 Poster: A snowHead
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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, Nick W, Well, 1st up I DID DNF this time to. But on the first run - so that was a bonus  2nd and 3rd runs not too bad, actually for the first and only time this year felt like I was skiing, rather than just a random collection of arms and legs careering roughly in the direction of this finish, which is more usually the case.
It was good to meet Skimottaret - hope you enjoy the tele skis 
Not many folk from out club this weekend - mostly because of some cycle race that went through TW. And missed the dual slalom 'cos the club member who I gave a lift too needed to get home to look after some horses 
GrahamN, hasn't mentioned was the weather, what a complete change from last week ! Yesterday it was summer ! The Welwyn slope doesn't have any misting, so it really is dry ! The last gate was almost on the flat, so much so you could see everyone slowing before the finish. The 'problem' gate was an offset into a flush set on a ridge. It wasn't actually as bad as it looked, but you did have to ski properly. On my 3rd run I did not ski properly. On my first I didn't even get there !
Anyway, for me some good things this week - a more reliable performance, some better tactics to use whilst waiting to start.
Anyway next race for me will be in September (which seems an age away) - may do the Lions at Castleford but it's a long way to go  In between times I have to refresh BASI and ASSI so better start practising snow ploughs again 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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GrahamN,
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two SRSA races this month
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Mrs Ski tells me I'm going on holiday  Will be in Soton for the next one tho'
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Well done Nick W - now just to get that last run performance in the first two and Doug will be quaking in his boots!
(I was thinking I didn't have much to say this week...but it now looks as if I've discovered another volume of Proust )
Sunday also brought up the 4th of the Southern Region races, this time at Aldershot - so home field advantage  . Aldershot does have a very big home-field advantage as it's very steep for the first half, and quite flat for the second half - with a dodgy bit at the join (the matting doesn't sit on the ground very well there and grip is a bit 'variable'). And remember that Southern also has the easiest possible race format: single fastest time of three to count, and open practice through the course beforehand. It's also the normal form that the courses are set out a few days beforehand - so the home club(s) definitely don't get any extra paractice time...oh no sirree !!
So the deck's stacked very much in my direction, and I've been skiing really well in practice, so this is my biggest chance of the year, and I'm really looking forward to it. With a few more of our local club turning out for their first(ish) race, we've now got an even bigger entry in the 30-50 agegroup - 16 in all, and the series winner from the other regional series is also making a rare appearance in this one. So no pressure , and pretty much all my main rivals here - but I've really got a chance to win this one, and boy do I want it.
The course is 9 gates in a corridor a fraction over 1 mat wide, with a 3-element flush as gates 5-7, starting off the flat section. As usual the gates on the steep section allow you to go way too fast to make the turn into the flush if your line's not perfect, but if you get the line just right and have good control in your turns you can do it at full speed. Things go pretty well in practice, and I see later that it's put the wind up a few of my rivals. However, there are a good few that are having real problems with the fastest turn at gates 4-5 (where you also hit the spot of reduced grip) - notably two lasses in the British Development squad  who both get it wrong and go sprawling down the matting. Shortly afterwards we see that they've changed the course - bringing gate 4 in by 1 full diamond (about 20cm) - ostensibly to avoid a bit of bare matting, but that's small round objects  . I've finished my practice by now, but hearing the protests from teammates about how it's made the course so easy I quickly get up there for one more run just as practice closes, and they're right - you've got way more latitude on the line, can go all out and can still make the turn easily.
I'm towards the end of the running order and I see a few of my main rivals go down, in about 9.4-9.6 seconds. That's pretty fast for this slope, but they don't look particularly fast. My turn - reasonably good start, first four turns feel OK but a bit too easy, awkward turn no problem at all and flush OK but not as tidy as it could be, then three good skating pushes through the last three turns to the line. 9 seconds dead - yay- hay!!!!!! Way out in front. Turn to watch Bromley's winner (who pulled out that inexplicably fast last run) - and he's looking disturbingly good....8.92 sconds....damn!!!!! The extacy turns to agony  . Then it's the winner from Christchurch 2, capable of blisteringly fast runs at random moments, but he's not quite with us. So second so far - just.
Second round my run's a bit more ragged - I get the line a bit wrong coming in to the awkward gate and have to recover a bit on the entry to the flush, but still manage 9.09. Group Leader gets it a bit better and stretches his lead with an 8.84, and Number 3 closes with a 9.08 - so it's hotting up at the top.
