Extra Blue Alayna

On this episode of Extra Blue I welcome Jan Gunther and David Chamberlain. Jan is the owner of Gear West Ski and Bike shop located in Long Lake, MN, just west of the Twin Cities. Founded in 1992 by Jan and her husband, this little shop has grown to be the largest ski shop in North America! In this episode, we dive into how Jan built the shop, touching on the subject of starting a business as a woman in the 90’s, and how she’s built the team of experts around her to bring the best products and services possible to the ski community. That team of experts would not be complete without Gear West’s head of service, David Chamberlain. David was a professional ski racer himself, competing on the World Cup and at multiple World Championships. He took his knowledge from elite performance and ski preparation and turned it into an incredible service to offer others at Gear West.
In this episode, we talk about the symbiotic relationship between Gear West and the ski community. One would not be able to succeed without the other! I’ve seen the impact Gear West can have on a community through the countless events, sponsorships, and engagements that are all circled around getting more people outside, with the love of the sport.
URL: https://www.gearwest.com/collections/alayna

Kelsey Dickinson is a biathlete for Team USA and traveling the World Cup circuit all season. She grew up in Winthrop, WA, attending the College of St. Scholastica where she balanced both biathlon and cross country, and then joined the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. Kelsey just achieved her career best result in the 15k individual race in Ostersund, Sweden, landing in 36th place and scoring her first World Cup points. On this episode, we dive into the similarities and differences of cross country vs biathlon and what Kelsey's experience has been like going from the domestic circuit, to the International Biathlon Union, and on to the World Cup. Finally, Kelsey shares with us her passion for her side hustle working for the Women’s Ski Coaches association. She shares the vision for the organization that was founded by Maria Stuber and how it is working to develop, retain and advance women in ski coaching leadership.

You can follow Kelsey on instagram: @delseykickinson
Follow the WSCA: @womenskicoaches
Learn more about the Women's Ski Coaches Association: https://www.womenskicoaches.org/

Flora Dolci is a member of the French National Cross Country ski team. She has multiple top-20 results on the World Cup and is a fierce competitor, but I believe she is known more for how kind and sweet she is. Truly one of the nicest humans, always with a smile on her face and always looking to have fun. We talk about her path as a skier growing up in France, how she reached the National team and what she gets up to when she isn’t racing or training (like rock climbing, paragliding, studying, and being a part of the French army). 
We chat about so many other topics like racing equi-distance and racing the first Women’s 50k Holmenkollen last year. We also discuss the community that builds cross country skiers and how similar the journey can be for a young American skier vs a young French skier. There are many paths to get to being a strong adult athlete and no one’s experience will look the same. Rather, Flora grew up trying all sorts of sports like karate and canoeing. She believes that learning to use your body in so many different ways and so many new skills, especially at a young age but even today, the more they can help contribute to strength, balance, agility, body awareness, which all come into play for cross country skiing. Overall, we share our joy for ski racing and our enthusiasm for outdoor activities!
Follow Flora on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flora_dolci/

Kristen Bourne has been the USST D-Team coach for over year now and has taken on some impressive roles. Not only is she coaching 8 athletes on the D team, plus two A and B team athletes, attending all of the team training camps, visiting and working with her athletes all over the country during the summer and fall... she is also a full-time World Cup coach, ski tester, organizer, planner, administrator and leader. After only 3 world cup weekends last year, she stepped up to take full control of the USST during the Tour de Ski when a majority of the staff got sick. And she did it with the most positive energy and smile on her face. 

I love chatting with Kristen in this episode about her journey to get to where she is today. It felt like I was talking to an old friend, because she is! Kristen and I go back to our Junior racing days together on the Midwest circuit and have countless hours, training, racing and traveling the world together. It was so fun to catch up with her in person when we recorded this podcast back in Vermont this summer! 

Katie Feldman is an American skier who just wrapped up a successful racing career with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.  After 5 years of Supertour racing, this past year was the cherry on top as she raced the Visma Ski Classic marathon circuit around Europe all winter. This collection of marathon races range anywhere between 40-90 kilometers, sometimes back-to-back days, and frequently the elite racers will chose to double pole the entire classic race.

On this episode of Extra Blue, Katie shares how she prepared for so much double pole this past season, what it was like to race on the Visma Ski Classic circuit, plus some highlights of her season in Europe. 

Katie's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katfeld/
Visma Ski Classics: https://skiclassics.com/events/

David Norris raced in 58 World Cups as a professional skier. He competed in 3 World Championships and had many top-30 results on the World Cup, yet he was never named to the national team and never received funding from the national team for his racing. Instead, he had to find and build his own network to financially support his ski goals, despite being one of the best (if not THE best, at the time) distance skiers the country had.

On this episode of Extra Blue, David and I discuss self-funding a World Cup ski career. We chat about how we've both leaned into our communities, worked a few side hustles, and done what we can to fundraise enough money to cover the price tags associated with cross country skiing at the highest level.

David's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grandmasternorris/