As I said in the last post, we traveled back to Park City for the week break between Lillehammer and Ramsau World Cups. During that time there was three continental cups in Park City. I was planning on skiing in those to get some races in but also to try and help the team out. The plan was to get a “wildcard” from being in the top three overall in the period. I have done this the past couple years and it has really helped the team out as it allows us to ski one more person on world cup. This year it was especially important, as the younger kids on the team have to pay for all the continental cups they do, so allowing them to ski on world cup would make it much cheaper for them and easier for us.
 
The first of the three days was tough; we had heavy fog on the jumping and some wind that was changing quickly. I had a decent jump but it wasn’t great by what I have done in training. I set myself up in a decent place for the victory and all I had to do was ski the race I was capable of. Unfortunately, I was very excited to race in front of friends and family and started way to hard for my first race back at altitude. Some people thing that the altitude has no effect on my since I have lived at that level my whole life. The truth is that it does have a small effect on my body as we spend some much time in Europe at sea Level. During the race, I was making up a lot of time on the first, second and third laps. On the third lap, I suffered one of those cramps that you sometimes get under your ribs. It was not a good time to get it, as I was planning on picking up the pace a fair bit on the last lap. I suffered pretty well, and managed 3rd place, which I was happy about.
 
On the Second day, I had a slightly better day, and was closer to the pack that would be fighting for the victory. David Pommer had again jumped well and had a good gap on me during the race. I was pulling time back quickly, and I knew it was going to be close going into the finish so I gave it everything I had. I skied this race much more tactically smart, with much better pacing. This allowed me to ski very hard on the last couple laps making up great time. With one kilometer remaining, I had less that five seconds, but it was all downhill to the line. Unfortunately, I came up a tad bit short like half a boot length, but it made for a very exciting race and I was happy with the day! I finished 2nd, behind David Pommer of Austria and with a time difference of .1 seconds!
 
On the last day I had one goal in mind. I was 3rd on the first day, 2nd on the second day, so it only made sense to win the last day to be on each step of the podium. I had a better jump and was in a place to get that victory. I knew that others would be more tired then I was as the altitude would starting to bother them a little more. I started 1:16 behind the leader, so I did have a good amount of time to make up. I was very happy with my race, as I started hard and finished harder! That is something I can’t say very often, but in a sense it was a tactically perfect race for the day. The leader at the time had 24 seconds on me at the beginning of the last lap. I could see him up the track and knew that he was struggling. I picked the pace up the hill and skied hard down the hill cutting time off him with each skate. The finish was looking very similar to the previous day, as I was just a couple seconds off of him going into the finish. This time, I knew how to take the finish and I was going to have good speed coming into the sprint so I was confident I could come around him at the end. I am not known for my sprinting prowess, most people know me, can say I go very early and pick the pace up from 1.5 kilometers away from the finish so it doesn’t come down to a sprint. I happened to put in my best sprint in a long time and came around him with a few meters to spare.
 
To get the victory was sweet as I had friends of family there to watch. I have always like rewarding them with a good race and event. They were super excited to watch my race and were ecstatic when I cross the line in first place.
 
 
The other big results were from our team. We had the best results by our team in a long while. Ben Loomis who was one of the youngest guys, made some HUGE Gains and just missed the podium for 4th place. This was far surpassing his previous personal best and he was fighting with a world cup skier from Italy for 3rd place. Ben Berend, was setting personal best each day, which was very fun to watch. The first day he was 12, the second day he was 9th and the last day he finished in a photo finish for 5th place and ended up 6th by a hair. Jasper Good skied very well as well scoring more points in three races then he had all year by far. Michael Ward, started to find his groove again and was skiing faster each day!
 
This is huge in my eyes as this whole group of athletes are making huge strides in their summer training, which is promising. I feel confident that in the upcoming years they will all be on world cup scoring points!
 
We are now in Ramsau, Austria getting ready for the last World cup before the Christmas break. We have two individuals on Tap for the weekend and I look forward to having my chances at the podium!
 
All the best,
Taylor  

            Week one of the 2016 season is now in the books after the cancellations in Ruka, we had a better start in the 1994 Winter Olympic Venues of Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer has always been one of my favorite stops on the circuit even though I haven’t really had any solid competitions there in the past.
 
