May Day at Waway

Whitney and Amanda competed as the only all -girl team in the sport class of the Adventure Race, "May Day at Waway" on Saturday. The best part is they were first place overall-- girling one all male team and six co-ed teams. This was Amanda's first adventure race and Whitney's second--together, they proved to be a strong team. The girls started with the kayaking leg, then went on to run, and finally bike. The entire race took them a little over 4 hours. Click here to view the whole photo album.

Flyga Ballong

I helgen fyllde jag 33 bast = om man far saga bast nar man ar 33?
Whitney overraskade mig med en tur i luft-ballong. Kul och ro-givande var det aven om det kanske inte gar att jamfora med att hoppa fallskarm eller likande "luft-aktivitet".

D-Day - operation och Rehab

4:e Mars var det dags for operation. Val vid sjukhuset varnade man mig for att det skulle gora ont efterat och jag fick "pain-killers" som racker i en manad framat. Sedan en liten cocktail intravenost och sa slummrade man till ....och vakanade upp med ett stort gips och kunde inte kanna nagot under midjan. Efter ett tag borjade laren komma tillbaka och 3 timmar senare blev jag utrullad pa en rullstol till en taxi.
Ett hal i hoften visar att de har snott lite benmarg darifran och lagt in i ankeln. Plockat ut lite losa delar som simmade omkring dar inne, karvade bort det taskiga benet och nu hoppas vi bara att det laker.
Det har gatt tva veckor och det mesta ser bra ut. Foten kanner sig battre for varje dag - speciellt pa helgen nar jag kan ligga och vila, med den i hog-lage hela dagen. Det drojer dock til April innan jag kan borja tynga pa den och an sa lange galler det att skutta omkring pa kryckor. Sa har ser den ut i alla fall

Sa har ser Mt.Macry ut

I forra posten blev det inget kort pa Mt. Marcy eftersom kameran inte var med. Har kommer ett kort jag har snott fran Natet

"Skid-alpinism" - Mt. Marcy

Presidents weekend (ytterligare en vecka dar man far en ledig mandag) and Whitney and I are heading to "best skiing in the east" - Lake Placid to get some last skiing before the surgery. Efter att ha kort VM-banorna upptackte jag att 1:a ar en grymmt underskattad vaxel i skating nar man inte ar sa valtranad. Mitt nya mal ar att kora en skid-tavling, och under stora delar av loppet anvanda mig av ettans vaxel (helst skulle jag vilja vara med i tat-gruppen da jag gor detta, men det kanske ar for mycket begart). Klart underskattat i alla fall! Vi testar sedan Whitney's nya randonee set-up pa Whrights peak, vilket faktiskt bjod pa mycket fin "trail-skidakning", men dagen efter var det dags for sasongens "stora" (jag satter stora inom parentes for sa djakla stort ar det inte) mal - Mt. Marcy. Fran parkeringen till toppen ar det 8.7Miles och typ 1200 hojdmeter - inte direkt brant, men djakligt langt - eller 17.4 miles fram och tillbaka vilket gor att nar dagen ar over har jag knatat mellan 27 och 28km i rando-utrustning. I bocker och pa natet kan man lasa att detta gors bast som en 2-dagars tur med overnattning vi Marcy-dam, och sedan tidigt uppstigning och topp-bestigning dag 2. Inte nog med att jag skippar att sova ute (det ar kallt ute, varmt pa hotellet) och kor det hela pa en dag - dessutom startar jag pa skont New York vis klockan 9.40 pa morgonen efter frukost buffe pa en av Lake Placids resturanger. Efter att ha lamnat av Whitney vid Marcy dam dar hon kor en midre lattare tur matar jag mot toppen och vi haller radio-kontakt via walki-talkies som vi har inhandlat for aventyr som detta. Det ar forvanandsvart lite folk pa stigen tills det att jag kommer till de sista 800 metrarna som ar over trad-gransen. Val dar sa ser jag en lang "orm" ringlande upp mot toppen. ca 10 pers pa vag upp och 15 pa vag ned. 95% ar utrustade som om de skulle bestiga nagonting i Anapurna - dvs full face mask, isyxor, steg-jarn, jackor med temperatur for att klara sydpolen. Sjalv har jag ett soft-shell samt en topp-luva som det star Solleftea skid-akademi pa. De flesta tittar pa mig som jag ar ett ufo och undrar vad jag gor dar, medan nagra gor tummen upp och ler stort men flertalet verkar inte tycka om att jag stor deras "bergs-bestigning" (det ar nagot med New-Ork typer - de tror att det ar val-tranade och maste ha en massa dyra grejjor for att de kan ta sig runt ett triathlon eller ga upp for en kulle). Hur som helst - pga av kameran lag kvar i Lagenheten i New York sa blir det inga foton (jag har snott det ovan fran natet) och det blaser fordjavlig pa toppen, sa jag tar och knapper pa mig hjalmen och skidar ned, skrammer livet ur nagra vandrar-karringar som tror att de ar pa sydpolen trots att jag aker 10 meter ifran dem, och 5h och 40 min efter det att jag startade ar jag tillbaka till bilen. Akningen pa Wrights peak ar egentigen mycket battre och nagot jag skulle rekommendera, medans Mt. Marcy egentigen mest ar lang, men som avslutning pa sasongen var det kalas! Tillbaka till civilizationen tog jag ett kort av min fot - sa ser det ut efter nastan 3 mil i rando-pjaxor. Nu vantar operation och rehab!

