 Poster: A snowHead
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A bit wet, muddy and cold at The Vikings last weekend but all part of the adventure. Young carrosa had a new experience, falling over on his first run at gate 4. He managed to record a time but obviously not too hot. This made me think. How do you prepare for run 2? Make sure you finish, even though you could do with a good time or go for it and put the bad one behind you ?
Anyway young carrosa went for the "make sure I get past gate 4 and then go for it" option ... phew.. he made it down and shaved 6 seconds off his first run. Run 3 was time to go for it but unfiortunately he hit gate 10 hard and it slowed him down in the final third coming in a bit slower than run 2.
Young carrosa and young NickW teamed up for the dual slaloms and made the final ( beaten by Norfolk in the final but they are VERY good). To me this is real racing, brings out the competetive spirit and is great fun to watch and cheer!
Looking forward to the sun, hopefully, in Norwich in a couple of weeks and then off for high altitude training in the alps ( well ok a holdiay )
easiski, I know an easiski in Morzine, do you?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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carrosa, Nick W, Look forward to welcoming you to Norfolk. Nick W, watched your runs yesterday including your Harvey Smith moment from the shelter of my tent!
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Looks like we all had a fairly successful weekend. My race was SRSA at Bromley, which is normally far more of an LSERSA slope. So the course was a bit of a step up for this series (which are normally VERY easy), with a far more LSERSA feel to it. A couple of simple offsets to start off, a hairpin, a couple of more turny gates on the first roller, leading into a three-element flush to the second roller and another couple of turny ones to finish. Still nothing like CN, but a bit more to get your teeth into. I had a good first run down, getting into 3rd place in our agegroup - which had a huge entry of 14 competitors (although one no-show hurt)!. Was a bit surprised at this as by handguard had slipped a bit on an early gate, so one finger was outside it, so I spent most of the run trying to make sure I didn't clout any poles with that finger rather than worrying what the skis were doing. As this was my fastest run of the day, it sounds like I may have the same problem as NickW junior  - overworking the skis. The second run felt technically much more secure, but was 3/10ths slower (see previous sentence  ) - but most second runs were a bit slower as the sun came out and the slope must have been drying. Almost matched the first run with the third, but was pipped by 4/100ths for third place by the course-setter (who had skied out on his first run  ). Still 1/10th covered places 2-4, with the guy in 5th another 2/10th further back, and I beat both ski's colleagues by about half a second (he himself had some pathetic excuse about not being let out to play as he had some fingerpainting to do, or something like that)...it would just have been nicer to have been that 1/10th quicker. The agegroup leader though finished with a mystifyingly quick last run - his tails were sliding all over the place on pretty much every turn and he looked quite zig-zaggy, so I have no ideas how he managed to slice 4/10th off of his previous fastest time and be over half a second ahead of the rest of us.
In the overall rankings, I was a few percent down on the overall leader compared to two weeks ago, but it was a more technical course so that's sort of to be expected. I re-overtook one guy who'd overtaken me in the previous race, overhauled two others (including my training partner/rival  ) and got overtaken by a couple more. So good consolidation, and laid a bit of the jinx I've had with some really disappointing times here in my previous races. Was hoping for a little more improvement with the new skis, as the cornering felt way more secure, but I clearly need a little more time to work out where I can push them harder and where I can be lighter.
Nick W, it sounds like I'm the extreme opposite to you. I often think it would be interesting to find out what the commentary is saying as I'm coming down, but I hear almost nothing except the noise my skis are making on the matting; I hardly even hear the clatter of the poles (unless I screw up). It's also irritating that I frequently don't even register the time as it's broadcast - so keep on asking "what was that?". I also like putting myself in the gate rather than being put in as the activity stops me over-thinking the first few gates - I've probably done enough of that prior to getting going.
