Just got done with an awesome workout here in Zermatt! Had a pretty relaxed schedule today and thought it would be good to get the blood pumping before hitting the snow tomorrow. Time to go get some dinner and make sure everythings squared away before morining!

Zermatt!!!

 The view that greeted me from my hotel room... Not so bad!! Can't wait to get back on snow with my canadian friends Michel Pratte and Matt Kerr!!!

Summer Time is Almost Over!

Well it has been an eventful summer to say the least! I've been working 12-15 hour days seal coating asphalt, Working out as much as possible, and trying to get as much playing around as I can in whatever time is left! (I have really gotten into trail riding on my dirtbike this summer, and have been all over the twenty-some miles of single-track trails that cover the mountain behind my house. It's a pretty good workout and a ton of fun!) All the nagging injuries that I acquired over the course of last season have subsided, allowing me to hit the gym really hard and frequently with no concerns of aggravating any joints or tendons. I'm feeling stronger than ever!  For now the game plan is to stay the course, and try to maximize efficiency for the short amount of time I have left at home before heading to Switzerland later this month. I will be back skiing with my Canadian friends whom I trained with for years before making the Development Team in 2010. I'm looking forward to getting back on snow!! 

The long and winding road!

US Nationals in Winter Park, CO did not go exactly as planned this year. The SL race was first on the schedule and the weather was great, so how could it be anything but a good day right? I started 45th first run and threw it into the flip with a 25th place finish. I was happy with the time, but inflamed my patella tendon about half way down the first pitch and was having trouble putting weight on it in-between runs. That said, there was no way I could pass up a clean course starting 6th! So, I warmed up the knee as best I could at the start line and went with it. Not a bad plan, but about 20 seconds into the run my lower back started to seize up and spasm on every right footer, progressively getting worse with each turn. By the last 15 gates or so I was having trouble breathing and felt it was all I could do to make it down on my feet. I ended up taking third on the run, which I was excited about, and scoring by .12 of a point. Not a huge victory but I guess anything helps! I couldn't bend over past about 60 degrees the following day, and elected to head home early to start therapy and try to get ready for spring series.

Between getting out of the car like an 80 year old man every 20 minutes to stretch a spasming back on the side of the highway and blowing my engine 400 miles from home, the 17 hr drive was quite interesting and slightly longer than I had hoped. Long story short I made it home, got a few days of therapy in at Pneu Thera Rehabilitation, picked up my bro Nick Krause from the airport in Spokane and drove to Wenatchee, WA for spring series! I am skipping the SG race today, but hopefully everything feels good tomorrow morning so I can go shred some SL!

What can I say, it's the East!

Well, it hasn't exactly been a ski racer's dream week up here in Le Massif, Quebec. The first two days of DH training were canceled due to warm weather, poor visibility, and a lovely, early morning lightning storm over the mountains. After that, Mother Nature completely made up for her apathetic view towards the previous days races with perfect weather conditions; blue skys, and 75 degree temperatures. What a mess! We got a training run off, but everything that wasn't salted turned to slush by 8 A.M.

                         This was taken by my long time buddy Andrew Kircher at 7:30 A.M. during inspection. (Note that the sun is already pounding on the entire slope.)

The race day was somewhat of a let-down for me. I was starting 11th, had skied really well in the training run the day before(finishing 5th,) and was really pumped up to be getting another race opportunity in speed. I had a pretty solid run and was in fourth after 16 people came down. Then, after a decently long course hold, they canceled the race due to rocks showing up in the track. Even though there was nothing anybody could have done to avoid this, I was still pretty upset. I haven't scored yet this year in DH, and letting any opportunities slip by in speed is really a waste. Fortunately I get a few more shots at the end of the season, so it's not over yet!

The organizers thought we might be able to run GS on the hill a few days later, but none of us were convinced when we got off the lift the next day...