NJ Trail Series 5K - Team OW best losers

First of all - March 4th is D-Day - Olof is getting into surgery and according to the doctor it is about 50% chance of his foot getting better. Until then he has gotten an ok to do about a 5k run once a week. Freely elaborating on that Whitney and Olof entered the NJ Winter Trail series. - a 5k race! Gratned non of us had raced for almost 2 years in running the expectations where very low, and just take it for fun.... but for some reason as soon as the bib comes on all I can think about is how am I going to win! Where is the best place for a sprint etc. Also I am very easy to predict because the tactic is always the same... stay with the lead group as long as possible and if you are with them to the end... win the sprint. And as my friend Micke wrote on his blogg "jag ar bra pa att tavla", when I now can compare myself to citizen racers etc, I have to say "jag ar forbannat bra pa att tavla". The biggest problem was that both Whitney and Olof are extremely out of shape when it comes to running. In the biggest hill which was between 2-3k the runners lightly tripped away from us while Olof at least fell like a rock through the field (I was seriously considering walking several times and my position fell from 3-to7 in like 200 meters). The good news is that runners are not good at "kora over kronet" - something you are toast as a cross country skier if you do not do. So 300 meters after the summit I suddenly was 2:nd again on a small windy single track towards the finish with no major uphills left. Holding on for dear life I managed to keep the 3 seconds I had in lead over the last 1.5k and keeping second.

Whitney also does a great race and is actually close to stealing first, even though she is in a brutal fall on the downhill and scrapes her knees and tear her pants, but gets beaten with about 10 sec over a tiny woman half her size. Overall team OW is extremly happy with the performance and excited to be on the trails. Click on the pictures below that takes you to an album with pictures from the day.

Night skiing

The general understanding of cross country skiing by the american public is about 0 (yes that is a zero). Skiing at night is a concept that one should not even try to start explaining. But here where grooming is often a little so, so - especially compared to the sweet home country, explorer-skiing can be a great way to spend some evening/night hours. Few things is as fun as heading out into "new" land (at least where you haven't been before) as the sun goes down and every bone in your body tells you to turn. Team OW theory is that the brain is trying to trick you and wants you to go home and lay in bed and eat cookies because it is "safer" and biologically better. Instead you turn on your headlamp and see where the trail takes you. saturday had some great night explorer skiing along the ridge between Mohonk and Minnewaska, and we actually got some first tracks down a trail which always is a highlight.

As you can see either Whitney has gotten a lot faster or we set the shutter speed on the camera to a lot slower... but in any case - night skiing is frikking fun!

Say hello to Johnny!

There has been some competitions on our blogg.

First of all - Our Jeep is named Johnny (which was the name we where leaning towards before the blogg post) but we also added the nickname Jebus - just so we can scream 'Save me Jebus!!!!" when things go wrong.

About the Christmas Cookies we only had 3 votes and all on different cookies. Therefore Micke who casted his vote first becomes the "judge" and the winner in the christmas cookie competition is "Redneck with bad teeth in yellow wife-beater and green lederhosen"!! - Hurreay,!!!!... but they have all been eaten by the cookie-monster now!

Santa Claus is coming... part 2 - "Miss Christmas Cookie"

Det ar sjukt juligt har i New York. - eller sa juligt det kan bli utan sno. Igar var vi och firade lucia pa samma satt som forra aret och det var lika grymmt att hora "glans over sjo och strand" av nagon som faktiskt kan sjunga. Idag var det jul-kaks bakande och sedan dekorerande. Efter bra response pa "name that Jeep" sa finns det nu 12 st finalister i "Miss Jul-kaka USA" att rosta pa.

