Tour de Twin Cities

Hello form the Midwest United States!

I am nearing the end of the Tour de Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) , a total of five races over 10 days that are all combined in the end to give you an overall winner.

3 down, 2 to go! The first 3 races were held at Wirth Park right in the City of Minneapolis; a 6km classic, 9km skate, and a skate sprint. It was not quite the usual mountain climbing, race course that I am used to skiing like back home in the Rockies. But rather more rolling hills and small gradual climbs, basically skiing in a park... Needless to say it took a me a couple a races to figure out the pacing. You have to go out hard and ski hard the entire time. The low altitude and small climbs allow your body to easily recover and never really fade or "hit the wall", which often happens in places like Canmore.





I am currently sitting in 7th spot overall. The 2 remaining races will be held at Green Acres just outside of Minneapolis. Tomorrow is a 5km mass start with an intermediate sprint halfway through the race... I'll explain this. First off, 5km is a very short, fast, race. A mass start will be very chaotic. Secondly, there is a intermediate sprint, which means that at 2.5km there is a marking on the course where the first person to reach this spot gets $250, plus bonus points contributing to their overall placing in the Tour. So basically tomorrow is going to be a very fast, intense race. Should be interesting...

Sunday finishes off the tour with a 15km pursuit start skate race. You can check race results here

So far I've been having a great time, laughing a lot and happy to be spending time with my entire team. :)