March 25, 2021

Home! Slowing down :)

March 25, 2021

It’s been an amazing first 10 days at home. I’ve slowed down in the sense that I’m not racing every week or two, but I’ve been busier than I was almost all winter! The most relaxing thing about being back, and away from the World Cup, is that I don’t have a big racing coming up in the next week or two. I’ve realized it gets really hard to always be thinking about a race that I care about. Once I got home and realized I DIDN’T have a race coming up, I noticed how drained I was from always focusing and refocusing on a new venue, event, and team. That said, I had a great winter, which I’m sure I’ll write about more in the next few weeks, but for now, I’m just soaking in some amazing time at home with family and friends.

First night home…they left the christmas tree up for me!

Pretty great to come back to perfect snow and skiing!!

Did a 30k with the UAA boys…chill though because it was friendly and late planned. It’s still super fun to race, especially in low-cost events.

It’s been a lot of fun to see so many friends I haven’t seen in months! Really enjoy it.

I’ll probably do a year-recap blog at some point here, but expect less frequent blogs now. Not as much cool stuff going on now. :) Thanks for reading!

Gus Schumacher

March 16, 2021

Engadin Valley World Cup Finals!

Gus Schumacher

March 16, 2021

In a season of schedule changes and curveballs, it was nice to have confirmation of one final World Cup weekend after World Champs, and especially nice that it also meant the opportunity to visit the famed Engadin Valley in Switzerland (St. Moritz area). This place feels like the blueprint for every ski town in the American West, and I can see why places like Aspen would want to copy it! When we drove in, it was perfectly snowy and sunny, with so many trails along the valley.

Driving over the Julier pass to St. Moritz

Unfortunately, the night we arrived, our Covid test results from that morning came back with a positive for Sophie Caldwell. This sent the team into a scramble to figure out close contacts, which were luckily kept to a minimum by our team protocols. That next day, a bunch of us quarantined in our rooms until another covid test. We also learned that Sophie’s viral load was barely enough to trigger a positive result; and, in the next round of PCR tests, everyone on the team—including Sophie and Simi—tested negative. This was incredibly good news, but we soon learned that Sophie and Simi would still have to quarantine due to Swiss laws, and would spend their last weekend on the World Cup alone in separate hotel rooms. Our whole team, along with a ton of other friends on the World Cup, are so sad for them, as they were ready to enjoy some amazing final celebratory races in a beautiful location with so many teammates and friends. We did what we could to bring some light to them, from check-in texts to zoom team meeting performances (Ben and I showed a Family Guy clip, you’re welcome Caldwell-Hamiltons).

Simi and Sophie have been such amazing mentors this year, I’m so grateful they stuck around for one more season. I can’t speak too much for other people (although I know everyone enjoyed their company and atmosphere), but having them around was so important for me. I didn’t know this at the beginning of the year, but having Simi on the World Cup for my first year was going to just about double my road happiness and learning. For me, a huge theme of this year has been learning by absorbing, and being around Simi taught me so much I’m only realizing now. He also did an amazing job in explicitly teaching me things about racing and living away from home, which speaks a lot to his understanding as his place as a leader on this team. Obviously, all the stuff that happened at World Champs (see last blog) was a huge teaching moment for me, but looking back, I used Simi as a mentor and wealth of knowledge countless times throughout the season. Obviously there was a lot of talking about training and racing every weekend, but so much of what I learned from him was just being around him and observing his approach to life. I really respect his casual focus on race day, along with his level-headed approach to all the ups and downs of racing 30+ times in a winter. I hope in my career and life I can emulate all of his strengths, share them with the people around me, and pass them along when it’s my turn to be more of a teacher like him. Thanks Simi and Sophie! (If you ever get the chance, spend time with these two, you’ll only pick up good things.)

Gonna miss this, thanks for everything this year Simi <3

Alright enough of the actual thoughtful stuff, now to be boring and describe what I ate for breakfast every day. ;)

Crazy buildings along the course (Pontresina)

Also super cool streets to the hotel in Samedan

Still appreciating these amazing places, even if I’d rather be home

Testing classic skis at the 15km venue in Silvaplana

This guy has been so solid, hardworking, and effective all season. Thanks for helping me with fast skis Karel

And THIS guy is faking it. Lazy and not solid all season. Booooooo Kevin. Kidding…to be clear — And THIS guy is faking it. Lazy and not solid all season. Booooooo Kevin.
Kidding…to be clear

At the top of the last hill on the point-to-point. Notice how much nicer the snow is here than it was in the race, if you watched.

Part of the trail is down below on the lake

The races here were a 15k classic mass start and a 50k skate pursuit (based on the mass start) on the historic Engadin Marathon Trail. The Engadin is a massive race (10,000-12,000 people on a normal year), that starts in Maloja and ends in Schanf, following the valley down, mostly along lakes and fields to accommodate so many racers. They added a couple loops for us, because apparently the annual 38k course wasn’t enough…

