European Vacation

So racing in Europe was a bit of a bust. No other way to say it. The weather was very warm, and when it wasn't it was snowing hard. Aside from my glorious shopping spree on the first day of the trip I can't speak to too many things which were total wins. But even if I didn't come away with the best results possible, I had some memorable experiences and ones that will prove beneficial down the road.

For example, no other standard FIS race compares to the Westendorf night race. The Westendorf Nachtslalom is held every year on the night before the Kitzbuhel WC super g, about two towns away. Because of the lack of housing in the town of Kitzbuhel (there are up to 80,000 spectators for the Hahnenkamm weekend and only 20,000 beds in Kitzbuhel), most fans stay elsewhere in valley for the weekend. Many racers competing in the Kitzbuhel slalom (on Sunday) use Westendorf as a prep race (on Thursday). Some fans like to kick off their weekend of race spectating at Westendorf, as it allows them closer access to their favorite slalom skiers, and it's an all around good time. Typically anywhere from 2-4 thousand people show up for this race, although the numbers were a little light this year since it was raining right up to the start of the race. The organizers put up a fully stocked athlete VIP tent, beer vendors, bars going off surrounding the event, the whole deal, making it the largest ordinary FIS race in the world. After finishing 21st the first run from bib 27, I straddled half way down second run. Although I didn't get a result from the race it's great to be a part of such a fun environment, and it puts other race scenarios into perspective for the rest of the year. Plus, I had a great time blowing off some steam after the race (when it started raining again) and enjoyed the fact that I had a couple of days off coming up.

Here are some photos from the rest of the trip. I am back stateside now, and after a couple of days of dryland I am going to start training again in Vail on Sunday. A big shout out to former ski racer, full-time cougar hunter, and skier cross phenom Joey Swenson competing at his first X Games. Kick some ass this weekend Joey!

Best. Shopping Trip. Ever.

For any ski racer, visiting the factory of your ski sponsor is something just short of a religious experience. There are no American companies that produce race skis so there is an added mystique about visiting the actual factory in Euroland instead of the USA distribution warehouse. These factories are usually in some small Austrian town and are a real hassle to get to. This all adds to the experience as the massive industrial buildings tower over you when you pull into the parking lot. From the outside it looks kind of mysterious, as if a million little Oompa-Loompas are in there working. And if the factory is the Wonka Chocolate Factory, the door labeled "race room" is the Inventing Room and Chocolate Room all rolled into one.

Nordica USA Super Rep Ethan Korpi set up a meeting for me in Mittersill, Austria to visit the Blizzard/Nordica factory for the first time and pick up some new skis. I decided to make it my first stop of the trip (couldn't help it) so after I landed in MUC I called Nordica and confirmed I had made it, got my bags and my rental car, and was off.

Upon arrival I met the Blizzard/Nordica race room manager, Mike Kogler, and presented him with a gift. Meetings with ski industry people always go better when you bring something sort of adult beverage as a welcome present. I picked up a large bottle of Tennessee's finest at the Duty Free, and not surprisingly was met with a warm smile. We instantly became friends.

Mike brought me over to show me my new GS skis, mounted with fresh bindings and oh so beautiful. He also asked me to bring 2 pairs of SL skis to the US, which I readily accepted. It was hard not to ask for two of everything in the room. After a couple tune-ups on other things, new bindings on my current race SLs skis, some boot work, I was on my way. Like the best things in life, it was all over way too quickly. I hate shopping for the most part, I basically don't do it outside of the holidays, but wow that was sweet. I now understand why people say it can be addictive. Not exactly sure how I'm going to squeeze 4 extra pairs of skis in my bags on the way home, but these are logistical problems I am only too happy to deal with. Time to make them turn, looking forward to racing!

COLLEGE!!!!

There's a saying out there that college is the best four years of your life. I can't really disagree with this, I loved my college experience and wouldn't trade it for anything. But only 4 years? That's so limiting. With this in mind I returned over the weekend to the glory circuit of college racing to prep for my upcoming Europe trip and have some fun.

The college ski racing circuit really is unto itself. For starters, it's the only circuit in which skiing is a team sport. Although there are individual titles to be had your team wins and loses as a whole, men and women combined. This creates a much louder atmosphere at the start and the finish, and it's awfully refreshing after racing on the NorAm and FIS circuit where cheering for others comes mostly from...the college skiers. The skiing is also very competitive, making for an overall great race.

Skiing at Williams, I had never been in a FISU out West (they're called carnivals out East) and had never raced at Eldora Mountain before. These FISUs, hosted by Colorado University, lasted three days. The first two days were GSs, while today was a slalom. Starting 18 on the first day I skied well enough from outside the top 15 (college seeding) and was able to put two good runs together to notch my first victory of the season. Winning always feels good, and this was no exception. The victory from the first day got me bib 6 for the second day of GS, and again with my new DODGE boots I was able to fight both runs to squeak out the win.

Today, with about half a foot of new snow and no course workers the race officials were forced to cancel the race before the completion of the first run. These are the downsides of college racing, especially out West. While this was a major disappointment it was the right call. I started 18 again (again, college seeding) and came down into 6th position, 2.7 seconds out. By the time they cancelled the race the course had deteriorated to a point that the holes resembled lunar craters more than anything else. I ended up taking off a bit early as the organizers still were trying to pull off a women's slalom, and I didn't feel the need to sit through 5 hours of more slalom in bad conditions for no reason.

