Race day… Last race day might I add!! Wake this morning feeling pumped for today’s race. Pumped, but anxious because this is the last race of the Worlds. After breakfast I took off early to head to the hill to get in a little alone, focus,and train time in. Inspection begun…and nerves kicked in. Today was the Sprint Classic which includes GS gates, Jump, More GS gates, go into the wrap, and then a short skate at the finish. The trail is a world wide famous trail for hosting World Cup events on the Alpine skiing circuit. Super demanding, icy, steap and rolling knolls.

Start time!! Nerves nerves and more nerves. Jump in the start gate, no teammates because I was the last American down the hill. The goal was to limit the penalties. I figured if I slowed down a bit and concentrate on making clean turns I would avoid the penalties. Time to rip, I skied the top conservative (so I thought) got to the first big roller and nailed it….Pumped…. had a few turns before the jump, picked up a penalty as I knew I did not make a proper tele turn…the jump…boosted off it and nailed the line landing in a perfect tele turn, after the jump I opened it up and let the skis run baby…cranked a few turns trying to gain some time…had two more big turns left and got really late barely making the gates…headed into the rap (which was extremely dicey today) and then off to the skate where I have learned that the skate might actually be a strong point for me, weird…. got into the skate to be greeted by tons of fans… made the first switch back and met a few of my teammates inside the ropes running along side me cheering me to the finish…. powered through the skate and felt strong through the finish….instantly looked up a the jumbo tron…..saw myself in my yellow and purple suit, saw my bib number 53 then saw my place……25th….shocked…..and split second later my teammate comes up to me and throws a huge hug to me and says “Tommy, 1 penalty!!”
Finally I slammed a good run down without a ton of penalties.

Nerves nerves and more nerves…The second run was later in the day for TV purposes so that it would be aired prime time. 600,000 viewers viewed it two days ago. My teammates very pumped for my good run that I posted and encouraged me to put down one more run…it was good to hear that from a few of them.

Second run- Depending on how you finish the first run determines where you start for the second run. So instead of going 53rd like I did the first run, I went 25th and moved up a lot. This is a good thing because the course will be smoother since there were will be less traffic. Well as I am waiting at the top of the hill to race my 2nd run all the guys that are usually standing around are no where to be seen… Its all the guys that I have been watching and learning from all week..all the guys that have been finishing in the top 20….Arrrrrhh, nervous feeling it… I tried not to let any doubt or insecurity creep into my head but rather stay focused…

I am not sure if I mentioned this or not in my earlier emails, but I did have a personal goal for myself. That was to finish in the top half of the field. In the previous races, I have not accomplished that.

Race time!!! (I will make this one quick) This time all my teammates were at the top!!! They got me quite pumped up as I blasted out of the start and was in my charge attack mode. I skied the top fast, picked up a few quick penalties but charged on to the jump. Once again, nailed the jump and skied hard to the wrap…. hit the wrap well and then off to the skate….huge burden off my shoulders as I knew I had the hard part of the course done and I could let it all hang out in the skate. Killed the skate as I made up time there for some of the penalties I picked up. Crossed the finish line and was happy. Not as good as my first run. But I came to the World Championships with a goal set, and I reached it!! 28th place. I am thrilled!!!

My team and coaches were quite excited for my result as were a few of my new friends from other countries that I met.
Walked away from today, feeling…thankful. I am blessed with the opportunity just to be here. Thank you Lord for the gifts you have giving me.

Well after 2 days off from racing…. tomorrow is race day!! It has been a fun stress free 2 days but now its time to get refocsued and see if I can get post another solid result. It has been a great 2 days off filled with plenty of time to get to know other races and just kick it with team members. Oh, and I also have been spending tons of time with the gate judges. I’m Serious!!! They are all college students, and besides the fact that they are the gate judges ,they are a great time……hmmm, I might have other motives as well.

