Sunday, March 27, 2011

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!

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