A Wild Ride

Over the last two weeks I’ve had one of the craziest rides in my ski racing career. Here is a brief recap:

- Blow my back out on Thanksgiving, crawl into Howard Head Sports Medicine and Alpine Chiropractic
- Receive the Hail Mary of treatment from both places, able to ski 48 hours later in opening NorAms of the season with a back brace and mainlining Advil
- Write Sasha Rearick, Men's Head Coach USST, about using the nation spot for upcoming World Cup based on NorAm performance
- Sasha agrees, puts me in my first World Cup. I officially get inducted into the White Circus with my new haircut
- Ski well first day but not fast enough, get the nod for racing another WC
- Ski not quite as well second day, end up 40th position, was still lots of fun and totally awesome
- Put together a tentative plan with the USST for traveling to Europe in January to race Europa Cups and possibly more World Cups.
- Travel to Panorama like I planned to two weeks ago before any of this happened, except that my head is cold inside my helmet without any hair.

After the second race at Beaver Creek I spoke with Mike Day, Men’s Head WC Tech Coach, and we decided to continue to make the NorAm circuit the priority of the season and to fit in Europa Cups and hopefully more World Cups accordingly. I wasn’t jumping out of my chair to agree with him but I knew he was right; NorAms are the best way to get a better start position for any WCups later this year, which will only help my chances in qualifying for a second run.

Mike also told me that I am invited to travel to Europe with the USST team for the month of January to race in Europa Cups and whatever else. This is great news for me for a couple of different reasons. Most importantly, it alleviates the issue of getting into races while over there (USA is allowed up to 10 spots per race in a foreign country and especially in Europa Cups, which can be an issue when the entire USST is trying to compete in the same race. I will now have the maximum amount of opportunities to fit in these 10 spots).

Traveling with the Team also means that I don’t have to plan the logistics of the trip, allowing me to focus on skiing instead of lining up housing/training/meals while over there. The last couple of years I have battled both of these issues, and while I found it rewarding to overcome certain obstacles, there is no question that the experiences detracted from my focus on the racing component of my trip. I think it was in Europe last year where Adam Cole, my traveling buddy, and I unofficially changed our team name from Dream Team to Team Shitshow. I will miss not traveling with Adam, but will not miss yelling at my GPS to find a McDonalds to score free Internet to respond to emails abut training for the next day and to line up housing for the night.

About to head out to the race hill here at Panorama for some free skiing on the race hill. The snow looks good and the weather isn't sub-arctic so I'm pretty happy with things at the moment. Looking forward to an intense week of racing!

Show Time

Wow, what a weekend. Racing World Cups is fun. Lots of fun.

Since I got the call on Friday afternoon I didn't really sit down and relax until well after the race last night. From getting medical clearance (endless paperwork, a couple rounds of ImPACT baseline testing, a physical at the hospital, more paperwork) to getting my rookie hair cut (detailed by one of my perpetrators here), things seemed to be eating up any free time in my day. However, I'd been preparing for a moment like this for quite some time so there weren't a lot of complaints coming out of my mouth (except for the haircut design) and I was still able to find the time to focus on what mattered the most, skiing fast.

Once I got on the race hill things really zeroed in and it was exciting to be around such a high level of focus. During inspection the USST coaches gave me some great pointers on the course (pretty much to not back dow and pin the hell out everything). Because of a scheduling change inspection got moved and shortened so I didn't have as much time as I wanted to look at the course, but I still brought away a great game plan for how I wanted to ski.

During warmup Peter Lange cycled around with me on the training courses and put me in a great mental state for the race. It's funny how good Peter is at doing this because he doesn't say a whole lot. We have simple conversations and keep the focus on the skiing. The guy is a freaking horse whisperer.

The start was pretty intense as well. For some reason my skis were measuring about one-half a millimeter over the legal stand height (50mm), meaning I had to remove some height or risk getting disqualified. The Nordica guys took care of the whole thing and allowed me to continue to warmup, so this wasn't too much of an issue for me (I told you WCs were sweet!). However, when I was taking my jacket and pants off I had more drama as one of my arm guards fell out of my new USST jacket on the chairlift ride up to the start, meaning my arms were gonna hurt like hell when I got to the finish. This actually stressed me out a little bit, until Mr. Horse Whisperer himself pulled out what has to be one of the greatest audibles of my ski racing career. Cut from a 5-gallon bucket were two plastics shims that he had made for his 12-year old son, Colby Lange, to use as arm guards. Peter turned what could have been a derailing moment into a hilarious one as we were reading the hazardous waste warnings on my new arm guards as I was fitting them under my suit. None of that stuff ended up detracting from focusing on the race, and I credit the great crew I had around me for making that happen.

The organizers had the racers starting at 40 second intervals with no stops after bib 30 so there wasn't much time to get nervous or worry about anything but the skiing. I came out of the gate charging and after making it past the second gate (which I thought was one of the hardest on the course) I relaxed and tried to let it run as best I could. I largely stuck to the game plan except on the last pitch where I was having a hard time getting off my ski at the end of the turn and ended up scrubbing some speed to get to the next gate. I came through the finish pretty happy with my run but had no idea how it would stack up against the field.

