Written by Scott Lacy, Crosscut Elite Team
With the current break in races perfectly timed for powder skiing the Tetons, I have been taking some time to reflect back on the season so far. Three months ago there wasn’t a clear idea of what the race season would be, if it happened at all. Now I have driven to Soldier Hollow twice, spent a race weekend in Sun Valley, gone down to West Yellowstone more times than I can count on one hand and raced two days here in Bozeman - totaling 15 races and 2 team time trials. Plus spending the holidays with family down in Colorado. Needless to say, it’s been busy in the best way.
The season has also held many opportunities for learning more about racing and why I race. With an international pandemic up-ending everything we used to do, there have been ample reasons to bail out, to complain, to be frustrated with changes made or wanting the way it was in years past. And I have found all of this ultimately fortifying my drive to train, to race, to improve on something every session. I love this strange sport, I love skiing, I love to push myself; growing my physical and mental limits. And no pandemic changes my ability to grow, and yes, it changes the methods and fashion of achieving those goals, but that actually aids in the achievement.
Ski testing in Anchorage, AK where I stopped denying my drive to race again.
Further reflection brings me back to why I came to elite racing after so many years off. In fact, graduating college had me nailing closed the coffin on my race skis the week after NCAA’s senior year, to much surprise including my own. That was spring 2013. Then following a winding and wonderful path, I found myself ski testing for the Intermountain Junior National Ski Team in Anchorage, Alaska late winter 2019 and with a 5 year tenure coaching for Jackson Hole Ski Club under my belt. Skiing former World Cup trails on fast skis, about as fit as a coach gets, huge grin on my face and feeling the Nordic fire burning strong in my gut I accepted the truth: I wasn’t done racing, I wanted to race, I love this sport and I want to be the best skier I can be; no more denying it. In the bitterest of sweet, I gave my two weeks notice that evening. Coaching had truly touched my heart and the athletes I rose through the program with became true friends, leaving them was right for me and painful.
Coaching athletes in Jackson
The next 12 months became the foundation of my elite skiing career. I climbed the sand dune of training and racing as an independent athlete being seeded with the glorious 990 USSA points one has with no national ranking. Racing as an independent taught me more about myself, training, competing and the Nordic community than I had ever learned before. I raced into multiple top 20 Super Tour finishes and an overall ranking of 34th on the USSA list before the season abruptly ended in mid March. I must admit, I was proud of the result after making my own training plan, coordinating with 6 different teams for waxing throughout the circuit and fundraising to cover the season expenses. Being an independent racer is a tough approach to success.
It must have been day 323 or maybe 216 of quarantine in April when The Luke Brown of Crosscut’s inaugural team sent me a link to apply to the Crosscut team of today. With the bass turned down on my phone, I talked to Seth about kayaking for an hour and applied to the team. A few weeks later I drove to Bozeman to run the M time trial and decided this team was going to be home for the remainder of my ski career.
Lapping those roller ski roads
This past summer of Triple Tree and Mountain Project showed the true power of a team, regular coaching, and skin donations to the pavement we pound. I was feeling the strongest I have ever been with positive karmic debt to the ski gods and had my best results to date in the first 10km of the season in West Yellowstone at the end of November with a top 5. The season kept on rolling with mixed results and I continued learning how to best prepare for races, warm-up, recover and more. Mid January held a huge learning opportunity for me when I was hoping to have my best results and be eyed for a pick to Europe in both biathlon and FIS skiing but instead had my worst results of the season. Transforming disappointment and frustration into motivation and lessons learned, I ended January with my best races of the season: A win and second place for our home USSA races!!!
One of the offerings to the Roller Ski Gods
The experience of the last two years has been incredible. Going back to racing has been incredibly gratifying, like answering a call that just kept ringing, but when finally hitting the green circle instead of the red, it wasn’t a robo call this time. The last two years have shown me my time off has not held me back, my age doesn’t mean I can’t be fast and fit, that sewing my oats after college with everything outside of skiing has allowed me to now focus everything I’ve got on ski racing without distraction. It has shown me a pure love of this sport and passion for skiing is truly powerful. The last two years have stoked that Nordic fire in my gut into a raging bonfire, providing endless motivation to keep at it and it is paying off. With eyes set on the Birkie in 2 weeks, it’s time to end the reflection on races past, focus forward and ski fast!
Skating to the win in Bozeman 10 km