This concentration on the course sort of bit me though in the parallel slalom in the afternoon. This was again a bit more interesting that our previous courses - a flush in the middle with a few more turly gates to finish. Each of my three opponents actually skied out at about the first roller, quite surprising as two of them had home slope advantage - and one was the course-setter again  . Each of them though carried on skiing either in or alongside the course almost exactly level with me, so I could see them out of the corner of my eye, but not well enough to be sure that they were skiing outside the course. I guess I had an idea of what happened to the course-setter from the loud shout of "b0ll0cks" as we entered the flush, but I'd not seen what happened so had to carry on racing. The second race though, I was desperately trying to stay ahead of my opponent as she skied down, while still trying to work out whether she was skiing the course or not, took the final gate too tight and straddled. Unfortunately it seems we don't play by SSE rules here (where I would have been adjudged the winner as I got furthest down the course), and we are both counted as having lost . I think I'm going to have something to say about that  .
Saturday should have been good though for one other of our training group, who was in his first race for a couple of years. He learned donkeys years ago, is very old school, resists almost every attempt to get him to move on and was skiing on some 177cm Rossi 95s (but that is an improvement over the 195cm skis he keeps on hankering after). In one of his head-to-heads he was beaten by the 6yo bomber in the shocking pink jumpsuit   . Do you think he's going to take some stick over that? You betcha! Even he was saying after that that he thought it might be time to work out what these carving ski thingys are about.
Oh and looking at Nick W's times, I think Doug should be getting worried - a few more races should get that time down on the first run and then you'll really be nipping at his heels.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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GrahamN, Doug's got till Norwich
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| vivski wrote: |
| sadly I seem unable to stop myself from entering races! At least there aren't any in August so might recover a bit then! |
There are some indoor races in August on the 18th and 19th at Castleford if you find yourself with cash to spare.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Nick W, I didn't realise young carrosa was known as a nutter, but recent enquires around chez nous confirm reports. It must be maternal genes  .
easiski, glad you're not realted to Morzine easiski, I'm a morzine chaletite also and IMHO twas a lucky escape for you, nuff said
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Guys - don't forget the British Champs on 15/16 September at Norfolk. Should be 2 days of slalom races, seedpoint cut-off for entrants being 250 pts. Hopefully an invite giving details will be on Britski website sometime soon.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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vivski, Snowplougher, I'm hoping to be there. No seed points yet, but I have two chances coming up (Gloucester and So'ton), and should be able to make the cut - if I can just finish a course  .
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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GrahamN, SOunds like you have got to grips with the Dynamics then . See you Saturday !
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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ski, Good luck to all the  at Brentwood on Sunday. I will await the report with interest. We have two more weeks to practice before the next round in Norwich on 15th July.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Aargh - so near and yet so far!
Thanks for the compliment ski, but that second run was the only one I felt remotely close to how I can ski on these skis. Unfortunately as you were immediately before me in the running order I was too busy getting my skis and poles on to look down the course to see how you did.
Along with being quite flat, the part of the Brentwood slope used for individual slalom is quite long and narrow, so the opportunities for course variation are quite limited - so the course was quite similar to last year's IIRC. This time we had 14 gates in essentially a 1 mat wide corridor, with rhythm changes provided by a quite tight hairpin (gates 3-4) and a 3 element flush (gates 8-10). I was feeling pretty confident coming into this as I'd had a really good practice with the new skis on Thursday, I seem to do quite well on a wet surface, and Brentwood had been my best result last year. I was also encouraged by our group leader putting down a pretty scrappy first run (it turns out he was also trying out some new shorter skis). Unfortunately all that went to pot on turn 2 of the first run , where I lost it a bit resulting in a bit of a slide, and then completely failing to manage the spped coming out of the hairpin - resulting in an even bigger slide coming out of gate 6. Still, it was 1/10ths faster than the group leader, so not too disastrous - except my other main rival got his act together and was 3/10th faster still.