Well, last day of racing coming up! I am very excited and anxious to get out there and race. We race tomorrow on the other side of the mtn where it is more suitable for fans to access. Today a bunch of TV trucks arrived as well as tons of huge tents were set up. Since this is the weekend, the organization is expecting a lot of spectators to arrive tomorrow. It will be filmed on TV, and be able to be stream it online at www.fromsportcom.com. (thats not a misprint with the com’s) The times are 11:30 to 12:30 and 3:00-4:15ish. Your time would be 4:30am MST and 8 am MST. You eastern time people, do the math youself. The TV station was kind enough to give each team a DVD of the full coverage of the race. Ummmm….it was awesome to watch.

Race day tomorrow, means early night in bed. Kind of bummer, cuz there is fun stuff going on in all the tents set up outside of our condo right now. The local Norwegians are out and about having a good time. Me, in bed, trying to be responsible before race day.

link to article

Today was the GS!! No skate, just gates and a jump. I was pretty pumped after taking a good look at the course during inspection. It was a wide open course set. Meaning…. it was going to be FAST!! Not so technical…. but more athleticism. Time to let em rip.

The jump….I was hoping to be a little more difficult, but because it was a fast course, guys were holding great speed into the jump clearing the line.

Before my last lift ride up to go tear through this course I was down by the lift when seriously 4 school buses showed and dropped off students to watch the race. It was incredible!!! They had horns, signs, painted faces, and thunder sticks. As I walked by to get my skis 4 boys came up to me waiving an American banner that they made and had me all give them high fives. Really cool.
Jumbo tron!!! Well a few months ago I was on the jumbo tron at an MLS soccer game for dancing during half time…. this time I was going to be on the TRON skiing it up. The jumbo tron was awesome….it was so cool to be down at the bottom and watch your teammate rip out of the starting gate and have TV cams follow them all the way to the bottom… all this being displayed to the crowd on the jumbo tron. Seriously, the jumbo tron was one of the highlights of the trip so far.

Start time!!! I was super excited, and very nervous. Nervous that I was going to crash while this thang is nationally televised. I mean there is no disguise if you screw up big time. Nerv racking to be honest, cuz you want to ski fast but also do want to make it down in one piece. Also, tons of Norwegians lined the course as well cheering you on for a little added pressure.

Race time- Ripped out of the starting gate and nailed the steep section of the course, felt really good and gained some quick confidence. Got to a flat section and tried to remember my new technique that I have been working on with the coaching staff to avoid penalties. But… tough to recall those things when you are actually racing. Coming out of the flat section I had a ton of speed and I felt good heading into the jump!!! Jump came and I boosted off it clearing the line by a huge margin (not good) making me late for the next gate that I barely made. (sidenote… the jump is an odd thing, you have to make sure you clear the line, you have to jump as hard and far as you can, but if you go to far then it puts you in trouble, but if you dont go far enough then you get penalized 3 secs. Most guys dont clear the line) Made a great recovery move and had one more steep section before I headed to the finish. I decided to let the skis go, and rip. Took a chance, but I was feeling good so I went for it. As I was approaching the finish I felt good, fast!!!!

Got to the finish, looked up to the jumbo tron, saw myself,(cool feeling) heard my teammates cheering for me, heard my time from the announcer, heard my teammates react to my fast time, heard the crowd react to my fast time considering I started so back in the pack and moved up, 25th place, my heart leaped, and then heard my penalties!!!!

booo,Plagued by penalties again…Got 7 penalties which knocked me back to 39th. Bummer… but encouraging, cuz I felt good. My teammates and coaches were pumped on my time for sure, and encouraged me to get rid of those penalties and I was in there. Went to the video real quick in between runs, only to NOT find where my penalties where and little confused. Out of the Americans, I had the 4 fasted raw time with no penalties added, but once you added them I was 7 of 11.

Second run…… same story. I thought I skied cleaner but I guess not. Its not the judges by the way, its me… I just have to figure it out. I skied fast again, but knocked with penalties. Only 30% cleared the jump, as the line was farther down the hill 2nd run. Not a problem. Its those silly penalties. Finished 44th.

All and all….happy with the day. I skied really well, and proved to myself I can compete with these guys.

What an atmosphere as well. Eeeesh, autographs, high fives, pictures, screaming kids, jumbo tron….