Waiting for third round it suddenly strikes me that Group Leader is really going for it today: we're normally pretty relaxed and chatty in the start queue, but this time he's sitting there staring intently down the course, very slow movements, no recognition of anyone around him - OMG he's really zoning for this!!!! And this is a fun race series! At my start I can't quite get my poles where I want them - don't know why as I had no problem in the other runs, maybe the start gate has moved slightly as they'd been having troubles with it not getting activated. Mistime it a little bit, push too early with the poles and end up jumping up rather than forwards, but the rest of the run feels pretty darned good. Could maybe have got pressure on earlier in the early turns and projected down the slope more than across it, but it feels pretty good. What's the time....it's taking an age to come up......it's an 8 .....  .....8.90.....damn ! Group Leader now comes down, again looking really good.....8.83! So second so far, by 7/100ths. No 3 now comes down......9.01, phew.
So second it is. Once again, so near and yet so far - but this time it's an honourable second as I know I skied at the level I can rather than being a stiff bag of nerves. And it's the right result - but if only I'd got a good start I could have nicked it. It was about a half second faster equivalent than I've ever skied before, and also about that in front of my training partner (who also skied more to his training standard than he's been doing recently) - and more significantly 0.7 seconds faster than the LSERSA group winner. If only I could have done that a week earlier I'd still be in with a shot at the LSE series win, rather than being third. Oh well, that'll have to be the target for next year. Comparing to last year I've sliced 2 whole seconds off my time (although the course must have been easier as the winner was about 0.5 seconds faster than would have been expectedl). There were a good few scalps taken, and looking outside the agegroup I'm only 1/10th behind one of those British Children's Squad lasses . While not really a fair measure, if the race had been seeded that would have been about 130 seed points (I've fiddles the calculation to exclude the overall winner as he doesn't do seeded races) - OMG, that's a tough level for an old git to live at! And if there's anyone bridling at the unfair advantage obtained by practicing through the course before race day - the 1st and 3rd place guys are members of Bracknell club, and where to they practice, now their own slope is too dangerous to race on? Oh no they were not running the course for 2 hours on Friday night were they....no sirree !!
As I've mentioned before, the downside of doing well in the morning is that it makes your afternoon job in the head-to-heads that much harder. I'm at the bottom of my group of four, with the Group Leader at the head of it - and ski's star pupil just in front of me (by 1/100th). So I'm up against ski's guy on the first run - and nearly false start as I'm so up to get a good run in. So I'm a bit slow out after recovering from the check to avoid junping the gun. About half a ski length behind all the way down but it's a bit marginal and in a last gasp effort to catch him at the line I end up catching something and dive over the line - full speed faceplanting just over it. This is not particularly pleasant on Dendix, but fortunately all the armour works and I come away with just a bitten lip - and the beard seems to have minimised any graze on the chin. Oh well - plenty of sympathy...but no point. Second head-to-head is actually against No 3's son - who gets a way better start than me and leads my at least a gate all the way down. Final one is against Group Leader - so this is the race of the day! Finally I get an excellent start, well beating him to the first gate and I don't see him for the rest of the run - but can hear him. As I know I have to give it my all it's very marginal round the last few gates - one foot turns, inside ski turns, God knows what, but I cross the line first by about a gate.....and then the race organiser (who was fourth in our group and winner at Christchurch 1) tells me Group Leader skied out on the second gate so all those gymnastics were totally unnecessary! Anyway it was fun - and I finally get a point!
Team races followed and we're fairly optimistic, but both Christchurch and Medway are looking very good. Unfortunately it goes wrong even before the start as our best skier badly sprains his wrist in a fall on his last H-t-H. In with a substitute but we're still OK. Start guy does OK but not quite as much of a lead as we might expect, I'm second and get a cracking start, probably a gate or more up by half way down and then.....aaargh.....turn too early for entry to a hairpin, hit the pole with my ski-tip and technically it's a straddle (although the gate marshalls are not good a picking those marginal ones up), but I'm now out of balance and can't make the next gate, but am going too fast to think fast enough to avoid crossing the line - so DSQ for the team and we're knocked out . The rest carry on skiing though and we beat the opposition by over half a course length, just for the record. So really Sorry guys..... . Looking at Christchurch and Medway though they are really on form and their final is blisteringly fast - there's no way we'd have made it past the semis. Medway's anchor man was the overall winner today, who's been skiing out of his skin for the last few weeks - and has really got the team race format taped at present (this is the same guy who single handedly pulled his scratch team through to win at Welwyn last week). But it's Christchurch who have the strength in depth and come out the winner by about half a ski length.
So a Grand Day Out - but 8/100ths away from being a Great one. Bring on next Saturday and we'll see what happens at So'ton.
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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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Hi GrahamN, I was visualising the proceedings as I read, exciting stuff. One more place to go, good luck next week.