Run 2 the group leader got himself together and put down a more typical time, taking 7/10ths off his first run time. I still couldn't get turn 2 right, had to put in a bit of a twist and slide, and felt a bit precarious until I'd passed turn 6, but it felt much more respectable - it was still 25/100ths behind the group leader, but 1/10th in front of the first round group leader, and managed to stay just 2/100ths in front of him as he followed down straight after me.
Run 3, the door was thrown wide open by the group leader putting in a another run even slower than his first. So could this be that first group win I've been working so hard for? Chill man and stop thinking about it, and just do what you did on run 2 - as you've now just about got to grips with the course. Well it went a bit wrong coming out of the gate as I missed the matting with my second pole push, but not too bad. I was also getting time to get extra pushes in between gates - although got a bit out of balance in the flush, with the weight on the wrong foot at one point needing a sudden correction and costing a bit of speed. Probably blown it, but see what the third guy does. He came down pretty much as for the other runs: a bit messy and hurried through some of the final gates, and 2/10ths slower than his previous run, but basically doing just enough to win - experience coming to the fore (he's been doing this for ages, coaches at his slope and is regional assistant coach). Up to the timing board to see what the final times were - and I'm slower by A SECOND AND A HALF!!!!! I still can't believe it - it felt a bit slow at the end, but nowhere near that bad. Maybe the fact that I had time for those extra pushes indicates that things were not very good - but over a second is a HUGE loss. I got the timing guy to check his records as I couldn't believe it, but nothing doing. I do remember now that one thing we noticed about Brentwood last year was that it really rewards smooth skiing - if you try too hard to go faster it just makes you more jerky and can be seriously counter-productive.
I just have to face it that I blew it big time - still came a very poor third (I had enough of a lead over the 4th place guy to hold that), but it's now not looking good to repeat last year's 2nd in the series overall (the way the countback works basically I need to win each of the next two races just to hold onto second, but if I do that it's still mathematically possible, but unlikely, for me to win the series). I guess it's time now to forget about too much from this year and just gain as much experience as possible in the rest of the season to prepare for a better run next year (and just hope that Andy Robinson doesn't come good on his threat to come back to racing, as I'll never beat him)
As ski said, it was good getting the opportunity to play though the course over lunch, and practice through a realistic course. We never really get more than about 7-8 gates in our training courses (and never have any timing gear), so I feel really short of proper course experience - which is at least partly why I'm having so much trouble getting decent performances in competition. Having not seen ski during the race itself, I couldn't see how it compared to his timed runs, but he looked pretty decent to me (although possibly still a bit slidy) - so his underachievement in competition (i.e. apparent inability to actually finish a race  ) is particularly strange. After a rubbish first run down (ski out), I finally got it together and managed to put in some runs I was really pleased with - good flow, thinking 2-3 gates ahead, starting to commit to the next turn while rounding each pole, knees working the skis with the right amount of edge and keeping just enough pressure on the ski to keep it carving, etc. - all the stuff we know we're supposed to do but very rearely actually manage. And I'm certain all of them would have been at least 5/10ths faster than my fastest timed run (I guess racers can tell fisherman's stories too ). And I got some good runs down in the parallel slalom in the afternoon - although as a team we had a dreadful set of results, with even our best skier skiing out on a very easy - if fast - course.
Oh well - that's all history now, so the next job is to try and get that feeling back in practice this week, and roll on next weekend.
(And I promised it to myself to not write an essay this week ).
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Mon 2-07-07 10:37; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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GrahamN, Interesting report. I saw the times of you and ski and had already got a feel for the likely views.
The ERSA race there last year actually experimented with a course that went down the first steeper bit and then cut up the slope and round the back of the trees before dropping back onto the slope proper and ended up below the shorter lift. Totally confused the little ones and a few of the bigger ones. Is that the way ski went on the third run?