Americans skied well today, we had two guys finish in the top 10. Very impressive today from team USA!!!

So, below is a video that my teammate filmed from my iphone of me racing on the jumbo tron. Look for my penalties too, there a mystery to me… haa

Also it was on TV this morning. Was anybody able to view it… I will try to send you more links. My next event is Saturday night. I did not qualify for the grueling, “classic” (the really tough race)
apparently you had to qualify on the world cup circuit earlier in the year. So my next and last race will be on Saturday night. It will be aired live on Eurosport and NRK.NO I will try to find out more info and exact times as well.

If the link does not work, then click on the attachment.
Thanks for reading!!!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150423405340375&notif_t=video_tag

Today we woke early, stretched, ate breakfast and headed to the hill to train some gates on the hill we will be racing on. Apparently I had a lot to work on since my recent penalty spree I went on at the World Cup Finals in Hefjell. But after a lot of video and some good words of advice from a teammate I feel better about overcoming the penalty spree. We will see tomorrow.

After training we all tuned our skis. My skis have never been so sharp in their existence after I got done with them today. It is pretty crazy how religious the athletes are about tuning their skis. There is not a day that goes by where these guys don’t tune their skis. Kind of puts me in the position where I have to tune mine, thats a good thing. After tuning….. The Japanese!!! Yup, they challenged me to a ping pong match. Lets just say America dominated! booyaaa. It has been really cool to get to know everybody that is on the World Cup Circuit. They are extremely friendly and fun. The French borrowed my tuning stuff the first night and in return gave me French candy. Pretty good I guess.
Tonight was the opening ceremony. Very cool. They had this pop singer come and perform a show for us. Yup, I had a little crush on her, no big deal.

After the show, they had local dressed up Norwegians march in with all the Countries flags and do this march thing. Then they called all the athletes up and we had to go stand by our flag. Pretty cool. Dont worry Mom…. I got pictures.
So tomorrow is the GS. There is no skate section to the GS, but rather just gates and a jump in the middle. It will be on TV in 12 Countries, the US.. not one of them. But you can try to watch it online on the TVs website. I do not know to many details since I have never watched anything on this site before but these are the instructions and time….

It will be on http://www.nrk.no/. The times tomorrow are 10:45 and 2:45 That is 5am for you guys out in Colorado and 7 am for the people out on the East Coast. We are 6 hours ahead of Denver and 4 hours ahead of East Coast.
Once you get to the site, look around the site for “tv schedule” then just look on the tv guide section until you see “Telemark” I think it will see WV Telemark. WV stand for World Championships, not sure how that works.
It will be on TV (that site) all 3 days. Weds, Thurs, and Saturday night.

I have no idea if they will be showing me since I am not one of the top guys. They tend to show only the top guys.

Boooo.

I have no idea if there is a replay button, in case you wanted to watch it at a later time.
I will have a better idea of how this all works after tomorrow once I get feedback. But if anybody is able to see it online tomorrow please let me know so I can inform people.

Well I am pretty excited about tomorrow. Should be a great day of racing. Nerves….. ahhhhh who cares…. all the tv trucks, fans rolling into town, sponsors showing up, interviewers floating around…..no worries right. ya right, little nervous but very excited.

Till tomorrow-bed time

Today was a travel day. We woke early this morning and left Hafjell to travel to Rujkan. Across the country of Norway we went by 4 buses and 1 train. It was good to get out a bit and see some of Norway. Overall a boring day, but a good boring day. Much needed for the body.

Some excitement……The last bus ride I decided to head to the back of the bus to be alone and catch some sleep. I was fast asleep for a few hours until I was suddenly wakened/startled by 25 blond Norwegian highschoolers. Apparently not only picks up tourists/travelers like us yanks but local high schoolers as well. Well let me tell you, I have never had more blue eyes starring at me all at once. I was apparently visibly startled cuz they all were laughing at me. Haaa.. Not sure exactly what I did to make them laugh. My teammates thought it was funny too as they all laughed in the front of the bus as well. It ended well, because they all wished me good luck as they knew were I was going.

