Monday, December 16, 2013

Copper Speed Week

This past week was the Copper, Colorado Nor-Am Speed Week. Over the course of the week, I competed in 3 downhill races followed by 2 super-g races. By the end of my training camp here in November, I was finally starting to put down some fast times in the speed events, so I was excited to start the Nor-Am speed season! The first Downhill race was the US National Championship. Although the National Championship has no effect on Nor-Am points, everyone tries to send it as hard as possible because having the US Downhill Champion title to your name is pretty sweet. I started Bib 1, and had a clean run, and ran an aggressive line. My result wasn't quite what I expected, with a 30th place. My friend and teammate Bryce Bennet ended up taking the win. I wasn't totally sure what went wrong, and to be honest, I still don't know. But, that's how ski racing is sometimes and you just have to put it behind you, and that's exactly what I did, or tried to do. The next 2 downhills were Nor-Am races. I started 22nd in both of the Nor-Am downhills, and unfortunately, the later start number didn't help me score any top 30's. For the first time in over a year, I failed to score Nor-Am points in a Nor-Am cup speed event. I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. It was frustrating to me, my coaches, and my technician. Sometimes some people ski faster on certain types of snow/hills and this week was just not my week for downhill. I put it behind me, and moved onto the super-g's. 

Luckily, I got my slow ski racing out of the way in the downhills. I started both super-g Nor-Ams with bib 3. My goal was to finish top 15 to start racking up some Nor-Am points, and maybe even get some FIS points. I finished both super-g runs decently clean, with some aggressive tactics. When I got to the bottom of my first race, I was just hoping that it wasn't another clean and slow run... and it wasn't! I finished both super-g's in 8th place overall, and was the top Junior (under 21 years old) in each race as well! The first race was a career best 8th position as well as a career best super-g FIS score of 16. I was excited to see myself follow up some of the worst skiing I have done in a while, with career best races. I hope those downhill races were just a fluke, and I can get some good results over in Europe next month. But for now, I am gearing up for Vail, Colorado Nor-Am Tech series this coming week (2 SL, and 2 GS)!

Here is a picture of me on top of the junior podium. Teammate Brian McLaughlin in second, and Canadian ski team member Chris Steinke in third. 



Sunday, December 8, 2013

Beaver Creek Downhill

For the past week I have been for running the Beaver Creek World Cup races! I was able to run the all new Raptor/Birds of Prey Downhill course 3 times, and then for ran the Super-G this Saturday. It was an incredible thrill, as it was the most gnarly DH I have run in my life. It was definitely a great warm-up/ prep for this coming week's Nor-Am Speed week in Copper, Colorado. It's kind of like how baseball players use weights on their bats while warming up to make the bat feel light when they get to the plate. Running the World Cup Downhill will make this week much easier with more confidence. Tomorrow is the first training run, followed by 2 Nor-Am Downhills, the Downhill National Championship, 2 Super-Gs, and a Super-Combined. Big week coming up with a lot of races!

On another note, here is my rally that I have started to raise money to fund my season. Huge thanks to everyone who has donated already! If you are not in a position to donate financially, I am asking if you could share my rally through email or social media to help spread the word. Thank you!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Loveland Nor-Ams


This past weekend were the Opening Nor-Ams at Loveland, CO.  I was lucky to have enough Nor-Am GS points from last year to put me into the top 15 seed in the World Cup field. Had I had 1 less point, I would have been starting 45. The first run went smoothly finishing in 19th place putting myself in a great position for the 2nd run flip 30. I was content with my first run, but I wanted to make a move to get into the top 15. I didn’t hold back at all second run, and luckily, it was clean as well. I carried all of my speed from the pitch to the bottom flats, and kept trying to build speed with every turn. With a 6th place on the second run, I came in 11th overall, scoring a 15-point result.  I was ecstatic to say the least. I feel accomplished by being right in there with top world cuppers such as Phillipp Schoerghofer, Marcel Mathis, and Davide Simoncelli. The Second day did not go as well with a fall on the first run. These first Nor-Ams always have the most stacked fields, and I am happy with where I stand, with my best Nor-Am start ever.