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well, seems like it was a wet and frustrating weekend for all! My bath is currently filled with the aftermath of the Pendle monsoon yesterday - not looking forward to going home and having to sort it all out
anyway, the skiing report from the north - Saturday was Stoke CN and looked like a disaster at the start of the day with heavy rain and lots of matting sticking up at the bottom of the slope leading to some nasty crashes in free practice - the worst resulting in a dislocated shoulder and very bloody face... but eventually they fixed the matting and the timing gear (which didn't like the rain much apparently ) and the racing got underway. I was pleased with my first run - felt much more in control of the skis and carving much better but frustratingly lacking in acceleration and speed again.. but I did beat many people who usually beat me so I was happy! 2nd run was really sloppy, leaning back, skidding - 1/10th faster than the first tho but others all made better improvement so back behind those I had been so happy to beat in run 1 3rd run was better, good carving turns again and attacking more so improved almost 4/10ths. Still not getting the acceleration tho - a problem for all in the club so we are going to beg our coach to set some faster courses to practice on instead of the horribly difficult ones we usually do where you just have to try and get down in one piece! But I did manage to knock another couple of points off (short slope!) which was good , and got 3rd in my age group by default (only 3 in it!)
Sunday was the last in the GP series at Pendle - we were hopeful in the morning for the weather with only a few showers, got in a decent 1st run, again much more controlled, getting forward over the skis and carving them... then struck the GP 2nd run curse! 2nd course was very fast and was having a great run, carving nicely, working the skis on the totally flat section at the bottom but got a bit late towards the end and got caught out by 2nd last gate which was very tight - made it round but had to apply the brakes to do so which cost about 3 seconds  ... still my best GP so far - fell in my first at pendle on 2nd run and skied out on 2nd run at sunderland.... but frustrating nonetheless! I wasn't alone tho - those last 2 gates caught many people out! Just after I had finished run 2 came the deluge, accompanied by thunder and lightning which resulted in the race having to be stopped twice for about half an hour or so each time but they did mange to get it back on and finished eventually - despite a rather large puddle appearing on top of one of the rollers which caused a few problems for the later racers! so it was a very soggy trip home yesterday, without the gazebo, which sadly succumbed to the Pendle monsoon...... 
so a mixed weekend really but I am pleased overall cos I do think progress is being made - getting that feeling of proper carving turns much more often in the races and having the confidence to attack the courses more... next hopefully will be acceleration and speed! Depending on the will of the coach summer race league at rossendale next sunday will be a chance to try for that speed
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Congrats on further improvement Viv, even if not quite what you were looking for.
| vivski wrote: |
| Still not getting the acceleration tho - a problem for all in the club so we are going to beg our coach to set some faster courses to practice on instead of the horribly difficult ones we usually do where you just have to try and get down in one piece! |
We sometimes have that too - although just impossibly wide courses that you can't take a racing line through rather than impossibly difficult - I wonder why they do it? (OK - answer is normally to ensure you concentrate on a particular technical issue rather than try to race it). In our case the problem is largely down to having a very steep first half slope and a huge range of ability within the group, so that it's difficult to set a course that will test the better ones in a realistic way and still be doable for the less able. The two fastest of us in our club (seniors/masters only) are actually getting quite wound up about this as we never get any practice through realistic courses, other that when actually at races. Either they're now way too easy, or more like a GS-type course.
For us psychology is also getting quite important now. One story Phil S told on my training week with him last year was about when he was training with a mate, back in the days when he skied plastic. The mate was of similar technical ability, but never as fast. The difference was that the mate felt he was fast in the course, whereas Phil didn't - so the mate would back off whereas Phil would push harder. Hence the speed difference. Moral of the story - you need to get your head to the point where runs feels so-so, or you'll never go faster. The two of us have now improved to the level where (certainly in my case) when I get a good run in (like the practice runs we had after the Saturday race), it feels very fast, even if still only in the 150 point range, and in a race I start panicking about whether I'm going to hold it in the turns or come a cropper. This of course stiffens up the legs and pretty much ensures the latter outcome, whereas when there's little pressure in a training run, it's no big deal if you ski out, the muscles stay responsive and active, and everything's tickety-boo. If the run's at the 200-250 point level it doesn't feel at all fast and I'm fairly sure I can recover a mistake and still finish. Getting over this mental block can only be more experience of getting the 150 point runs right - unless anyone has any better ideas?