That turned out to be somewhat of a tactical error. I was unaware that the awards were belt buckles, which sounds really cool to me. I got hosed out of a belt buckle after winning a Super G at Bogus Basin when I was 17 (I'm still holding out, Carmen!) and I haven't been right ever since. Back to Eldora, the crowd at awards somehow convinced the organizers that getting awards was a must-be-present-to-win scenario, and bumped everyone up a notch. Nick Cohee, the runner up at the GS race, sent me a pic of the belt buckle and as the rightful owner of this property I am currently in the process of righting the ship and restoring some sense of normalcy to the ski racing world. This means that Espen Lysdahl, who placed fourth in the race, will ultimately go back to getting a wooden spoon for an award instead of a bronze belt buckle. He knows it's bad luck to take someone else's medal so it won't be too hard. Plus, I expect Espen will win no less than 20 of these types of medals over his college career so I'm not too torn up about doing this. Sometimes remembering the glory years takes a little more work than you think.

Anyway, heading to Europe on Tuesday where apparently there is so much snow that races are being cancelled. Erik Fisher is over there now and told me that Austria got a legit 5 ft dump of snow. Paul Epstein said he skied chest deep powder yesterday. I spoke with the USST this morning and found out that my ride to the opening Europa Cups in Meribel, France has evaporated as they haven't been able to train in Sölden and are heading there now, a week early. Driving to France solo is something that I was trying to avoid, but hopefully I can train it or I'll just suck it up and make it happen. Should be a great racing experience!

Ski Friends

In the sport of ski racing you are constantly relying on instinct. Successfully navigating a race course involves one critical split-second decision after the next. Make the wrong one and there are consequences.

The same applies to loaning your car to someone. Enter my good racing bud and fellow road warrior Warner Nickerson.

After the Beaver Creek WC, Warner needed to stay in the Vail valley to continue therapy on his back and he was essentially homeless. Ian Lochhead, my landlord and SSCV Supercoach, took him in and let him to crash at his house, putting us all under the same roof before I took off for Panorama. Shortly before I left, W and I were in his car driving to dinner when he asked in his innocent/totally not innocent way, "So Dude, what are you doing with your car while you're gone?"

For starters, ski racers are pretty aggressive drivers. All we do is try to make a turn as fast as possible. Combine that with the false confidence that these skills are directly applicable to asphalt and you've got yourself one dangerous amateur rally car driver. Needless to say, I was a little concerned about loaning my car out to another ski racer for an extended period of time, especially one who wasn't able to get on the slopes at the moment and probably needed an outlet for his frustration. My apprehension was confirmed when, as he was asking me about my car, he rammed his rental Chevy Cobalt over a curb in Vail to complete a U-turn instead of putting it in a reverse and staying on the street. "Don't worry man, it's a rental!" he tried to assure me when he saw the look on my face. All I could think about was the low clearance on my car and how expensive that little move would have been in my Passat.

I was very happy to learn before I left that W had lined up Leif's Viking1, meaning I was off the hook. I ended up leaving a key at the airport parking lot (Holiday Inn Express, much cheaper than anything else around DIA) anyway and told him that my car was available in case of emergencies, but didn't think he'd need it. Of course, about the time I got to AK for the holidays I got a text from W asking where I left the car, and if he could use it for a couple of days. The same fear crept back into my head, but I figured what the hell, it's the holidays and it's only for a couple of days. What's the worst that could happen?

I awoke yesterday to a text message from Warner asking me to call him so he could explain where he left the car. Hmmm, that's funny, I told him exactly where to leave it. I then checked my email and saw that he had tagged me in a post. Uh oh. After reading his blog post titled "it wasn't my fault!" I was in full I-told-myslef-so mode. A phone call to him put me a little more at ease, but only a little.

This morning on the shuttle ride from DIA to the hotel I prepped myself by asking the driver if there were a lot of cars that were parked illegally at the hotel, and if they were towing them. "Yeah it's a mess out there right now, but unless you parked in a really bad spot you should be okay." Please God, let Warner have found a non-really bad spot. Sure enough, there were cars parked everywhere around the hotel in illegal spots. On the grass and on snowbanks, it was indeed a crazy sight. My car wasn't anywhere too outstanding so that was a relief, and the car turned over (barely) so I didn't even have to jump it. I was very happy.

True to his word Warner left me a signed autograph card of him shredding a turn and some money for a car wash that he meant to get. All was good. That's when I noticed the knob on the bass control was missing, which I am guessing had something to do with the thumping music from Warner's burned CD titled "Beatport Top 10 progressive mix" left in my CD player. The front seat was moved way back like a ganster whip, allowing me to imagine exactly how Warner put on 500 miles on my car in 4 days.

The money went to an oil change that I got this morning, and other than the fact that the mechanic informed me that he couldn't add extra zip ties to my skid plate because it is missing (the mechanic also told me he would be a good skier because just last year when he was in jail he could squat 525lbs) things are good. Warner is a good friend and I was happy to help him out. I'm sure he handled my car with kid gloves, and without friends helping each other out the sport of ski racing would be a much more expensive and lonely sport. I can't wait to borrow his car some day, cheers Warner!