                                     This was a cat-track the day before. I'll give the coverage an A-.
                                                               (photo by A. Kircher)

Now I have a few days of training before two SL races just down the road at Mt. St. Anne. It is still super warm out, and is supposed to rain tonight, so we'll see what the morning brings! Hopefully it will feel a little more like winter in Canada!

Quebec!

Today the team and I drove up to Quebec, Canada from Stowe, VT. Under normal circumstances, this drive is from 6 to 7 hrs in length. Not too bad, but no small venture to be sure. After 8 hrs crammed into the back seat of a pick-up truck loaded to the brim with gear, I found myself approximately three miles closer to my destination than I had been four hours prior... I can't stand traffic!! I was frustrated for the first few hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway outside of Quebec city, but then realized that wasn't helping the situation in the slightest. So instead I deigned myself to enjoying the wonderful scenery, sounds and aromas of the area in which I was a temporary captive... Tail lights, horns, compression brakes, and diesel exhaust.. Back to being frustrated.

 Long story short we found our way to the quaint little hotel we are to call home for the next 9 days and had a great french dinner before settling in. I went on a run after dinner and hit a 5:09 mile on the way out with a 6 minute average for the whole loop. Feeling pretty good!! (That said, I might have to get back to you on how great I feel tomorrow morning..)

Tomorrow is a free skiing day, but after that it's 5 days of straight DH at low elevation! Pretty excited for that!! (Low elevation might seem like a moot point, but I have to say it is wonderful when you don't feel like passing out at the bottom of a 2 minute course because there is no oxygen in the air. ;) I'll keep you posted on how the week goes!     

First Time For Everything!

The SG race here in Rocarraso, Italy was a very interesting one for me. I knew what I wanted to do in inspection, got in a great warm-up on other parts of the mountain, visualized a ton, was confident going to the start, and ended up making a few stupid mistakes. I wasn't moving into the ski the way I have been recently. The power cultivated in the top of the turn is what seperates the good skiers from the great ones, and without it one cannot hope to compete. That said, at the end of the day I was still 25th out of all the juniors(19 and under) in the world. I know I ski well enough to compete at this level and that I belong here; that is what I am taking home with me.

The evening after the race we all headed into town for the awards ceremony to cheer on the days victors. Good sportmanship is important in these international events, and we were definitely not going to miss a chance to show our good will. OF COURSE we didn't go there to see all the beautiful, blonde-haired Norwegian girls standing in the crowd, not a chance! But somehow after the event was over we found ourselves walking to dinner with 6 girls instead of going back to our hotel with our coaches. I wasn't complaining! We walked around town for an hour looking for a restaurant that opened before 10 pm (it being 7:15 at the time) until we finally came to the agreement that our time was better spent getting take-out pizza and eating it at the girls hotel. You might hear, "take-out" pizza and cringe a little bit, but let me tell you it's a little bit different than Pizza Hut! I think I could live of the stuff if I ever got stranded in an Italian restaurant for a few months.. Not bad at all!

Anyways, after that adventure we headed to a restaurant where all my German, Austrian, and Swiss buddies were celebrating the days success.  Around 11 o'clock the waiters came out and moved all the tables into another room: the DJ got into place around 11:05, and the party got started soon there after. I won't go into details, but lets just say that when we got out of there at around 1:30 am things were still on an upward plane on the dance floor. ;) There had to be a couple hundred people crammed into the space eight tables had taken up earlier in the night and a line out the door of people trying to squeeze their way in. Absolutely nuts!! We got a ride the 5ks home with the Austrian Ski Team, and thank goodness because I was not really looking forward to that walk at two in the morning! I got to my room and started snoring before my head hit the pillow. Pretty sweet first euro-club experience!


Now we have 3 days off before the GS race, and one more before the SL. The GS spot went to my buddy Tanner Farrow after training today, but hopefully I can get the SL nailed down. It would be pretty bumpy, but I would love to see where I stack up! We'll see how it all plays out, but either way I'm getting a lot of good freeskiing in and having a blast with it! But of course, how could I not? ;)