I found out immediately when I heard a huge cheer/groan from the crowd as I was coming to a stop. That can really only mean one thing, that I went fast but not fast enough. Sure enough I finished the run in 31st, one spot out of qualifying for the second run. From starting bib 58 that is something to be proud of but it was also painfully disappointing to be one spot away from accomplishing a huge career goal of mine. The splits confirmed what I had felt on the course, that I skied well up top and that most the time I gave up was on the bottom of the course.

The disapointment never really left all day but it certainly got distracted as I got a lot of congratulations for my performance from a lot of friends who were at the race. A big shout out goes out to Tavis Moonan, a teammate from the Williams Ski Team and good friend, who was on hand at the race after buying a ticket from NYC on Friday to come out to the race once he saw that I was competing. That's the kinds of support that one dreams of having, and I can honestly say it gave me the confidence to ski as fast as I could.

Also, a big congrats to Leif Kristian Haugen, Team Leever member, and Super Wiking. The guy crushed it in the race yesterday, coming down the first run into 3rd position from bib 27 before finishing 13th. That kind of performance is nothing short of inspiring, nice job Leif!

After the race ended Mike Day, the USST Men's SL/GS Head Coach, told me he was impressed with my performance and that I have a start for the next World Cup race happening back at Beaver Creek (a makeup race for Val D'Isere) on Tuesday. I am really excited to be getting another chance on the race hill and know that with a couple of adjustments that I can crack the top thirty. I'm much more at ease with the situation and don't have the first-time distractions to deal with, my head is fully shaved now and devoid of any artistic creations, and I'm ready to barrel down that course again. Thanks to everyone for all the support, it's unbelievable hearing from so many people. Let's hope the ride continues!

ITA Showdown: Nordic v. Alpine

A couple of weeks ago when combing my fellow ITA athletes' blogs I realized that I was not alone in my new digs in the Vail Valley. I have never crossed paths with another ITA athlete unless you count going to middle school with Nicole De Yong back in the day. Meeting Sylvan Ellefson, Vail hometown boy and nordic shredder, was kind of like meeting a relative you know you're supposed to know but don't remember in person. I knew about him but I didn't know him. Not that it mattered, we struck up a conversation quickly and started trading stories about our respective plans for the winter. Pretty soon we were comparing our community service programs, and I learned a lot about how and where I could best serve my new community on behalf of ITA.

I frequently meet Sylvan at the gym, as we work out at generally the same time every day. During these sessions I have realized a few consistent themes in our workouts and our different physical, um, capabilities.

Sylvan and his nordic friends are better than I (and likely as an extension most alpine skiers) at:
- all things aerobic
- any ab workout
- arm/shoulder workouts
- turning a recovery workout into an extremely painful experience
- did I mention the ab workouts?

I have them in:
- jumping

I wasn't harboring any illusions that I would be able to hold a candle against a nordic skier in an aerobic exercise, but I was pretty surprised to see how many upper body sets they were putting into their routines. I would be doing an ab routine which I thought was pretty hard, only to look over and see Sylvan's group doing essentially the same exercise, only with a weight belt. I felt like I was in a gym full of skinny meat heads with the number of dumbbells that were flying around. Luckily there was a plyometric power output measuring machine in the room allowing me to salvage some dignity. Not that we were competing or anything.

Long story short: alpine skiers can jump high, and not much else.

Pulleys attach to the vest for added weight, we had it at 110lbs. Sylvan getting ready to jump.

Getting a foot of air never felt so difficult

Nothing says fun like double peace signs!

The Wiking Inwasion

This weekend a couple of Norse skiers descended upon Loveland to train with Team Leever and myself. The training surface in Loveland has continued to impress and has remained rock hard, allowing for a serious spike in intensity when college boy turned World Cup master Leif Kristian Haugen showed up, fresh off his race in Sölden last week. Another Team Leever staple, Andreas Haug, was in attendance as was Norwegian wunderkind and DU freshman Espen Lysdahl.

English is the language of choice when it's just Haug and I, even if I make fun of him for not pronouncing his "V's" correctly (he's nice enough not to mention that I can't speak any Norwegian). However when I'm sitting on a chairlift with 3 wikings and they choose to speak in their native tongue I'm better off just putting my head down or laughing when I think one of them has made a joke. After a while they would usually take pity on me and go back to English. Nice guys.

Back to skiing, it's always good to train with better skiers as they act as a marker against how awesome you think you are. Nothing makes a skier focus in training like the fear of getting blown out by a training partner. Leif set the tone for the weekend on the first run by shedding all of his training clothing and ripping in his race suit. The intensity changed immediately as I realized that if I wanted to stay with him I'd have to go "full strip" to have any accurate comparison of my skiing. Everyone else in the group got into it and by the 2nd run we were all down to just our race suits.