The coolest thing from the day was seeing the advertisement promoting the World Championships on the back of the buses. Apparently the city has been promoting this event for a whole year. Local schools get out to watch it!!! Pretty excited….

Tomorrow is a training day. Just got done with video with the coaches, gotta limit the penalties to do well this week. I also flirted with the ladies that are the judges for the race weds, hopefully that helps. haha
Till Tomorrow

Today was a travel day. We woke early this morning and left Hafjell to travel to Rujkan. Across the country of Norway we went by 4 buses and 1 train. It was good to get out a bit and see some of Norway. Overall a boring day, but a good boring day. Much needed for the body.
Some excitement……The last bus ride I decided to head to the back of the bus to be alone and catch some sleep. I was fast asleep for a few hours until I was suddenly wakened/startled by 25 blond Norwegian highschoolers. Apparently not only does the bus pick up tourists/travelers like us yanks but local high schoolers as well. Well let me tell you, I have never had more blue eyes starring at me all at once. I was apparently visibly startled cuz they all were laughing at me. Haaa.. Not sure exactly what I did to make them laugh. My teammates thought it was funny too as they all laughed in the front of the bus as well. It ended well, because they all wished me good luck as they knew were I was going.
The coolest thing from the day was seeing the advertisement promoting the World Championships on the back of the buses. Apparently the city has been promoting this event for a whole year. Local schools get out to watch it!!! Pretty excited….
Tomorrow is a training day. Just got done with video with the coaches, gotta limit the penalties to do well this week. I also flirted with the ladies that are the judges for the race weds, hopefully that helps. haha
Till Tomorrow
TJ

Wooooaaaa!!!!

Man, I did not expect todays race to be what it became. Super Demanding. Let me go into detail here about today’s event. Every day has been a different event. First day a GS, 2nd a SPRINT Classic, and the last the Classic. Well each day the races get longer in length and the classic is the longest. WOW!!! I knew that the classic was long, but apparently on the World Cup Circuit they want to make it gut wrenching, exhausting, legs giving out, unbearable pain kind of race. During inspection we were shocked and stunned that we actually had to race this thang. Dancing the night before probably was not the best idea. The course started out with a GS section on kind of steep pitch, about 30 secs into we went into a cat walk were we went into a tuck on a flat section, (tucks burn the legs a bit) then back into the GS section we went for another 20 secs, then we come into a wrap where we had to make a complete 180 turn and start skating up the hill and then back across the hill, (that took about 25 secs) back into the GS section again for another 35 seconds and by now you are seriously hurting, but wait the jump is coming, (the jump has been very demanding and challenging each day and requires extreme strength) the jump line requirement today was unreachable and only 1 person cleared the line, (the judges messed up and put the line to far down the hill, 28 yards, yea 28 yards!!) after the jump back into a GS section for 40 seconds, then to the finish area where you are not done yet, go around another wrap making a 180 degree turn then skate up the hill to this small bridge, then keep skating through 3 or 4 zig zags (40 seconds) to the finish line…. and then your done. no prob right. Well let me tell you if you had a crappy dinner the night before you are gonna regret it cuz your body is going to quit. Man!!! I was watching guys before my run and my game plan completely changed! It was basically too survive…. Not really, but it did change to really conserving my energy and not to push it too hard in the GS sections of the course. and not get penalties as well. My coaches were on me today just pounding it into my head about some of the changes I needed to make.

