Author Archives : Chris French

On to Venicia to stretch my legs


I skipped out on the final day of the biathlon races in Ridanna and after breakfast hit the road. It was a smooth drive with no issues (thankfully) and the only surprise was the total cost for tolls. On the drive into the Dolomites I had four or five toll booths and on the drive back only one but the…

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Exploring and having fun on a training day


No racing today, but Anna had training in the morning so after a huge breakfast I headed into Sterzing to explore a bit. Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself… I woke up with the good idea that rather than risk driving up the mountain (something that I went to bed very stressed about) I could ride the bus. Duh…

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Back to racing!


With the next race in Ridanna it was time to leave Cortina with an early morning departure. I still had the chains on the tires so it wasn’t much concern driving down the mountain but reaching the valley off they came and the concern for black ice. Thankfully it was not a issue and with plenty of time I pulled…

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Last of skiing, hitting it hard


There are two parts to the ski area in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Tofana and Faloria/Cristallo. Yesterday I skied Tofana and today the plan was to ski the Faloria/Cristallo. It was about a fifteen minute drive from town to the parking lot Rio Gere. The road separates the two lifts and I kicked off the day doing a few laps before the…

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Wow that was a lot of miles on skis…


As suggested by the guy at the ski rental I choose to ski the resort outside of my hotel (which is about 5km from the actual base area). I was glad to have scoped out the nearby trails yesterday as the logistics of this resort are overwhelming. I made it over to a new area and took multiple lifts to…

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A stressful drive to Cortina d’Ampezzo


I ate a quick breakfast and was on the road by 9:30am, since I was concerned about road conditions and the trip was estimated to take three and a half hours. I used the chains to get off the mountain and thankfully the roads were in good condition in the valley. From there the driving was good through Bolzano as…

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Another day and a snowy race


After last night’s drama, I was relieved to have the tire chains on the car for the 10km drive up to the biathlon course. But first was clearing the car of a foot of new snow and shoveling out the sides to inspect the chains. Thankfully all looked good. A fuel up of the amazing breakfast buffet before I hit…

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Day 1 of the Martell-Val Martello IBU Cup race


After a good night’s sleep I fueled up on the wonderful European breakfast at the hotel. I headed up to the biathlon course early as I didn’t know the layout. Parking was very limited so I turned around and found a side of the road spot about 600 meters down the hill. I had some slipping going up, so before…

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Travel day to Italy for the IBU Biathlon Cup


Well actually the travel started the day before with a 7:30am flight out of Steamboat for Denver and then on to Minneapolis. Of course the bag with all of my winter clothes somehow didn’t make the two hour connection. Ugh. But after a trip back to the airport at 6:30pm I had my bag and was ready for the real…

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Highlights of Fiji


A few season ending stats are always fun! Miles Traveled: 1024.1nm Days aboard: 60 Days paddleboarding 50+ Days snorkeling: 20+ Days wing foiling: 10+ Number of anchorages: 26 Number of 4:00am departures: 7 Number of nights on passage: 4 Number of marinas: 2 There are three gallery options: 1. 30 photos 2. 50 photos 3. Unabridged (scroll down) The unabridged…

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