The weekend ended up being a success, I skied well and even posted some top times. It was great to validate what I have been working on the summer and this fall training block. It was also helpful to hear from some top level skiers what they were working on and what they though was going to make them faster this season. Leif's answer: intensity.

Peter, Espen, Andreas, me, Leif, Dan

A Good Road Trip: Touchdown Jesus and Blizzaks

Wow. I'm exhausted.

I arrived today in Vail, CO, fresh off a 3000 road trip that originated in DC and took me through New England before bringing me out West. I haven't done a cross country trip since I headed out to college in the fall of 2004. That time I was accompanied by my best friend and former supercoach Lionel Yarmon, and we had a great time passing through the Lower 48 en route to Massachussetts. We made a rule to play golf at least once every day, and then changed it to playing golf in every state. This time it was a little different. I was by myself and in full hammer mode, at least most of the time. The trip was a success, I arrived safe and sound, but I still made time to have a couple of fun experiences along the way.

About halfway into the State of Ohio I realized that I would need snow tires once I got to Colorado. My Passat has really nice performance summer tires (from the previous owner) but they are horrible in the snow. I was able to make it through last spring without too many slide outs but even then it was pretty sketchy, and trying to make it through a whole winter without proper tires isn't a possibility. So with lots and lots (and lots) of time on my hands I began trying to figure out the best way (read: cheapest) way to get the best snow tires with the least amount of hassle. Fast forward an hour later and I'm calling my older brother Nicholas to ask him to look up Craigslist in every major town I was passing through. About this time I started passing some of those massive distribution buildings for companies that only exist in the Midwest, and a light bulb went off in my head. I had him bag the ridiculous task of meta searching Craigslist (only a brother would do this) and instead asked him to look up headquarters of online tire stores. Bingo. Tirerack.com's WHQ is located in South Bend, Indiana. As it turned out I was able to pick up tires at the factory store, thereby getting internet prices on tires without the cost of shipping! Let your imagination run wild with how many high fives I was giving myself at this point. At 2am I pulled into the Super 8 located a half mile away from Tirerack.com's warehouse, ready to score some sweet Blizzak's at rock bottom prices.

The next morning at I showed up at the super warehouse ready to get my tire buying on. The only problem was that I wasn't the only person who had this ingenious idea, enough so that I had about an hour and a half wait. Time spent not driving is neither productive nor fun on a road trip, but I was able to turn this into a positive as Notre Dame was about 10 minutes away and having never been there I now had a chance to check out the place and even get in a workout. I took in the sites with a run around the unreal athletic complex, saw the golden dome, and said hi to Touchdown Jesus. I got a real kick out of the fact that the convocation and athletic center are in the same building next to the stadium. Church and football at Notre Dame are literally one. Anyway, after my Rudy reenactment I was back at Tirerack, picked up my tires and was on my way.

You just never know what is going to happen on a road trip and what is going to qualify as a successful day. I was also able to catch up with some of the crew of the DC BGC which was great, I miss those guys.Tomorrow morning I'm skiing at Loveland, a couple days of directed free skiing before hitting the gates. I'm super pumped on starting my final fall training block and almost as pumped to know that I'll be sporting some sweet shoes on my car along the way. Good to be out West!

Cold Days in the Wrong Ways

On Friday the summer heat in DC not only turned down but it turned off. The city was down right cold, in the 40s and 50s. I'm a lot happier when it is 20 degrees and I have a winter jacket on than when it is 45 and I am in a t-shirt. This morning I spoke with someone in Fairbanks, Alaska who told me it is 54 degrees there. At the time in DC is was 53. I can't think of a time I've ever heard of DC being colder than Alaska.

Colder temperatures usually bring good news (as I mentioned in my last post) because it means even colder temperatures in the mountains. Unfortunately Loveland, CO, the first training site of the year in the US, has a high today of 82 degrees. I am supposed to be strapping on boards and training at Loveland in exactly 2 weeks and I am a little skeptical about this actually happening. Nonetheless, I got an email from my coaches last night say full steam ahead, that Oct. 17 is still happening....we'll see.

In other news, this week of football was particularly exciting as my Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions (hey, when you're from Alaska you can choose anybody) both won in thrilling fashion. The Bengals knocked off the previously undefeated Buffalo Bills while the Detroit Lions snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by mounting the largest comeback against Dallas in the history of the Cowboys. And, as a little schadenfreude icing on the cake the Boston Red Sox completed the largest September collapse ever September in what had to be my favorite channel changing baseball watching moment ever. What a week!

Here is a link to the alpine buyer's guide from Ski Racing. Happy October everyone!

End of Summer = Fall = Ski Season is Near

The end of the summer is officially here. Earlier this week the temperature in DC dropped to the low 60s and has dropped off considerably.

The summer in recap has been very fulfilling. Skiing in Italy/Switzerland and Chile were both very productive camps, I learned a lot about my new coaches and we are now on the same page with what needs to be done in my skiing this fall. I recently came back from my second trip to AK this summer (a rarity) allowing my time back home to be less hectic and more enjoyable. The BGC has been a great venue to work with again, the staff and of course the kids are high energy and are game for pretty much anything I throw at them.

