Flachau Race Run!

Here's the second run of the Flachau Slalom World Cup Race!! Since it probably doesn't play at home!



And the third edition of SkiPresse just came out online!! You can check out my article on page 10 and 12!

14th place in Flachau!

Flachau!

Yesterday we had a night race at Herman Maier's home-hill Flachau!  We even met the legend himself!!! (well, we posed for a picture with him.... so we're pretty much best friends now).

It was my first time in Flachau and I loved it!  We had ski-in ski-out, a luge track that we mastered 2 times just outside of our hotel, and we had a sweet late-night race that apparently got up to 15000 fans waching!!!

AND, I finally got back into my race rhythm in yesterday's second run and I ended up 14th overall!

This year has had lots of ups and downs  and the comeback from injury has been tougher than not coming back from injury! who woulda thought!  I finally had one of those runs that makes me remember why I love the sport so much.  Obviously I love everything we get to do along with the sport (mostly everything you see on my blog) but the actual racing is the reason why I keep coming back for more year after year.  Trying to get closer and closer to victory and knowing that in my second run I was right in there with the best is the biggest motivation that exists for me.  So, I'm pumped and relieved that I finally performed up to speed with what I've been training, and now that I've had a taste of what a sweet race feels like, I can't wait to dive into some more!

So here's some pics courtesy of Stefania Rizzo and Eve Routhier!!! Thanks!!!  It was the first time in the history of this blog that I forgot to bring my camera somewhere!!! It was devastating!!! haha. not.

 WE GOT NEW SWAGG!!! And Hugues peeking through the window! haha.

MP hooked us all up with sweeeeeeeet new nekkies! YES!

 Jim and Hugues being funnnnnny.

 The crowds during the second run were filling up the whole hillside!!

 The Start of my second run!  This part was my fastest split, I was attacking like a crazy woman after coming 26th in the first run!

 Reaching for the finish line!

 ahhh. that was fun!!!

 Leaderbox!!

All the girls came and hung out with me at the leaderbox! It was so sweet!

Anyway, it was an important day for me yesterday because I finally completely trusted myself and went for it.  I was so stoked that the girls were all there with me in the finish area and hopefully next race we'll all be competing against each other in the second run.  Sunday in Maribor!

On the way home from the race today we got to stop and see Kelly Mcbroom in the hospital.  She suffered a terrible leg-break while training the other day followed by compartment syndrome and has been undergoing surgeries since her accident.  It's a terrible thing to happen to anyone and especially Kelly since she just finished coming back from her previous injuries.
Her friend Elli set up a coffee fund for her that will be put towards a coffee card in Canmore to help her through her rehab!  If you wanna help her through this, buy her a coffee!!!!!!!!
CLICK HERE TO BUY KELLY A GET-WELL-SOON COFFEE!!!

Good luck and tons of healing vibes to Kelly!

VIDEO BLOG!

random hyper video I made!!! skiing and dancing!
enjoy!

A day on the Geisberg.

During the Zagreb race I somehow managed to catch and edge and slam my head into the icy slope.  Now, slightly concussed, I have had a few days off to reflect and regroup and heal my headache!

Because of the concussion I had to take yesterday completely off and today I could only free-ski.  It felt good to try and really connect with the snow and get back to some basics in freeskiing that I sometimes overlook during training.  I had some sweet runs on the Geisberg with no head-aches and brought my camera onto the hill to portray a day in the life of the Geisberg gletscher, minus the gletscher.

Lot's of people training!!! One Giant slalom course and two slalom courses and some little kids' giant slalom course.

 Focus amid the mountains.

 The crazy hole in the Fischer tips! So trendy.

 Racer ready.......... GO!

 Britt Phelan ripping up the GS with a sweeeeeeeet backdrop!

 Et Mitch aussi!

 A door on one of the many random barn/houses on the Geisberg.

 rustyyyyyy

 I went into the Geisberg Stubl (the lodge on top) for a coffee and some artistic skull arrangements. 

 I needed to represent HEAD (THE BEST SKIS EVERRRR) on this blog so i just placed my skis in the start as though I was about to ATTACK the slalom!!!  Ready to burst through the start wand!

 Jenny, reflecting.

 SWEET TRACKS!!!!

 Jim!!

 ME!  (we had a photoshoot together at the bottom....) ha

I was kinda bored after the photo-shoot so I decided to show how the gates work!

Mitch in SLALOM now!! Intense!!

That's pretty much it!!  There's only one trail on the Geisberg so there's not that much to show....

new year!

I sort of fell off the blogging bandwagon lately! I'm not very stoked about how I skied in Semmering....

So I guess I didn't really feel like writing about it!!