All week it was super sunny and fast, and the day of the 50, we woke up to snow and a little wind. We watched the first half of the women’s race before we left, and it looked like pretty good conditions, definitely a little windy. As we drove up the valley to the start, the wind picked up more, and we passed some massive snow-nadoes kicking up on the lakes as we went by. It was going to be a different feel than the rest of our stay. I started 1:46 back in the pursuit, right around Hunter, Ben, and Scott, and right away we grouped up and started working together to catch the packs ahead of us. We did this by switching leads every 30-60 seconds, bike race style, so we could keep a fast pace into the headwind. It took us about 8k to catch the leaders, who had coagulated into one big pack of 40 because of no one wanting to lead. This was the most fun part of the race, as we could ski so easily in the draft but then hammer when it was our turn to lead. In hindsight, we definitely didn’t need to work that hard because the leaders were chilling, but there was no way for us to know that’s what was going on. From 8k to about 28k we skied in a pack of about 60, shoulder to shoulder going pretty slow, which I was FINE with. It was so nice to get some recovery from the first push, enjoy a little of the final race, and focus on technique and energy conservation (it wasn’t going to be easy the whole way…) Around 28k, a Russian made a little break, and that spread the pack out right as we hit the long straight airport section. For me, this section was the most important skiing in the race, as I was a little ways back in the pack during the break, and needed to bridge a few big, windy gaps to get back into the lead group. One jump I made alone, and it got me from the chase pack to the top 20 with about 10k to go. When I reattached I was so proud of myself and my skiing. I consciously thought that even if I totally bonked, that single effort made me happy with my performance. The chase group I had been in caught back up, but the pace picked up again, and I was able to hang on better because of more rest in the previous few minutes. I ended up at the back of the front pack for the last big hill, fighting as hard as I could in slow blowing snow. I had just enough energy to hang on, but couldn’t move up in that group. Crossing that finish line after 2 hours and 10 minutes of racing, along with finishing my World Cups season was such a good feeling, and it was made even better by having the 6th-fastest time of the day!

Letting it sink in…or maybe more just a fully empty body and head

I’ve had a bit of a tough last month of racing, and it was a big boost to prove to myself that I can still ski well, even if I’ve had some trouble putting the pieces for a good race together. There was a ton of other positive stuff at the end, with Jessie winning the Overall and Distance World Cups!!! Also Rosie had an amazing fight at the end, and finished in 4th in the Distance World Cup! Plus it was fun to have one more weekend with my teammates and friends. :)

Overall I’m super proud of my first season on the World Cup! It’s been amazing, and only made possible by an amazing team of skiers, coaches, wax techs, medical/PT staff, FIS organizers, and supporters from home!! We couldn’t do it without all of you guys, especially on a year like this. I’m incredibly grateful for the thousands of hours of work that went into making this season happen at all, the opportunities we got were not taken for granted.

I don’t have many pics of all the staff, but thankful to all of them for making the whole team click.

Now to go home finally (4 months!!!!) and hug my parents, siblings, friends, and dogs, eat my favorite food, and sleep in my own bed. Update on how that goes will come later. :)

Gus Schumacher

March 10, 2021

World Champs racing

Gus Schumacher

March 10, 2021

My first race at world champs was the team sprint with Simi, and it was the most nervous and excited I’ve been for a race in years. I was a kid that got super nervous before races, to the point of not being able to eat. I overcame that gradually as I got older and experienced more failure, and learned that failure is never the end of the world. The past couple of years I’ve actually needed to force myself to get a little nervous for racing so I’m not too complacent, which is just the opposite problem! Most of this year I’ve been able to really nail my excitement level before races, using visualization and my natural competitiveness to fuel good nervous energy.

For the team sprint I wasn’t able to totally nail my energy. I felt a lot of pressure (from myself) to perform for Simi and for our whole team, as I was incredibly proud and honored with the opportunity to race this 2-person event at worlds. During the days leading up to the race, we did a lot of team practice to work on speed and tags (which get more important in a team sprint when you have to do it 5 times). I definitely had some uncertainty, both in my ability to execute the tags, and in my sprint speed, which is huge when going against some of the best sprinters on the world cup on a fast, powerful course. These doubts in the week before the race lead to a lot of internal stress, even if I fought it as hard as I could with positive statements, old race viewing, and talking to coaches. When I got to the start line I was super hyped and excited, but to the point of not being able to relax. The energy I had fueled a few laps of really good pack skiing, but was also a big part of me starting too soon in the tag zone, which lead to a quick brake and subsequent crash. :(

After I got up from the crash and tagged Simi, I went as hard as I could around the lap. I ended up skiing about as fast as the leaders, but closed no time, and knew I tagged him too far out to go through as a lucky loser. (I will point out that the front group could’ve all crashed, giving us a way through to the final, so I’m glad we both skied stupid hard last laps.) I was disappointed in myself for being too jumpy, and ruining our chances of a really good day with a stupid mistake. I felt like I let down Simi and my other teammates that could’ve raced. After so long looking forward to and focusing on this race, it was so hard to see our chances in the final hit the snow like that. HOWEVER, we have an amazing team, and the understanding support I received after the race was vital in my ability to continue with the championships. As much as Simi was disappointed in his last big team sprint, he was adamant that this stuff happens in races and that the result that day was not the make or break to his day, season, or career that I felt like it could be. It shows how much he cares about the team around him, and that leading means teaching and understanding, even when it’s time to execute, not necessarily learn. I still obviously made a mistake, and I’m glad everyone acknowledged that, and didn’t sugarcoat the actual event; but, I’m also glad they didn’t want me to beat myself up over it. Here’s to hoping I never make that mistake again!!! And here’s to an incredibly supportive group of dudes on this team. <3

Rohrmoos Team Sprint race prep…yes we practiced tags

Skiing well in a fast-moving pack before the blunder

Couldn’t Simi look sad in one pic? Where’s the drama???

Afterwards, I knew there wasn’t anything I could do, and I needed to just focus on the 15k in a few days. It helped a lot for me to talk to Simi, Jan, Matt, my parents, and sports psych just to talk through things and think about the best way to move forward. I tried to immediately get a 15k course map printed out to look at and think about, but it was hard to not think about the team sprint going differently! I ended up just going about things normally, and it kinda worked out. In hindsight, I didn’t eat nearly enough after the team sprint, and paid for it big time in the 15k. I think the stress from before and after that first race made it hard to eat well and absorb what I did eat, so I went into the 15k feeling bloated and drained of energy.