DC has been a good home to me this past 5 or so months but it's time to start looking forward to the ski season and what it holds. Early reports are that the first training may be as early as October 17th in Loveland, CO. This is about 2 weeks earlier than I started last year so it has come as a bit of surprise but I am ready to strap on the boards and start making the final preps for the upcoming season. I need to do a final run to the Bat Cave (my storage unit in NH) to swap work clothes for more ski equipment before I head West.

It's ski swap time so if you are thinking about skiing this year and you don't want to get totally hammered on prices make sure to hit one up. There is almost always something you need that can be found at a swap. Here is a link to some in VT, enjoy!

http://www.skimaven.com/post/its-ski-swap-time-heres-the-updated-list-of-2011-vermont-ski-swaps/

Chilean Pics

Setting up training

View from the top of the course, a bit soft that day

Our condo, from the spin bike

Supercoach Ian Lochhead moving the video onto the computer for analysis  later

Sun starting to go down....wait for it

Watching a jump sesh taking advantage of the sunset

Obligatory Chilean sunset pic

One more

Clips from Chile

Below is a short clip from two sets of training days over the past week.

As you will see the beginning of the trip started out quite sunny. Now the weather is significantly different. The snow is actually still pretty good for training, but the bad weather has made for some long days. Sunset pics to follow, once the clouds lift (if ever).




Congrats to ITA Alum Sarah Groff for qualifying for London in triathalon, BOOM!

Chile Up, Sticking it to the Woman

Holy heat!

It's hard to focus on skiing, even if it's right around the corner, when the heat index where I am currently living (Washington DC) hit 115! It is times like that when I am profoundly shocked that the country was founded on this swamp, but I digress....

I take off Wednesday for a little more than two weeks of training and more equipment testing at El Colorado Mountain in Chile. El Colorado is great because the training lanes are pretty long without too much change in terrain, allowing for a high level of consistency in training. This makes El Colorado ideal for equipment testing and volume loading. The area is also at about 10,000 feet but unlike Zermatt which had a peak elevation of 12,700ft, we will be sleeping at the same elevation and not at 5,500ft.

The good news is that El Colorado just received a pretty big snow dump (2 feet and counting) so snow depth shouldn't bee too much of an issue. I hope. I have been to Chile many times before but each time I get excited because it means that the summer is starting to wane and fall/winter is right around the corner....

Changing gears here I wanted to share this small piece of obnoxious behavior. Earlier this month upon returning from my Fourth of July trip to Alaska I got a bag of Chex Mix in SeaTac to accompany me on the transcontinental flight back out East. We were approximately over Ohio when to my dismay I realized that the Chex Mix was missing some of its "mix", specifically the bagel chips. There were none in the whole bag. Those little salty nuggets happen to be my favorite part of the Mix, and with a Betty Crocker guaranteeing me on the back of the bag that she would not disappoint, I felt only slightly ridiculous voicing my complaint. 7 to 10 business days later I received my response from General Mills, posted below. I am currently somewhere between embarrassed and satisfied about this whole event and will continue to be so up until the next chapter of this event, when I attempt to redeem my coupon good for one bag of Chex Mix at any store in the country....I'm thinking using it at a 7-11 during the night shift.

Betty Crocker Fessing up to her Sins

See you in Chile!

Shots From Europe Training

First Day, First Run of the New Season!

Warming up for Training

Touring the Head Ski Factory

Stelvio and Zermatt

A little over a week ago I got on a plane to Europe for a some summer skiing. The group I am with has made all the preparations for this trip, so for the first time in a very long while I haven't been the logistical coordinator for my international travel. Quite nice. Which is why I ended up skiing at some new places, Stelvio and Zermatt. Stelvio is a summer-only ski area located at the top of one of the craziest passes I have ever been up, let alone driven. The weather was pretty good, the training was great, and the food was amazing!

Gigantisimo Training in Stelvio

Speaking of logistics, Zermatt is no easy place to get to. There are no automobiles allowed in the mountain town of Zermatt, so even with our special permits allowing us to drive up further than most people, we still had to unload and reload all of our skis, equipment, gates, tuning benches, and bags onto electric cars which then took them up to our hotel. Our driver got a little aggressive on his first trip...

A Bold Move for the Electric Taxi in Zermatt

The skiing in Zermatt has been incredible. It is easily the best summer skiing I have ever been a part of. The snow is firm yet not too aggressive and there is a ton of it....it's basically perfect. I took a short video from today's hike to show a little of the area, and how freaking big this place is!




That's all for now, 5:30 wakeup call tomorrow for hopefully another epic day on the glacier!

Coach Freeman, Rob & Pab

For those of you out there that think working in youth baseball might be boring, I give you Coach Lafonde Freeman, Athletic Director at the BGC FBR Branch.