Start time-skied very smoothly, slow, (on purpose, even the top guys did) you could not push it or you would not make it, got to the first skate and skated 60% really had to control my breathing for the next GS section of the course which was the icy part of the course, (very demanding legs burning section), to the jump I come and although I am a jumper I had to not go for the line but rather just take the penalty, it was too risky to try as hard as you can to get to the line when it was not obtainable, well…… i jumped and sucked it up a bit to control my speed and before I knew it i was sliding on my hip passed the next gates, bummer, but no way was I gonna give up, back up on my feet and started hiking, and this when I need to make up time, hiked at full speed, fought through some leg pain and back in the course i went, another 40 sec of GS gates ahead of me, it is a very weird feeling trying to give your body a rest while it still working but I had to prepare for the skate section at the finish, skied the last GS section fairly well, and reached the last wrap with the skate section ahead of me, I took one big breath right before I entered the skate session and said to myself i can tear through this section fast, i jumped into the section and gave it everything I had, it was the coolest thing because the whole skate section is roped off and on the other sides of the rope is the crowd cheering you on, your teammates/other races are allowed inside the rope so then can actually run along side of you and cheer you on, well I hit the small bridge and I can just hear everybody yelling, some in different languages as I look to my left and see Norwegians going nuts yelling at me to go go go, the I hit the first switchback and my teammates jump inside the rope and run along side me, 2nd switchback pain increased, 3rd switchback with one more left to the finish my teammate is standing in front of me standing right where I need to go encouraging me to come to him, he was waiving the American flag, eeeshh right, i saw the finish line in sight and just gave it my all. Crossed the line, Time 3 min 23 seconds, collapsed, teammates and 1 Norwegian came and clicked me out of my boots and straightened out my legs so they wouldnt cramp. There was no strength left period, i just laid there some time. Relieved I was. I skied well. Not great. Bummer that I fell, just stupid crazy that I had to throw another hike in there after the jump to make the gates I missed. But very encouraging on the penalty side, I only had 7 or so, (most guys had around 6-8). And encouraging that I still beat 22 dudes. The skate at the finish is were I excelled, perhaps living up in good ol Breckenridge paid off. Very cool feeling having the whole crowd and teammates cheering you on. Also perhaps the crowd cheered me on a little more cuz of my song selection….. your gonna love this… Well there is an announcer at the bottom who is announcing everything and talking as you race giving the crowd the play by play. He plays music as well as your racing, very cool. Well if you want you can request a song as you come into the last section to help you get to the finish line…. well a few of my teammates requested songs like, “Born in the USA” or “Final Countdown” or “We are the Champions” borrrrrrrrrinnng right…. My song, yup!!!!!

Miley Cyrus, “Its a Climb” Crowd favorite song for sure!!!! boooyaaaaa. (Brother, please don’t make fun of me.)

All and all it was a fun day. Although I crashed and lost tons of time getting back into the course, I was still happy with my place. I just gotta put a clean run together and make it happen. Also I was happy with my fitness level, today was a good test.

So this wraps up the World Cup Finals, a good warm up for the World Championships in Rjukan. Tomorrow is a travel day back to Olso then Rjukan. Should be a long day, but good to get out a bit and see some sights.

Thanks for support and emails… Oh and mom, i am perfectly fine, not a bad crash at all, more like just got off balance and fell over and missed a gate. Love you.

Norway….

Well…. as an athlete and competitor I do know that I am going to have ups and downs. Today was a down. haha, not too worry, it was still a lot of fun but just disappointing. I felt good before the run and confident that I could hang in the middle of the pack. The night before in the bib draw (what number I wear on my chest) I drew the last number/start. That means I am the last racer down on the first run.

Well Skied hard the first run and got to the bottom and the announcer said my time and place and I was pumped!!! I was 31st!! BEFORE PENALTIES THOUGH. They calculated my penalties real quick to determine my place……somewhere in the 60s. I was hammered with tons of penalties. Super bummed cuz it was not like I skied slowed but just rather the judges who are watching each telemark turn I make did not approve of the distance in between my boots during my turn. Man!!! I was quite surprised cuz I knew the judges were going to be tight but eesh, 13 times… The normal amount of penalties is like 2 or 3.

Well second run I was determined to over correct the problem. Long story short.. didn’t happen. 12 penalties!! I was and still am baffled at what the heck I am doing wrong. The Judges are on to me. So be it then, the judges are not going to change so that means I gotta make the adjustment. So adjusting here I come cuz I gotta put up a better result tomorrow. My coaches and I looked at film today and they gave me some good stuff to work on. I can kind of see what needs to be changed but still am a little unclear of that is what I am getting knocked for. I think also I am going to change my speed suit to the ugly/hot yellow and purple one. This way the judges will not recognize me as the guy who racks up penalties right off the bat. This actually is a serious tactic.