Still having a better day than this cow? (toenail clipping)

I was a lot less nervous for the 15k because I had confidence in my ability to execute my race plan. I do a lot of 15k racing, and the interval start nature makes it pretty easy to control. On the day I was chilled in the morning and my stomach didn’t feel good, but I just blocked those feeling out because I didn’t want it to mentally impact my racing. I got to the start line fully ready to have another race like Falun, but within the first few minutes I could tell my energy and power just weren’t there. Someone told me I looked “tank empty”, and I felt like that described my race perfectly. I pushed as hard as I could through it, but ended wayyyy off where I know I can be in that event. It’s hard to stay confident after races like that, but finding a reason for it (eating), can make a big difference. This is different than making excuses because on that day I had a true physical barrier, and although it was my fault, there wasn’t anything I could do about it on race day.

The positive I took from this race was that I skied with good technique I thought.

Talking to Jan in a pretty bad mood! The guy is good at being both positive and realistic which is helpful.

The low-energy feeling is one that I’ve felt a little bit in training, but not on such an extreme scale as in that race. In the race I was just like “what’s happening to me?!” and after I finished I was basically like “ohhhh…yea, maybe I wasn’t fueled”. It’s a pretty distinct feeling, and not one you want to have in a race! The takeaways for me were that I need to notice when I’m getting super nervous, and address it; and, when I get nervous, excited, or bummed, I need to make sure I still have some attention on nutrition.

The relay 2 days after the 15k went a lot better! I was a little reserved about being on that team, with how bad I felt in the 15k, but I thought if I was able to absorb some food I’d be much better off. The good news is that I was much better! That morning I didn’t have any stomach pain, wasn't chilled at all, and had solid energy in my warm up (although it was slow as sand in the new snow). I started the anchor leg with Germany, Canada, and Czech, skied the first lap controlled behind them, then pushed the second lap and dropped Canada and Czech. On the last lap I lead and tried to hold the German back until the last couple KMs, but a little too much leading and his strong climbing gave him an advantage. I didn’t really care that much about that gap though, because it was amazing to actually feel like I had strength and control again in a race. Full 180 from the last race, and I skied the 4th-fastest anchor leg, under 1 minute behind Bolshunov in a 30-ish minute 10k!

My last race at world champs was my very first 50k. 8 laps of a 6.25k loop, including some massive climbs. I actually was the least nervous for this race of my 4 starts, even though a world champs 50k seems like a pretty daunting task. I was so focused on my feeding and ski exchange that I didn’t get very caught up in the actual result. I got the good race feeling at the end, just because I finished it with reasonable levels of attack. I was super tired, but was able to race the whole thing, and not just survive. The first 3 laps were really good for me, I was doing a good job staying forward in the pack to avoid big accordions, and wasn’t using too much energy being frantic. One tight climb on the 4th lap I lost a pole basket, unfortunately, and dropped through the pack trying to get a new pole. I wasn’t too stressed about it because I knew it was a long race, but right when I got a replacement pole and was slightly off the back of the pack, Niskanen pushed up the big climb, and I wasn’t able to reattach to the pack. It was basically just super bad timing, and the energy I would’ve expended trying to move back up probably would’ve costed me more in the end, so I was a stuck in no man’s land. Either way, I’m happy with my race, and I know I have a few more years to perfect my 50k skiing. Big shoutout to Scott and David though, for 10th and 16th place!

Shoulda just followed him! (note the matching pole tips back there :)

As a full week, I’m absolutely disappointed with my racing at world champs. I know it’s my first one, and I only made a couple big mistakes, but I’m still bummed because I know if I had executed perfectly, in a way that I’ve executed before, I could’ve done much better. BUT that’s racing, and life, and I learned a few big things that I can remember for the future. Outside of racing, I had a great week. We had a good team bubble, occupying an entire small hotel, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with friends and teammates. I also took a math test the night after the 15k, and it went really well. I studied for it, and it worked! We enjoyed some good weather and some bad weather, and played a lot of Catan. Now we’re in the Engadin Valley for the last races of the season, a classic 15k mass start and a skate 50k pursuit on the iconic Engadin Marathon course.

Crazy drive over Switzerland to Engadin!

Pretty crazy that we get to see places like this

Testing some classics with Karel. This guy, and all of our wax staff worked so hard last week (they always do) and did a great job in some incredibly difficult conditions. I am very thankful that they are so committed and competent. Thanks guys!

One more weekend!! I’m so excited to go home. Maybe a whole blog post for everything I missed?

Gus Schumacher

February 25, 2021

World Champs run-up

Gus Schumacher

February 25, 2021

(Posted also on SkiPost, but more pictures here)

Honestly not too much to report from the last couple weeks, which is good! We (the U.S. World Champs team) spent last week in Davos, Switzerland doing some training and chilling, with goals to reset from the World Cup grind and refocus on the upcoming championships. It was beautiful, with tons of sun and snow, which was a welcome change from freezing Finland (location of U23s the week before).

2 weeks in Finland did a number on my mittens…good thing NoSo Patches sent me some goods in Davos!

We arrived in Oberstdorf on Sunday, with the first race coming up today! (classic sprint) Rolled up to hot sun and very little snow, which was worrying after seeing snowy pictures of the venue earlier in the winter. Getting to the venue cured some of the worries, because there’s a good amount of snow in the shade, but it’s still feeling the heat! Since it’s been uneventful recently, I think shining some light on how a strong U.S. team prepares for a big championship event would be kind of cool.

