Kvitfjell Classic!

A day late, but better late than never!  Kvitfjell was once again pretty good to me on a gorgeous Norway day, with a nice sun, and temps down around zero, the Norwegian coach set a brutal classic, around 45 gates, plus a nice roll track, and a brutal minute long skate section, I laid down a pretty decent run, good enough for eleventh position, despite breaking my pole very early in the run.  Kudos to my teammate Madi Mckinstry for an expert pole handoff.  I did not make the jump  line, once again by inches, but I am still very satisfied with my result.  Not only were these two races in Kvitfjell two of my best result, but they came in different disciplines, on runs that I did not feel were my best skiing.  I am looking forward two these next set of races here in Rjukan, hopefully I can clean everything up and really lay down some killer runs to have some good results here and improve my standings to give myself the best chance of kicking butt when we go to the good ole USA!

Kvitfjell day one!!

We had fun in the snow today,  as it snowed all day today, as it has the last 4 days here in Kvitfjell.  Madi ran 8th and she ran into some equipment trouble as her goggles completely iced over as she left the start, so she struggled a bit with knowing where she was on the long sprint course.  She also took a little spill in the wrap, also probably due the fact that she looked a bit like a blind person (weird huh) as she skied in.  However she had a strong second run but was not able to gain much ground for a 10th place finish.  I had a pretty decent day racing on a hill I spent a long time skiing on last winter.  First run I laid down a solid run, and was able to jump into twelfth place.  I was much more comfortable in the second run, and made up more time to finish in 11th position.  I did end up with 7 total gate penalties, I know I had two in the second run, including a big fat alpine turn after the jump, I  went a little too far for once!  Tomorrow Madi and I will try to clean up our skiing and lay down some sweet runs.  She starts #3 and I start number #5!!  Finally my classic points are good enough to break into the top 15!!  Rock and roll!!

Better..

Today was a better day, I had a decent first run, good speed, but again I missed the jump line...and I quote the world cup director on this one "by about 10cm."  That my friend is frustrating, skiing really fast, then making one little mistake and getting bumped 3 seconds back.  At least I know that my skiing was fast.  The second run was much better, I nailed the jump landing and pretty much everything else.  The skiing was still not quite perfect, or really even that close to perfect.  I need to clean up a few aspects of my skiing, but I was penalty free so thats what really counts.  I am looking forward to going to Norway and Kvitfjell to race on a hill that I know pretty well, until then, TELE HO!!

Bohinj...and believe it or not...racing

We are here in Bohinj, Slovenia, where there is...no snow, but yes believe it or not we are racing.  We were not able to race in Rauris where we had too much snow, and here where we have almost no snow we are racing.  Literally as soon as you leave the race piste you are on dirt.  The skate section is about 2 meters from edge of where the snow ends, on a corn field.  I'm talking there are corn stalks sticking up as soon as the snow ends.  Its pretty wild.  It is below freezing, mostly, but there is just no snow.  So we are racing on this little tiny ski trail.  I'll try to post a photo soon, but the internet is pretty sketchy here.  Its a wild world out here.  Anyhow the racing by me was terrible.  I did not ski well in the first run at all, call it nerves whatever you want, but it was terrible.  I stepped it up for the second run and skied mostly better.  We will see tomorrow if I can step up the game.  Phillipe Lau laid down two killer runs to absolutely smoke the competition.  I don't think anybody can catch him right now!  I'll do my best to tomorrow, bib 19!!

Well we tried...

The last two days we have had races in Rauris, Austria,  From which we had spectacular views, as well as some sweet free-skiing!  Unfortunately friday we had 12 cm of heavy heavy heavy heavy wet wet wet snow.  So we wen't and inspected for the first run, but we didn't even make it to jump practice before it became apparent that there was far too much coming down to see, let alone run a race.  So we  went home, dried out stuff out and prepared for today.  The race organizers spent the night out working on a preparing the piste to race today, but even with all their hard work,  we only made it through 5 racers 3 of which crashed violently, before it became apparent that the conditions were far from ideal to race on, specifically the surface which was very soft, and highly inconsistent.  It was bumpy, chunky, and just about everything else you can think of that would not be fun to ski on.  It was a great day, but not quite the kind of nice day to race on unfortunately.  So we are now in the little baby town of Bohinj, Slovenia, where you there is barely enough snow to cover the race hill!  None the less the snow is hard and consistent so we will go for it tomorrow and hope for the best!

what up Austira?

Zoë, Kenneth and I have safely arrived in Rauris, Austria, after taking numerous planes, trains, and automobiles, and more than my fair share of sketchy train stuff in Munich, but we are all here and ready to rock!  We all went freeskiing today on a strikingly beautiful day here in Austria. We took a little dabble on the race hill, taking a chance to peak at some of the tricky terrain features that the hill presents.  Tomorrow we have official training, so we have a good opportunity to get a good feel for the course!  Race day on friday, get excited!!




also the photo is taken from the Summit of Rauris, what a spectacular place!

since I've been gone....

It has been quite some time since my last blog post, and I had intended to keep you all more informed, but unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot to write about, then there was lots to write about, and no internet to write with!  So I'lll give you the quick and dirty.  For the last few weeks, I have been training with the steamboat springs winter sports club, pretty much every day.  I have made some very good progress with my skiing, and I felt like I was skiing about as well as I could, until last thursday.  I broke my thumb.....wah wah waaahhhhh.  But Its not a serious break and it didn't require surgery!  So I sucked up the pain and went down to Vail and raced.  Around 70 people showed up to bash gates, and a fantastic time was had by all, especially this kid who skied a great race, skied penalty free (for once) and came home with the gold!  It felt great to come away knowing that I am skiing as fast as I think I am, and that I am ready to throw it down on the world cup level!

I am currently sitting in Denver, awaiting my flight to Europe.  Denver to London to Munich and a Train to Salzburg!  This thursday we will open our World Cup season at Rauris in the heart of Austria!

Wish me luck!!