Man… kind of frustrating day of racing, mainly cuz I can not figure out why I am getting knocked with tons of penalties. Im fast…. but slow, haha…

All and all, I still stay positive… just have to make a few adjustments. Perhaps this is a good warm up for the world championships which are next week. One more race tomorrow which is called the Classic. It is super LONG and really tests your fitness. Fitness….wheeeefff. man I have never been so tired after two runs of racing then I have today. It took every bit of life out of me. Its weird to be honest. My body seriously craved protein….i think there has been a lack here in norway when it comes to protein.

So in dying need of protein what do I do???? Shoooot I head to the candy store!! My teammates and I roll into town after our race, and when I say roll into town I mean we are “walking” with two pairs of skis are on our shoulders, in ski boots, and a pack on our back with cross country poles in hand (in uniform of course). We walk into this candy store and fill up these bags with the most random awesome candy I have ever seen!!! it was awesome!!! Awesome till we missed the bus and had to walk 1.3 kil back to our apartment. Got lost twice, tried to hitchike, got yelled at by Norweigans for walking through their lawn. In norweigan of course. Yea we were for sure the stupid americans walking in the street with all of our equipment back to our apartment, in our usa jackets. fools. But awesome candy!!!

One more thing….. we were at dinner tonight and a few of us americans were dreading staying for the awards presentation. We bounced out of there right after dinner to head home and go to bed. NOPE!!! We walked by the lodge and I heard music that just loured me in. Sure enough within in minutes we were dancing it up.. SO bedtime was postponed. hmmmm getting rest for the world cup finals, or dancing it up in some random norweigan bar in uniform with some team members. good time.

Ok time to get my rest. Very very tired. Depleted actually. But thanks for reading and the encouraging emails. Tomorrow is another day, new day. Im excited.

Well my first World Cup Final race, Over and I finished. Yessssss.

I was very nervous and anxious coming into the race this morning. Partly because in training the previous day, guys were killing it. I mean just throwing down on the training course and a few of us Americans just stood back and where like, we have to race these guys…..

nervous as well because I really needed to finish this bad boy and get it under my belt. Crashing this first race was not an option…

And let me tell you, the course today was nothing like I have ever seen before. Bullet proof ice, I mean serious ice, like if you had to stand in tennis shoes on the track we skied, NOPE!! not happening

The first run I skied solid. Not great but well enough for me to realize I could hang. Which was a great feeling. I got 39th and was super pumped on it cuz i knew I could ski faster. The key was that I cleared the mandatory jump line. If i didnt clear it was a 4 sec penalty. Only 20 guys cleared the jump out of 72. But bad news I had 5 penalties for not making a proper tele turn during the race. So 5 secs tacked on to my time. All and all a good first run which gave some confidence.

Second run, the game plan was to attack!!!! Oh i attacked alright. I was 4 secs Faster!!! BooooYaaaaa….. But bad news….I got to the bottom and new that I racked up penalties for not making clean tele turns. Arrgh, I had 11 penalties. Yikes not good, and I did not clear the jump (only 12 dudes did clear it). So a total of 15 secs added to my time which set me back. I ended up in 46th, dropped back a few spots. 11 penalties will do it. But bright side, I clean that up and bammmmm I am right where my goal is set. (which is to beat half the field). Finished 6th within the US. All and all, today was better then I expected!!! These guys are flipping good. Real good. Tomorrow there is a skate at the finish, and I am actually excited about it. Hopefully these fools Im racing are not as acclimated as us mountain boys are. Gotta reach that goal.

Life in Norway…..super cool. having a great time with the team., Food, ahhhhhh not great not bad. The organization, (FIS) has been suppling our food. Every day some random dude shows up at the door and drops of food for us. Which consists of bread, cheese, some kind of random meet, eggs, OJ, Milk, Shrimp paste, More bread, and Jam…
Oh and there are some new pics posted on this facebook thing, thanks to my teammates.

Alright, thanks for reading…..

Tomorrow is another race day.. booooyaaaa