There are 17 athletes here, (8 women, 9 men) and with 4 athletes starting in each event, this means we have some people targeting one event, alongside people targeting more like 4-5 (of 6 total) events. There are lots of moving parts, and people all in slightly different modes of preparation for their big events. An important aspect of this for an individual is to not lose sight of one’s own event. Continuing preparation exactly as YOU need it, no matter what’s going on around you is important, and the coaches and staff are working so hard to make this possible. This means lots of vans shutting to and from the venue and COVID testing, as well as additional “special team” staff, including a nutritionist, PT, massage therapist, and doctor to tend to all the tiny needs, with the goal to allow coaches to focus fully on the races and logistics. This is awesome for us, because it means access to really good, healthy food and body care whenever we need it. There’s lots of hype at these events, even compared to big World Cups, so it’s really nice to have all the small things dialed, so we can do our best to block out distractions. The team is running like a machine, and we’re all ready to take on some hot racing!

For myself, individual preparation means chilling when I can, and just enjoying the experience these first few days, while honing in training every day with my coaches Matt Whitcomb and Jan Buron. I’ve been trying really hard to sync up intensity sessions with the other guys, but since we’re all focusing on different races, it’s a little hard to find ourselves doing similar things on the same day. I’ve been able to do a couple sessions recently with Simi, which have been super valuable. One big step forward for me this year has been spending so much time around our nation’s best skiers, and it feels good when I really take advantage of having them around. I’ve learned a lot just by being around them all year, and not necessarily things I could list. A lot of it is just being absorbed when I watch them ski and prepare. My other side of preparation is mental, and right now, 4 days out from racing, that means still doing homework and playing games with the boys, but also starting to allow nervous energy to creep in, and thinking about how I want these races to play out. Now is when I start to go through the courses in my head, visualizing how I want to feel in certain places, and what moves can be made around each course. It’s all fun stuff, and it’s fun to remember this is exactly what I train for, and now is the time to sharpen all of that into a point. Time to come into these biggest races of my life so far with some energy and hype! Let’s go!!!!!

P.S. all the events will be streamed on Peacock, so get on that! (I’m racing first in the team sprint, then the 15k, and not sure about after that)

Gus Schumacher

February 15, 2021

U23 World Champs

Gus Schumacher

February 15, 2021

On the bus to the Oulu airport right now, realizing it’s been a long time since I made this drive in the other direction! It’s been about 2 weeks here, in a pretty isolated environment because of exposure to lots of new people. I’m excited to get back to the world cup team for our pre-world champs camp in (sunny, warm) Davos. We’ll have to continue isolation there to protect our teammates—which is a bummer— but I feel good about it with the biggest races looming. In hindsight, I think this U23 world champs felt a little flat because of so much time here: in cold weather that made quality training harder to accomplish. It was a really beautiful place with good skiing, I think I just missed a little edge in my preparation for these races.

Putting in some intensity/technique work with Jan (daily skier photo)

The first race for me was the classic sprint, but due to cold temps on the scheduled day, the race was pushed back a day. This kinda sucked because we had prepared the day before, and then had to wait most of the morning to find out whether we were racing. I’d like to say this didn’t impact my performance at all, and I think mentally I did a good job rolling with it, but physically I think I ended up missing something. That race went really badly for me result-wise, and I just didn’t feel very strong out on course. It was definitely a test of my confidence and ability to re-focus for the next day. I had to just tell myself over and over that tomorrow was a new day and I could turn things around, because I didn’t really trust that I was feeling that good. By the next day I was excited and more confident, hoping I’d feel better in the race. It was cold again, but not as bad as the day before. (The proof is that I warmed up fully outside, instead of partially inside like I did before the sprint).

Cool to race in a Protect our Winters bib! This week was a good time to address the difference between weather and climate… (just because it’s -10ºF doesn’t mean we’re safe from the crisis) (lurocreative.kuvat.fi)

In the skate race, I wanted to pace consistently, as the slow snow made each 3.75k lap a pretty consistent grind. That meant starting a little harder than normal, and just holding it. I did a good job at the beginning, staying within a few seconds of the leaders, right where I wanted to be. However, around halfway, when I usually begin to tell myself to start “turning the screw” (increasing effort), I wasn’t able to make any more speed, and started losing seconds over the gradual tops of all the hills. It was a weird race because I didn’t really feel like myself for this “crunch time”. On a good day, that second half is where I’d be able to close gaps and pour on the rest of my energy, but I already didn’t have much left to give. It ended up meaning I got passed by the race leader who started 30” behind me, and I just couldn’t hold on. I finished 9th, 53 seconds back to a guy I beat in the 15k skate in Falun. This definitely bummed me out, because I did everything I could, and gave everything I had, and just didn’t race like I know I can. I can find positives in (A) Knowing I pushed myself to my limit even when I wasn’t having that fast of a race, and (B) Working to find seconds where I could in the corners and gradual downhills. At the end of the day, I just had to look to the relay and to World Championships in Germany.

The next day I felt like it couldn’t be too much worse, and if anything the races were making me more ready to race a 5k in the mixed relay. I was glad to get the relay opportunity, because I knew our team had medal chances! A squad like Hailey Swirbul, me, Hunter Wonders, and Sophia Laukli is a squad you want to be on.

Hailey had a strong first leg, and came in dead even with team Norway, with the other teams falling off behind them. When I saw this happening, I knew I had to work together with Norway’s second leg, Jon Rolf Hope, and not let him get away! At the start, I took lead, but he was chilling in my draft, and went around pretty quickly and boosted the pace big time. I drifted back about 5-10 meters, and started to get really nervous about losing him. My kick was good, though, so I was able to bound back to his heels up the big sprint hill. I drifted back a couple more times on the gradual uphill double poling, and closed the gap up the striding hills again. In the finishing 1km, I ended up losing about 5 seconds, unfortunately tagging Hunter a little bit off of a great ride. He did a really good job holding off the strong chase pack, and not losing much time to Norway. In the end, Sophia fought in the chase pack, and ended up a close 5th. We were a little bummed just being so close to medals, but everyone skied a really solid leg and it made for exciting cheering!

