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Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec
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Alex Harvey won on home soil today.
He is such a strong skier, he can win sprint and a 50k.
It is good for Canadian xc-skiing that he won today.
Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u74UgrffGY

Hopefully later today you can watch the whole event in English here https://www.youtube.com/...assicSkiTrack/videos
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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That is quite an athletic family. His father Pierre competed in the summer (cycling) and winter (xc skiing) for Canada at the Olympics.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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always appreciate your updates that we get such little info on here in the states
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Sanuk] [ In reply to ]
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Sanuk wrote:
That is quite an athletic family. His father Pierre competed in the summer (cycling) and winter (xc skiing) for Canada at the Olympics.


Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

Kinda wish I had gone with my friends to watch the world cup races this weekend :(

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Last edited by: Joshawa: Mar 17, 17 18:19
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Joshawa] [ In reply to ]
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Joshawa wrote:
Sanuk wrote:
That is quite an athletic family. His father Pierre competed in the summer (cycling) and winter (xc skiing) for Canada at the Olympics.


Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

Kinda wish I had gone with my friends to watch the world cup races this weekend :(

The top xc-skiers do very little biking these days. Mostly running and rollerskis during summer.
Some thinks that biking would be good for skate skiing, but running works better.

It is not easy to win a world cup race. Especially not since the top nations can have up to 8 athletes.

A good thing with world cup in North America is that both Canada and the USA can start 15 men and women each. This is the only way for the racers on the North American super tour to meet the best in the world.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Halvard wrote:
Alex Harvey won on home soil today.
He is such a strong skier, he can win sprint and a 50k.
It is good for Canadian xc-skiing that he won today.
Video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u74UgrffGY

Hopefully later today you can watch the whole event in English here https://www.youtube.com/...assicSkiTrack/videos

I appreciate the enthusiasm, but would it be possible in the future to not post spoilers in the thread title (and even to warn when there are spoilers in the thread)?

Some of us love to watch the racing but do not get to watch live.

Thanks for the consideration.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Huge thanks for posting the video link. I love that Quebec City Plains of Abraham park. Never skied there, but love doing running intervals in there. That place is 1k from the main downtown. It's also a historic national site where the British took over New France from France in the battle of the Plains of Abraham. Up until then (1760) France "Owned" everything west and North of the Appalachians....the "British" were "hemmed" in along the coast with 13 colonies. OK, back to the skiing. In terms of Alex winning over sprint (3 min or so) and 50K, most of the sprint is the same energy system as a 50K. I used this other example of how Bradley Wiggins can with a 4000m pursuit and a 1 hour record, or we can use Mo Farah, who can close a 3:35 1500m with a 51 lap or he can with the 10,000m in 27ish min also closing with a low 50's lap.

Personal story on the Harvey family. In my first tri in 1985, Alex's dad Pierre won it. It was a 2K swim, 55K bike, 15K run in Kingston Ontario, Canada. Pierre was sooo bad in the swim that I beat him out (I was breast stroking part of swim as I had never swam that far in my life and did around 40 min, Pierre was 43). After that, around 1 mile in he passed me on the bike like he had a Cancellara motor. Then he run a 48K 15K and beats everyone. After the race, I got to talk to him and asked him for training advice. At that point he did not tell me that in 1984 he raced both the Sarajevo Olympics in XC skiing and was a domestique for Steve Bauer for the 84 Olympic games road race. Pierre also raced in the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the road cycling 100K Team Time Trial for Canada as a 19 year old.

Pierre shared one key point....at this point he still did not tell me that "last year" he was a dual Olympian. He said, if you want to do well in a sport in the summer, you gotta train a lot of hours in the winter. If you want to race well in winter sport, you have to train well in the summer. Then he says. In the winter I XC ski a lot and do a bunch of races. "I used to be mainly a summer athlete and used skiing to get ready for my bike races, but now I have transferred to focus on using summer sports to train for winter ski racing. You should get some XC skis and do as much as you can for that to train for triathlon if you want to be good in the summer".