Many of the sports teams run through the BGC FBR are exceptionally good, and Coach Freeman is a big reason. The peewee football team two years ago lost in the eastern regional finals  that would have sent them to Disney World to play for the national championship. The clip below is from a game last weekend with the 12 and under team. They are two-time defending city champions, and shooting for their third straight title. Playoffs next week!




Also, I wanted to post a picture of Rob and Pablo, the two Casanova's at the BGC. The next round of ICON takes place next week as well. Unfortunately I will not be there, I'm shipping out to Europe for two weeks of training and ski testing. I am pretty bummed to be missing both of these events but confident they'll get it done. Good luck men!

Rob & Pab

Tony's Metropolitan Fitness and Safety Academy

When I got down to DC for the offseason I decided that I needed to work out at a new gym. The lack of running that I would be doing this summer because of the healing soft tissue in my knee meant that I would spending more time in a gym, and I wasn't feeling too motivated to head back to my typical spot. That's when I found Tony's Metropolitan Fitness and Safety Academy. Located in Anacostia just over the water from the Navy Yard, and next door to the DCPD property reclamation station for discharged inmates, Tony's gym is primarily a boxing gym that trains local up and coming boxers. Tony opened his doors 15 years ago has a trained 8 gold gloves and some pro boxers, and has a reputation for being a no-nonsense gym.

I of course knew none of this when I showed up the first time at the doorstep of the gym, staring at my iPhone trying to figure out how this cement building in front of me constituted a pin drop on a Google maps "gym" search. The equipment is not even close to state of the art but it all works and the work ethic in a boxing gym is exponentially more intense than any other gym I have been to before.

Tony is convinced that the Stairmaster is going to get me to the top of the podium in ski racing. While I may sometimes question his expertise in ski specific workouts I certainly don't question his enthusiasm. I started talking with the head boxing trainer of the gym and began working in with his quick feet routines. The Stairmaster has also been getting some use, quite a good cardio workout. I haven't gotten in the ring yet with anybody, not quite sure I need another concussion, but it is certainly gnawing at me and by the end of the summer I know I'll have no choice. But damn those guys are big.

That's all for now, I'll have more to add when I actually sack up and go toe to toe with someone. Happy Memorial Day!

Sparring Thursdays

ICON

I never in my wildest dreams thought that working with ITA would bring out the American Idol in me. Or more specifically ICON 11. ICON is a singing/dancing/artwork competition held by the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington DC that rewards finalists with awards and scholarships for school. Last week was the first round of selections (think the first couple of days of American Idol) where a team of judges began visiting the 17 clubs under BGCGW to select a handful of the best performers from each club to continue onto the following round. The next phase of ICON 11 takes place at the JW Marriott in downtown DC at the end of June, with the finale being held at the Kennedy Center in August.

Rob Price, a 16 year old at the BGC, approached me about helping him qualify for the second round of ICON. We have been working over the past few months when I am in town on making beats in the sound room, drawing from my piano lessons that ended when I was 16 and a few years of saxophone in middle school. Apparently he figured I was therefore qualified to help him with his vocal act. God has blessed me with many talents, but one of them is not singing. I couldn't sooner hit a note than start in the NBA (although my jump shot has improved exponentially from my time at the BGC), so to say I was shocked at this request would be an understatement. However, Rob was determined and I was honored that he asked me to help him with this goal.

Over the last week we went through various songs and figured out which ones played the best to his strengths and his style. We finally settled on "Back at One" by Brian McKnight, an R&B song from the late 90's. Rob sees himself as a smooth lady killer so he figured his best shot was with this song. Another club member, Pablo, joined Rob in entering ICON and they eventually decided on making the song a sort of a duet. 

We had a lot of painful takes during "studio" sessions, and I wouldn't be sad if I never heard that melody again. However, with a fair amount of practice and some applied focus on timing and hitting high notes (since I know what I'm talking about) Rob and Pablo put together a great song, as long as everything fell into place. 

On Thursday, the day of the competition Rob was very nervous, while Pablo was much more laid back. Since Rob had the solo lines it was on him to nail the bridge (song terminology, nbd) and remember to breath in the right spots. They performed in the library room of the BGC behind closed doors so I wasn't able to see how it went first-hand, but the smiles on their expressions when they exited told me that they had taken care of business. 

When all the acts had finished the judges explained how grateful they were for everyone's performance. There were definitely some tears since most people did not advance, but I was impressed by how they took the news. Of the four selected to continue on to the next round, both Rob and Pablo got spots. They. Were. Pumped. So was I. Going forward, Rob and Pablo should be getting more formal support for their upcoming performances so I am relieved that they will be in better hands. 

While ICON was ultimately rewarding for the kids involved, I had a great time as well. I was especially pleased as it allowed me an avenue, however unlikely, to contribute my experience of setting goals and working towards them directly with the kids. I don't know anything about singing, still don't, but I know about how to prepare for a competition. This is a testament to the way in which ITA is set up; that I was able to plug in immediately with kids using a relationship that was built on infrequent but repetitive previous encounters while in-season, followed by longer stints during the offseason. I am also humbled that the kids saw me as someone who could help them, whatever their logic was. It was a respect that I was initially unsure about when I began working as a winter sport athlete in an area that has few mountains, little snow, and zero coverage of ski racing. I see this a check in the positive column for my impact here in DC being worthwhile and consistent with the ethos of ITA. Whatever it was it was a good time.

