1st Period Continental Cup
December 15, 2010
After a few technical difficulties I am able to get back to you all with my thoughts and feelings of the 1st period of my winter racing season.
I was very nervous heading into these races, with the need to score points and not having scored in any races in over a year and a half I was very weary of my ability to perform. As it turned out all these worries were pointless and destructive preventing me from feeling free and relaxed. I was relived of this fear after the first race, coming in 26th and scoring a valuable 5 points. With this weight off my shoulders I was able to free my mind and body and prepare for the races to come.
The first events in Steamboat Springs Colorado were a good way to get the lead out and start busting the rust out of the legs. They were very intense races with more craziness and excitement then I have ever before been a part of. The jump hill is a much easier hill and that means the start of the race will be tight and action packed. In the first race I found myself just off the back of the main group but well within striking distance. It is amazing how a narrow course with lots of skiers on a tight course can create big packs and intense races. In the first race the pack was about 10 skiers and I hung off the back and didn’t ski an aggressive race at all, the second race was even tighter with the front skier in 5th and the skier at the back was in 25th with me racing in the thick of it. I skied aggressively with need and grit, however this aggression cost me valuable time and spots on the 3rd lap when another aggressive Austrian passed a little too close and tripped me up which caused a little tumble in the snow. I have never seen more broken poles, crashes or heard of more skis falling off(two separate incidences), the course was narrow and tough with tight corners and tight skiers. Very exciting, Scott Johnstone (Head Coach) says that the race on Sunday was “one of the most exciting races I have seen in a long time”.
The Park City races were a little less exciting and I perhaps didn’t ski as well as maybe I could have. I felt really good during training and then during the jumping competitions I thought I had a good jump, and looking back at the videos technically pretty clean. That is the frustrating part, when you feel as though things are going well and they don’t. At least the skiing went well. I was able to put down a good feeling race on the Saturday and on Sunday I was able to at least push through and ski a decent race. So I can be happy with that, but a couple more points out of the weekend would have been nice, and made the next few races a little less stressful. Such is life though and now I need to prepare myself for the next few races.
After that two weeks of racing I am feeling just a little down, and am looking forward to Christmas. It will be nice to have a chance to relax and enjoy a bit of time with the family and to myself. This is the life of an athlete and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It is always exciting to start the season, and get the racing underway. I will never get used to the start of the season, and I will always look forward to it. I am hoping that I can take these results and move forward.
Carpe Diem