Debriefing with Jan (lurocreative.kuvat.fi)

Dissipating some race tension by jumping in a frozen lake then coming back to a hot sauna!

I’m really thankful for a successfully organized event of this size in these times. For a lot of the people here, this is the only shot at big races they got this season, and it was the last year as a junior for a lot of them. This venue really came through and did a lot of work to make it happen, and that’s really impressive. Kiitos Vuokatti.

Gus Schumacher

February 4, 2021

Falun Roller Derby & First Days in Vuokatti

Gus Schumacher

February 4, 2021

Falun training and Falun racing were two very different beasts! The beginning of the week was cold and relaxing, with one good interval session, but mostly good ole cabin living. Once those races started, it was exciting and hectic! The first day was a skate interval start 15k, with another full World Cup field. It was about 10ºF, and the snow was old and fast. I started middle of the pack, (after warming up with too many clothes, trying to at least stay warm all the way to the start.) My goals for the day were similar to most interval starts in that I was mostly focused on good pacing, with a conservative first 3-4 minutes. However, this course had some key rest sections that I tried really hard to take advantage of, and therefore pushed myself harder over the tops of the hills leading into the rest. To dial this is, I did two full-length race visualization sessions, where I tried to focus on how I’d feel and what effort I’d be using at each part of the course. These took quite a while, but I think were super beneficial to me during the race. I think I did a good job using energy where I could in the first half, and then fighting in the second half. My other goal for this day was to finish with no energy left. Normally I don’t stress this, as I race hard every time, but this one I knew I was feeling fit and ready to push myself to my limit in the last couple km of the race. I did, and it felt good to know I had to dig deep a couple times out there. I think accomplishing these goals helped me have what I think was my best race performance this year (9th in a stacked field!), but I also just felt strong and resilient in the recoveries.

Staying relaxed and focused on applying smooth power

Looking up the biggest hill “Mordarbakken” (Murder hill…eye roll)

The next day was a 15km classic mass start on a different (easier) course. It used 2 different 2.5km loops, that didn’t involve the big hill. This was somewhat good, as it meant we didn’t have to ski the tight and fast corners coming off the top as a large group, but it also meant there was only one sustained hill where the pack could really break up. I started bib 14, so pretty near the front, and my goal was to try to stay around that position without expending too much energy, but I was into 35th at the first time check at 1.8km, so I wasn’t nearly aggressive enough. This lead to a lot of stop-and-go in the middle of the pack, and getting stepped on a couple times, one time losing me around 5-10 seconds. The whole race was tight, and there were a few big crashes, some of them really serious. Andrew Young from Britain fell going fast enough to crash through the wooden advertisement banners, and in that same crash, I narrowly avoided Erik Valnes in his process of standing up. Kinda scary stuff, we go fast! I ended up 28th, after expending a lot of energy in the middle of the pack, and just not having enough punch at the end. Only 17 seconds behind the winner, but I was frustrated with my inability to force a good position for myself. In the future, I’d be more aggressive about moving up when I can, and spend that energy, knowing I’d be able to conserve it more towards the front. Either way, I was happy with the day before, and happy to have not crashed, especially when hearing the horror stories after the race. (I think 3 or 4 of our men were involved in a pileup about 2 minutes into the race that put them way out of the running). I also hope they make this course harder for the next big mass start there!

No pictures from the race, but here’s the stadium looking very serene after a crazy day.

I didn’t get a sprint start, which was justifiable because I’m not the best at classic sprinting. It was super cool to go for a nice ski and then watch my friend Luke’s first World Cup! He missed the heats by 0.09 seconds, which suuuuuuucks, but we were all proud of him for a solid result. More to come there.

Watching JC flex his muscles in his quarterfinal

Got a sick new shirt thanks to Protect our Winters’ newest board member, Jessie Diggins!

Lots of cold skis to pack for World u23s!

Then it was time to go back to Finland for Junior/U23 World Champs. More cold weather ahead!

Pullin up to the new spot! Vuokatti, Finland

Enjoying some Alaska-like conditions! (daily skier photo)

If it looks cold, that’s because it is (0-5ºF)

Roomie Hunter, returning from Covid test

Coach Jan made it! It’s so nice to have him here. We’ve been talking about every 3 days this season, and now it can be in person

Always gotta remind you guys that I am still doing homework. This is physics 2. I’m doing a good job so far.

It’s been nice here so far. It’s a little nerve-wracking moving from a pretty constant World Cup “bubble” to a mostly new group of people, so we’re being really careful, all eating separately in our rooms and seeing each other outside training. The other obstacle is the cold, which I haven’t had too much of in central Europe, but I’m getting used to it and enjoying it again. And it makes things really pretty! (see below) One week until the races start. Until then, homework, easy skiing, and Netflix (Kevin recommended “Mindhunter” to me…it’s good)

This place has a ski tunnel! It’s crazy because it’s actually warmer in there right now, but they keep it cold all summer so the athletes here can ski year-round.

Gus Schumacher

January 27, 2021

Seiser Alm -> Lahti -> Falun

Gus Schumacher

January 27, 2021

Not too much to write about these days which is a nice change. Started school and came to Seiser Alm the day after the tour ended, so this week has been busy with stuff besides skiing. It’s been so nice to have a few one-workout (and non-workout) days, and just enjoy some sun and good food and just not doing much. Therefore, race writing is below, but here are pics.