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Nice reports Nick W, GrahamN, sounds like you both had good races - well done! Guess it's my turn to write a novel now I was at Gloucester this weekend for the last 2 races in the Celtic Cup series and it went reasonably well, after a bit of a disastrous trip on Friday afternoon when I tried taking others advice to avoid the M6 and M5 and ended up sheepishly back on the M6 one junction further on from where I would normally come on to it 2 hours after I set out ah well, at least I know that the other route is not a good option now!! but made it in the end, nice meal in pub at campsite made me feel slightly better and the tent finally went up in light rain as opposed to a torrential downpour...
So, the skiing! Saturday was a lovely day for once! Lots of sunshine and everyone complaining about being hot as opposed to wet for a change format was a bit different from usual, 2 runs down the same course in the morning for age group celtic cup points and seed points then top 16 females and top 32 males did dual slalom in the afternoon, with a separate minis race and one fun dual slalom run against your nearest competitor for those not in the top ranks! first run felt comfortable - much more over the skis and early in the turns, but still not carving cleanly and accelerating round the turns, time not too bad but could have been better. Second run was 0.44 seconds faster, pleased with that but still not accelerating round the turns - theme of the weekend was that I was skiing the top sections really well but not carrying the speed through the bottom of the course - getting slower, not faster!! In my HtH I provided evidence of my much improved start by managing a false start for the first time ever the starter held us for much longer than I expected and I went on the "racers ready" instead of "go".... as it was just fun races they didn't call us back but I checked a bit on my way down the ramp cos I knew I'd done it... still went on to win the race but obviously wouldn't have counted.... last out of my age group as usual but much closer to one of the other girls than I was last time we raced at hemel so signs of improvement....
Sunday reverted to typical race day weather - torrential downpour! Luckily my 2 runs fell in dry spells!! Also back to traditional 2 runs on 2 different courses format. Much the same as saturday, good starts (well, better than I used to do!), felt good and fast on top sections but lost speed and time at the bottom . times were not bad tho and I beat most of the people I really wanted to.... setting sights on new targets now .. points weren't as good as I'd hoped, with Gloucester being short, but managed 191 on Sat and 189 on sunday - annoyingly the penalties were 10 on sat and 5 on sun as those were the minimum for the format, when the actual calculated ones would have been 3.something on both days... but that's the system and considering Jayme Baggio was racing I felt my actual race points before penalty were OK....at least now I am consistently in that region whereas before those results were occasional. Just missed out on an overall series medal in my age group coming 4th on Sunday and 4th overall but not bad for my first CC series and lots to build on for next year!
Down to 188.67 in latest points list so heading for that 175 - not sure I can do it this year now but you never know, good race at southampton next week and some good champs performances could get me there - time to work on the speed and acceleration before September... also lots of weight training for the arms to get some muscle behind the push out the start
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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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Glad to see you guys are working on your seedpoints - not sure if Southampton will be water-skiing though! Good luck to all.
Nick W the Norwich ski slope doesn't have the benefit of horizontal rain, so the missing system is important - and also on over-ride during the races just to even things up! Little Snowplougher advises me its important to carry your speed off the steeper section before the mid point, but its easier for him to say than the rest of us mere mortals to do!
Looks like an interesting line-up of course setters for the British Champs there, could be an interesting weekend - just hope summer arrives!
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You know it makes sense.
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Nick W there are a fair few slopes around the country where that is true, especially Pendle. As for the ERSA race, there was a widespread opinion that the course setter hadn't made the most of the slope - working against it. Hopefully the course setters lined up for the Brit Champs will be on the ball.
Thanks for the weather warning, glad I haven't booked any hols in August!
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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, Congrats on your points on Sunday
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Poster: A snowHead
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gsb, thank you very much - very pleasing result for me. Good chatting with vivski too, who managed admirable consistency in her race - but unfortunately not of a good kind .
Saturday:
Sunday:
Actually, it's amazing how your expectations change your perception of a race. After my breakthrough at Aldershot last week, and a couple of good races at Southampton last year, I was lookg for a good result on Saturday to give me a chance of an agegroup podium finish in the series (I'm currently sitting 4th). Unfortunately I couldn't really get to grips with the course and ended up being pushed into 5th place, with the guy in 2nd only once previous to Saturday having beaten even my slowest time in any given race  - still I guess it was his turn for home advantage and familiarity with the course . I felt way happier with my performance on Sunday though, coming......5th in agegroup, with an almost identical time to the Saturday (but the course was skiing maybe 1-2/10ths slower). So the clock tells that the races were almost identical, but they felt completely different.
