Stratos

All posts tagged Stratos

Thankful

Posted by sarianderson on November 23, 2011
Posted in: Gear. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

It’s that time of year when we all think about what we are thankful for. Too bad more of us don’t do this more often but at least we do it sometime.

Of course I’m thankful for the usual things like my amazing husband, my kids, our extended family, etc. But this year I’m also thankful for La Sportiva sponsoring me for the skimo season again and the gear that is on its way to my house. I had a hard time not feeling like a kid on Christmas while reading the email showing my RSR skis and binding and Hi5 skis had shipped. My Stratos boots from last season are perfectly broken in and ready for some ski days very soon.

First however, we are headed to Moab for a little more mountain biking and trail running before more snow flies. We just can’t seem to get enough of the desert even with Ian picking up his Surly Pugsley snow bike this afternoon and my skis on the way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

http://www.sportiva.com/products/ski/skis/hi5

I Swore I’d Never Do It Again…

Posted by sarianderson on March 16, 2011
Posted in: Training after pregnancy, Upcoming Races. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

…But here I go anyway.

Last weekend Pete Gaston of Aspen asked me to race in the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse with him because his brother broke his back and can’t race anymore. I  swore that I never do the race again mostly because of the logistics. It’s always tough to find a ride to Crested Butte in the first place, and then we have to be there early Friday morning for gear check-in, even though we don’t start racing until midnight on Friday night. But this year, the prospect of using my lightweight gear to race was really intriguing, so when Pete asked me I said yes.

I have competed in the race twice (2005 and 2008) and used backcountry touring gear and then nordic skis. This year I will be racing on my ski mountaineering gear and I’m actually looking forward to it. My La Sportiva skis and Stratos boots are significantly lighter than both my nordic and backcountry set-ups and out-perform them by far. Pete is a super strong young gun that placed 5th in his first ever SkiMo race and then won the 12 Hours of Sunlight on a two-man team. Although he has not raced the GT before, I’m psyched to be racing with him hopefully we’ll be a strong coed team.

But first, this weekend, we’re heading to Fruita for the spring Honey Stinger mountain bike team camp.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I had a good race at the Aspen Highlands Inferno last Sunday. I was the second person to the top of the Bowl behind Max Taam and finished sixth overall, winning the women’s division. I still need to work on my descending skills, but overall I was pleased with my performance.

They’re Here!

Posted by sarianderson on December 21, 2010
Posted in: Gear, Training after pregnancy. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

My La Sportiva / Merelli skis arrived today! I am so excited to get out on my new skis and boots. It’s tempting to even blow off work tomorrow to check them out but I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow night or Thursday morning. Aspen has been getting hammered with snow while it rains in Carbondale so the skiing should be sweet.

While waiting for the skis to arrive I’ve been getting out a bunch with the Chariot with a bike, skate ski and run in last few days. We also celebrated Ian’s birthday last week with a skin up to the warming hut at Buttermilk. It has been so much fun to share our love for the outdoors with the kids. Juniper barely made it through having cupcakes because she was so excited

Juniper, Axel & I finishing up a great night skin and ski.

to ski down in the dark and Axel was very relaxed in the pack skiing. We are all looking forward to the next birthday celebration next week.

Happy holidays to all – time to lay down and get a good night sleep thanks to Sealy and Polartec!

 

OohLahLah

Posted by sarianderson on December 9, 2010
Posted in: Gear, Training after pregnancy, Upcoming Races. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Check out what arrived yesterday! I am so excited to race at Irwin this weekend to try out the new La Sportiva Stratos boots. I’m going to be able to descend so much better this year. And they make my F1s feel heavy and they’re light. Crazy!

I’ll post a full report this weekend after the race unless I’m still out skiing.

Training Season

Posted by sarianderson on December 4, 2010
Posted in: Training, Training after pregnancy, Upcoming Races. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

We are in the midst of the holiday season which means that it is time to get on the rando race training. I have been out for a few training sessions on my race gear as well as an amazing day of backcountry skiing in Marble. Axel joined me for a recent training session and I think he enjoys skinning more than I do.

Monday can’t get here soon enough as I should be receiving in the mail a pair of the La Sportiva Stratos boots! I’m so excited to get out in these boots a few times this week to test them out before racing in them next weekend at the COSMIC Irwin race. I know skill has something to do with it but I have convinced myself that my descending skills in the race are going to be amazing this year from lighter, stiffer boots.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue training and sleeping. Axel has been allowing me to sleep more which is an amazing treat especially on the Embody by Sealy mattress with Polartec fabric. The new mattress continues to impress Ian and I with its comfort and healthy sleep.

Speaking of sleep…it’s time for me to rest for tomorrow morning’s early training session.