But the bad feelings only lasted a few moments and I've analyzed my videos and figured out what went wrong!  I was ROUND and hesitant... a slow combo.  Ever since my fall in Courchevel i've been nursing a very sore hip flexor, so lack of training and confidence caught up with me I guess.  It was an awesome race to watch and get re-focused and inspired for Zagreb.  My skiing's still there and still fast, but my race mode is still up-and-down.  My skiing in Semmering taught me exactly what not to do for next race, and I can learn from these mistakes for the next races.

So yeah, that's how I feel!

Congrats to Eve and Erin on scoring some points!!!  AND Another sweet moment of the race was watching Sarah Schleper RIP!  She ended up going out second run, but she's on fire! And so is her son Lasse!! Eating the doughnut like a champ.

And then back home for the new year...

 It was a looooong drive back to Kirchberg, but at least there were some interesting clouds!

 I'd been very anxious to see Marco and see for myself that he was OK.  He had a terrible crash in Bormio and he described his face as "cheese grated"... Which it was....and still is.  

Downhill is crazy and he'll be nursing a bad concussion for a while but other than his grated face and banged up head, he was doing really well.  Hanging out with him was the best ending to 2010 I could have asked for!  :)

 The view from Patsch looking down towards Innsbruck at night.  If you look closely you can even see a firework!

Austria's beautiful.

New year's eve day in Innsbruck for coffee!

 All their sweet Christmas decorations are still up! Here's an advent-calender building!!

 Even just crossing the street makes for some sweet views!

Marco left for Munich and I went back "home" to Kirchberg right in time for our New Year's Eve DRESS PARTY!!! I'm not sure why, but we all look kinda funny and awkward in this pic.  I think it's the dresses though!!

 KEEGAN!!! Such a cutie!  and mike. ha.

 It's a full house here now with all the guys!  Makes for some epic catch-phrase sessions!

 Marcel outdid himself AGAIN.  We started off with smoked salmon and cheese, followed by risotto with a massive delicious shrimp, and then an AMAZING filet-mignon-type steak, so tender and perfectly cooked to perfection.  seriously. amazing.

 Keegan and I played catch-phrase!!

 Les boys.

Lup is here after his horrible crash in Bormio.  Unfortunately he also suffered a pretty bad concussion and tore his knee. Good luck to him and his rehab!! With Kent and Dr. Litchfeild he'll be in good hands!! 

 Les girls.

Fun times with the team as usual!! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody!!!

Thinking back on last year's events is overwhelming!! Lots of high's and a few lows; i can't wait to see what's in store for 2011!

My Austrian Christmas...

Christmas in Kirchberg!!

Marco visited our "canadian" home-base in Kirchberg for Christmas!! Despite the super foggy weather yesterday on Christmas Eve, we decided to head up Kitzbuhel and check out the Hannenkamm-Rennen, and some of the other ski areas that are all connected.

 This is marco expressing how AMAZED and perplexed and ASTONISHED he is by the heated seats on the chairlifts in Kitzbuhel!!!!! Truly amazing.

 Unfortunately it wasn't the most beautiful day, but we still put in a solid 4 hours of exploring and skiing and mountain-hut-visiting!

 We checked out the start of the race!

 SCARY!! Especially when you can't see anything!

 And then we found one of 50 mountain huts on the hill!! It was a good lunch stop with some tomaten-suppe and some apfel strudel.  YUMMY

After four hours of skiing, we came back to the Canadian Hotel in Kirchberg and chilled with the rest of the girls over a PUZZEL!

 It is surprisingly addictive!!!

 Marco super focused in the corner!

 After some very entertaining puzzling times, Marcel, our amazing chef, brought out a HUGE turkey and carved it up for Christmas dinner!!!

 Before.... looks sooo tasty!!

 after....mmmm so fulll but so delicious!! haha

 To help digestion, we went on an evening stroll around Kirchberg!! Here's the river with a looooong exposure!

We woke up this morning (christmas morning) to another not-so-beautiful day and our training was cancelled due to terrible snow conditions!! 

SO WHAT BETTER TO DO THAN RODEL???

EXtreme Rodelling in Kirchberg!!

 READY TO RODEL!

 The Canadian Rodelling Team. (with an american cheerleader)

 It's hard to capture how ridiculous this sport is, but picture flying down a mountain on an old-school sled with no steering!!! While passing people and negotiating sharp turns!!!!

 It was really fun!!!!!!!  I think Eve was CARVING this turn!!!

 And then my rodel went for a swim in the creek.....

It's been an amazing Christmas thanks to the girls, Marcel's cooking and Marco visiting!!

Back to work tomorrow!! NExt race is only four days away!!

Merry Christmas!