Nashoba Valley, Massachusetts
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
First night of Nashoba night racing. Pretty ideal night - temps around 30, pretty clear. Snow on the race trail was nice - winter snow, a bit forgiving, super grippy, but on the other trails was pretty awful - sandy and super granular over a firm slick base.
Course set was oddly tight - short distance, and a lot of swing. One really crucial turn on the last knoll on the pitch, as per usual. First week, so matched up against teammates (Dan for me). I skied okay - not as aggressive or as committed to just rolling up and standing on the ski as I'd like - I kind of slid it a bit. First run was decent - just got really late (way too straight) at the critical gate and had to really huck it directly across the hill after coming to close to a stop.
Second run was a bit smoother, but because I was way more tentative and slid the top of the turn more.
Ended up 2nd on the day based on combined time (3rd based on the best-handicap ranking system). Not bad!