Hello all, here's the latest!
Friday
Is the day of the first annual Greg Lee / Track 3 event. For those not attending, Mike Kristy will be conducting GS gate training on Birches. See Laurel Armstrong in the snow school admin office to register. Matt DiStefano will be coaching next Friday.
This Weekend
We are training GS both days at 9:30 AM. We expect to be on Birches. Check the board at the bottom of the National chair for any last-minute changes. There is no GDHL race this weekend.
Attendance
As expected, the opening day's crowds were not repeated this past weekend and we did not have to invoke our priority program. We had about 15 on Saturday afternoon and about 27 on Sunday morning, so lineups for the course were very manageable. Nonetheless, I am aware of one exchange of Saturday priority for Sunday. I'm not sure what the going rate is, but being able to ski with one's spouse on the promised day is no doubt priceless :-) Please don't rationalize leaving class early as doing your bit to avoid overcrowding. We continue to need your help in slipping the course and cleaning up equipment at the end of class.
New Participants
We are delighted to have a number of new participants in our program. They include Jerry Patten, Eric Ferguson, Becky Timmins, Todd Beallor (Dean's brother), Chris Carl, Alan Shaw, Martin Worndl, Katie Worndl, Dave Baran and Matt Rady. Thanks to Katie for single-handedly bringing down the average age of the participants quite significantly! Jeff Sutherland, who is a regular Friday trainer at Craigleith, has also been added to our distribution list. Jeff is a very successful interclub racer and we are hoping to recruit him to the Craigleith interclub team.
GDHL Results
Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen last Saturday's results. In the previous weekend's opening GS, Glenn McKay was the big mover in the upper-middle-class, improving on his ranking by 24 places to finish 18th. Jeff Craig was not far behind, finishing 21st from a 39th ranking. Jerry Patten marked his debut by improving 19 places on his ranking to finish 32nd and Katie Worndl improved on her ranking by 26 places in her first GDHL effort. Other big movers included Jim Hardy, Annie Haldimand-Tait, Ray Murakami, Margaret Isberg, Ron Statler and Mark Reidl. Last but not least, Carrie Grinter finished 12th overall, beating your other coaches and topping the women's standing by over 3 seconds.
World Cup
Try to catch the Kitzbuehel downhill in high definition this weekend. The Austrian television feed is normally much better than for other races, although last weekend's races from Wengen were also televised in high definition with the benefit of shots from a helicopter drone that was chasing the racers. See Bode Miller's comments concerning how better television coverage could improve the popularity of ski racing in the US. http://www.skiracing.com/?q=node/11313
Idea of the Week
I have shared this thought with a few of you who have said it was helpful. We are often encouraged to "look two gates ahead" when in a course, but as with many things it isn't always clear how to do that. I have found that concentrating on physically lifting my chin before I start a run opens up a new perspective compared to what I get if I don't think about doing so.
Please let me know things that work for you so that I can share them in the future.
Timing
Remember that Chrono Split watches are available from Laurel. The watches have a feature that allows several teams to use them on different courses in proximity without interference. Our transmitters are set to "Team 4" and new watches may be set to "Team 1." The adjustment is very simple. If you aren't getting a time on your watch, let one of the coaches know and we will check this.
Fashion News
Last weekend was "Gypsy" weekend. Gypsy is a dark magenta color that was featured on the zippers of Carrie's black-and-white jacket on Saturday. Unfortunately, we didn't get the matching Gypsy pants, since they don't come with the full zippers needed to allow Carrie to quickly get down to her (new) downhill suit for the race. Gypsy was also featured as a trim color on Carrie's "Flash Green" Sunday jacket.
Carrie was alarmed to learn that some of you don't know that she works for Spyder ski wear and that her outfits are the result of a happy congruence between her size and the samples in her warehouse. It is to be clearly understood that she is not a princess with a wardrobe!
How to Start a Fight (No. 1)
Compliments of Ms. Grinter – fashionable and with a sense of humor!
One year, I decided to buy my mother-in-law a cemetery plot as a Christmas gift. The next year I didn't buy her a gift. When she asked me why, I replied "Well, you still haven't used the gift I bought you last year!" And that's how the fight started.
More than enough for now. See you on the weekend!
JWM