1. Jul-Gran som ser verklighetstrogen ut

2. MC Echer Jul-spiral

3. Prickig klocka

4. Redneck med daliga tander, gul "wifebeater" och grona lederhosen

5. Kak-gubbe som blivit zombie och har massa blod runt munnen

6. Glad kak-gubbe

7. Julgran som inte ar gron

8. Bikini-kak-brud

9. Modern sno-gubber

10. omodern snogubbe

11. Normal julgran

12. tva-fargad julgran

Tag chansen att rosta fram amerikas vackraste jul-kaka!!!

Santa Claus is coming....

Team OW will celebrate Christmas here in New York. To get into Christmas spirit... The Diva, Grumpy Bear and Lil-Sis all got into (Johnny, Jebus, Jessabel ... those are the 3 finalists for the Jeep) and went to pick up a christmas tree. While Grumpy only occasionally woke up to either 1) complain about people doing things "sub-optimal" 2) bring out his credit card to pay for this "christmas spirit", after a long day of work the result is displayed above... A fine looking fir. If Santa don't come and put presents under this tree I am seriously going to question his standards.

Name that Jeep... (new family member)

For a long time we have know that Sally was getting old. Many years of chain smoking made her lungs sound like like ... well a chainsmoker when she made it up hills. So last weekend we had to put her to sleep. We all remember Sally as an old lady that gave us much pleasure in life and always did her best - sometimes with a little complaining to take us where we needed to go.

Now here is the new Family member. The Jeep - we think we have a name for her/him but are up for any suggestions. So help us name that Jeep.....

Team Davis 4th and 7th on Ladder 5k Run

The Davis sisters did a pretty strong performance on the 2010 Ladder 5 run on Staten Island. Whitney finshed 4th and Amanda on 7th place of the girls. There was age-groups and, all other different categories but it is a little against my principal to report those (like I actually won if only counting foreigners born on Tuesday in even weeks). The full results are here. http://www.nyara.org/nyara_races/2010/mn_race_ladder5.php#results
If the times looks like absolutly aweful for a 5k course it is because this is not your normal 5k course. Whitney usually breaks 20 min on a normal 5k but this one goes over a beach, on a twisty singletrack etc. so it is very hard to compare the time to anything else.

Here is the dynamic duo ready for fight.

TR: Lake Placid Epic Day

Lake Placid ar ju lite av varat favvo-stalle har pa den amerikanska ost-kusten. I alla fall nar det galler ute-liv. 2 ar i rad har vi kunnat aka upp dit for att fira Independence Day... God bless!

Denna gang hade vi planerat ett special-triathlon som vi kallade Lake Placid Epic Day.. och bestod av paddling, Hike/run, och klipp-hoppning.

Har ser vi borjan av paddlingen pa den sodra delen av Lake Placid. I horizonten ser man Whiteface Mountain (5:e hogsta toppen i New York 1,483 meter - ingen 8000meter kippa men har anda sjysst fallhojd.) - varat "mal" eller snarare vand-punkt. Vi startade i Lake Placid och paddlade over sjon till foten av Whiteface mountain ), sedan laste vi kayaken till ett trad och hikade upp till toppen och tillbaka

Pa bilden ovan ar vi antligen pa toppen och lake Placid som vi paddlade over kan synas i bakgrunden. Tyvarr blockar mitt stora huvud stora delar av sjon som vi paddlade over. Under paddlingen tillbaka sa stannade vi vid pulpit rock och hoppade ned i Lake Placid. eller jag gjorde det i alla fall - Whitney avstod for "vattnet verkade laskigt".

Hur som helst blev det en helt fantastisk dag och slut-tiden stannade pa 7h. kanske inte raket-fart men i alla fall en bra start pa rundan Lake Placid - Whiteface t.o.r.

Englands sjukaste hotell

Aven om jag har varit runt lite grann har i varlden vilket mycket av den har bloggen handlar om, sa hojs det ofta pa ogonbrynen nar det kommer fram till att jag aldrig varit pa den lilla on U.K. Som tur sa skulle detta sattas stopp for i och med att jag var tvungen att aka dit pa affars-resa och kika pa lite flyg-plan. Det finns en fordel med affars-resor och det ar resturangerna man ater pa och hotellen som man far bo pa... men detta hotell slar alla rekord. Belaget i ett gammalt herrsate sa har det nu blivit om-gjort till ett four-seasons, med 1000 hektar mark runt och av nagon anledning sa ar rummen inte dyrare an vanliga lyx-hotell rum (fran 2,200 SEK per natt ar nastan helt gratis om man tanker pa att four seasons i New York kostar fran 5,000 SEK per natt). http://www.fourseasons.com/hampshire/

Om man av nagon konstig anledning skulle fa for sig att vilja lagga 2 tuss pa att sova nagonstans sa ar detta helt klart stallet jag rekommenderar... aven om det smarta alternativet alltid ar att campa!!!!.. men som en god 2:a sa tar jag Four Seasons i Hampshire.

