 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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OK, the slightly fuller version.
Saturday
I was in two minds whether to enter the Welwyn race. I'd not done very well there last year (in the CN I had my my only ever failure to complete, and had a very disappointing 3rd run in the regional league to blow my chances for the series), and we've really done very little in the way of realistic courses recently. I have been skiing fairly well though, and so felt it would be a good warm-up for the following day's league race - where I was hoping for something good - as I really needed some race-context practice. When the start list came out it became even more interesting - the really fast guys weren't there, and in my agegroups there was a group of 3 of us with virtually identical rankings, another group of three I've been nipping at the heels of, and a couple of newcomers who are keen competition from our next door club. So I tentatively fancied my chances in a close field.
The day itself wasn't too promising - rain on the drive in, and a cold wind (and chemical attack from Holland). Practice felt much better than last year, so that was encouraging. Looking at the course it also looked quite a bit easier than last year's CN - 4 gates quite widely offset (dropping over the first roller), but with a big vertical drop, a three-element verticale (second roller at the end of it), but then a sting in the tail with a very tight final 4 gates (although only just under a mat offset). So the key to this course was going to be entirely on how you came out of the verticale and set up for those final 3 gates.
And so it proved in reality (but jeez, was it cold and windy on the top of the hill  ). The wide offset was no problem due to the large vertical drop. Loads of people failed to make the second gate out of the verticale. And those that did were mostly scrabbling around to make the next two gates, with lots hanging on just long enough to straddle the last gate. The newcomers (without rankings from last year) get to go first, and the guy from our neighbour club (and last years winner of the Southern Region) looked a bit scrappy, but got a very good time. When my turn came it started OK, but I got thrown a bit onto my tails by the first roller, recovered enough to get it back together in the verticale, then got thrown back by the second roller, which completely screwed me for the final section - so there was a load of stepping and stemming as I desperately hung in there. Pretty rubbish time - over a second and a half behind our neighbour. The next two (closest to me in rankings) did not a lot different - different problems but similar result. Then the next (slightly better) group did OK, bit of a struggle around the last 4 gates but still a second faster than me.
Second run was pretty much identical. The group leader got rid of the scrappiness and posted a really good time, now a full 2 seconds faster than me. My run was much better balanced, but I still couldn't get the line right at the end, and actually ended up a few hundredths slower  . Third run was now death or glory - I (and the other two with similarly ranking) was embarassingly behind the others, points were going to be rubbish, so there was nothing to lose. I finally really nailed the first seven gates, and had a good position coming into the crucial gate - but I still couldn't stop my skis sliding out and once again it was a mad scrabble to stay in. Even slower time. Oh well, only thing to do now was watch the others and try and learn something. I missed the run of the guy who normally just pips me (and is my chief rival tomorrow) - but it turns out he skied out - so his day turns out even worse than mine  . The next couple look OK, and then it's the turn of our way out front group leader. He goes like a steam train, looking really good...until his ski also slides out round the crucial gate. Another load of stepping and recovery and he finishes - but over half a second slower even than me! So he's lost pretty much 3 seconds in those last 3 gates (and drops him to third in group). Now that is an interesting lesson - and maybe my runs weren't all that bad after all, except for an inability to keep enough weight off my inner leg, and not sharp enough edges.
So of the dual objectives for the day: get some race practice - tick; lay a ghost - not really, but happier than before. So on to the regional race tomorrow.
Sunday
First race of the more serious of the two regional leagues. And home slope advantage. The start list showed that last years winner wasn't there and neither was one of our coaches (who I stand no chanced of beating), or another guy ranked a bit better than me who's just come up into our age group - who I suspected may race at regional level this year. So the serious competition is (for points) just the guy who pipped me to second last year, and (for honour, next agegroup down) my training partner and one other - who won the series title for his agegroup last year.
When the course goes up it actually looks very similar to yesterday's, although several gates shorter (as our slope is shorter). The characteristic at this slope though is a very steep first half, then a sudden gradient change and a pretty flat second half. The vertical section (here just a two element hairpin) is placed just after the gradient change, and the opening section is fairly straight - so the tendency is to get suckered into going too fast to make the tighter turns on the flat. I'm almost last to start, so manage to get good course feedback from our other club racers. As it turns out, the sting in the tail is nowhere near as bad as yesterday and you can go pretty much all out from the start. There aren't too many even of the top kids here today, but there are a couple that really show how it's done. Oh how I wish my legs still worked like that (actually they never did even when I was their age). Unfortunately, it's a bit ingrained in me to really keep the speed under tight control on that top ramp, so as I go down I can hear my skis scrubbing off speed with every turn as I overturn. And yep, the sting is no problem at all, and I do OK, with 0.2 second advantage over my rivals. I just need to get rid of that overturning. Second run, Start was OK, although I really do need to learn to skate at the same time as pole push (I seem to be able to do any two of skate, pole push or hold a line, but not all three), still a bit of overturning, but a fair bit smoother, and take 0.25 off. My training partner has tried taking a more aggressive line than in his first run, but was a bit slow in his transitions and dropped progressively lower on each of the first 4 gates, eventually straddling the entry to the hairpin, but his group leader looks pretty good (which is satisfying as we're now pretty similar times - I'd actually misread things and it turns out later I'm leading him slightly). Still the important thing is I'm taking a cushion of about 0.25 ahead of my main rival. Third run, both my rivals run a bit slower, so it's there for the taking. This time I really get the edge changes smooth, am pretty well balanced on my skis, and come out the hairpin moving really well. Unfortunately I'm so concerned about being smooth I don't get enough edge angle on and come out of the crucial gate a bit straight - and am suddenly facing directly at the next gate . Back to a desparate hoick around the next gate and hang on for grim death to make the last one. At least I complete the course, but may have blown it in those last two turns - probably lost 0.4 seconds. And the time comes up...yes still another 0.2+ over my rival (and about 0.1 seconds faster than my first run), so I'VE WON, by about 0.5 seconds overall. Probably blown it compared to the next younger agegroup though.
