"I am on," Said Wendy Wagner 10 minutes before the start.  She wasn't wrong.  Here she is coming into the stadium at the end of the classical portion.  As impressive as her classical skiing was she also put time on second in the skate.

Lindsey Weier, 2002 Olympian, is still a young racer with many years of great racing ahead of her.  That is important to understand - the path is not a straight line.  There will be ups and downs and that is part of the process.  Keep training, keep the pressure on, keep going.

Abby Larson took third behind Lindsey and Wendy.  Wendy broke away early in the classical race leaving Abby, Lindsey and Kristina Strandberg to battle for second.  The three chasers kept the pressure on the whole way but still stayed together to the finish.  Lindsey won the battle in a three-up sprint.

I am sorry there are not more pics of the women's race - with the men starting right after their finish I didn't have much time to get out on course.

Kris Freeman leads Lars Flora in the early breakaway.

Andrew Johnson leads the chase.  Eventually Kris dropped Lars and AJ dropped the pack.  Kris came in 50seconds ahead of AJ and AJ came in well ahead of the group.

The battle for 4th and 5th was won by Dave Chamberlain over Lars Flora.  Here they are starting the steep part of the long last climb.  The chase behind is strung out...

James Southam skated away from the chase group to take third.

Kris said his morning heartrates were coming down with two days to the pursuit.  His fitness is very good and now that he has been resting a bit more it is starting to show.

(all Vordenberg Images)

Vordenberg's Notes on Team Selection

When it comes to team selection there is generally a small crew of racers who are clear choices to the national team or to championship teams such as an Olympic or World Championships.  These are the skiers who consistently place among the best in the country and who in some cases have been among the best in the world.

There is generally a larger crew of racers who are on the bubble of being named to such teams.  They are on the bubble because they are either inconsistently among the best in the country or because they consistently place just below the best in the country.

When you are on the bubble you are either one of the last people to be picked to a National or Championship team or one of the first to be left off the team.

I am familiar with life on the bubble.  I spent the first half of my career looking up at the bottom of the bubble, the too-short middle section of my career established within the team and the latter part again riding the bubble.

There were coaching decisions that I disagreed with and which had they been different might have been beneficial to my career.  That is difficult to say, however it is easy to say that I was the one who put myself on the bubble rather than on the team.  I was in charge of being either a clear choice or a questionable choice.  Too often I was a questionable choice.  My results, my performance and my preparation were my responsibility.

Good results result from performance and performance from preparation.  Preparation is not just training.  It is also a matter of taking care of your health, making smart choices when it comes to racing, training, resting and lifestyle.  It is often simply a matter of being honest with yourself, putting yourself in a position to be lucky rather than unlucky and ultimately making the most of every opportunity. 

Athletes must take responsibility for their preparation, performance and ultimately for where they find their name on the result sheet.

All of this being true perhaps the biggest mistake I made as an athlete was not the things I did which put me on the bubble but losing momentum when I wasn’t named to a team.  I quit too soon.

This sport takes a long time to perfect not only because the time it takes to develop physiologically but because it takes time to dial in all the small aspects of training, resting and lifestyle, and to learn to make good choices.  This, including not being named to teams, is all a part of the process. 

Do Not Quit Now.  Keep training, keep learning, keep dreaming and keep going.  There are races next week, races next month, world championships next year, and Olympics in four more years.  Now is the time to recommit not quit.