Visits and Ski Races and REALLY COLD WEATHER

Hey Everybody,
Here's an update on life:
Taylor and Sam are really awesome! They drove all the way up to the northernmost part of the County just to visit me for a night. I showed them around a little, we shot some targets at on of the biathlon venues, and I showed them where the werewolves used to hang out. Sam felt right at home in the creepy room due to his huge werewolf beard. Nice work on that puppy, Sam. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I thought that was really cool of you two. Thanks for visiting.

OK, let's talk about cold. We all experienced some cold days at Colbs. I definitely had some cold moments in the 'Boat. We know what it's like when the mercury drops to the bottom of the thermometer, but nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for last Friday. In fact not even the grizzly old Acadian guys were prepared for the kind of cold that descended upon us. Wanna know how cold it was? I'll tell you but first let me explain some of the funny things (and some not so amusing things) that start to happen when it gets really, really cold.

I'll preface by saying that we were trying to leave for some races on Friday morning. It was so cold that one of the vans wouldn't start, and we had to scramble to get a truck from one of the other coaches. Not so amusing

When it gets cold, keys become maleable. We take a u-haul style trailer to races so we can wax in it, and we keep it locked with pad locks. When I went to open the lock on Friday, it was so cold that my key bent and broke off in the lock. It was amazing how easily it bent. It was like butter. Kind of amusing

After that we used a heat gun to warm up the lock before we tried another key. I learned that when it's really cold, water turns straight to vapor without freezing. The heat gun would melt the ice, and as soon as you moved the heat off of it, it would turn to steam. I was amazed by that. Really cool

So, how cold was it? 55 degrees below zero! -55 is really cold

Eventually we solved our cold issues and made it to the races in Rumford. I saw the Colby team there, which was nice. I was also able to race one day. I got 15th in the skate sprint, which was really good considering how big the field was. Skate sprinting is usually my weakest event, so I was thrilled to do well. I was a little annoyed that I just had my best sprint race and I'm not racing seriously anymore. What was I doing all those other times when I sucked?!?!

It's less cold now, and life is back to normal.

Toast