Shipping Out to Bansko

Life right now is very straight forward. Ski well in NorAms, race in a World Cup.

After racing in the MacDermid NorAm Cup in Vail, CO over the past week I was given the green light to race in the next World Cup, this time in Bansko, Bulgaria. I knew that if I skied fast during the NorAm GS races that I would have an opportunity at a WC spot, but up until the last run of the series things were not looking too hot.

I had fallen on the flats in the second run of the first race, and although I skied well otherwise and scored a career best result (barely), it wasn't a whole lot to go to the table with the USST and ask that they consider me for another WC spot. Luckily, I was able to turn things around on the second run of the last day, winning the run by 3 tenths and moving up from 19th position after first run to 5th overall, finishing as the top American.

It feels great to be heading back to the White Circus. I just finished booking my flight to Bansko, it’s always a bit scary booking an international 3 days before departure but whatever. I am currently at home in AK, competing in the FIS U races (experiencing every imaginable kind of weather) so I’m a little further away from Europe than usual. Staring Sunday morning at 1am my milk run itinerary is as follows: ANC-SEA-DEN-IAD-MUC, stop for two days of training, then to SOF. From Sofia, Bulgaria, I am told there is a 3-hour shuttle to Bansko. I will free ski the hill on Friday and race on Saturday. In any other situation I would cringe at a logistical schedule like this, but right now all I can do is grin.

Fingers crossed for the race (and to changing the flight itinerary). Whatever happens the journey is gonna be great. Thanks to everyone for their support and well wishes, off to Bulgaria!

PS- I found this little gem in the Alyeska Ski Club offices. It is the 1990-1991 Nastar  Alaska division season recap, in poster form! This relic is full of greats from Alaska's ski racing past, I don't even think they have Nastar in AK anymore. I was able to land second in the boys 5-6 category, damn you Loren Dreyer!

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!

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!