Kikkan & Newell showing off their matching warm-ups.

Bjørn Dæhlie: So our warm-ups match alright but if you've been looking at race photos or video you might notice that we're all wearing different, unmarked Bjørn Dæhlie suits. This is because the USST suits are in Italy. Or somewhere. Not here wherever it is. So when we were in Estonia we got some Bjørn Dæhlie suits-- from a ski shop in a nearby town-- a mix of colors and styles, whatever they had on the shelves. Which cracks me up. Eventually we'll have our real suits but until then we'll be rocking the Bjørn Dæhlie variety pack. Like a pack of skittles-- every color of the rainbow.

Torin Koos: Bowled freakin' SEVEN strikes in a 10-frame game last night. There's some good bowlers on the USST, you might be surprised. Zim, Cook, & Kik were even practicing their left-handed bowling with pretty impressive success.

Garrott Kuzzy: Says, "The flat at the top of Mördarbacken is going to be the sweetest part of the course." Or something equally ridiculous. If your idea of fun is hating life maybe... He also gets to race up the Mördarbacken SEVEN times this weekend so it's a good thing he seems to be excited about it.

Kurt Jepson: Kurt (of Saco Bay Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy) is our p.t. for this week. One of the perks of my job is getting to meet people who are insanely good at their jobs. I've been learning lots of random p.t. tidbits from Kurt.

Kris Freeman: Kris's girlfriend is visiting. I really want to ask her to lead a dance class for us but I'm a little shy-- she's a professional dancer! I'm jealous. (um, of her for being a dancer, not of Bird for dating her. to make that clear.)

Kikkan Randall: Kik's in full swing planning her wedding. (You can check out her wedding website.) I get to offer my opinion for most of the important decision. Sometimes she takes my advices and sometimes not. For some reason I don't think she took me seriously when I suggested she ask the baker to use funfetti batter in the wedding cake.

The Swedish Team: Showed up today... in helicopters. Just kidding, but there were helicopters landing in front of our hotel (the Scandic in the background) today.



Charlotte Kalla: Speaking of the Swedish team, Kalla was getting mobbed by the media out on the course this morning. It looks like she's had tons of interviews to do. I bet the rest of the field at Jr. Worlds is pretty happy that she decided to race the WCs instead of Jr. Worlds.

Falun: The race course has plenty of snow. I assume a lot of it's manmade. There is one wicked rocky section on the skate course that's like skiing through a minefield. Especially this morning when the track was frozen solid so if you hit a rock it wasn't about to move out of the way for you.