Euro Trip 2014 Begins

My last blog was almost 2 weeks ago. Since then I raced in the Vail Nor-Ams and spent some time training at the home hill, Wachusett.

Unfortunately, the Vail Nor-Ams did not go nearly as well as they did last season. On the first day of GS, I was fortunate enough to start in the first 15 and started 9. I had a good first run going, finishing 4^th and 5^th on the first two intervals. But some peely snow down bottom caused me some trouble and finished 55th. My goal for second run was to just have a solid run and ski into the top 30 to score some Nor-Am Cup points. Once again, I had trouble down bottom, which took me out of the course. For the second day, I was bumped out of the top seed, and started 26. It wasn’t a big deal, as the snow surface is usually pretty good in Vail. Once again, I started off well with 3^rd and 5^th on the first two intervals. Unfortunately, I hit a cross rut from the previous day and my skis slapped together. I had a pretty good fall and couldn’t finish the run. It was a crappy, and somewhat unlucky 2 days of ski racing, but as I have said before, that’s just how it is sometimes. At least I know I am skiing well, and the speed is there for the next race.

Over my Christmas break, I was able to get some quality rest, but I also got the chance to ski and train at Wachusett. I skied 2 days of slalom, mostly with the U18s and U16s. After training, I was able to hit the park with my little cousin Liam. I mean, what is a trip to Wachusett without some park laps!? It was a lot of fun skiing at the old hill, and hope to get back there a couple more times this season.

I am now in Solden, Austria training some GS and SG. Next on the race schedule is the Wengen, Switzerland European Cup Downhill!

Here is Bode's winning run from 2007, and the track I will be running next week!

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. 

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!

https://www.rallyme.com/rallies/362/nicks-olympic-dream

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 19^th place putting myself in a great position for the 2^nd 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 6^th place on the second run, I came in 11^th 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 2^nd place run at the Copper NJR last week. 

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 7^th 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. 

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!

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!