The courses were truly evil though! Southampton is really too short for Club Nationals, but there is a ridge connecting the tops of the two main slopes so they can run the course with a hard right at the bottom of the short steep start ramp, along the ridge then a hard left to continue down slope 2. That slope is also a bit interesting, being moderately steep with not brilliant visibility as it is heavily shaded by trees with several bumps and dropoffs scattered around. The Saturday course smoothed out that initial right turn, but then went straight into a three-element flush leading into the hard left. This was the truly evil turn, being well over 90 degrees, and then a pretty tight corridor down the rest of the slope. The only guy who managed to get close to carving that hard left was the overall winner, and even he slid it more often than not. The rest of us just had to skid the turn, even if you drifted way wide and then pray we didn't have too much speed to make the next gate. Easily the most difficult course I've come across to date - and this is supposedly an easy/beginners' regional race series! However it was deliberately set as practice for the following day's Club National.
I felt the Sunday course was more skiable, but had three crunch points rather than the usual one. When watching the setter working it out we were all going WTF?!!!, but once you got on the slope it looked a lot less scary. The turn off the ramp was a lot tighter, so you had to think fairly hard about your line right at the start to carry speed along the ridge, which was a bit more turny than on Saturday. The hard left was easier (although vivski and a dozen or so others may not think so ) and it was possible for mere mortals to almost carve it (although you definitely had to steer it as well). But then we got into a couple of back-to-back hairpins diagonally across the slope - so effectively forming a diagonal "royal flush" - finishing with another fairly hard left right over a dropoff and the final two gates - which caused a few more problems as it was easy to take too much speed out of the flush. The vertical drops between gates were also fairly irregular, which I understand causes controversy in certain circles, but is surely just another element in the puzzle the setters pose us. So essentially an easier course to ski than the Saturday, but if you didn't think about it carefully there were more heffalump traps to fall into. Lots of us took the first run very (i.e. much too) carefully until we realised the big left turn was nowhere near as viscious as the previous day, and could then be a lot more aggressive on the second run.
Once again the top 5 Masters' skiers were all pretty close together after the 2nd run (I was in the mix with the two from the 30-40 sub-agegroup and the two higher ranked of the 40-50 subgroup), with the others about half to one second behind, but I had a bit too much to do to be thinking about a medal today - so just wanted a solid third run to get decent race points. (I was in 4th at that stage, 2/10th off being 3rd but only 7/100ths in front of a much faster skier who had had a bad 2nd run, so expected to lose that position.) I still got a bit of third-runitis, failing to attack the hard left quite as well as on my second run and losing 2/10ths, and so did the 3rd place guy, but as expected the 5th place guy pulled up a few 10ths, but still only into 4th place. But all-in-all I was pretty happy with that - particularly as I also beat the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place guys from Saturday (that guy who came 2nd on Saturday was a non-competitor, but was forerunning).
Looking at the fast guys coming down as the round proceeded it started looking even better as one-by-one they screwed up the hard left (of course they're taking it much faster than us, so it's particularly spectacular when they get it wrong). So the penalty (handicap applied to the race results) for the day was looking fairly promising. And in the end it was very promising - giving me 151 points, which is the threshold I've always considered the level at which skiers start to look as if they know what they are doing! Not as good as last week's notional 130 points, but this time it was for real in a real course.
So this should give me 166.58 points when the next list comes out (the average of your best - and in my case only - two results). Very nice. But that is just one point worse than my training partner (who had a pretty bad day on Sunday). If only I could have avoided losing one of those 1/10ths on the last run I would come out ranked just ahead of him - which would have been so sweet! He's even more competitive than me and we are now tied on victories over the other over the season - but it's looking better for me as I've now won 5 of the last 6, whereas all but one of his vistories were in the first 6  . He did have a broad smile on his face on Saturday as he pipped me into 4th place on the last run - but was in a pretty filthy mood at the end of Sunday (partly as I'd beaten him by nearly a second a run, but also as his son has been completely outclassed by his main competition, who has moved into a totally different league over the last couple of weeks).
I guess I'll be going to Norfolk in September after all now!
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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, Well done. Tony from Hemel who you were next to in the results is one of our instructors and considered to be one of the Hemel "elite" so you're there!!
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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, good and detailed report as usual! Well done on the points! I am more annoyed about my crashes now that I have seen what my points could have been had I stayed on my feet and slightly improved my first run time in the other runs but never mind - all a learning process! And it was nice to meet you at last and have a chat....