The Captain'

The Team has gotten a new member - Captain Sully or "The Captain" for short. The Captain is extremly versatile and can handle almost anything you throw at him. Long grueling uphills or steep rocky downhills it doesn't matter. So far the Captain has worked with the team for a couple of months and both Whitney and Olof are extremely pleased with his work. He works mostly on missions with Whitney but occasionally Olof takes him on a ride too. We expect we are going to be hearing "Brace for impact!" many more times. The picture is Olof and The Captain negotiation a tricky situation with a Boulder in Lake Placid.

Spring Skiing @ Hunter Mountain

Spring is here in NYC and with it the warm temperatures. Perfect for some of the years most sought after activity - Spring Skiing. While here in the east we are more seldom blessed with perfect "crust-skiing" that the west can have after a cold night (for XC that is) there is still plenty to enjoy. 2 weekends ago we headed up to Hunter Mountain to get some turns. And while it in the Summer has pretty basic and "non-gnarly" trails compared to diablo and Plattekill the skiing is better than anything else in the area. And now Whitney is getting better and better with the "bumps".

Sno Kaos i New York 2 - Langdskidakning

Som jag skrev tidigare sa ar det "sno-kaos" har i New York. Sa da byggdes det forst lite sno-gubbar men sedan tog vi pa oss traningsklader och gav oss ut for lite dubbel-stakning. Jag tror att jag ar en av ganska fa manniskor som har akt langdskidor i New York City mindre an 3km fran City Hall (rad-huset) fagelvagen. Det blev en timmes dubbel-stakning i parken dar de fa New York bor som hade vagat sig ut tittade ganska undrade pa vad vi gjorde. Kul var det dock och aven om jag inte tagit rullskidorna pa tur mitt inne i Manhattan annu sa var det enda en ganska unik upplevelse.
Kor sa det ryker!

Snostorm i New York

Har i new York ar de inte kloka de dar amrikanarna. Sa fort det kommer minsta lilla gnutta sno kallar de det for "sno-ovader" och staller in skolor, lokaltrafik och hela koret.. faktum ar att det ar inte varre an vad vi i Svedala kallar for "vader".. nagot helt normalt.
Sa medans New York-borna inte ens vagar ge sig ut pa gatorna tog Whitney och jag och byggde nagra sno-gubbar till var lilla "altan". Whitney gjorde en sno-princessa och jag en "skon lirare med lite taskiga tander som stracker armarna i luften" Har bredvid kan ni se resultatet.

White Mesa Mountainbiking

For Presidents Weekend O&W decided to take a trip to good old Albuqueque. As always it was sunny skies, great food and a lot of biking! Especially cool was a trip to White Mesa which offers some very unique trails. Just check out the video above!

Fusk-bygge och kold-knapp

Det har slagit till en lite kold-knapp har i New York. pa morgonen ar det runt -10 grader celcius och smakyligt. For svenska valbyggda hus ar -10 grader igent problem men har borta ar det mer kvantitet och mindre kvalitet i husbyggandet. Whitney och jag bor i ett "brown-stone" fran 1870. I normall fall sa gar uppvarmingskostnaden pa ett sandant pa mellan 800-1000 dollar i manaden (dvs 5600-7000kr) som skall delas pa 2 familjer sa det blir 3000-3500kr var (som tur ar har huset 2 olika matare sa vi betalar bara for var del). Nu ar det dock sa att jag vagrar att betala detta hut-losa pris sa jag kor knappt alls med uppvarmning. Nar vi gar och lagger oss har vi bada 2 duntacken var!!! och dessutom sover jag i langbyxor, T-shirt samt raggsockor. Idag efter frukost var det 13.7 grader varmt i koket - koket ar dock ganska varmt i forhallande till varat kallaste rum. Det drar som en oppet spjall i varat lilla badrum pa nedervaningen sa under vintern anvands det endast av mig under morgon. I morse var det 5.3 grader varmt innomhus! Bildbevis finns har intill. - Da biter det i kinderna att stiga in i duschen. Dock kommer inte elrakningen in pa mer an max 200USD i manaden for oss - tacka vet jag svensk byggnads-konst.