All,
Here we go for the biggest race weekend of the season – Kitzbuehel World Cup downhill and the GDHL Super G and long Slalom! (Chris Clark has apparently forsaken GDHL and his own training to watch Kitzbuehel live.) Plus added bonuses of an interclub race on Sunday afternoon and the Snow School Adult Apres-Ski on Saturday in the Loft of the South Lodge, right after our training. Have a beer and munchies on Cindy after you sideslip!
SCHEDULE
We will be training SL Saturday and Sunday at 1PM on Birches. Watch the board at the National Chair for any updates. We expect to have timing set for both sessions.
GDHL Super G is at 10:00 am Saturday on Partridge. Please note Mark Reidl’s email warning that you must inspect between 0900 and 0930, then clear the course. For those of you who have not done this race before, I think it is one of the best things at Craigleith. The course is well prepared, tends not to deteriorate for the second run, and is your only opportunity to go full bore down an empty run. Even if you are unsure whether you want to go as fast as the course will let you, be sure not to be casual in your approach. You will be safer if you are in race mindset, even if you dump a bit of your speed occasionally. Note that there are often one or more delay gates and the panels on the gates are usually all red and sometimes hard to pick up against the red netting that is set top to bottom, so this is a good opportunity to commit a course to memory and visualize it before your run.
The GDHL slalom is at 10:00 am Sunday on Partridge. It is loooong! Last year there were about 80 gates. (We were training with under 30 last weekend.) But it is a nice hill for getting a rhythm and then seeing how good your cardio training has been.
Friday training is for speed in the morning and SL in the afternoon for those able to get a head start.
Attached is an updated schedule for the remainder of the weekend program.
GDHL / INTERCLUB
Sunday’s SL course on Comet was an icy challenge and remarkably different from the relatively soft and rutty snow surface that we had for training on Birches. But the ice was pretty similar to what I imagine a World Cup SL surface to be like, and what your race stock SL skis are made to hold onto. The top finishers in the race demonstrated what the equipment can do with the necessary skill, strength and commitment. The number of people whose time improved on the second run demonstrated that the rest of us can recognize that it’s not as bad as it looked and can adjust accordingly. And even if you just showed up and survived, you earned a lot more points for your team than in the first race, because of the smaller field.
Kudos to Jeff Sutherland for his first GDHL win and, I suspect, on becoming the oldest ever winner of a GDHL race! (Not sure why he got 108 points when Chris got 109 for winning the first race.) Other top finishers included Peter Rockandel in 6th, Allan LaChance in 9th, Patrick Pedlar in 10th (from 21st seed), Randy Dalton in 11th after being 3.3 seconds faster on his second run (Randy 98, Trent 96, Trent +5 overall) and Ian Latimer 12th (from 27th seed). Glenn Blaylock led the other big movers in 18th from 33rd seed and was joined on the moving van by Ron Statler (30 from 54), Byron Darlison (31 from 50), Jessica Barford (33 from 53), Dean Beallor (35 from 63 after buying Carrie’s SL skis), Ian Struthers (42 from 57), Alan Shaw (49 from 93!), Tim Lute (58 from 85), Gord Stein (60 from 83), David Arthur (65 from 88), Michael Thompson (66 from 94), Dave Macdonald (71 from 90), Brian Athey (73 from 95), Alex von Schroeter (74 from 98) and Morley Forsyth (77 from 103).
Meanwhile, the Interclub team skied its first race of the season and won by 42 points over the Peaks. This is an almost unheard of margin, as single digit victories are quite common. High scorers from Craigleith included Margaret Isberg, Tiana Boyman, Greg Grinter, Bill Bigelow, Paul Woodhouse, Glenn Blaylock, Chris Clark, Jeff Sutherland, Trent Winstone, Randy Dalton, Craig Shibley, Jeff Craig, Ross Kappele, Chris Shipton and Greg Cavers. Craigleith took 6 of the first 7 places in the 21 starter men’s 50-54 group, and would have had 7 of 8 had the second run been counted. A copy of the score sheet is attached. Buy TSB a beer if you need an explanation and have enough time.
SELF IMPROVEMENT / LIVE IN HOPE
Here is some video of Johan Clarey’s run at Wengen last weekend. He hit over 161 kph, the highest speed ever recorded in a DH race. He only finished 3rd, but it got the French announcers very excited. His speed is not likely to be matched on Partridge this weekend, but participants can be assured that the spill zones on Partridge are bigger than on the classic Wengen course.
Here is the classic Bode Miller skiing the fence at Kitzbuehel from a few seasons ago:
Here are links to the video that Sarunas shot of our SL training on Saturday and Sunday.
Side slipping is an unavoidable part of training gates, but there are a number of different techniques that can be employed, depending on the objective. Most basic is “slipping the line,” which is relevant before training if there is a small amount of unevenness or loose snow on the course and between runs to try to smooth out small ruts and chatter marks. This involves skiing the racing line in a high speed snow plow, and may be supplemented by special effort to knock down small berms or ruts in the area of the gates. If there is a bit more loose snow, you may be asked to “slip wide.” This is often done in pairs and involves slipping on either side of the racing line, only pushing loose snow farther to the side you’re slipping. For example, if you are slipping wide right, you will be plowing with your right ski, you will ski wide of the left turn gates, pushing snow outside them, ski low towards the next right turn gate pushing snow downhill as you approach the gate and then ski high from that gate to the next left turn gate, pushing snow uphill until you start down the fall-line wide of the next gate. Last Sunday, we were able to clear 10 cm. or so of fresh snow from our SL course fairly quickly by having teams snow plow straight down through the course in a V formation, with all snow being pushed by successive team members out either side. If there is more snow or a wider GS course, it may not be possible to sweep the course entirely. In that case, it may be best to set a high track and then have people simply push snow straight down from the top of the track to a level approximately even with the next gate, then release it there and start again at the top of the track when it starts again below the gate. Finally, after training on days like we had last weekend, when large ruts develop, our goal is to fill in the ruts. This involves snow plowing outside the berms and pushing them back into the ruts. Again, it is likely best to only slip one side of the course when doing this.
FASHION NEWS
I’m pleased to report that Carrie is back to last season’s form of wearing a different example daily of next season’s Spyder outfits. Saturday’s outfit was the Jest in Time jacket in black with Davis pants in sharp lime. Sunday saw the Breakout down jacket in a colour called “Flirt wavelength plaid.” As you will see from the picture, “a colour” isn’t quite an accurate description.
DIVERSIONS
A man doing market research for the Vaseline Company knocked at the door and was greeted by a young woman with three small children running around at her feet. “I’m doing some research for Vaseline. Have you ever used the product?”
She said, “Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” he said, “what do you use it for?” “We use it for sex,” she said.
The researcher was a little taken aback. “Usually people lie to me and say they use it on a child’s bicycle chain or to help with a gate hinge. But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex. I admire you for your honesty. Since you’ve been so frank so far, can you tell me exactly HOW you use it for sex?”
The woman said, “I don’t mind telling you at all. My husband and I put it on the doorknob and it keeps the kids out.”
HOW TO START A FIGHT – Having read that variety is the spice of life, so to speak, I ventured to ask my wife “Shall we try swapping positions tonight?” She replied “That's a good idea - you stand by the stove and sink while I sit on the sofa and do nothing but fart.” And then the fight started …
JWM