Lots of sun, great meals, and chill time. And a haircut.

It was hard to leave, but once I arrived in Lahti, I felt ready to hammer again. The weather wasn’t great, but I think that helped me get back into the race mindset. The first day I just skied long around the easy trails, which are super nice and wooded. The next day was already pre-race day for the skiathlon, so I tested skate and classic skis and did some intervals with gear transitions in the middle (the skiathlon is an event where you ski a classic course, switch skis and poles, and go immediately into the skate course. Ours was 15k of each technique). It was fun to practice this, and I felt good being back at sea level for the first time since Ruka in November!

Race day I started testing skis 90 minutes before my race, because my wax tech Karel needed time to prepare 2 pairs of skis. These guys work twice as hard on skiathlon days! Karel nailed the skis, and I was psyched to have confidence in them. I was lucky to be starting bib 12 (!) in this mass start, based on my World Cup distance points, so I had a good spot for the beginning of the mass start. In Lahti the courses have really steep climbs and descents, so big packs tend to “accordion” a lot where they spread out on downhills and bunch up at the beginning of the uphills. This makes it way easier to ski near the front versus the back. My main goal for the classic was to ski as relaxed as possible without losing the group, and the group mostly stayed together so this worked out well. I had to fight to keep my spot a little bit but generally it wasn’t too bad.

I had a solid transition, nothing special, then the leaders put in a hot first skate lap. I wasn’t able to match that pace and fell back to the next pack. Scott Patterson and I then worked together to keep our pack moving. I didn’t have too much energy to really push our pace, but I spent some time up front. The finish was super fun, within our pack there were a few attacks, starting about 1.5km out. I ended up getting blocked a little on the last uphill, but made a good move into the Lahti corner to gain 2 spots. I was really happy with being able to ski strong and with good energy this whole race, and ended up only 1:40 behind the winner!

Too tired to be accurate with the knuckles

The next day was a 4x7.5km relay, and I went on leg 2 (classic). It was a lot of fun to get the Jessie treatment with face paint and socks, and do my first World Cup relay! Our team had a bit of bad luck with an ill-timed pole break on the first leg, so I got tagged 1:40 back, and skied mostly alone. However, it’s still fun to put on a bib, and relays are always a good time!

Bus from Stockholm to Falun- watched some Django

Today I did a speed/interval session to get ready for the distance races Friday and Saturday. It was a short L3 warm up, then 2 sets of 6x15-15, 4x30-30, and 2x60-60 (being seconds hard and seconds off). Then I did a 5’ L3 cool down to clear some lactate. It felt good and fast and I’m looking forward to the weekend! The video of it is under the “links” tab in the navigation bar up top.

In Falun we’re staying in cute little cabins with bunk beds, and weather and snow is great!

Gus Schumacher

January 14, 2021

Tour de Ski!!

Gus Schumacher

January 14, 2021

Thanks for being patient on this one, I was busy enough during the tour to not write anything down, and just started school again, so it’s taken a bit to get on top of the blog. However, I know how cool of an experience the tour is (and seems to be from the outside) so I want to do it justice here. I’m just going to start with pictures and a run through of the week, kinda journal style, then put some better thoughts at the end. :)

Welcome to the show. Val Mustair, Switzerland. 2 days before the first race.

View from the room. Watching some old World Cup racing.

Pre-skate sprint testing. Sunny and cold!

Video screenshot from the first race (skate sprint)

Ended up 31st in this qualifier, less than half a second behind my teammate/roomate Kevin Bolger. Had to let him have it, poor guy is used to being in sprint finals now. Wasn’t bummed with it, I think I did a good job in my race execution. Also I may have been a little bit excited to not race again, because I got to save that much energy for the rest of the tour. Whoopsie!

Dr. Greg came! (as team doctor for the tour)

Walking the streets of our little village

Video screenshot from the final 1km of the skate pursuit in Val Mustair

Didn’t get many pictures from the race days, they tend to feel like there’s not much time to waste. Especially early in the tour, when our team is extra focused on limiting time on skis/outside/at the venue. A big part of success in the tour is not spending energy where you don’t need to, so we tried hard to spend as much time as possible chilling.

The first weekend of races didn’t go super well for me. The sprint started fine, then I really blew up on the 3rd of 4 laps in the classic mass start. The pack stayed together for the first half, and I started accelerating when everyone else did, but I just didn’t have enough to hold the pace. I also was too focused on the action around me, and not focused enough on my own effort, and realized I was over my limit a few seconds too late. I was able to fight through that last lap for 36th, but it felt bad to drop through the field. In the pursuit, I was able to move up to 32nd in the tour with a 28th time of day, so I salvaged it a little bit. The difference was a stronger attention to my physical red flags (heart rate and muscle feelings). Overall, the grinding courses at 5,500ft in Val Mustair seemed to not serve me that well, but I was happy to have only 2 days before another fresh start!

Classic testing on a perfect day with Karel!

Feeling really lucky to be able to see all these amazing places, even if I have to ski as hard as I can for most of my stay at some of them.

FIRING. Helped along by big yells out of Dr. Greg

The first day in Toblach (stage 4) was a skate 15km individual start. My focus for the race to was to start easier than I thought I should (up the first main climb) and then try to sustain and build pace at the end. It went well, and I neared the top of the climb feeling relaxed, but got a split that I was tied for first, so I knew it was a good day! I kept it steady through the next 5km, and then the eventual 2nd place finisher, Denis Spitsov (Russia), caught me and the other guy I was leading, so I got a good ride from him to finish the second lap. On his second lap (my last lap), he skied very fast up the hills, and really helped me push into the finish. I crossed the line in 2nd (no leader’s chair…yet), feeling like I had done a great job using my energy where I could and finishing feeling perfectly spent! I started my cool down before the race was over, so I didn’t know how I was doing at all, except that it was at least a solid race. When I came back to the wax truck, Matt Whitcomb was stoked and gave me a big hug, but I still didn’t know exactly how I did. Fun to hear my time held up well!

