President's Day Weekend 2002

Bryant shows his versatility: on the right is a sample of his up-coming XC instructional video. Here, he demonstrates wrong diagonal stride technique with both arm and leg on the right side going forward at the same time. This might be better described as "parallel stride".

Pre order your copy of Bryant's XC video "Learn to ski better than Bryant".

Below, Bryant demonstrates two poses to endorse his sponsor's product at the finish line. Any potential sponsors reading this are asked to contact

Agent@BMary.com for contract arrangements.

Bryant "parallel strides"
Shiela laughs out loud Bryant loves those skis
So, "how was the race?", you ask. 
"Great", I answer. 

I skied an average pace of 10 mph. 
I cut half an hour off of my 15k time of last year's P-cup. 

I even beat 5 men in my age division! You can see the results at farwestnordic.org. Scroll down to the 111th place finish.

Race highlights included:

  • Skiing past a pole in the snow just 200 meters from the start. Apparently, someone started the race with 3 poles. Is there a new 3-pole skate technique?
  • Skiing by a nonchalant mouse on the side of the trail (Showdown, I think). When I did this race last year, a squirrel darted across my path. Small mammals must be big XC fans.
  • The tiny shock cords that were supposed to keep my race bib snug to my torso came undone on the first downhill. My bib flapped noisily in the breeze for the next 14k. (Note to self: tie the damn thing on, next time. Use duct tape if necessary)
Bob's heart rate during the race

The dips are downhill sections. The sharp drop at the end is me collapsing in the snow about 10 meters past the finish line.

So, what were the keys to the spectacular improvement over last year's time?