When trying to get acceleration I find the most important thing is to get the pressure on the ski really early, i.e. at about 1 o'clock in the turn, and make sure that you've pulled your legs up in the second half of the previous turn, to give you room to extend into the new turn, launching yourself towards the next pole - but then I guess you knew that anyway as a sub-200 point skier. Remembering to do that in the race is the problem - but it's simple to practice just free skiing without poles - give yourself a 1 mat wide corridor to ski and (if you have any spare brainpower) try to hit the seams with your inside ski as you do it.
This actually relates to something ski and I were talking about on Saturday: I get my best performances when I deliberately think about keeping my body low throughout, rather than standing up on the skis. (It is of course still important to stand over the skis rather than let them run ahead of you). This puts the legs bent with the muscles in their mid range in neutral, and allows you to extend or retract without any rise or fall at the hips - so minimising any extra forces required to make unnecessary shifts of your CoM. When pushing to get acceleration the important force is sideways, separating your CoM from the contact point of the skis as a slingshot, and it's important to minimise any extra vertical force, as that just causes the ski to dig into the surface unnecessarily, and slow you down. The important thing here to keep this position is to ensure the leg retraction happens as the pressure builds in the second half of the turn and you're most compressed as your skis cross under for the start of the next - or you end up standing up - and I think that's what I've been forgetting recently.
Well, that's my theory anyway .
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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vivski, & GrahamN, I really can't comment on all this technical stuff as its way beyond me but its really interesting stuff to dream about.
On the question of training courses, the coaches get together during the session and teach the same sort of thing to each group(just at a different level). When the course is set up (about half way through the session) it is designed to test the theory of that session but is always changed after about 30 mins from either a technical tight course to a more flowing one or visa versa.
I am the worst example of a skier who stands too tall and relies on then going up and down. The coach has spent the vast majority of his time with me so far in getting a crouched dynamic stance out of me. On thing he suggested was to get me to go down the course feeling that my eye line was about a foot down from the top of each pole (tricky when they are a bit wonky) and that really helped. Remember that he is trying to teach a 350+ pointer.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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vivski, our sessions sound a bit like Nick W's although a bit more compressed. We normally get going about 8:10am, with 20mins or so warm up, then work for about 30 mins on some technical aspect, then maybe 25 mins through a course, before having to get out of the way for a little kids group lesson session coming on at 9:30. We're a pretty small group (up to about 15, sometimes as few as 6) so we normally get plenty of feedback from our coach. The main problem from the racing aspect though is that the majority of the group are there primarily for technical improvement rather than racing (that's why I started there, after all - I never had any intention of actually doing any racing ). Currently only 3-4 of us are active racers, but one or two guys are just getting their feet wet (you'd beat them, Nick), but really starting to enjoy it - so the emphasis is very much on basic technique improvements rather than with a proper race focus. We also have an ad hoc session (unfortunately with no poles, although we can sometimes put markers out on the slope) on a Wednsday evening - with normally just the 3 or 4 keener racers and no coaches - so we do lots of self analysis (and I think may soon get our egos out of the way enough for some mutual coaching). The major problem with that in the summer is that the kids don't finish until 8pm, and the slope kicks us off at 20:45. Hence, we're sort of drifting unofficially to Thurs eve when we can start when we like.
