Championship II

Bode Miller going over a camel jump

Click… Click… went my trainer skis as I clicked into my bindings.  I use trainer skis so I don’t ski off all of my wax from my race skis.  I carry up a pair of skis up the chairlift to the top of my race run and give them to my coach so he can put a some final touches on them before my race run.  That is the race ritual which I have done since I can remember.  After that is done I plug in my headphones and get into the zone.  Inspection of the course was only about five minutes away at that point and I was sitting with my eyes closed trying to clear my mind.  Inspection is when everyone at the race slips down the run creates a tactical plan and memorizes all of the turns and terrain.  Inspection is one of the most important things in a Super-G race because you have little reaction time due to how fast you are going and you need to be ready for every little bump and roll.

Once I took a couple looks at the run and I felt comfortable with my memorization I went into the lodge to warm up and socialize before my run.  At this point I was super focused and when I am focused I am not the nicest person in the world but my friends know this so they don’t take it personally or at least I hope they don’t.  Not only was I warming up but I was icing my chins because they had some pretty bad chin bang.  Chin bang is when you take a jump too big and you land a little back seat and it bruises your chins and it is a skiers worst nightmare.  Luckily when I’m in a race run I can’t feel it because of how much my adrenaline is pumping but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt when I’m skiing around before my race run.

Forty Five Minutes Later…

Number twenty was in the gate so I started stripping down and getting in the right mind set to rip my run to shreds.  I got warmed up did a couple squats and legs swings, grabbed my skis, buckled my boots and skied down the start house.  The start house was tiny little shack made out of ply wood and I did not like it to much.  I got into to start house ran through the course one more time in my head before I heard the words, “Racer Ready? Ten seconds… Five… Four…. Three… I pulled out of the start as hard as I could and started ripping down the hill.  After the first fifteen gates or so came the big jump I prepped for air time got small and held aerodynamics throughout the air.  I hit the ground and kept skiing my heart out until the next jump.  The next jump consisted of two jumps and it shot me late and low so I had to struggle to make the next gate.  That was the one big mistake and it cost me way to much time.  I finished the run in thirteenth overall and third for my age group.  It was not what I wanted and I was disappointed but I sucked it up and got stoked for my best event, GS!

To Be Continued...