Here is a video of my 2nd place run at the Copper NJR last week. 




Thursday, November 21, 2013

NJR Series


Over the past two days I had my first GS and SL races at Copper Mountain. These races were NJRs, which means anyone under the age of 21 can enter. Monday was the GS and I drew bib #6.  I was training GS well over the past week and I knew I had a chance to throw one in there.  After first run I was sitting in second by just .02 seconds. My goal for second run was to just have a clean run and ski like I had been in training. I did just that with a little bobble midway down the course and finished the race in second place by .27 seconds. With my second place, I scored my second best FIS result ever with a 19. Tuesday was the SL, where I drew bib #4 (luckily). First run went ok, finishing in 7th place. Unfortunately, the snow was not holding up in the slalom very well due to the early season snowmaking. Despite the conditions, I just wanted to finish. For 90% of the run, I was executing my plan, but the gates began to stack up near the finish and caught me off guard. I fell on the third to last gate! It was an unfortunate end to the NJR series but I am now confident I can put together some fast runs. Now I am getting ready for this weekend’s Nor-Am’s at Loveland, Colorado. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Week 2 in Copper

I have now been in Colorado for a week now. I have had 6 days of training and 4 races. Training is starting to go really well and I am making huge gains every day, which is pretty exciting. My first races however did not go that well. Saturday we had 2 Downhill races. I skied pretty descent in both of the runs, but for some reason I just couldn't find the speed, and as a result, I was sloooooow. Sunday we had 2 Super Combine's (1 Super-G run and 1 Slalom run). One SG run I fell and was unable to finish, while the second SG run went well and set me up to start 4th in the SL. The SL run went ok at best. I haven't been able to ski slalom since August because of my back problems, which left me at a disadvantage. Without any good results from the weekend, I am putting these races behind me and getting ready for the next ones! I now have a SG training block with some GS thrown in there as well!

Monday, November 4, 2013

Colorado Time!

After 6 months (on and off) living, and training in Park City, Utah, winter has finally come! We got to Copper Mountain on Saturday, and I will be living here for the next two months! It is a great setup here at Copper with the US Ski Team Speed Track right outside my window. Yesterday we free skied Super-G and GS and today we got some Super-G and GS training. Tomorrow we are up for some Downhill and GS. The surface is perfect for training and we keep getting more snow every night! So excited for winter!

Monday, October 21, 2013

October

For the past couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time in the gym, between fitness and physical therapy. Now is the time of year where we try to rest up and get as healthy as possible to go into the season fresh and injury free. I have spent a lot of my off season trying to get my back and hips ready for the winter, and I hope it pays off. Next week I have physical testing to see how much we have improved our fitness over the summer. I am excited to see the gains I have made, and then it is off to Colorado on November 1st. Here are some shots of me and my teammates I took with my GoPro in Chile.



Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Chile Camp

For the past two weeks I have been in La Parva, Chile. I was extremely excited to get on snow but wasn't sure how my previously injured back would react to skiing.

At first the pain was terrible. I could barely make a right footed turn with pain streaking down my back and right leg. For about a week I was really struggling to get some good training. After about 8 days of playing around with different stretches, exercises, and massages, my physical therapist finally found something that helped. All my pain was in the lower back, so at first (obviously) we paid all of our attention to the lower L4-L5 vertebra, and the muscles around the lower spine. When that wasn't working we moved up to the L2, and surprisingly, the tense-knotted muscles in the mid-upper back were causing all the problems.

After making headway, I had a very successful Chile camp and got some GS, SG, and DH training. Oh, and we got a sweet powder day, which I have some footage of. For now, here is a time lapse of a Chilean sunset with my GoPro.


Saturday, September 14, 2013

August


This past month of August has had its up and downs. It started great with a productive on snow camp in Hood where we had 3 SL days and 3GS days. After the Hood camp I took a 3 day road trip around the Oregon Coast to go surfing and camping in the Tillamook Forest.