This race was big for me because it was a good support to my confidence, showing I could at least scrape the window of the top guys.

From the skate race cool down, knowing I did well but not my final place (sorry about the boogers and pro bar crumbs, gotta get that food in ya know!)

Part of the fun of the tour is that you always have another race to focus on, no matter how you did. I rode the fun feeling of 14th through the night, got a massage, and started visualizing for the next day.

Skiing in the second chase pack in the classic pursuit

The classic pursuit was extra fun because I got to start in a position with some really good skiers. I was able to work well with them just holding a pace. Helped push us along a little bit, maybe a little too much near the end. I didn’t have much energy to finish with and drifted towards the back of the group for the finish. Another fun race to ski tactically in a group!

Thankfully I had my trusty team doctor to keep me company

The only annoying part about anti-doping was that I had to wait for 2 hours after my cool down to get my blood drawn. The race was at 3:30pm, so that meant a later departure than was planned. It all worked out because I got to eat nutella/banana sandwiches all the way to Val di Fiemme, and talk about how to cook leftovers with our team nutritionist, Alan. (Thanks Alan, if you’re reading. The sandwiches and tips on old noodles were perfect.)

Always fun to see an iconic venue for the first time (Val di Fiemme, World Champs 2013)

Really capitalizing on a much needed rest day. Sunny and perfect skiing!

In the tour, you get 2 rest days, and people take a lot of different approaches to them. The most common is probably to just ski easy for a little bit and test skis for the next day or few days. Some people also do almost nothing if they are really tired, but I found that it was most helpful for me to do some light intensity both days, to “keep the engine running”. I felt like a fully off day would make me feel sluggish and flat, so I kept the pressure on, so my body didn’t have time to really enter too much of a restful state. These days were still significantly less stress than race days, but just enough to keep me “awake”. That intensity was 2x4min at 30km race pace for the first day, and just 5min gradual downhill double pole the second day.

Getting some food and warmth between classic sprint qualifier and heats

The classic sprint was good for me, it was really fun to qualify and be able to race my second World Cup heat. Sprint heats are a great place to pick up tactics and just generally how fast skiers ski. I ended up in a mediocre position going into the last downhill and didn’t have the double pole finish speed to back it up but I still had a good time.

14km into the 15km classic mass start with the leaders in reach.

Thankfully I still had a good amount of energy going into the last 2 races, which really helped me feel confident in a generally slightly more tired field. This race, the 15km classic mass start, I started in the 7th row, bib 33, so my plan was to chill back there until the field started to spread out, allowing for easier passing. This ended up taking a lot longer than I though it would, with the main stretch-out starting at a time bonus on the 4th of 6 laps. I had been skiing pretty steadily between 40th-25th before that, but that opening allowed me to move up more. This race I was also reminiscent of my Val Mustair classic distance race, and was attentive to how I was feeling. This got exciting on the start of the last lap, because I did a little self-check and I was still feeling energetic and strong, and I knew even if the pace really heated up, I’d have some energy to respond. That’s basically what happened! On the longest climb, DeFabiani (Italy) started to push and I found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with Bolshunov with under 1.5km left! That was a crazy feeling, and as I got closer to the finish in 5th, I realized I needed to look ahead to the podium, which was a crazy feeling in a World Cup, and a feeling I haven’t had in racing yet this year. I ended up losing a couple spots in the end, but the feeling I got from being so close to the front of the field was enough to make me incredibly stoked! That was the kind of race that makes me love racing, and I’m really proud with my execution.

The camera helicopter flying around before the start of the final climb

On the middle of an alpine hill (from Caitlin Patterson)

Gonna burst people’s bubble a little and say that the final climb wasn’t maybe as hard as everyone makes it out to be. This is only because you can only go so hard before your body shuts down, and I think I’m pretty good at getting there in any normal race. I will say it is a pretty absurd event though. There are some spots on that hill where you turn a corner and just look up and whimper. Ended up 19th in that one, and I was just happy to be done and to have accomplished such an iconic event in nordic skiing! If you told 12 year old me I was going to be finishing the tour this year, he would’ve absolutely believed you, but would’ve also been hyped.

I’m so thankful to and proud of this whole team in the tour. We had so many finishers, including 3 of the 10 EVER U.S. male finishers. And obviously we had an overall winner, just check the New York Times for info on that one. But it takes so much more than that— from our PTs, coaches, wax techs, nutritionist, doctor, and all of our supporters at home— our team has so much help to do our jobs, and we are incredibly thankful for everything. I hope we can return the favor now and every weekend by racing hard and doing well!

Podcast with Ian Harvey about the tour (48min)

Thanks for walking back out to cheer us on, Jessie :)

Now we’re in Seiser Alm, Italy for an 8-day recovery camp, before moving on to the next World Cups. This place is amazing, and it’s giving me good time to start school and enjoy some of the prettiest skiing I’ve ever done. Hopefully we can regain some energy before Lahti in a little over a week…

Among all of this very race-focused action, it’s easy to feel disconnected from normal life, especially back at home. For me, especially, it can feel kind if ignorant to be focusing so hard on cross country ski racing when climate change, Covid, and American political issues continue to get worse. However, I think it is still worthwhile for me to continue doing the best I can with the amazing opportunities that I’ve earned, as I think I can do more good with a sport-elevated voice than I could without it. That, combined with the vocal support I get from people I both know and don’t know, makes me really believe that I’m doing the right things. Maybe this sounds like me trying to get rid of guilt but it really comes down to an appreciation of everyone that follows and supports me through this career, it truly does mean a lot. If I can give people some fun news and distractions, I’ll count it as a win!