            I was looking to change that as we headed in to the weekend. We arrived Monday and got some solid jumping and XC training during the week, which was very nice. On Friday we had our first qualification of the year, and I was looking forward to it. In Official training, I had a great jump and I was confident I could reproduce that in the next round. Unfortunately, I did not, but I also had some tough conditions, which helped me out a bit. I qualified 39th, which is not the best, but better then all my first period competitions from last year so I took it as a positive sign. Jumping on Saturday was cancelled due to extreme tail wind on the knoll, so we had to use the PCR jump from Friday starting me 39th.  I was excited to finally race and try to move up as much as possible. The only thing was, I think I was a little too excited and pumped up as I went out way too hard for the race. I made up a ton of time on the skiers in front of me in the first kilometer through the whole first lap. I never really got into a rhythm and struggled as the race went on. Even though I didn’t have the best race, I still managed to make up some time and move into points finishing 26th. I had the 12th fastest time, and wasn’t far off the fastest time set by Pittin of Italy. Knowing that I wasn’t bummed, as I know I could of skied a lot faster given my lack of energy from kilometers 5-10.
 
Going into the second day, I was excited to get a good result. Unfortunately we were moved down from the big hill to the normal hill. I was a little bummed as the Big hill is one of my favorite hills, but I was alright jumping the k90 as It is always very tight after the jumping. My competitions jump wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either. I had a great jump, but didn’t fly my jump well at all. After looking at video, I could see I was too relaxed in the flight and didn’t stay on top at all loosing valuable speed and height. For that reason I was kind of bummed knowing I could have been in a much better position after the jumping. I started the race in 42nd and 1:52 second behind the leader. I was a lot closer to the front compared to the first day and only 1:10 behind tenth place. I knew I had a chance at a top 20 so I wanted to make sure I started the race controlled and worked on my pacing throughout my race. I ended up skiing from 42nd to 13th and had the fastest time by 15 second over Pittin of Italy. I was very pleased with the day, as there were a lot more positive factors for me.
 
            We are now back in Park City getting ready for the Continental Cups this weekend. I will be skiing in them to get some extra races for myself but also trying to help the team out by securing a wild card spot for the next period of World Cups.  I will keep you updated after the weekend!
 
All the best,
Taylor

This past week was one of those weeks many endurance athletes dread due to their workload. But before I dive into this past week, let me get you caught up on the weeks before.

The week before, I had the opportunity to go home and race my bike for the last time this summer. My hometown has had a Stage race for the past six years, and I have always love to go home and race. This was a great opportunity as we had some intensity on the schedule and its good to keep things mixed up. The first stage was a Time trial. These time trials are very hard to do very well in, as you are in a completely different position then just riding a bike, but also the ability to pace yourself throughout the whole race is very challenging. I knew I wouldn't have too much trouble pacing myself, but being comfortable in the low aerodynamic position with strong wind and wet roads always presents a strong challenge. I was very happy with the result finishing 7th out of 40 some riders and I put myself in a great position for the rest of the weekend. The second stage was a 80 mile road race with over 6000ft of climbing. I was really looking forward to this as I knew some riders would move up in the overall and some backwards. I thought I had a good shot at moving up and getting closer to the podium. I was really happy with the result, as I was with the leaders all the way to 5 miles to go, when the one move I didn't cover got away and finished 30 seconds ahead. I finished with the main group and move up to 5th in the overall. The last stage was a criterium in downtown Steamboat Springs. The race is super fast with a short loop so it is very hard to make up time. I decided my best shot was to sneak off the front at the beginning and try to lap the field. To make this happen, I have to average a couple more miles per hour faster then the field for most of the race. I got away at the beginning and had a lead of almost a minute. Unfortunately, I didn't have the power to keep it up as I was doing all the work on my own. They ended up catching me with just a couple laps to go in the 60 minute race. I finished 5th overall in the PRO 1 category, which is a very good result for me!

After Steamboat, I came back for and had a couple jumping sessions and cross country sessions. I was feeling very good on the endurance side, but my jumping wasn't so sharp. Following the week after the bike race, we started our intensity camp. During the week, it was all about intervals. Most days we had two sessions a day except when we had a time trial. The purpose of weeks like these is to build up your speed and threshold so you can withstand these efforts in races and be able to push yourself for the whole race. I was very happy with my sessions as I felt like I was pushing it but not pushing it over the limit. We had one competition during the week that I won. I wasn't very happy with my jumping, but I was close enough to the leader to be able to pass him and take the victory with some room to spare. The last session of the week was a uphill time trial that was close to 10k. In this time trial you really needed to pace yourself because it was close to 40 minutes in length. After a week of intervals your body gets pretty beat down and tired. I pushed myself very well, but the workload from the week, didn't allow me to increase the pace when I wanted. It was a solid time trial but wasn't my best. I know with some rest, I could do much better and set a new time!

With that week over, it is time for some rest and recovery, and to focus a lot of energy and passion into the jumping. I am very close jumping well, but I just need to be more consistent and raise the average of my jumping. I am very confident that I can do it and can't wait for the challenge!

Until Next time!
T