After that it was back to the gym for a 5 week fitness block. In week 2, my minor back problems took a turn for the worse. On one of our heavy lifting days I felt my back give in on a power clean, and all of a sudden it was a struggle to walk and even sitting down was uncomfortable. I saw a back specialist the next week to get some x-rays and an MRI. The doctor diagnosed me with 2 inflamed discs in my L4-L5 and L5-S1, and they found an old micro fracture in the lower spine as well.

Over the past 3 and a half weeks I have been getting Physical Therapy every day, and strengthening my core muscles to support my back. Surprisingly (to me too) my back feels great now and I am ready to get back on snow. I just arrived in Chile, and will be skiing tomorrow! This training camp is mostly Downhill and SG. Luckily the speed events are easier on the back then technical events.

Out on the lake with my friend and teammate Sam Dupratt

Hopefully in about a week I will have a video of full length DH on here. Maybe even a couple POV shots with my new GoPro!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Rope Swing!


Here is a video of me and a few friends hitting a rope swing in Oakley, Utah. GoPro hooked us up with  a few GoPros for a couple days and here is what we came up with. There is a few shots of our party barge in there too. Also, make sure you watch in HD... makes it way better. This is the first video of many to come! Enjoy. 


Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Summer Fun and Summer Snow


I posted my last blog at US national championships. I had hopes of going into the national event fully healed from my ankle injury, but unfortunately I could only race at 75%. My season then ended short. I headed back to Park City to get it checked out and get some physical therapy done on it. I got it healthy enough to get back on snow for the US Ski Team tryout camp in May at Mammoth Mt. California. I performed well enough there to get a promoted to the ‘C Team’.

As a member of the C Team, I am now required to live in Park City for the summer. Although we have been working out from 9AM to 3PM 6 days a week, my teammates and I have found some time for some fun. So far we have set some time aside for some rope swinging, wakeboarding, waterskiing, skateboarding, volleyball, mountain biking, and our big summer project so far… building a boat! Here are some pictures of our building process. 

 





























After we finally got the boat together on land, we tossed it up onto my friend's truck the next day to get it on the water. It actually stayed floating way better than any of us thought it would. We got some carpet for the floor, a mini basketball hoop, 2 grills, and 22 people all on the boat before it started to sink. We got it out to a lake in Oakley, Utah that had a rope swing, and where we camped out for the night. 




It has been quite the summer so far between fitness and fun, but I am looking forward to getting back on snow this week at Mt Hood. Coming soon to my blog will be a video of some summer activities so far. For the end of the summer and all of next ski season, I will be traveling with a GoPro, provided by Wachusett Mountain. Hopefully I will be able to capture more skiing and other fun with the GoPro, and share my crazy lifestyle with you guys!


Friday, March 29, 2013

Nor-Am Finals and US Nationals

Nor-Am Finals Started 2 weeks ago in Nakiska, Alberta. The series kicked off with a Super-G in which I faired pretty well in. With a more-stacked Nor-Am field than normal, I was happy with my 13th place finish. The next day was Super-Combined, which at the time I was excited for. I started bib number 42, and had a mistake mid-way down the course and ended up 33rd after the Super-G portion. In the slalom, I straddled near the bottom of the course and completely twisted my ankle up the hill (on the ankle that has recently been operated on). Right when it happened I knew it wasn't going to feel great when I took it out of my boot. After I had a doctor look at it, and a long session of physical therapy, it was clear that it was not 100%. I made the decision of fighting through the pain the next 2 days strictly for Nor-Am Cup points (to stay in the top 15 seed for GS next year). I did just about as well as I could do in the GS's with a bum ankle, and it might pay off for the beginning of next year. With how much the ankle hurt, I decided to not race in the slaloms and save it for nationals.


