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!