Update from Nichole Bathe – CXC Team Athlete

This past week has been full of so many goodbyes and hello’s. And I should start off by saying a huge thank you to the Madison CXC masters team and everyone at CXC. They had a little get together for me before I left and I got to see almost all of them which was so amazing and such a great send off! Some of the masters I have known and skied with since I was 12 or so. And as little as some of them believe it they really are the reason I got interested in and better at skiing.

There will never be enough thank you’s for the support and encouragement they have given me over the past 10 years but I’ll cross my fingers for good snow so I can cheer you all on during the Birkie. THANK YOU!

After saying all my goodbyes packing two duffle bags and a ski bag (praying the whole way to the airport they were all under 50 pounds…they were) I was ready to move to Lillehammer, Norway. Which is where we get to the hello’s.

I am here in Lillehammer training with the British Nordic team, so I have said many hello’s to coaches and athletes since being here. I also got to say hello to my housemates who are a part of the National Training Group here in Lillehammer. I will be here and exploring (more like getting lost and guessing what the signposts mean!) until Tuesday when we leave for a training camp in Mallorca, needless to say I am beyond excited for that!

To finish off my blog I have decided to list five things I have learned about Norway so far…

1. Cross country skiing is a huge deal and everyone does it, they even show commercials of it on TV
2. Deciphering Norwegian signs is not as hard as it seems…(especially if you have google translate on your phone :p)
3. Lillehammer is an old Olympic town that still uses most of its Olympic buildings as well as the ski jump in the town.
4. Lillehammer is situated in a hill so you either go up or down.
5. They are already making snow about 30 minutes north of Lillehammer that should be skiable in a few weeks!!!

View from Nichole Bathe’s street in Lillehammer, Norway. You can see the ski jump in the back!

Happy fall training!

Ps. I promise to have more photos on the next blog!