Craigleith Adult Gates - Week 2

All,

SCHEDULE

On to week 2 and slalom!  We will be training SL Saturday at 0930 on Birches and Sunday at approximately 1300 on Birches.  Watch the board at the National Chair for any updates, particularly if the weather is difficult.  We expect to have timing set for both sessions.  I have attached some previously circulated material regarding SL and timing towards the end of this message.  Sarunas (Mr. Carrie) may be here this weekend to shoot some more Dartfish video.  We expect that he will be available several times during the year and we will let you know in advance if possible so you can adjust your schedule and wardrobe accordingly.

GDHL is SL at 1000 Sunday on Comet.

Jacques Reid will be leading SL training on Friday in both the morning and afternoon for those able to get a head start.

A tentative schedule for the remainder of the weekend program is attached.  We may have some flexibility concerning afternoon sessions that result from Sunday morning GDHL races.  January 20 and 27 are the most relevant.  Please let the coaches know if you have thoughts concerning scheduling of sessions and whether to do GS or SL.

GDHL

Results circulated earlier by Mark Reidl are attached.  Racing is clearly going to be fiercely competitive this year, with a few long time heroes on the sidelines and some new or refreshed blood joining the fray.  In less time than it takes me to say “Why didn’t anyone ask me whether Ted Morgan should be ranked 91” you go from being say 9th at 35.52 to 45th at 38.42.   And I don’t recall another race having had as many as the 96 finishers from Sunday.

Kudos to Kevin Gust (3rd), Ross Kappele (5th) and Peter Ardill (10th) who jumped up in the standings after attending only a few of our training sessions!  Also Jeff Sutherland, who may be slightly disappointed with his 6th place GDHL debut but can take consolation in being second fastest on the second run, after a first run highlighted by a recovery almost as good as this one.  Trent Winstone was 9th (Trent 102 points, Randy 95), Craig Shibley 11th and Doug Jarvis 12th in his GDHL debut.  Jeff Craig’s first run in his auction bib was very solid, but his second run was 7th for the run though not quite as fast as his first.  Among the big climbers, Jerry Patten was 18th from 41 ranking, Glenn Blaylock 19th from 33 and two years on the sidelines, Rob Bruce was 56th from 76, Michael Thompson 62nd from 94 and several years on the sidelines and Alan Shaw 66th from 93.

If you are not on the distribution list for the GDHL email or want to change your address, use this link.

Finally, to reiterate the rules for helmets in GDHL:

-              must be hard ears, except that FIS approved SL helmets (like the POC ones with a chin guard) can be worn for SL

-              no camera mounts or other attachments of any kind (although there may have been an amnesty for that in the first race)

SELF IMPROVEMENT

Here is an interesting article about training techniques, including what I think is a particularly appropriate commentary on the use of free skiing time as gateless training.  

FASHION NEWS

Several of you have lamented the lack of recent reports regarding Carrie’s costume.  Those of you who have seen Lindsay Vonn on television this year will have noted that she has been wearing many of the Spyder colours that Carrie wore last season.  However, the holiday season was a bit slow for new looks.  I understand Carrie has become a “parent” and that the 75 pound, 9 month old (Bernese Mountain) “child” took up all of the room in the car that would otherwise have been devoted to 2014 samples from the Spyder showroom.  A speedy restoration of previous heights of haberdashery is expected and reporting will resume thereafter.

DIVERSIONS

Some semi-serious commentary from Kelly Vanderbeek about what you can learn as a racer, even if you don’t win.

Some “Sh*t Ski Racers Say” featuring young racers from Banff.

It may have been inspired by this one, which will strike a chord with those who have been training hard on the road this summer.

GROUP THERAPY..

A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children.  "You all have obsessions", he observed.  To the first mother he said, "You are obsessed with eating, hence you named your daughter Candy".  He turned to the second mother.  "Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, Penny".  He turns to the third mum. "Your obsession is alcohol.  Otherwise, you wouldn’t have named your child Brandy".  At this point, the fourth mother gets up, grabs her little boy by the hand and whispers, "Come on Dick, we're leaving!"

I am thinking of starting a serial work of fiction regarding participants in the house league at Gregleeth Ski Club.  Characters may include:

Calcutta Syndicate 4 – an ill-defined group of speculators, annoyed at having missed out on the Tony Rubes bonanza last season, now wondering whether they can buy Ted Morgan’s team in the secondary market.  Organized by a non-racing Bay Street type, who got interested in the Calcutta while temporarily out of the market as a result of a settlement with the Securities Commission.  Organizer is sometimes irked at the lack of bidding discipline shown by other syndicate members.

Lance Forman – age 50, ranked 48, really annoyed that the “Committee” changed the rules about starting order.  Chronic over-achiever, took up racing four years ago and is dismayed that success has not come as quickly as in crew and cycling.  Consoled by the knowledge that if he can’t win at SL, GS and SG, he can still kill the b*st*rds at shopping.  Syndicate owns his team and hopes that he will repeat last year’s strategy of collecting team mates’ equipment for tuning and high fluoro waxing every week.

Character and plot suggestions welcome.

TIMING

The ChronoSplit timing was up and running for both sessions last weekend.  We plan to have it running for all sessions this season.  Having a watch to allow comparison of your progress run to run will allow you to get effective feedback if you try different techniques.

The watches can be rented on a daily basis or purchased from Laurel Armstrong in the snow school administration office.  The agreement that needs to be signed is attached so that you can complete it in advance.  Here is a link to a manual describing the use of the watches.  In short, you need to press the "mode" button in the center of the watch, then press the split/lap button at the top left until the screen displays "auto split".  If you use the same process to reach the "auto split rec" screen, you can use the top right button to scroll through all of your times.

SLALOM

I've attached a CSCF description of different kinds of gates in slalom.  Note however, that we don't set the outside pole in an "open" gate, i.e. one that is set more or less perpendicular to the fall line.  We do normally set both poles in closed gates, which are used in a flush or hairpin.  You can legally go through a gate from either direction, as long as you cross the imaginary line connecting the two poles, but one way is normally much faster and puts you in a better position for the gate that follows. 

One of the things that troubles people about skiing slalom is cross blocking the gates.  Here are some thoughts:

• You cross block with your outside or downhill hand, as your inside hand and torso should be well inside the gate.  That is, you use your right hand when turning left and vice versa.  Your cross blocking hand then follows through smoothly to make the pole plant for the next turn.
• Don't reach your cross blocking hand farther across your body than the center of your chest.  That is, if your inside hand and torso are not well inside the gate, don't reach for the gate to cross block.  Just put your hand up in the right place and if the gate isn't going to hit it, don't worry about cross blocking.  If you reach, it may make a nice noise, but it will put you out of position to make the next turn.
• When skiing a hairpin (i.e. two closed gates in succession), you should change hands for cross blocking after the first gate.  When skiing a flush (i.e. three closed gates in succession), block with the correct hand for the first gate, then use the same hand for the second and third gates.  If you see a royal flush (i.e. four closed gates, which is quite uncommon), you can either block the first three gates with the same hand and change for the fourth or change after the first and block the last three gates with the same hand.  With this approach, you will have your hands in the right position coming out of the group of gates and be ready to turn and block the next open gate.

Here is a link for video of Ted Ligety skiing slalom.

​JWM