Steamboat Springs - Telemark Sprint

The part that's logical about being here is that it's the closest FIS race to home... the part that is more challenging is jumping into World Championships as a first FIS outing.  I started the day with 2 ski goals and two general goals.  Skiing: don't crash and eliminate myself from the rest of the event or season with injury, and don't be last.  I achieved both of those.  The non-ski goals were simple as well - learn and make friends/have fun.  Those two are going well!

I've noticed in training at home that my best runs are 3rd, 4th, 5th runs in a course.  You get dialed in, make changes, adapt, learn.  Here I'm in inspection in a melee of other languages and of course not an empty course inspection at all, trying to think about what I need to think about, and trying to remember the course.  By the time I start, I've stood around for a long time, like 90 minutes (I try to do a quality warmup, but still it's different of course than back to back runs), and yes they have people slipping the course in between every few racers, but still when you have no FIS ranking, you're back of the pack, and you ski more ruts.  That's not a complaint, it just is how it is... and you've got to start somewhere.

It feels like each run I've forgot more than I spent learning over the last year.  In some ways it's embarrassing to make mistakes, get so late in turns, etc. when you've spent all year trying to fix it, and everyone has told you that advice before.  I got some good reminders from Rene-Luc over the phone and email that I'll try to remember tomorrow, plus I hopefully will be more relaxed.  It's not surprise that my self devised training program didn't let me come here to win ; )  But it covered enough of the basics not to utterly fail, and by being around other telemark skiers now I see so much more.  I've only skied with one other tele skier up to this weekend, and that was Mike Schragge!

Key takeaways today were it's hard to do the jump without having very specific training for the jump.  I ski jumped, and went further in that than we are required to...  but that's straight, without turns, and without a gate "right after" landing, and the angle you take is just straight vs. picking it yourself after one inspection run.  I need to either practice real jumps a lot more, or just focus on the tele landing and skip trying to go long (I tried to go longer the second run, landed alpine, didn't go long enough, which is then max penalty).  Hmm... but how do I practically get one in a course?  Secondly I need to calm down, get early, and get on my edges more, which will help tighten up my lines.  And there's probably about a dozen other things... but hey, it's a year in the making and essentially a reset to ground zero at the bottom of the world scale all in one.

Results are here.  It's interesting.  From a casual chat on day zero, Birk Larsen was friendly to me.  We've done a lot similar in life - biking, adventuring, originating in the midwest, and (other than his binding issue on run one which I acknowledge), apparently we're similar skiers.  We even swapped Carl Strong common thread stories.  Meeting people in tele world is just fantastic.

Run 1, I'm just after 1 hour 14 minutes on the video.
Run 2, I'm just after 49 minutes on the timer which shows my new friend Birk's run then me after...

I loved today.  I never for a minute doubted wanting to be here.  You don't learn much at home on the couch, that's the easy way.  I think my cobbled together training served well.  I know things I could have done better, but it wasn't a complete fail!  I'm a better skier than I've ever been, and I'd say today's two runs weren't the 1 and 2 I could ever generate, but like for everyone, they're a sample out of the statistical pool I can produce.  I hope to improve that over time, and I don't yet feel plateau'd.

Monday training day

Lee had a lovely breakfast at the Colorado Mountain College again.

Team jacket, Howelsen Hill in background. 

Antoine was much happier with his gear here! Main Steamboat ski area in background.

Course was set higher today and had more ruts since every single team was training today. We practiced gates, the jump, and the rap several times.

A Norwegian getting some air time.  Have to land in a telemark position past the minimum distance line, then of course make that right handed red gate with whatever modicum of grace you can muster.  What isn't shown is how the landing is off camber left, the turn is right, and the landing area basically has a funny snowcat grooming divot then grooming ridge mixed in.

Getting my carve on.  

Air time cometh.

The reipelykkje.  Norwegian for "knot of rope".  Said approximately "rap-oh-lusha".  Or for the rest of us just "the rap".   From there to the finish line it's full throttle skate ski sprint.  Today was just getting comfortable in it.  Yesterday the entrance to the far right was smooth, today it's formed like a jump going in, the the back top half is just mush.  My line has been absorb/skip the entering bump, carve just below where the yellow flag in the picture is, carry whatever speed I can around, and don't be shy about when I can try to turn on the gas with the poles and skating.

Shoutout to privateers everywhere.  Mark McConnell aka Hotsauce you just got it done this year, jumped in with two feet, didn't take no for an answer, didn't shrink into your shoes at the first start line.  Give it your all, learn as you go.

Happy team

Antoine and Frederic's gear is here at 7am!

Howelsen Intro

I woke up early and went to wash the car and get gas. Morning looking at main Steamboat hill. 

Drove over to look around Howelsen before it opened. 

Statue of a skier remembered whom died too young. 

Working on the "rap" in the morning. 

Quite a bit of new snow. They said it hasn't snowed for weeks. 

Slope where we'll race. 

Fresh lines on skis not exactly made for fresh lines. 

Race check in. 