So as everyone else may have guessed from that report I had a marginally disappointing day on Sunday! I think the weekend was doomed from the start as I happily set off on friday lunchtime from manchester to get to southampton nice and early and meet up with the friend we were staying with and go out for a few beers seeing as there was a rare day off from racing on saturday...... sadly the floodwaters on the M40 had other plans and it took 8.5 hours to get there instead of 3-3.5 as usual there is a 2 mile stretch of the M40 that I now never wish to see again having closely examined it for 3 hours! So not the best start.... On Sunday I was not feeling too happy in free practice, not skiing so well and as southampton used to be my home slope I had hoped (naively!) to hop straight back on and be used to the slope. As GrahamN, said, the course looked awful as it was being set but inspection showed the main issue to be the hard left off the ridge. First run was back to the bad old habit of being a bit nervous and being thrown backwards, but made it down and the time was not great but better than I had anticipated - I was pleased only to be 1/10th behind the next senior female after run1 was finished
so to run 2, where I got my head screwed on and tried to really attack the course, which was working really well until that hard left it felt to all intents and purposes like I had got it right - got the line I wanted and tried to carve the turn (confirmed by outside observers!) but the skis just kept on going out sideways and I was unceremoniously dumped on the floor! got up and finished the course and actually did the bottom OK (tho obviously not much speed!).....
So I suppose the sensible option for run 3 would be to take that turn a little easier and just get round but I decided to attack again as I am now of the opinion that to get my points down I need to really attack and get fast runs in and there's no point getting down if it's really slow.... and exactly the same thing happened at that left! again I finished the course (and am actually shocked having seen the results that I was still not last!) and have just written it off as a learning experience. Having watched the top girls come down, none of them managed to cleanly carve that turn, all slid out with varying degrees of squealing sound effects and I think that possibly just more experience of skiing "on the edge" as it were (and a bit more skill!) enabled them to stay on their feet where I could not!
But I have managed to look on all this as a positive experience The OH is immensely proud as he is always telling me to attack more and fully expected me to bottle run 3 after the fall on run 2 so was very pleased to see me go for it, even tho it didn't quite work out! Also I felt like I am going about it the right way, trying to attack the course and work the skis round the gates and obviously this is quite new to me so it won't always work. I spent a lot of races at the start of the season being very frustrated having finished in slow times and thinking I should have attacked it more, much worse than knowing I tried my best and it went a bit wrong! I know that that 150-175 point score is close so now off for some serious work in training before the champ season in september to hopefully continue my gradual progression onto my edges and really clean carved turns as opposed to slides! With a bit of luck that will let me get two clean runs in for once
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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.
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GrahamN, definitely not the edges, they were really sharp, especially as I finally bought a sidewall cutter from bartletts so could actually get to the edge properly! Just bought new files a few weeks ago as well, and always sharpen between each run. Coach has just noticed that I tend to put almost all my weight on the outside ski and so the inside ski has virtually none and tends to flap about a bit, I have been working on it but only for one session so I think this may have contributed to my downfall (literally!)  shame about those 12/100ths but at least as far as Naomi's concerned she did have home slope advantage!
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gsb, Great performances over the year; well earnt. More work for you though i guess
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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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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well, after a quiet August on this part of the forum due to lack of races I feel it is time to kick off with the race reports once more! Saturday was the All England champs at sunderland, and I have to confess to going into it feeling not entirely confident as I had not skied for 3 weeks due to holidays and a general state of being absolutely knackered! so much for working on the speed over the break! But the weather was kind, with a lovely sunny day (tho a tad windy - nearly lost another gazebo but it held on determinedly!) Must confess straight away that this was the second race outing for my nice shiny new ski boots and that these are a marvel and take much of the credit for my last outing in our summer race league being about 0.5 sec faster than normal! It is amazing how much easier it is to ski when you don't have to move your foot for about a mile before reaching the edge of the boot..... tho i am still getting used to the extra responsiveness!
Anyway, first course was not too bad - a tricky offset coming over one of the ridges on the slope so had to be nice and early for that and then the last few gates also caught a few people out who possibly had not appreciated the offset in course inspection.... but I was very pleased with my run - again I got halfway down and realised I could actually be much more aggressive as I was really getting over the skis and being in control of the turns but a good run technically, now just continue working on the speed and aggression! No big slips or skids at all, which I think is a first for me in a race! And I definitely carried the speed better from the top to the bottom then usual - not great acceleration but not slowing down, which I have been prone to The real excitement came when the rest of my clubmates skied and for the first time ever I beat all three other girls... usually I beat one, one other I have beaten in one run of a CN and the other I have never skied faster than on any timed run - so I was well chuffed! Overtook about 10 people with better start numbers..... now to try and hold that 2nd run together.....
