Bormio!!!

Wow Bormio is such a stressful race! I would say it is the most stressful on tour. Once you think it is over you think you will relax but it was so stressful that after it was done we drove to Zurich had some pizzas (I had two and a salad, aiming for a food coma) and planned on heading straight to bed. It was around midnight when I TRIED to go to sleep. The anxiety of the race was still pumping through my veins. I amped myself up so much for the Stelvio and I couldn't come down. Neither could my roommate, Travis Ganong , we tried sleeping and the both of us kept tossing and turning in our beds. Finally after an hour of attempting I said "yo duder I can't sleep" and he replied with no sign of sleep in his voice "neither can I, lets watch a ski video." So we watched Chris Davenports new film Australis and still felt no signs of sleep around 2AM. So we moved onto an ESPN 30 for 30 episode, "Reggie Miller vs. The Knicks" (great show by the way) and it didn't help much. We ended up going to sleep around 4 AM woke up at 645 and felt just fine!

Leading up to Bormio is a funny time, at least for our Team and the Canadians. All the Euros are home having Christmas with their families while we are sitting around Europe twiddling our thumbs. We try to muster up some Christmas spirit but it is tough creating that with a bunch of guys who have been on the road for over a month and to add very little female presence. Once Christmas is over all the athletes start trickling into town. Coming off their Christmas high they are just wanting to get the Stelvio over with. There were talks on the hill of how much money would you give to be guaranteed a good result and not have to run the course again. Guys want to get it over with and have a good, healthy break over New Years. The classic downhills are looming in the distance and they want to be healthy for those. There is a lot of anxiety and tension in the air. People are scared, stressed, tired and are thinking about things other than racing. But when you push out of the gate to tackle the Stelvio piste you have to be focused!

To say the least Bormio is Intense! If you watched it you saw what the Stelvio does to the best skiers in the world. Try bounding side to side up a hill for 2 minutes straight. That is what it feels like to ski the Stelvio. Aside from my first year on the World Cup I haven't skied the Stelvio feeling healthy until this year and it still laid the smack down on me. But I love this hill. It is a true test of grit, determination and balls. If you want to win you have to charge the whole way down and I finally felt like I could do that this year and it was a battle indeed! I gave it everything every turn, I made it attacking the whole way down.

Trying to link all of the sections into one fluid motion was my focus. During the training runs I would whip turns off and have dead spots in between some of the sections so I was trying to mesh all of those together and make it flow. I could see what I needed to do but it was if I was going to actually muster up the guts to do it. The first training run was okay. I felt the course out and skied well but nothing special. After I did a little video analysis and found out some things I needed to fix. For the second training I went out with more determination really pushing the line into most of the difficult turns and I had some really good turns. i was psyched with some of the stuff I was seeing and feeling. It fired me up for race day. I could easily ski down and get a 20-30 result and get a few points but I told myself "Why??? It is time to show this hill what I have. Leave everything on the hill even if it eats you up." So I went for it! I almost lost it on the final pitch. My legs were burning and i got a little back entering the final face but I somehow got myself back up over my skis and made it to the finish. My first feelings as i crossed the line were feelings of relief. But then I tried to stop, first on my left leg and I almost collapsed so I switched to my right leg and it was just as bad. I told myself just don't crash. I made it finally flopping to the ground and instantly was stoked. I thought to myself "that was your best performance on that hill." I survived the Stelvio and was really happy with my run! I knew I gave it my all but also skied well! Then I saw my time it was 2:01 but I knew all winning times were around 2:00 on this course so I was stoked. I knew it wasn't a winning run but a good one. And a big step forward in my skiing and with my confidence.

Now lets go home and ski some Powder!!!

P.S. Thanks to Guilia Zazzi for the pics you always take great ones in Bormio

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all from the town of Bormio nestled in the middle of the Italian Alps. Christmas to me is a weird holiday, or I should say has been a weird holiday over the past several years. I spend it in Europe with the team, in Bormio usually. And we usually have a pretty good time. But I do miss my family, the christmas tree, all the delicious american food (the european isn't bad either), egg nog, and bad sweaters.
My Christmas usually consists of a little skiing, which is a tradition of my family and I try to keep alive (maybe because its easy) then some hockey with the Canadians which is always a good time. Followed by an incredible dinner at a resturant in Bormio which I still don't know the name of. We eat a 6 course meal and trade gag gifts while the whole time bantering back and forth to each other. Its a lot of fun. Then christmas day is pretty much the same but we have a Team USA dinner at Hotel Alu, and then open gifts from our teammates.
This year along with last we were fortunate to receive a ton of snow so we got to ski mid thigh deep powder half day. Not too shabby!
It would be safe to say this has been my best christmas so far in europe. But I do miss my family and friends. And I do wish them and you all a Merry Christmas

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Support WCD "Push for Points"

Team-

We want to take part in the "giving season" with a fun promotion. We would like to raise $20 for each World Cup point scored from now until the end of 2010. "End of Year Push for Points!"

We have a site: http://www.crowdrise.com/WCpoints

We are also taking guesses on the total number of points (US men and women) scored in these last 10 races of 2010. Whomever gets closest will win WCDF prizes!

Have people email me their guesses: scott@worldcupdreams.org

Thanks for the help!

Kick ass in the next few races and make my fundraising goal harder!

Scott

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Tough on the Eyes

Wow! Don't get me wrong with all of this and congrats to all of those who skied well in Val Disere but that hill needs to go or change. Todays Slalom race was so tough to watch with half of the field going out and the drastic difference in times from when the sun went down. We saw this a year or two ago with Gauthier De Tessier. He was one of a couple who had sun and then it went black and nobody could match his time. Steve Messillier killed it, no doubt, but he had sun and to be able to see is such an advantage. They at least need to change when they are running the race so there isn't the light disadvantage. Marcel Hirscher put on a show in Slalom like Ted did the day earlier in the GS, but most of the racers in between those few were tough to watch. Simply put it probably won't create many ski racing fans.

The reason I think FIS keeps racing on this hill is because the finish is in town and the crowd is a good one. But when it comes to TV viewers, I imagine they aren't that impressed. Where is the display of speed and power? The fluid motion of flowing down a course? It is missing here. It is tough to get excited when you see the best athletes in the world look like junior racers.

So here are my ideas to solve this problem. Make an exception for this hill and others like it, which are so steep that you have to cram the required amount of gates in there. I think the hill would be great if they could make it flow more. But the hill is so steep that it is tough to set any other way. With todays skiing technique and technology we pick up speed fast and if we change the sets to anything different we will most likely be going too fast for the slope. Another idea would be to run down the down other side where the women ran for the 2009 World Champs. The finish is still in town and the hill has a ton of terrain on it. I thought it looked like a lot of fun if it was prepped properly.

Somethings got to change.

And again a big congrats to Ted and Marcel for showing everyone how it is done.

Beaver Creek POV

Heres what its like running a portion of the SG course in Beaver Creek. I just got my Contour camera and the thing is dope!!! But I need to figure out a better angle from my helmet. When I watch this I keep trying to look ahead. Enjoy

P.S. Just arrived in Europe and its dumping in Munich like I have never seen before. Pretty cool. I predicted a big Euro snow year. Hopefully it just doesn't cancel anymore Downhills.

BOP Digger

Heres a clip of my crash from yesterdays training run. bummed they didn't get the race off today but, time to move on and race some SG tomorrow!

Race Time!

Heres a pic from today Zoom took of me. Wasn't the greatest turn and or run seeing that I took a good spill but all is good. My tailbone is a little bruised but I think I will be fine for tomorrow.

Birds of Prey! Let's get it on!