GS at US Nationals (with the Pro-Am to the right)

Next up was US Nationals in Squaw Valley, California. The first race was GS, and I was confident that the ankle was ready to go with the 4 days of rest prior. Warming up on race day, I could feel the ankle not responding as precisely as normal, but good enough to race. In the start gate, I was trying to focus on my skiing and get my mind off the ankle, but, halfway down the course it gave up on me once again. Without being 100%, there was no chance of me even having a shot at a national title, and with that, my US Nationals was over. I was somewhat disappointed with how my Nor-Am Season and US Nationals ended, but injuries happen and you have to deal with them as best as possible. Squaw Valley put on an incredible show, and I am excited for nationals to return there next year! I have been doing physical therapy for the past week getting my ankle back up to speed to race in Mammoth Spring series.


Super nice day on Lake Tahoe!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

World Junior Championships


This past week I competed in the Junior World Championships. When I was named to the WJC team 2 weeks ago, I was thrilled and excited to race in such a big event. I knew there were going to be some outstanding skiers that I was going up against, and I knew I was going to have to throw down solid runs to compete with them. What I did not know was how much fun it it was going to be. In the back of my mind, for some reason, I thought the Europeans were way different from the Americans. When I was over in Europe earlier this year, I saw how serious they take skiing racing over there. I never really made an attempt to meet them though. This past week, I made it a goal to talk and mingle with the skiers from other countries…they are incredibly cool, and have just as much fun as we do traveling the world and doing what we love most—ski racing.

Although I did not have any super crazy results in Quebec, Canada, I managed to get 15th in the Super-G at Le Massif. It was an amazing week racing with thebest ski racers in the world under the age of 21, and a great experience to have in preparation for next year’s WJCs in Slovakia!

I just had a good week of training in Vermont, and now I am in Calgary/ Nakiska for Nor-Am Finals followed by a trip to California to race in US Nationals at Squaw Valley.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Breakthrough!



So, a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks. In Kirchberg Austria, I started my first ever European Cup! It was my first race on the new radius GS ski (35 Meters instead of 27 meters). I started 86, and moved up quite a bit at the first split but mistake after mistake at the bottom eventually caught up to me and I had to ski out. It was a great experience and I look forward to more Europa Cup starts next year.

Next up was Vail, CO back on the Nor-Am circuit. The first day we got there, we were welcomed by 2 feet of fresh snow. The first day was GS and I had a start number of 52. My goal was to have a good enough first run to get me into the flip 30 to for a good start number for 2nd run, and then to send it as hard as I could. After first run I ended up 8th. I was in utter shock when I saw my first run rank on the scoreboard. My goal for second run all of a sudden was to not blow it! When I was getting ready for second run I was thinking to myself, “just ski clean and solid.” I did just that. With no big mistakes second run, I came down in first place, which ended up holding all the way until the last 2 guys went—one being my teammate Kieffer, who won. I ended the day in third place, which was a huge improvement on my previous best GS Nor-Am finish of 22nd.


The Next day I was able to start in the first seed and had another good first run, finishing 9th. My goal for second run was to just do the same thing as the day before. I was having a great run until a couple mistakes at the bottom. I dropped to 21st on the day, which became my second best GS finish ever.  I ended the Vail series with 2 Slalom DNFs.

Next was speed week at Apex, British Columbia. It was my first time to Apex, and I didn’t really know what to expect. With a combination of wind and snow, the race schedules were pushed around a bunch, but we were able to get all the races off by the end of the week. I ended the week with a 7th in DH, an 8th in SG (both being career best results) and a 14th in DH.


Next up is World Junior Championships in Quebec, where I will be competing in all 4 events!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Euro Trip!


So, my last post said I was going to keep up with my blog posts as much as I could, and that didn't really happen because I haven't posted any super outstanding results yet this season. Although I have only scored one FIS result this season (29 in Super-G) I am skiing better than I ever have. I am skiing well up to speed in training and now it is time to put it into the races. 


I got to Europe Jan. 6th, and had some incredible training in Solden, Austria. I am now in Sestriere, Italy, where the 2006 Olympic games were held. I pictured Sestriere would be a much larger town than it actually is (like Park City or Lake Placid). Though it's not a huge town, the mountain itself is huge, and the pizza is amazing. 


I am now leaving Italy to go back over the boarder where I will start my first ever Europa Cup in Kirchberg, Austria!