So that winter I got a set of skis and developed a life long passion for the sport. My last bunch of years since 2011, my ability to ski has been mainly off rather than on due to injuries from a 2011 crash, but I hope to get back into it, but have really enjoyed my time in that sport, either as a racer, organizer, coach etc. At one point I was running a jackrabbits program in our club for 150 young kids, thanks to Pierre getting me in the sport

In 2003, in a 50K ski race, in Quebec, I caught Pierre at around 42K and skied neck and neck with him till the finish. I couldn't believe what was happening. This was like playing basketball against Michael Jordan if you are a Canadian Endurance athlete. I was pinching myself with excitement. I drafted Pierre, then he would surge and I'd counter attack. I was not going to be dropped by him. Then I thought I should surge ahead before the final 2K massive downhill, so that I could lead let Pierre slingshot by me, then draft him to the flat and slingshot back. That was my tactic, and it almost worked. But then on the crazy technical 70 kph-ish descent, the old world cup guy was too awesome. As we went into flat light into a technical turn I could not follow Pierre's most awesome line and caught an edge and ended up in the trees....Damn!!!! That's why he was a world cup winner and I am an weekend hack! I picked myself up and coasted into the finish. This was 18 years after he told me to get skis, so I went up to him and thanked him for the inspiration and told him the story from Kingston in 1985 and how an Olympian inspired a young kid to get and stay into both triathlon and skiing.

Now in 2007, I was racing at XC ski nationals in Quebec n the Senior Men's 50K. I was probably the oldest guy in the field at 43. I was pretty sure I was going to finish last place, given that all the skiers were world cup guys or national team guys or provincial team guys. There were almost no masters skiers. In any case I wanted to do it, with my goal to finish the 5x10K course with 4000 ft of climbing in around 2:30 given that the top guys would be in around 2 hours. This included Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw. It meant that I would need to get through the start finish line in the stadium in 2 hours or less (20 kph on a really hard course). Well, I was at the 39.75K point and the train with Alex and Devon comes in at full throttle...I got out of the way and watched these guy finish their sprint, but the organizers let me and others finish our final 10K even though we were lapped. I actually did not finish in "last". But that really was an awesome experience racing from BOP in a very elite field.

My story is one of 1000's in terms of how the Harvey family has inspired 1000's of Canadian athletes over time. Pierre even raced this last month at the Gatineau Loppet 50K here in Ottawa while his son was winning the 50K at World's in Finland!
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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That are some great stories.
The Harvey family is popular in Scandinavia. Pierre was the only good North-Amarican skier at the end of the 80s, and if you win in Holmenkollen you will always be special.
Alex is one of the great skier the last 10 years. He is always up there no matter distance or if it is skate/classics.

What I love about endurance sports is that most people involved are positive, willing to share knowledge and want as many people as possible to take part in the sport.
Some weeks ago I was back in Norway visiting family. I went to a nigh ski area, at the same time I was there the local club had a children's Wednesday race.
I start talking to one of the organizer, he looked familiar. It was Trond Iversen, one of the world's best sprinters in the 2000s.
He talked to me for more than one hours about how they organize training from the age of 8 to senior. I have taking a lot his knowledge back to me to our club her in Seattle.

Great skiing again today.
Fun fact, Johannes Klaebo's coach is his grandpa.
Here you have a video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVZtCPqm4fQ
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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I think one thing about skiers more so than any other sport is the that there is a sense of community that comes from the fact that typically the only place to do the sport is on groomed trails. This means someone, like a club is maintaining the place. Its all run by volunteers almost everywhere, very unlike cycling done on open roads, running that can happen anywhere, or swimming in many pools all over a city. XC skiing "tends" to happen in concentrated areas, so I THINK the champions end up gravitating back to the community roots from where they arose and are always a bit more willing to give back and help ANY skier in their community. Someone remarked that there was minimal outrage when the Birkie got cancelled, whereas tri guys would have freaked if an Ironman gets cancelled. Ski venues and races are generally managed by other skiers, so all skiers "get it'. In other sports, athletes just show up and the venue is "taken care of".

In any case, I will keep rehab up and I hope to do the Gatineau Loppet 50K classic by next year. I think it is in the realm of possiblity.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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What a race today.
I was watching the streaming from NBCSN, but since NBC does not care about xc-skiing they do not have any commentators. So I have Norwegian radio streaming over the Internet.

This was one hell of a finish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNCRJET4IIk

Great to see so many spectators out watching.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Huge thanks for the video link. The finish was awesome. That dog on the course though, could have been trouble (less trouble than dogs at bike races, but still). The venue is perfect for good crowds as it is right in the middle of downtown Quebec. Imagine if you but a 3.75K course in Central Park 1K from Trump Tower and that's pretty well what we have here. From the video, you just can't tell that if you just go 200-500m away you're right by all the offices, restaurants, bars and hotels in Quebec.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Here you have both of the races with English commentators.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOqnSkZl9gg
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Joshawa] [ In reply to ]
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Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

It's been my experience that World Class Nordic skiers can jump into just about any of the other main endurance sports - running, cycling (any kind of cycling) and triathlon and be national caliber right away! They are THAT good and their aerobic engines are THAT big!

