For four months, Mathias Aas Rolid has been living ‘with a knife to his throat,’ but now his trial period is over, and he is officially part of Team Ragde Charge.

The 28-year-old from Heming is one of four men, alongside the trio that dominated the men’s class and took the entire overall podium in Ski Classics last winter: Johan Hoel, Kasper Stadaas, and Andreas Nygaard.

Read more: Two stars join Team Ragde Charge

How has it been to live ‘with a knife to your throat’ for four months?
“I actually thrive with it. It has made me more focused, more alert, and more meticulous”, Rolid tells Langrenn.com.

Rolid debuted in Ski Classics with Team Næringsbanken in the 2021/22 season. Last year, he joined Team Coop Madshus, took his first victory in long-distance skiing, and made the podium at Alliansloppet. Despite a winter plagued by illness, he has delivered again and again this summer.

As Rolid enters his third season as a long-distance skier, it’s with the Aukland brothers’ pro team, Team Ragde Charge. He had a ‘trainee spot’ until the end of August to prove that he could contribute to the team.

Jørgen Aukland, the leader of Team Ragde Charge, likes what he’s seen this summer.
“Mathias has made a great impression this summer. He has been solid in all sessions, delivered at Blink and Alliansloppet, and beat the entire team in the SkiErg session last week. That test was brutal”, Aukland tells Langrenn.com, and continues:
“He is now a full-fledged team member. He excels in light terrain and large fields and will be a particularly important asset for the team in those conditions.”

Utilized his trial period: Dead serious
Rolid has participated in all the camps since the training year started. He has made full use of them. Now, as he heads into the most intensive season preparation, he has gained some experience with where the world’s best train.

First and foremost, they are dead serious at every level.
“It’s the most professional team I’ve been a part of. The thing is, there’s no hocus-pocus. It’s just that everything is in order, and everyone is serious about everything. It’s a strict setup and a tight schedule, and it never goes off track. There’s no ‘camp atmosphere’ at Ragde camps, so to speak”, says Rolid.

Radical training changes
Rolid is also surprised by how hard they train.
“They train surprisingly hard. We have seven to ten training camp days a month, and during those, we train extremely hard. So, you need to come into the camps with energy and rest properly afterward”, he says.

Have you changed your training since joining Team Ragde Charge?
“I’ve made quite a few adjustments to my training, yes.”

Specifically, what changes have you made?
“Some are trade secrets. The number of hours isn’t that different; I’ve only trained 20 more hours from May until now compared to last year. But I train much harder. And I do fewer very long sessions. There are few sessions now that last four or five hours. That surprised me too.”

Becoming a domestique
With enormous capacity in flat courses and light terrain, Rolid will be a key runner for the trio that dominated Ski Classics last winter.

What role are you expected to play on the team?
“They lacked a skier who can go fast in easier terrain and make sure the other team members are in the best position for the finish, for example, heading into the final climb of Marcialonga.”

What do you think about being a domestique?
“I think it’s really cool. We are a team focused on winning ski races. It doesn’t matter who on the team wins the race. And if I’m strong and there when the sprint happens, I’ll also go for the victory”, says Rolid, hinting that races like Drei Zinnen Ski Marathon, La Diagonela, Marcialonga, and Vasaloppet have course profiles that suit him well.

But already on Sunday, Mathias Aas Rolid will aim for his first victory in the red and black outfit. He and the rest of Team Ragde Charge will start in Klarälvsloppet, together with the entire long-distance elite. The 90-kilometer roller ski race from Uddeholm to Karlstad in Sweden resembles Vasaloppet and is considered one of the most important form tests of the pre-season.

“We are going for a team victory, and it will be exciting to see how the race develops. But Klarälvsloppet is a race I can win, as long as it’s a tight group coming into the finish.”

Klarälvsloppet takes place on Sunday, September 22, and the elite men’s race starts at 9:00 AM. The race will be broadcast live on SC Play.