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¬if_t=video_tag
