Thrusday was our first full day in
Finland. The team is staying in 5 condominiums on the edge of Joensuu (pronounced
yo-whenn-sue; twoish syllables). This area of Finland is a large lake region,
and just outside our door is a huge frozen water body called Pyhäselkä (the
Finnish love their long umlauted words). The entire area reminds me of the
Kenai Peninsula.
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| Joensuu and the surrounding area. The lakes are really scenic, especially frozen. |
Right
outside our door is a large circuit of ski trails that run through town. If we
ski long enough, we can get to Kantiolahti (our race venue) in 20 kilometers.
After getting hooked up with our 2012 uniforms, we set out for a shakedown ski.
It was great to get some exercise after spending so much time and energy into
getting here. The trails went past some elementary schools where kids were commuting
on skis. It was really flattering when they would stop and cheer us on in
Finnish as we passed by them. Towards the end of our ski, we passed by a
staging area for a parade that was about to happen. As we skied by they all
cheered and chanted “U.S.A! U.S.A!” We all agreed that those hundred-plus
people screaming for us was reason enough for us to fall in love with Finland
already.
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| Our ski tour shot from the "Sam Angle" More pictures on my Picasa web album HERE |
Our
meals are catered in the condo main office building just a few minutes’ walk
from our houses, and after lunch we all explored town. It was fun, but I'm
still really tired and couldn't really appreciate it fully yet. I'll have to go
back when I'm more awake. We then had dinner and a team meeting and then it was
lights out early in preparation for the next days time trial at the Kantiolahti
venue.
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