Winding down

The last 10 races of the year did not go as well as I had hoped. I didn't have any results that were scores, but felt like I figured some things out that I struggled with throughout the season from a technical standpoint. I didn't "pinch off" the line nearly as much as I had been early in the year, and really could feel the top of the turn working for me in GS. Also on the positive side of things; the snow was great! It was exactly the surface I had been looking for since the start of the year. Not quite ice, but hard enough not to leave a track. Not a bad way to end the season! :)

I got home two days ago and have been getting back into normal life with tons of lifting, school, and shooting. I leave on the 9th for a training camp at Mt. Bachelor, OR, but for now, it's great to be back in my own bed!

US Alpine Championships

I had a great time at US Alpine Champs in Winter Park, CO this last week and skied really well. It was the first time the whole team has been together since November and gosh it was fun to see the older guys around! The last day was pretty bad weather, but the Super-G and GS days were sunny and beautiful.(much nicer than skiing in the rain like last year! :-) The GS was a minute thirteen seconds long, bumpy, and at eleven thousand feet in elevation was one of the highest GS races of the season. Needless to say I arrived at the finish out of breath, and with burning legs. That said I still skied pretty well and wasn't upset with my result. The SG day was a pretty big dissapointment. I woke up in the morning ready to go, inspected the course and was pumped with how it was set, and felt great on my skis during warmups; I was ready. After the second intermediate time I was only 1 second out of the lead which would have put me in the top ten, things were going well. Then, four gates from the finish, I pushed the line just a little bit too far and caught my outside ski in some bumps; that was all it took. I was basically sitting on my inside binding with my outside leg fully extended with no pressure on it. That move for half a second was enough to make me miss the next gate and end my race. I had to remind myself to keep looking at the positive, "I skied well and I was going fast." Things could have been a lot worse. I ended the week up with a pretty good slalom race in really tough conditions. That was followed by two GS races in Breckenridge, which brought with them my first score of the year in GS. It sure feels great to have that pressure off my back! I am now home for a night before heading on my way to spring series at Mission Ridge, WA. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight!