Fall into Winter

Tomorrow is October 1 and a new season is getting so close. There are signs of it everywhere - the leaves are slowly starting to shed their green and change colors, pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks and Panera, the weather is starting to cool down which means that in New England it's getting really cool, especially at night. Another sign is that we got an early look at the Appalachian Series schedule for the winter. The big news there, at least for us, is that there will be a bx race at Massanutten again and the timing is such that Whitney will be home from school on her first spring break (or is it her winter break, I'm not sure). Whitney has already registered with USASA again and has made some big changes. She's moved up to the Open class and she also switched to the Maine Mountain Series. The good news is that since she's the Jams Champion from last season, she has an automatic invite to Nationals this year.

Another sign of the coming season is that dry ground training has started up in Maine. Whitney has had several meetings with the ski and snowboard team at school and they've started running and working out. She said that the other day they were playing football. Not sure how exactly that gets them in shape for skiing or snowboarding, but it sounded fun.

The snow is going to start falling in Maine pretty soon and they'll be able to start making snow there long before we have a chance to here in Virginia. Here's to an awesome season!

Making Progress Towards the Season

Winter is getting closer. The weather may not feel like it (it was still hot and humid until yesterday) but the calendar, my email, and my Facebook feed say otherwise.

Signs of the coming season -

• Whitney registered yesterday with USASA for the new season. She's moved to the Maine Mountain Series and to the open class. Should be a challenging season for her. {we'll miss the Appalachian Series}
• Whitney has a meeting with the UMF ski and snowboard team in a couple of weeks.
• I've seen postings on Facebook from the Appalachian Series director that she's been making phone calls about the new season. That means that she's calling resorts to set up the competition schedule. She can't say anything yet, but I sure hope there's a race at Massanutten.
• Also on Facebook I saw a posting by Whitetail about getting ready for winter.
• I had an email today from Copper Mountain that they are opening on Nov. 6. Yes, they're in the Rockies but that's soon! Hopefully Sugarloaf, which is where Whitney will be this winter, will be opening soon after that.
• Bob and I have been talking about which ski passes would be best to get this year. We'll have to take a look at our options and figure out when we'll be down at Massanutten. We also need to decide if Sarah is getting skis for Christmas or if we're going to rent for her again. 

I'm looking forward to winter. Once I see Whitney's schedule I'll make some plans to head to Maine and watch her race. I'm not sure what I'm going to with all my free time this winter; for the first time in four years I won't have to take her to practice or races.