So thank you for reading, and I hope I can provide some entertainment the rest of the winter!

Gus Schumacher

December 22, 2020

Davos pt. 2 & Dresden

Gus Schumacher

December 22, 2020

After the races in Davos last weekend I really didn’t feel like writing a blog. I was disappointed in my objective results in a weaker field (no scandinavians), and I thought I’d be able to do better after a good time trial the previous weekend. Basically, I didn’t do as well as I thought I would or could, and had a few days where that really weighed on me. I’m writing about it now because I think I cleared that mental hurdle really well, with a lot of help from my coaches and teammates. It will also help me to write my thoughts down here.

I was bummed after Saturday because I felt like I just didn’t have the top speed to hang onto the guys in my quarterfinal. (Didn’t really factor in the fall I had to jump over but I still felt too slow).

(dailyskier.com pic) Tired and 5th in my heat!

Doing everything I can do feel better Sunday

I was actually happy with my race Sunday until I saw results. I thought I paced really well and adjusted my technique to ski a grinding altitude course. Again I was just slower than I assumed I’d be and that was hard to deal with. After those races I definitely reached out a lot to my people, and heard a lot of the same things, mostly things which I already knew, but needed to hear from other people. A few days later I was able to talk myself into those mindsets, that allowed me to focus on future races and the things I can do better. A few of the statements are: it’s a long season and I might just need time to work into it; I haven’t raced high-level races before nationals in a long time; and, that I just have to be patient because I know I can race well. It also gave me the kick I needed to play around with some new technique stuff, including shortening my poles a little. After that really productive technique session, I felt better and started getting excited for Dresden. We spent a lot of time in Davos!

The drive to Dresden was boring, I forgot to download any movies or anything, so all I had were some podcasts and music for 7 hours. Couldn’t even sleep much! We got there and walked around the old town and saw the course, such cool stuff.

The sprint day was good, we only got 10 minutes on course to test skis before the race (to preserve the snow for the whole day). Which was plenty to practice the corners a couple times and do some speeds on skis. Lots of people warmed up on roller skis, but I didn’t have any so I just ran with some exercises to get my arms and legs warmed up. I actually felt more warmed up than a lot of other lazy on-ski warmups.

I didn’t qualify, missed it by a second or so. I wasn’t too bummed about it, I thought I skied as well as I could’ve, but just lacked the big, fast gear than I needed for really fast, flat, sea level skiing.

Pre race testing…such a cool course (dailyskier.com)

Even though I didn’t race much I’m so glad I went to Dresden! It was an experience unlike any other I’ve had so far and I had a ton of fun. Also big shoutout to FIS and the local organizers for making a really secure bubble for us (on Saturday every single athlete, coach, and tech tested negative!).

Looking forward to 10 days in Seefeld, Austria, doing some training and chilling in preparation for the Tour de Ski! I’m really excited to try that, and I’ll take it race by race to see if I want to keep going (8 races in 10 days may be a bit much). We’ll see!

Gus Schumacher

December 9, 2020

Davos! pt.1 (pics mostly)

Gus Schumacher

December 9, 2020

Our team traveled to Davos, Switzerland immediately after finishing up the Ruka weekend. We’ve been here for about 9 days now, and it’s been amazing! I didn’t update earlier because I had some finals early in the week. I still have one more after writing this but I’m giving myself a break from all the engineering stuff. Here’s the last 9 days in pictures!

Moonlight!! also take note of how dry it is…that’s not going to last

…and a greeeaaat breakfast. The highlight for me is the honey here.

Day 4 our coaches organized an international time trial on the same courses we’ll do for the race next weekend. Apparently a lot of people were interested, because we had some awesome competition! The guys got to race with Pellegrino, Bolshunov, Hediger, and lots of the best skiers from the Italian, Russian, Swiss, and German teams! It made for a super competitive race atmosphere, and helped teach us how these courses feel during a race, especially for those of us that haven’t raced here before.

faster skier write-up of the time trials:

https://fasterskier.com/2020/12/international-time-trial-in-davos-sharpens-american-world-cup-squad/

Pellegrino checking to see if the serial numbers on our ski are close and they’re “brothers”. We skied on the same grind and flex for that day. We also tested one of each of our skis to see if anyone was breaking the no fluoro rule—good practice for… — Pellegrino checking to see if the serial numbers on our ski are close and they’re “brothers”. We skied on the same grind and flex for that day. We also tested one of each of our skis to see if anyone was breaking the no fluoro rule—good practice for next year.

Sprint Final! Ended up 3rd behind Pellegrino and Bolshy which made me feel really good about where I’m at in training.

The next day we did a 15km skate time trial with a lot fewer racers. That helped make it lower-key, which was good for me because I wasn’t looking for a maximum distance race effort. I also didn’t feel the best, so it felt good that there wasn’t much stress. Must’ve worked too hard the day before!

Doing some skiing with Francesco DeFabiani

& Jonas Baumann. Shoutout Matt Whitcomb for the sick pics both days

Unwinding with some FIFA while the snow comes

Day 6 (off day) sledding in a ton of new snow

can’t do anything in public but don’t want to spend a whole off day inside

being a good teammate and breaking trail. That’s a lot of snow in 2 days!

Postcard place- feeling very lucky to be here

Jogging with Ian Torchia and Adam Martin

Thanks for checking in! I’ll post again after the races, maybe with more words next time. :) Everybody likes pictures, right?