Race #1

Well my first race of the season is now in the books. It wasn't what
I expected. We had the usual variable weather up here. It was
basically a roll of the dice hoping you would get favorable winds and
light. It was in and out the whole race. Some people took advantage
of those start positions and laid down some good runs.
I thought I skied well but wasn't too fast. I had really bad light
and couldn't see the terrain coming at me.
Thats ski racing at times. Sometimes the luck rolls your way and
sometimes your pushing against wind.
Tomorrows the SG, hopefully things will go better

Thanksgiving in Canada

The season is beginning.  FINALLY!  It seems like forever.  All of our prep, summer training on and off snow is about to pay off.  I feel like I am prepared and my body feels great as well.  Im fire up to race!  It seems like the past few weeks I have been trying to make the time fly by as fast as possible.  

We just finished our training camp in Copper MTN, CO.  We skied DH and SG almost every morning waking up at 5:45 and then got in a GS session in the afternoons.  It was a lot of work but good work.  I feel ready for the season.  

Currently Im in Lake Louise running the training runs for the DH.  The mountains prepared the hill well and there is good coverage.  The snow is firm and rattly.  They injected 60-70% of the course.  

It is always great to ski with other teams and see where you stand next to them in the prep period but we didn't have that opportunity this summer so the first training run was a good indication of or speed and Im happy to say were on point and ready to compete with the rest of the teams.  

The first training run I skied well, had a few mistakes and tried a couple different lines.  I felt comfortable on the hard snow and it felt great to finally get on a World Cup surface (ICE).  Today I had a couple of mistakes again but had some bright points.  We have one more training run to test different things then it is race time.

I had a pretty good article on UniversalSports.com hit today.  Go read it.  But I want to confirm a couple things.  I think the author painted an incorrect picture of Bode.  He made it sound like he never helped anyone out on the team which is highly false.  Bode was a great asset to the team.  He just never was around.  So some things were taken out of context there.  

Happy Thanksgiving

Steven

Good Reads

READ IT

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

If you need a good book dig here.  I read it this morning.  Its a quick read but inspiring.  So quick you probably don't even have to purchase it, you could go to the library or book store and finish it in 30 min or less.  Top 5 read of all time so get off your butt, get away from the computer and feed your brain.

Just Click It

I may have already posted something about this but it never gets old

Click ME!

Christmas in November

Every fall right before the season we receive our bag O' goodies from the US SKi Team and Spyder. It is always an exciting time of year to tear open all the new stuff and try it on. Its like Christmas before Christmas. But we on the ski team really don't get to have a normal Christmas because we are usually in Bormio prepping to race in a couple of days. So this is our Christmas I guess. This year it was Nov 18th. New Speed suits new jackets, hat, gloves, pants...... too much stuff for the current Airline baggage fees. Im a simple man, I 
travel with one jacket and one pant and pray I don't get too cold.
This seasons gear is a step up. I have had a little say on what goes on with the product we receive. One of the hats we received this year was my custom Beanie the S.N.R.T. the Steven Nyman Racing Took. They used to give hats that never fit my gigantic noggin but now I have one that fits and they ended up giving it to everyone. It is a multi faceted beanie that you can change into several different hat models so it never gets old. I also feel it breaks in well it becomes better with age, I received the first model last year and still wear the same one. Its nice and thick to keep you warm in all conditions. If its too hot all you have to do is roll it up and wear it sailor style. I dig my first signature item.

.

SPYDER Speedfreaks

Last season I started working with Spyder and we developed the Speedfreaks program.  Speedfreaks came from and idea I had about stoking the kids, creating a young team that kids can shoot for before they move into the international scene.  So Spyder gathered together a group of kids  12-16 who are passionate about going fast.  Last season consisted of the Freaks blogging and sharing stories about their year.  We wanted to make the program more interactive between the elite athletes and the younger ones.  Basically a mentoring program.  So this fall we brought everyone to the first Spyder Speedfreaks camp for some one on one training.  The Elite athletes (Me, Daron Rahlves, JJ Johnson, Errol Kerr, Jake Zamansky, Caitlin Ciccone, Bryon Friedman, TJ Lanning, Greg Samuels) were paired up each day with a different athlete each day from Nov 1-5 at Copper Mountain Resort.  

It was not only great for the kids, I learned a lot.  While coaching the kids I kept in mind some of the stuff I am working on and I see the kids already doing it.  I still come from the generation of straight skis and had to make the transition to shaped skis.  These kids have grown up on the new equipment so they naturally are performing the moves I am trying to make habitual.  So I feel like I have learned a lot from them and can learn more from them.  Ski technique is always progressing especially with the technology advances and I think by watching the little kids you can learn much.  

Aside from the kids being impressive skiers.  We had some little contests.  I brought a couple pairs of SkullCandy headphones to give out to the winners.  We had the layover contest the second day.  We judged which freak could lay it over the furthest with out crashing.  Ryan won the Heshs and then one night after some video analysis Nick and Bobby wrestled for some ICons.  It was a good battle it even drew little blood.  Nick put Bobby in a head lock rubbing his lips into his braces and cutting is lips.  But Bobby gave Nick a little rug burn and ended up taking the title after two rounds. 

Speedfreaks is small right now but should grow in the years to come and hopefully help influence kids to become the best they can be, think outside of the box and to keep the need for speed instilled in their blood.  
http://www.denverpost.com/extremes/ci_10951269