As a brief summary (incase anyone could forget!) from my 3 GP starts this year I have fallen once, skied out at gate 3 once, and finished the 3rd but only after stopping and walking round the last 2 gates cos I messed up! So I am none too confident on the old 2nd run. This was not helped by the course.... a real nasty offset on that ridge again, made even worse by another tight gate afterwards.... nerves not helped by watching all the DNFs and DSQs from run one attempt the course - only about 3 made it! Everyone going out at that gate! But I was determined to get down and managed to get control of the nerves despite a hold in the gate for course repairs The good news is I made it down!! again no major skids, not even round the horrible gate, but this was probably because I did set off a bit tentatively knowing what was coming! I'm afraid I slightly went for the "finish the course, even if its slow" option rather that "do or die" - mainly as I was really beginning to get a mental block about 2nd run courses.... But, I held my position from the first run (apart from one very good skier who had had a disastrous 1st run but made and excellent 2nd run time) and again was fastest female from my club! and I beat some other people I have not beaten before and got much closer to many others......
So all in all a good day, both runs I felt I skied really well and all reports came back that technically it was much better than people are used to from me! Some scalps achieved and most notably that 2nd run conquered.... shame about the points, they were pretty high at the back end of the field, but I finished among people in the 130-180 range from the last list so although the race wasn't good for points I know I can be up there with those people and hopefully get the points down at some races next year (assuming the other champs will also be bad for points!). I know a bad workman blames his tools etc, but I really think the new boots have had an amazing effect and I am finding it much easier to "feel" the edges of the skis and turn more smoothly with less skidding. so I am looking forward to the last summer race league this weekend (try to better my record of making group 7 for HtHs that I achieved in August!), then the brits in norfolk and then possibly a jaunt to pontypool for the europeans just to finish the season off. After that, a winter of working hard on building up the speed for next year - and obviously continuing to improve the technique!
nice to finally meet gsb as well on saturday - was daughter happy with her result? Looked pretty good to me but then I am in a slightly different league
Well, must get back to the work now - so I can get away in time to go training GrahamN, will we be seeing you at the brits?
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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, Hi, good to meet you. Glad you were pleased with your day. Unfortunately with Jaymee racing in most of the Champs the race points will be high if she finishes which she normally does, so it really is about claiming scalps.
Daughter not that happy but could have been worse. She does not really know what went wrong with 1st run coming in 14th, managed to redeem it a bit in 2nd run finishing in 9th overall (me and my better half were quietly hoping for a top 5 which would have been a great achievement) 3rd in age group.
Sunday there were some very strong teams (26 in all) racing, she was in Wycombe A (who had won for the last two years) In the 1st round they won all their races but one, loosing to the eventual winners by 1,000th of a second. Yes that is the right number of noughts
In the next round which was a knockout round, it went a bit pearshaped and that was the end of that.
Oh well Norwich here we come.
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gsb, shame it didn't go as well as you all hoped but spose at the top even tiny problems make a big difference! As you say, on to Norwich and hopefully more pleasing results! seems she's had a really good season overall so hopefully a big result at one of the champs is in there to finish it off nicely Unlucky in the team races as well - we didn't bother entering one as we would have been destroyed!!
Well, see you in norwich as I attempt more scalps - as you say points are kind of a lost cause when Jayme is in there!!
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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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vivski, I looked at the results last night and thought you'd be pleased . From the DNF/DSQ list, and some very slow times from some of ours, it looked total carnage! Congratulations on what looks a darned good result to me. I've not talked to any of our team yet, but our individual results don't look brilliant to me, except for Bella getting 3rd in the Minis. They were pretty hapy with their performance in the team races though, and just missed out getting into the k.o. section by a whisker.
Yep, I am signed up for Norwich - now with some trepidation, as it'll be my first ever 2-run-2-course race . Still, at least in these Champs we get two bites at the cherry.
ski, see you on Sat. Hoping for good things, as training has been going well, except I got a bu%%ered thumb last week, trying to push it by skating around the last couple of gates at full tilt, and getting it "a bit wrong" !
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've just seen the acceptance list for the Brit Champs. Of the 119 males there're 14 in the Masters group, and I'm the worst ranked (and least experienced) of all of them, and there aren't many of the kids slower than me either. I guess this really is the big time....gulp . Still, there are 4 I should be in with a reasonable chance of catching, and if I ski really well there's an outside chance I may get in amongst the next 4. The main objective remains though...to not come last overall!
vivski, it looks like we really have our work cut out!
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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.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Well.....my car caught fire (well smoked a bit, inside the car) on the way to Soton... so we arrived to late to practise (or even inspect) on the course, which is one of the good bits of SRSA races.