Next stop, Marriott!

Aprés Season

Since Mammoth I've been getting my ducks in a row for the summer, but more importantly I've had a little fun in the sun. My girlfriend Amy and I spent a week on the California coast, spending a few days trying not to get burned in San Diego before heading up to SF to catch up with her friends and my brother.

During the entire trip I really wanted to watch baseball games, particularly in Petco Park in San Diego, Dodger Stadium in LA, or AT&T Park in SF. I was even willing to settle for wherever the Angels play. However, the only team that wasn't on a road trip was the Oakland A's, and much to my girlfriend's delight they were playing the Red Sox. I am not much of a Red Sox fan (go Mariners!), in fact ever since I started at Williams in '04 I've gone from rooting for them as an underdog to growing weary of their incessant fandom. I digress. So instead of heading to some of the hallowed grounds of baseball we ended up taking the BART to the Oakland Coliseum, a concrete behemoth that also plays home to da Raiders. From the train station to the stadium, everyone is forced onto a (also) concrete overpass that crosses the train tracks. Being forced down this narrow gangplank, where some of Oakland's most aggressive scalpers and street musicians pay their bills was something I'll never forget. While in the stadium all I could think about was how crazy Raiders games must be to go to, when the upper bowl which is closed off for A's games becomes available to about 20,000 more crazies. Oh, and you can bring in your own beverage/food to the game so just imagine how that can ramp things up.

From California we headed to Kingfield, Maine to celebrate Easter. On Friday I took my last runs of the year at Sugarloaf on some sweet Atomic 205 SL skis circa 1992. I found them in Amy's garage before heading up and decided that this would be a great way to get back to the basics of skiing. Or just a way to look like a joey in the spring. Either way it was a lot of fun. From here I'll be heading down to DC where I will continue working with the FBR Branch of the BGC. Looking forward to a killer summer!

Very Variable Snow

Sometimes "spring" skiing is a relative term. Over the past two weeks I have competed in more races with soft snow than the last two or three seasons combined. I had no idea that when I left the soft snow of Whistler that I would be encountering similar conditions for the rest of the season. The RMD Spring Series slalom races in Beaver Creek didn't have much of a base to push off of, while the super g's in Breckenridge were straight up cancelled. Winter Park received a fair amount of snow during US Nationals, and while the course crew and volunteers did a great job of limiting the damage to the course, it was still a bit of a gong show. The races lost in Breckenridge were rescheduled after US Nationals and then re-cancelled again due to snow, making way for two gs races on the same hill that were the softest of them all. My favorite course report came from Ian Gardner in one of these races. He explained the conditions in his section of the course as "very variable". Also, since I left Burke Mtn Academy for NorAm Finals on March 13th, my Tri-One edge tuner has not been used once. I haven't needed to use much more than a diamond stone on my edges to keep them sharp. That thing sat in my duffel for nearly a month doing nothing more than make my luggage about 15 lbs heavier and take up space.

However, even though the conditions were less than ideal, races did happen and that meant opportunities. At US Nationals I was 3rd or better on both top splits of the gs, but was unable to keep the same speed all the way to the finish line. The super g was a similar story. I was 9th until the last split at which point I got very low and started fighting the ruts, finishing 39th on the bottom split and 13th overall. Slalom was a bust, I hiked second run. But in Breckenridge I skied well on the second run on the first day of the gs races, finishing second overall and earning myself the top gs result of my career.

I was considering going to Mission Ridge or somewhere else to extend the season but given the health of my knee and lack of great races left in North America I decided to pull the plug somewhat early this season. Instead I accepted an invitation to help as a coach at the Mammoth Mountain Invitational, a fundraiser benefitting the Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation. The event was a lot of fun and was a great way to end the ski season in a non-stress way. It's also almost impossible to pass on a free trip to Mammoth in the spring, no matter how one's body feels.

Finally, I want to send some positive healing vibes and support to Scotty Veenis, Hank Shipman, and the rest of the Rowmark boys that were involved in a car accident over the weekend while racing in Oregon. The community of ski racing is quite small and word spread quickly in Mammoth about the terrible situation. Scotty is a long time friend starting from my days back in Utah and even in his serious condition (broken femur, shattered tibia, head trauma, multiple surgeries already with more to come) I know he is staying positive. I can't help but think that right now he is smiling with his trademark ear to ear grin. Hang in there Scotty we're all pulling for you!

Life on the road...Packing up from Winter Park, heading to Breckenridge. That's my duffel on the back left, a hazard of getting picked up last.

Let the Second Season Begin

The second season is upon us.