Nick W, one other idea that may work with the standing too tall thing.....try imagining yourself kneeling on the skis as you come down the course. Also try actively pointing into the turn with your knees - but by rolling them in from your ankles rather than trying to twist them from the hips. It may not work for you, but does on occasion for me (when I can remember to think about it). You may get some success with something like that vid veeeight posted of the guy doing it all with shin angulation: for that exercise hold the knees still and let the lower legs run from side to side below them, but to get the knees rolling do it by actively moving the knees from side to side. As your hands are down on your knees you're naturally in a lower position, but combine it with the thought of kneeling on your skis to ensure you get forward flex at the ankles and don't just end up sitting on the loo. It sort of works for me, and I've got incredibly poor forward movement at my ankles, so it should work for you.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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GrahamN, I must get to Aldershot for a ski with you, will you be skiing Wed or Thurs this week?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dunk, need to get back to you on that one, but tending towards Thurs at present, as I could get there 19:15-30.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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GrahamN, I normally go to Guildford Thurs, instructor training, but could do with a ski on a slightly bigger slope.
I'm working in Aldershot Thurs, so can easily take some time off in the evening to ski?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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GrahamN, Thanks for the thoughts. My 9 year old offered me similar analysis but kept it simple for me. He said draw eyes on your shin guards and get them to look around the poles 
The Hemel training sessions on Mondays and Fridays are only for racing but work on the principle of good racers being good skiers first. There are usually six coaches with groups of between 5- 12 peeps. Last night they were teaching the under 8's banana gates, hairpins, etc. including showing them video of their lines.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
Is that the way ski went on the third run?
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No - straddled coming out of a flush. But it was next to the trees you mention I have done a race that went the way you describe. but a long time ago
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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ski, Good luck back at Welwyn this weekend. We're off to your area to see the Tour.
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Nick W, Have fun
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Well, another weekend of rather mixed feelings - two races with me performing to expectations rather than potential. Went to Gloucester on Saturday for another Club National, and Welwyn on Sunday for the 4th race in the LSERSA series. LSERSA is the more serious of the two local regions I ski in, and the courses were probably of similar standard - essentially each had one turn the solution of which governed your approach to the rest of the course: the Gloucester one a tightish approach into a haripin, and the Welwyn one a gate right on the most complex shaped bump on the slope, with an approach crying out to be taken way too fast - which several very highly ranked skiers then proceeded to do . And true to form, I put in a fair to middling first run (although I took the Welwyn one way too cautiously prior to the bump turn) and then had a reasonable second run, putting me in touch with the group leaders - finally blowing it by trying too hard on the final run, although fortunately losing only half a second rather than that appalling 1.5 at Brentwood. Again a little bit disappointing, as that third run felt technically the best, whereas I messed up turn 3 or 4 a bit on the second run, and the rest of the run was a series of recoveries just about the wrong side of being out-of-control - but that ended up my fastest by quarter to half a second. The Gloucester third run lineup (remember this is in ascending speed order from the first two runs) was interesting in that there were 9 of us in the M2 group (40-50 agegroup), and all but one of us formed a single group in the middle of the order with only a single teenager interrupting the greying tide (oh and one of the 30-40 agegroup too)!
So the end results were mixed. I was fairly pleased to come out of Gloucester with 181 points including penalty (which will turn into 217 seed points, as I only have one result and this gets loaded by 20%), but would have been happier if I'd not chucked away the chance of say 165 with that last run - and still I ended up 4th out of those 9 (helped by two of the slightly faster ones skiing out). I hope I can get rid of that loading factor at Southampton later this month. The real positive of this though is that it qualifies me to enter the British Championships at Norwich - but I'll wait for a reasonable performance at Southampton before thinking about that.
