite my disappointment after this, I was still happy with the race as I knew I was fit enough to be in the mix and will just have to stay on my feet next time haha. On another note, Mariah scored our first podium of the SuperTour season in her race coming in third!

We then had a classic sprint the following day which went well for the team as well. I ended up making it to the semi final this time, so if I stay on this track I’ll be in the final of our next sprint ;). Logan made it to the final again for this race and Lauren ended up second overall! Our final race was a 15k classic individual race on Sunday. The course had some very solid, steep climbs making it a pretty challenging race after our last two days of racing. Overall it went well, I ended up skiing most of the race with a sun valley skier and we worked together throughout the race. By the end of the race, I was definitely very tired, but ended up getting another top 10, in eighth place.

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Now that we are back in Bozeman, it is rest mode after our last two weekends of racing where we will focus on getting good quality training in, rather than volume in preparation for US Nationals in Soldier Hollow. Stay tuned for more content as we are now in the exciting part of our season!

Stay warm,

Reid