So - first run, 13.4 GrahamN, is 12.99...but he'd practised . 2nd -- must push more... so push more, ski less accurately... end up trying (and failing) to skate. 13.99 arrrrgh ! 3rd run 13.6 - at least I used both skis this time . In the dual slalom in the afternoon, had more fun (it's a way easier course).. won 2 out of 3 in the Individual. We had enough folks from the club to enter the team event... and horror or horrors actually won a race ! In the second round up against Aldershot B (?) with a certain GrahamN. We were both going third -- but by the time it was our turn - Aldershot had a 2 gate lead. After Graham had preserved (and indeed extended) that lead, Aldershot's next racer gave us a hand, by forgetting his helmet ! Our last racer was back in contention ! Right up to the time he skied out Anyway a fun afternoon, if not morning, and a lot of racing. Next week it's an ASSI Refresher at Bromley and the week after the last LSERSA also at Bromley.
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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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ski, Is your car better now? Have fun at the refresher - if it's like BASI ones it'll be a total waste of time!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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(ski Sorry mate - but my first run was 12.80; 12.99 was Darren's, and that was 4th at that time)
OK - next chapter of "A la recherche du temps meilleur"
Saturday saw the final race of the SRSA summer race series at Southampton. The season is ending a little early for me really, as I've been turning in substantially better performances the last couple of months, but have a way to go for that to reflect in the standings as I have to make up for a bit of a mediocre start back in April/May. So essentially if I can win today I can get a third place finish in the series; a second would just about do it but would require definite luck in the afternoon parallel slalom, and my rival (who had a spectacular start to the season) to have a particularly bad day.
And there is a "Minor Inconvenience" in that I am having severe difficulties even picking up my skis following a severe sprain to my thumb in training last week (for a while I wondered I may even have broken it - but didn't want to see the doctor in case she banned me from skiing ). Particularly relevant is that this is currently making starting one of the less comfortable activities I've engaged in recently.
On seeing the course my first reaction is "Oh s0d it", as it is laid out running along the ridge and down under the trees, as it did for the Club National and previous SRSA race back in July, and it's not something with which I'm particularly comfortable although I'm stating to work it out. I've now also realised one of the downsides of the SRSA format of open practice through the course but no formal course inspection - as you get a max of three runs down you want to make the most of that to a) try the course and b) get your legs working. So if, as in this case, you can't see the whole course from top or bottom of the slope, you never really get a good look at what you're trying to ski! your mind not really concentrating on assessing the course while you're actually on it. In the event, this was a really bizarre course. The first gate - hard right coming off the short start ramp leading onto the flat ridge - is so sharp you have to be straight into your game to keep speed up around the turn, otherwise you're left floundering going dead slow along the ridge. The left hander onto the downslope is MUCH easier than either of the previous two courses, but you still have to plan your line pretty carefully to avoid wasting too much time taking the long way around, or conversely losing speed by taking too tightly what is still a sharper turn than you'll get on pretty much any linear slope. But the really bizarre thing is that, after these turns which wouldn't be out of place in a Club National, the rest of the course is virtually straight - I guess no more than half a mat offset on any gate - which is about as simple a beginners' course as you can get. The only complication is one gate that's just inside and above a mogul - take the gate too wide or late and you're right on the bump, but it's pretty easy to take a line avoiding it. While this would have suited me 4 months ago, I'm not so happy with that now as my main practice recently has been on how to handle the tighter and more widely offset courses that come up at national level. So the race will be won or lost on how you take those two corners.
Practice feels fairly good, and so does the first run. The two important corners go fairly well, and the second half of the course is pretty much skating practice, trying to generate as much speed as possible. And best of all, I come out leading the group - yeaaahhhh! - the announcer giving me 12.6 secs, a good time right in there with some of the pretty good kids I've been targetting, and about 1/3 of a second ahead of three of my chasing bunch all within about 1/10 of each other! Unfortunately when the first round times are posted he's got it wrong by 0.2 and my lead is only 0.13. That comfortable lead is still in my head though when I start round two, and take it way too complacently - totally screwing up the first turn, taking it too straight with too stiff knees and make a big slide. So the ridge is a mad attempt to get speed back, and I never really pull it back together. The end result is 0.2 secs slower and three of the guys overtake me - the leader now at 12.4 secs. After a bit of a pep talk from the new leader (who's already won the series) - who's a coach at our neighbouring club and with whom we've had a joint practice or two - I get my act together again for the final round.