The Welwyn race went almost as a carbon copy of the Brentwood one. After two runs I was in 2nd place by 2/100ths, but within touch of the leader. The leader messed up his third run, I messed up mine just as much (or worse), and the third place guy won, with me coming in third. The only differencee wee the other two guys switched roles this week, and this time I was only 3/10th being the winner and 15/100ths behind 2nd (on combined times). So near and yet so far - again. With one race left in this series, this result also fixes the end of year placings: the guy who came second cannot catch yesterday's winner, who therefore wins the series, I can't catch the guy in second, but the guy in 4th only has a mathematical chance of catching me (i.e. by winning the final race, which essentially requires all the top three to fail to finish). So the last race of that series (not till the end of Sept) effectively becomes a one-off, with nothing more at stake, and should be good fun.
This is now the 4th consecutive CN format race where I've blown it on the third run, so it's getting irritating to say the least - and I've got to work out a way around this mental hang-up. The next two races though are back to the easier SRSA format (just best time to count, practice through the course first), with but with even keener competition around me. So much less pressure on any one run, and maybe, just maybe I can stop leaving my training technique the wrong side of the start gate and start letting my body do something sensible .
There were also some super team races in the afternoon. Those not competing for clubs get put into scratch teams, with the teams made up to get as similar times on paper as possible. This sometimes ends up with some teams of releatively similar calibre skiers, against teams with one or two very fast counterbalanced with one or two "not so fast" . This happened biig time with the eventual winners, who had a pretty good 20year old as their anchor man. Time and time again he started his leg 4 gates behind but just managed to nip a win with a margin somewhere between half a gate and a boot length.
Chatham, Bromley and Wycombe all had some excellent teams (on paper Wycombe being the hands down winner), with the final race bringing the entertainment run of the series. One of the Wycombe young bucks (ranked about 2% slower than the current Britich champion) has a somewhat 'distinctive' style on occasions. This time he got a bit late coming out of a gate about half way down the course and had to throw in a pretty serious turn to stay in the course. This of course left him even later on the next gate and the recovery move was even more severe. This continued for about 4 or 5 gates, with all the spectators going oooh...wow....shi....wow....SHI....WTF! as his edge angles got more and more extreme and his ar$e got closer to the matting on each turn. The last two he executed about 6 inches off the deck - and ended up essentially crossing the finish line on his back! Top entertainment.
Oh - and ski actually managed to get three runs in getting all required bits to go the right way round all the poles
And spyderman made a (non-competitor) appearance too, but skimottaret came up with some lame excuse about having been in bed with Flo or something like that. You need to get training mate - NOW!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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GrahamN, detailed report as ever! That's great that you got good points at gloucester so can do the champs even with the loading factor. And still soton to get them even lower! Sounds like you are having some similar days to me - some runs feeling really good technically but still not happening all the time (and very annoying when the technically good ones are slower than the series of linked recoveries )
No skiing on Saturday for me was quite nice to have a day off tho and not have to get up at the crack of dawn! Sunday was summer race league at rossendale - mixed day really, first individual run was terrible, got backwards at the start, didn't attack it really so didn't get speed at the bottom - and slid everywhere on the rubbish matting as well! Second run was better (over half a second better!) felt good technically but still almost impossible to get good grip on the top of the slope, tho I did build some speed at the bottom - still need to practice accelerating through the turns. Pleased(ish) to make group 9 for head to heads, equals last month for best group but still think can do better! Disappointing head to heads, lost 2 won 1 - worst performance to date but I spose it comes with being in better group with faster people! Also highlighted much work still to do on my starts, on both losing runs I basically lost it on the start, with the other person getting away much quicker and me catching them all the way down but just not being able to make up the difference so we are going to try a mass appeal to the coaches on tuesday night for some start practice and also some (slightly) easier courses for speed work - almost everyone in the club could be identified by terrible starts in the head to heads and an inability to accelerate through turns! Would have done it last week but a lot of us missed training due to illness induced by the Pendle monsoon last weekend
Thanks also to Nick W, GrahamN, for the info on your training sessions and tehnical hints and tips last week! Really interesting and useful - going to try imagining kneeling on the skis this week, should help as I have really noticed I am trying to turn my feet rather than use knees to get good angulation
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