Dev has shared his story about Pierre Harvey, Alex's father. Mine is of Al Pilcher, who before Alex and the current cohort of great men XC Skiers that Canada has was our best male Nordic skier of his generation. He finished 7th in the men's 50K Skate at the World Nordic Championships one year in the late 1980's or perhaps '90 or '91. Anyway, he comes out and trys a few triathlons, and is right-away, is killing it! Beating some of the best guys in the country at the time.


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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Fleck wrote:
Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

It's been my experience that World Class Nordic skiers can jump into just about any of the other main endurance sports - running, cycling (any kind of cycling) and triathlon and be national caliber right away! They are THAT good and their aerobic engines are THAT big!

Dev has shared his story about Pierre Harvey, Alex's father. Mine is of Al Pilcher, who before Alex and the current cohort of great men XC Skiers that Canada has was our best male Nordic skier of his generation. He finished 7th in the men's 50K Skate at the World Nordic Championships one year in the late 1980's or perhaps '90 or '91. Anyway, he comes out and trys a few triathlons, and is right-away, is killing it! Beating some of the best guys in the country at the time.

It is too bad that top athletes are so specialized. compared to back in the 80's when Pilcher or Harvey would jump into tris in the summer. We don't see the new generation doing as much of that (or running open road running racing for that matter). It is a bit of a loss in terms of cross pollination between sports and practices between sports. The young elite Nordic kids are doing very ski specific training in the summer on roller skis and other prep. It's almost like their coaches don't want to go compete in other sports. I really don't get it. It's the same with tri coaches.....they have some aversion to their young kids racing on skis in the winter.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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It is too bad that top athletes are so specialized. compared to back in the 80's when Pilcher or Harvey would jump into tris in the summer. We don't see the new generation doing as much of that (or running open road running racing for that matter). It is a bit of a loss in terms of cross pollination between sports and practices between sports


Last time I saw anything like this was when American XC Skier Kikkan Randell showed up at one of the Multisport Canada Races about 4 years ago. She was visiting a friend in the Muskoka area. Borrowed a bike and won the women's race and did not too badly overall against the men! :)


Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
Fleck wrote:
Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

It's been my experience that World Class Nordic skiers can jump into just about any of the other main endurance sports - running, cycling (any kind of cycling) and triathlon and be national caliber right away! They are THAT good and their aerobic engines are THAT big!

Dev has shared his story about Pierre Harvey, Alex's father. Mine is of Al Pilcher, who before Alex and the current cohort of great men XC Skiers that Canada has was our best male Nordic skier of his generation. He finished 7th in the men's 50K Skate at the World Nordic Championships one year in the late 1980's or perhaps '90 or '91. Anyway, he comes out and trys a few triathlons, and is right-away, is killing it! Beating some of the best guys in the country at the time.


It is too bad that top athletes are so specialized. compared to back in the 80's when Pilcher or Harvey would jump into tris in the summer. We don't see the new generation doing as much of that (or running open road running racing for that matter). It is a bit of a loss in terms of cross pollination between sports and practices between sports. The young elite Nordic kids are doing very ski specific training in the summer on roller skis and other prep. It's almost like their coaches don't want to go compete in other sports. I really don't get it. It's the same with tri coaches.....they have some aversion to their young kids racing on skis in the winter.

All the national team members in Norway are doing running races all summer. It can be road race, trail running, uphill competitions, track or orienteering.
The 3,000 meters on the track is actually one of the standard tests for most xc-skiers.

Together with rollerskiing competitions, most skiers stay pretty busy.

What they do not participate in is cycling.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Now I am depressed about not having reliable snow in southern ontario!

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Halvard wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
Fleck wrote:
Fun fact: Alex was also a big mountain bike racer when he was younger and competed for Canada at some MB world championships before leaving mb and focusing solely on skiing.

It's been my experience that World Class Nordic skiers can jump into just about any of the other main endurance sports - running, cycling (any kind of cycling) and triathlon and be national caliber right away! They are THAT good and their aerobic engines are THAT big!

Dev has shared his story about Pierre Harvey, Alex's father. Mine is of Al Pilcher, who before Alex and the current cohort of great men XC Skiers that Canada has was our best male Nordic skier of his generation. He finished 7th in the men's 50K Skate at the World Nordic Championships one year in the late 1980's or perhaps '90 or '91. Anyway, he comes out and trys a few triathlons, and is right-away, is killing it! Beating some of the best guys in the country at the time.