So how were the first runs?  I was third up the Poma, partly as I offered to carry up gates to make myself useful. That kind of routine and just helping out helps with nerves. It was fresh tracks. Nice new snow. Sorta wish I didn't have racing skis on. First they've had in weeks. I tried to use the snow as knee bend depth checking making sure I could feel it on my down knee. 

We then slipped.  I stood behind the Swiss team for the first jump pre run.  They approach things very systematic and orderly, funny how some stereotypes  hold. They all have matching suits and even just queue up in nice form. I just remind myself that your outfit doesn't mean your arms and legs work better, although it does likely mean you're exposed to more institutionalized guidance. And... When it was my turn... It was fine. I don't mind flying. The nailing it right and hitting a turn perfectly is the art, but just doing it is within my comfort. Some skiers were going pretty wimpy at it. And some were just making art of it. At least I'm calm enough to be sentient in the air and think about it. 

After that it was to the gates for a full run. Snow was grippy. My skis are digging in so much more than the hard pack at Nakiska. It's great. I'm over nerves, mostly. I'm not going to get fired or not be able to feed my family if I fail, so there's really not much to worry about. Failing is sitting at home and not chasing dreams. On top of that the crowd is all very helpful.  I got a good set of tips from the US guys . Telemark people are helpful.  Chatted with the Slovenian girl a bit. There's always things to work on, but I feel comfortable at least now. 

Dinner was fabulous at the Colorado Mountain College with a beautiful view of the hill. Top notch. The funny thing is why the half dozen Norwegian guys weren't sitting with the half dozen Norwegian girls. My Quebec comrades and i observed that as a direct fail, just saying. 

My Québécois roommates are great but are stressed. They arrived travelling light - with backpacks only. After sleeping on the Denver airport floor. No skis at a ski race sucks. At least he has boots. They are on calls with airlines, whom have no idea where the luggage is but they saw it on the Denver tarmac when their flight left. The luxury of driving is I brought a lot. Partly to be honest is because I worried about stuff like this if I flew. I can fill in ski pants, goggles, race skis of approximate fit and very close to the radius he skis,  poles, etc. but we still hope it arrives!  Geez... stressful. 

Road trip to Steamboat

Marvin wanted to come with. 

Packed a lot. But not cause I'm a bad packer I argue. Because a car has lots of space and the optionality of having things  is fun. 

South. 

Almost to Great Falls. 

Mid Montana to Colorado weren't so hot on the roads. 

This doesn't seem like a business name set up to draw customers in. 

Lunch stop. 

Backed up from ice. 

Oops. Trucks with dirt on the side pointing the wrong way must have a story to tell. 

I think at least 4 hours today was on ice, snow, or melting on ice which was worst. To be honest it wasn't bad. I like the skill of it and don't freak out. The road signs said stop all non essential travel, but I think not many big rigs have real traction control or anything like gummy winter tires. Even a giant pickup in 4wd isn't as helpful as electronically modulated awd on this stuff. Plus I had weight in the car not an unloaded bed. I made it and overall enjoyed it. 

Steamboat at night. 

Valentines Land Rover

This came out 2 days before our Family Day drive, or something close to that as I'm not doing the conversion to New Zealand prime time TV ads.  If you look at a Land Rover, or at least one before they got bogged down with the weight of the modern world's electronics, complexity, and shine, and "just see a car", you're seeing it wrong.  They're tools of adventure, that harken back to a more simple time.  What you really need is 4 tires, a little power, the ability to steer, and a desire to go someplace.  Someplace further than the local grocery store. 

Land Rover Defender 90 300 tdi Engine Rebuild

The Defender went in this winter for an engine rebuild.  It wasn't 100% needed, I could have done small maintenance for years.  However, this is an enjoyment vehicle, and I wanted my prime years with it to experience a Defender in fantastic condition.

I took it to the helpful team at TRS Automotive in Calgary.  The list was generally - strip the current engine block, re-machine it, replace with new pistons, new [much wider range] variable turbo, intercooler, new fuel pump, and while we had it all out, throw in a new heavy duty clutch.  Motor & Diesel Engineering was the kit supplier, with their MD Engineering Land Rover 300tdi stage 2 kit as the one installed.

Engine block work and pistons.

Single main belt that was one of the redesign items from the 200 tdi engine to the 300 tdi.

More complete view.

New turbo view 1.

New turbo view 2.

Intercooler.

The improvements are not designed to make it a hot rod.  To me that's not really what Defenders are for.  Recall that even a base model Honda Civic has more power.  The torque boost doesn't exactly make the vehicle faster, just more driveable.  The 0-100km/h time would still be well into the teens range, as the vehicle isn't a lightweight, nor is it aerodynamic ; )  The engine outputs are somewhat comparable to a VW Jetta TDI, and as one can imagine, that's a much smaller and more aerodynamic vehicle, yet even those 0-100 times are over 10 seconds.  The variable turbo and other improvements makes the powerband wider, smoother, and just so much more driveable.  It's nice.

So the rejuvenation continues.  This is a hugely material difference and it drives well.  Plus, despite all the "progress", I'm just not into these new ones.