This time I get the first gate pretty much right, take a reasonably confident line around the left hander and can feel I'm going way faster down the final stretch - and rather than skate I'm even timing the little pushes that can gain speed on an almost straight course, although I'm probably going a bit wider on the gates than I need be. Time? 12................44! Oh poo-poo - so near and yet so far. Now watch my rival for third overall - not bad but not brilliant. Time? 13.03 Good - he's still back in fifth, so I still have a faint chance, or maybe we'll tie. Now the leader - looks good...looks too good ... 12.30. So I don't feel so bad - 0.14 is a fair time to be beaten by, 0.04 would be too much of "what if"? - what if I had angled more and pushed harder round that first gate or the right hander (because I know I can)? what if I had skated harder along the ridge? what if I had been a bit more dynamic down the final straight? But the killer is then that while I have been worrying about him, I'd missed the guy who's second overall in the series (head coach at ChCh) go down in 12.25 - so I'm third today, and miss that series podium however well I ski in the head-to-heads.
So, yet another missout on the top spot, but I skied as well as I could reasonably expect to, but was well beaten by better skiing. Just have to make sure that I'm just a lot better by next year, as I think the competition could well be even hotter then . But I have beaten not only ski (BTW - just to point out, lifetime record is now GrahamN 4 : ski 3; and 1 draw (we both DSQd at Welwyn CN) ) but also his club's star skier , and this time I don't have to ski against him in the head-to-heads...phew. And I'm also faster than all but one of our kids! OK, our fastest (by a fair way) is away at the Welsh champs today, and the third fastest has a pressing engagement at Thorpe Park - but that's not a bad morning's work.
In amongst all this, though, there has been time to watch the fast guys (20-30 places in front of me in the start order) from the end of the start ramp. In particular, the eventual winner (a 16 yo who's won every race and every head-to-head this year) is a beauty to watch going around that corner. He gets an edge angle and has the strength to push out of the turn that puts everyone else in the shade - even the top rated girls who are also in the England Children's team don't come close - and this is reflected in the times, he wins by 0.7 seconds in 10.57.
The head-to-heads are however a bit disappointing. I knew it would be difficult as two of the guys I'm up against I've only ever beaten on my home turf - and I see the other (another in my agegroup who I'd pushed down into fourth place) actually forerunning the course...REF I PROTEST!!!! With a much shorter and (if possible ) even straighter course, the start is the key. The rest of it is really how smooth you can ski - and maybe skate it a bit if only you can do so without losing smoothness (something I proved myself incapable of back at Brentwood). Here my bu%%ered thumb really does come into it though as I really can't bring myself to give a second pole push out of the gate. So I'm generally down half a gate by gate 2. Against the sneaky forerunner though I claw him back gate by gate and maybe catch him on the line. The announcer gives is to the other guy though - I'm a bit aggrieved but that's life. When the results go up though it's recorded as a dead heat ! The next one I stay with through the course but can't make up for the poor start. In the final one I give the start a bit more and actually match him there but he then just simply outskis me (I'd like to put it down to having recently been tutored by Martin Bell, but he's actually just a better skier than me) - to find out afterwards he's also nursing a bu%%ered thumb .
I see ski has already mentioned the team head-to-heads. Just one correction - the race he describes was against Aldershot 'A' (the one they won was against Aldershot 'D' IIRC). On paper we should have slaughtered them, our slowest being only 0.08 slower than his fastest. Just as we lined, up his star skier asked who was in our team, and on being told, politely invited us to feel free to ski out! Knowing this I was actually just being careful not to push things and make a mistake (which in itself resulted in being pathetically slow at the start), but was happy to hear myself pulling away from ski down the course. It was a bit of a shock then though to turn around after my run to see our fourth skier being led by ski's fast man - and thinking had I been too careful/casual? I guess we found a novel way to accept his invitation - but how polite of him to reciprocate . This sense of fun and friendly rivalry is precisely what make SRSA such a great series in which to race . We got our come uppance though in the next race, against Southampton 'A' - we all skied pretty well (and I personally felt like I had finally worked out how to generate pace on that course) but we were completely outclassed - the tables being turned this time with their slowest skier being just a shade faster than our fastest.
So it ends up a series 4th in the group (of 20). At the final prizegiving it turns out you get some decent prizes in this region (ski poles, bags etc), so I'm a bit more gutted to have lost out. But 4th is not too bad, and a bit of an improvement from last year's 12th. Encouragement for some serious winter training and see if I can onto, and maybe a bit further up, that podium next year.
So now to Norwich - and a completely different kettle of fish. As I used earlier the excuse of practicing tight wide courses for not really feeling I was getting into this one, I now have a week to think up an excuse for not getting to grips with some that will no doubt be of just that character !
Target = not last!
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GrahamN, Sorry Actually the reace we won was Christchurch 'C'. Well done for your performance !
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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, Noooooooooooo ! I hope it get's better soon.
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FAQ