So far the final sprint of races has been largely dictated by how my knee feels on the day of competition. I cannot begin to describe how frustrating this is. Whistler began well, I placed 6th on the first day of GS at NorAm Finals. But bad weather (rain, hail, soft snow, fog) made the track very bumpy and I was quickly unable to ski to my full potential. The rest of NorAm Finals was unspectacular I ended up not accomplishing my goals for the race series.

However, after a week off between Whistler and the races I am currently at in CO, my knee seems to have turned a corner. Today not only was I able to race but also free ski without any pain in my knee. I ended up going out in the race but I was about as happy with this new development as any result (not quite) because it means I can now focus on my skiing and not about my damn knee. US Nationals starts this Thursday and it would be great to enter that series feeling like this.


On a bright side I got to ski at a really cool ski area last week after NorAm Finals. Adam Cole and I bailed on the Super Gs at Whistler and headed to Crystal Mountain, WA to race in a FIS open slalom and see some old friends. The mountain far exceeded my expectations. The ski area had a cool vibe and serviced a lot of back country terrain. It reminded me of a mini Snowbird. The race was also entertaining. Tim Kelly was victorious even though he failed to block a gate in sections of the course due to the massive ruts and bottomless snow. I straddled halfway on the pitch during the second run, but was yelled into to hiking for two gates and scored myself a fat 262.51. I'm guessing it's a career high. Let's hope I can bring that down for the rest of the races this spring!

Whistler

Last night I arrived in Whistler, BC for NorAm Finals and the beginning to the final sprint of the season. Warm weather in Whistler has prompted a change of the schedule, making the GS races first to go instead of the Super Gs. My focus up here is on the GS and SL races, so I was planning on a generally relaxed couple of days to begin this trip. Instead, it's time to bring the race day attitude immediately and focus on what I am trying to accomplish here.

I was able to take some runs today on my GS skis and get my first look at the race hill. Before I came out here I made the executive decision to not bring my powder skis. My knee is still not 100% percent and I really didn't want to be tempted with the opportunity to tear up one of the best mountains in the world should it snow, which is pretty much guaranteed here. So instead of hitting a bunch of chutes and searching for powder stashes today I got on my GS skis and took some laps on the groomers. Boring but in my opinion helpful, and it gave me a relatively good feeling for what to expect tomorrow. The race organizers seem to be working very hard to get the new snow (about a foot in the last two days) off the race track, and I am hopeful that the surface will be consistent enough to hold a decent race.

Let's hope for good conditions and better skiing!

The End of an Era

For the majority of my life I have driven around the country to ski races in one car. My 2000 Dodge Durango, fire engine red and covered in ski racing stickers, ping ponged around the Western US when I was at Rowmark, and it brought me across the country to Williams College and thereafter. I would conservatively put the number of different ski hills that the Durango has been to at over 50. So last week when I decided that after 188 thousand miles it was time to part ways with Big Red, it was a bit of an emotional experience.

As my Nordica rep Ethan Korpi said, it’s always good for a skier to have a project to do when taking time off. Selling a car and buying another one while taking a week off in DC proved to be plenty time consuming, especially since I had to overnight the tags and titles back and forth from Alaska (thanks Mom!) in time to drive to VT this weekend. I even got in some time at the BGC. It all worked out and I believe that the Durango has gone to a worthy owner that will treat it right, not always a guarantee when selling a car worth significantly more when it has a full tank of gas than when it is empty.

On the buy side of things I am now the proud owner of a 2003 Volkwagen Passat wagon. The car doesn’t have quite the flare of the Durango, but I am pretty sure it will get me to more ski races than if I had not made the switch. I could only find one photo of myself with the car, and it is right before I picked up my date for senior prom. Yes I dressed up as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever, and yes that is stick-on chest hair. What can I say, when you ride in a rig like that sometimes you have to step up your game. Thanks for the memories Big Red, you will not be forgotten.

Skiing in LAX

A few weeks ago I got an invitation from race organizers in La Crosse, WI to be a member of the pace team this weekend for the Dan Nagy Memorial. Since I got back from Europe I took two weeks off to get better from a bone bruise in my knee, and this seemed like a perfect way to start up the engines a bit and get ready for the second half of the ski season. Plus, it didn’t hurt that they were putting a little coin in my pocket. The organizing committee did a great job of putting together a quality race and treated myself and the rest of the pace team far better than we deserved. I had a lot of fun over the weekend and as the race announcer was quick to remind the crowd multiple times, was my first win since 2008. I also scored a sweet Mantac scraper sharpener for winning, in addition to getting my name on the annual trophy.

From here I am heading back to Burke where I am looking forward to a training block with a few races and working with the Burke Ski and Ride Program. The mid-season break was much needed but I am excited to get some training in before the final push of the season in March/April.

A special shout out to Warner Nickerson and Dave Chodounsky who are racing this week in Garmisch at World Champs. They are both fellow college grads and have been hammering away for quite a while without the support of the USST. It’s great to see where they are, let’s hope there’s more to come!