It is too bad that top athletes are so specialized. compared to back in the 80's when Pilcher or Harvey would jump into tris in the summer. We don't see the new generation doing as much of that (or running open road running racing for that matter). It is a bit of a loss in terms of cross pollination between sports and practices between sports. The young elite Nordic kids are doing very ski specific training in the summer on roller skis and other prep. It's almost like their coaches don't want to go compete in other sports. I really don't get it. It's the same with tri coaches.....they have some aversion to their young kids racing on skis in the winter.


All the national team members in Norway are doing running races all summer. It can be road race, trail running, uphill competitions, track or orienteering.
The 3,000 meters on the track is actually one of the standard tests for most xc-skiers.

Together with rollerskiing competitions, most skiers stay pretty busy.

What they do not participate in is cycling.

Pierre Harvey was probably an outlier in terms of being an olympic level bike racer, but I can see why road cycling is a bit of a waste of time in terms of XC ski prep since it is none weight bearing and there is no balance and the entire lower leg chain is used substantially differently than when on skis. I am mainly commenting on the local youth level elite scene....not a ton of crossover to summer sports in terms of racing.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Halvard] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the video!

I just got back from the races late late last night (skied the course with my kids after the race was over yesterday) and it was awesome to see all the action I missed from my vantage point.

Alex Harvey is a machine, and watching up fly up the first steep climb was incredible.


My 2 favourite things from yesterday (SPOILER ALERT!)

1) It sounds horrible but watching Finn Haagen Krogh blow up in spectacular fashion after the first lap. He tried to stick with the lead group including Harvey and managed it for 3.75km but ran out of gas. When he came through the stadium he sat up (metaphorically) and was barely moving. I thought he was plugging along waiting for the chase group. He tagged onto the back of the chase group but they snapped the elastic instantly and he went backwards through the results for the rest of the race. We've all had races like that and it was somehow comforting that it happens to the best of them. Watching him in the sprint on Friday (which apparent is where he burned all his matches) was spectacular. He's had 4 medals in World Cup events this year, (including Friday) so he's a seasoned racer. I'll remember it the next time I blow up in a race. :-)

2) Not to hijack, but my kids and I spoke to another Canadian athlete a few times over the course of the weekend as my son skis for the same club. Joey Foster is an incredible athlete, and an amazing ambassador for the sport. He's racing in his first World Cup race, on home soil, sees my son and skis over to him to ask if he's having a good time this weekend. He was incredibly patient and just plain awesome. His mom was an amazing skier, some of the best classic technique I've ever seen, and it's obvious that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. /hijack
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Durhamskier] [ In reply to ]
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Durhamskier wrote:

2) Not to hijack, but my kids and I spoke to another Canadian athlete a few times over the course of the weekend as my son skis for the same club. Joey Foster is an incredible athlete, and an amazing ambassador for the sport. He's racing in his first World Cup race, on home soil, sees my son and skis over to him to ask if he's having a good time this weekend. He was incredibly patient and just plain awesome. His mom was an amazing skier, some of the best classic technique I've ever seen, and it's obvious that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. /hijack


Hah small world. I raced against Joey throughout high school and a couple years after (we're the same age, but different clubs/schools). He's a really nice guy and loves the sport. In a 30k loppet a couple years back we skied 29.5k of the race together and he dropped me right at the end like I wasn't moving and won

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Last edited by: Joshawa: Mar 20, 17 13:37
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Joshawa] [ In reply to ]
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It is hard to understand how fast the best in the world are in xc-skiing until you see them live, or compete against them.
I am glad many North American skiers got a chance to compete at the world cup races.
Hopefully they now know what it takes.
Or even better, they got some contacts in Scandinavia and can go over and train.
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Here's Simon Fourcarde of the French national biathlon team showing cycling as part of a training camp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4voI7fQY8


I don't think he or his brother (best biathlete in the world at the moment) race bikes, but they train on them.


Here's the brother (Martin) and Norway's Tarjei Bø
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmkz4p5GDYE




http://www.jt10000.com/
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [heyMartin] [ In reply to ]
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heyMartin wrote:
always appreciate your updates that we get such little info on here in the states[/quote

really?

http://skinnyski.com/

http://fasterskier.com/
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Re: Congratulation Alex Harvey, CAN. Great victory in xc-skiing today, Quebec [Steve-oH!] [ In reply to ]
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thanks
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