Europe Recap, Schladming Nacht Slalom

I got back from Europe Wednesday night, a little worn down and ready for some time away from the ski slopes. Since the New Year I have been hammering from race to race, skiing in 6 countries in a little over three weeks.

The racing in Europe was exactly what I thought it would be, full of good skiers and high on intensity. However, because of warm weather and some unfortunate circumstances with the amount of Americans over in Europe my race schedule was significantly pared down from the original plan. Instead of competing in 10 races I was only able to start 5. On top of that, I did not find out if I was competing in many of the races until the day before, sometimes the afternoon before. This made prepping for each race more hectic than it had to be and to be honest was a bit frustrating, leading Adam Cole and I to name ourselves "Team Shitshow". Nevertheless, those were the cards I was dealt and I still expected myself to show up for each race.

I had some race runs that I was proud of, but I was not able to put together a complete race that did anything significant for me. The training before the Europa Cups at Zuoz, Switzerland, and with the Italian military race (Forestale) team in Cortina were great opportunities and confirmed that my skiing was on par with anyone else. I think I'm in a solid position for the rest of the season and looking forward to racing back here in the States.

The night before heading home Adam and I decided to head to Schladming, AUT and watch the World Cup night slalom. I had never been there before, and had high expectations of watching a night race with 50,000 crazy Austrians. Just like last year at the Hahnenkamm, Schladming lived up to everything I thought it would be. My favorite moment was Nolan Kasper's post-run celebration after smoking the second run. He came through the finish line with a lead of almost a second, caught an American football from Will Brandenburg in the crowd and slid to a stop doing his best Heisman move before windmill spiking the ball. T.O. would have been proud. I heard from Warner Nickerson that FIS was none too pleased about this move and most people in the crowd had no idea what he was doing, but Adam and I thought it was amazing and were cheering at the top of our lungs. Sadly no video of it, but I took some video from the rest of the night.

On Friday I headed back to the Boys and Girls Club in DC that I had been working with this fall. It was nice to plug in so easily with the program and was great to see some familiar faces. This is my favorite part of being an ITA athlete, and in my opinion the most important helpful aspect as an athlete. Even though I can be gone for 3 months and only have a week to ten days of free time, I can apply myself in a meaningful way with little or no lag time. Speaking of being gone, apparently while I was away the LA Lakers and Obama both visited my BGC branch, crazy! I guess that's what happens when you take off for months at a time, oh well.

NorAm Recap, Ziggy and Europe

This is the first reliable internet connection that I have had since getting to Europe, so I'm a little slow on the NorAm update from earlier this month in Quebec. I skied well in the slaloms, getting 5th and 8th place in the two days and moved up in the NorAm SL standings. I am around 40 NorAm points out from the top two positions so I have a definite shot at reaching my goal of getting a WC spot if I ski the way I know that I can at NorAm Finals (2 SL, 2 GS).

The GS races didn't go nearly how I had hoped. I am pretty bad on flat hills and the GS venue had plenty of it, even a short uphill section. In my opinion it should never have been chosen as a place to hold a NorAm, but given my performance that might just sound like sour grapes. The first run of my first GS race, with the leader bib, I skied a little cautiously on the middle steep section and underestimated what this would do to my time. Starting 3rd I finished the run in 22nd, less than 9 tenths off the lead, and only 4 tenths out of 4th. Flat hills tend to push the times together. The second run was better but I was unable to make up huge amounts of time and I ended the day in 16th.

I was pretty upset that I had skied sub par in the most important run, so far, of my season. I decided to attack the course the next day and ski with much more purpose. On the first run I skied well up top and off the pitch, and was executing my game plan. On the bottom flat I let my skis run a lot more but pinched off a gate over a roll on the bottom of the course, got low in my line and was fighting to get back to the next gate which happened to be in a compression. At the last second I realized that I wasn't going to make the gate, or if I did, that I would be doing the same thing for my next turn. I ended going under the panel and through the two GS poles, a la Kyle Rasmussen at the 98 Olympics. This was extremely upsetting. I did not think I was anywhere close to danger and the suddenly I was out. However, upon realizing how close I was to potentially detonating for yet another time, I decided that the outcome could have been worse. As it turned out I wasn't the only one who had problems at this gate. I ended the series in about the same position as where I am in the SL standings, with a real shot at making this season a success in both events.

I flew to Europe one day after the NorAm series and about 12 hours after Ziggy, the Kelly's dog, got ahold of my helmet when I was unpacking my car at their house and chewed off part of the earpiece and bit threw a pair of googles. Calling Jed, the Uvex rep, was rather interesting. I was a little out of sorts since I had to fly the next morning, but he and Chris Frank saved the day and got me to Europe with a functioning helmet.

Europe is very warm. So far I have been here for ten days and only today raced for the first time. I had been 0 for 4 for races happening up to this point, so it was finally good to actually go out of a starting gate even if I did go out in the second run. Tomorrow I am heading to Zuoz, Switzerland for some training with the Team and hopefully a start or two at another Europa Cup. Pray for cold(er) weather!