Still, job done: very happy at finally getting there (this is my first ever agegroup win, after two years of racing), mixed with annoyance (and relief) at those last two turns, and tempered by the knowledge that if I couldn't do it with ome slope advantage I couldn't really do it anywhere. And then the cherry on the cake is that I find I have beaten the younger agegroup leader - by 0.02 of a second  .
For the team races in the afternoon (relay of 5 members per team - always huge fun, and sometimes pretty close finishes), there's the regional powerhouse way out in front, three of us of similar standard (about 0.5 seconds betwen each of us, my team in the middle), and our B team bringing up the rear. And that's how it works out in practice. Everyone gets slaughtered by Bromley A, but actually it looks like we might have a good chance against Folkestone - until I turn a bit late and straddle a gate   . It's also nice that Bromley B have both my rivals from the morning in - and we beat them by a gate or two. As Bromley B have beaten Folkestone though, it ends up a 3-way ties for second place, so we each have another two run-off races. This time we're clearly well infront of Folkestone, with our anchor man steaming down - until he skates one ski onto the tail of the other and straddles  . But we both then beat Bromley B (by an even more reassuring margin), and we come out with third place overall.
Good day at the office. And capped off by going to superb performance of Strauss' Metamorphosen and Mahler's great "Resurrection" Symphony in the evening  .
Southampton next Saturday. It's a much more relaxed format (and so actually a more enjoyable race), but even keener competition.
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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,
Well done!  (And very interesting "fuller version".)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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GrahamN, Well done. See you Sat.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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vivski, I will go along to watch the Chill Factore race, I didn't bother entering as I only ski indoors in the UK.
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rjs, try not to laugh too much 
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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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| TelemarkKing wrote: |
| Nick W, will tgey allow free-heelers? |
I emailed Snowsport England about this and got the following response from Tim Fawke, the head of operations and development
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Thanks for you query regarding using telemark skis for club national and grand prix races. I have pasted below the response from Ian Roberts who is a British TD.
"The ICR is not the relevant document. The rules are in the FIS Specifications for Competition Equipment. Alpine racing skis are defined as those “predominantly for DH, Slalom, GS and Super-G racing through gravitational force on suitable terrain. To guarantee the skier optimum use of the sides of the skis for steering, the edges of the running surface are made mainly of sealed materials”. The word “predominantly” worried me, so I checked the French version of the rules, where the word “essentiellement” (essentially) is used. Yet another translation failure! In addition, any equipment may not compromise the safety of the racer of anyone else. Finally, any skis used must meet the full specifications in terms of dimensions, bindings and boots (see http://www.gbski.com/docstore/BCR/BCR%20VI.pdf )
Consequently, it is my advice that telemark skis may not be used for alpine racing unless the wearer can prove unequivocally that the skis, boots and bindings meet the specifications."
I hope this answers your question |
Now I checked the specifications in terms of dimensions etc, and I see potential sticking point: the rule on height of bindings/plates, Rule 3.6. This states that the distance between the bottom of the running surface of the ski and the ski boot tole can be a maximum of 55mm. I guess with a free heel the ski boot sole would often be more than 55mm from the surface of the ski.
TelemarkKing, you're free to follow up on this. Let me know if you want to and I'll forward you the mail verbatim.
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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, Good luck..
GrahamN, See you tomorrow. Hope they've got the calender ready - to record my time
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You know it makes sense.
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| vivski wrote: |
| chill factore for me on Sunday - first indoor snow race - eek |
I hope you have a good alarm clock, the times have been changed.
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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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rjs, ouch, and I thought 7.30 registration was bad At least it only takes 10 mins to get there......
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Poster: A snowHead
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well I spose I should get the post mortem over with As I may have mentioned once or twice, today was my first indoor snow race (or any sort of snow race since I started training) at the Anglo-Welsh indoor champs at the chill factore. After the last minute timetable changes, I was just about awake when I arrived at 7.15.... First course was not bad, most likely issue being a hairpin a few gates from home but didn't cause many problems, only 1 DNF in the girls field. Starting 52 I was quite worried about ruts, and I think I let my thinking of the indoor snow as very different than plastic get to me a bit as despite giving myself a stern talking to in the start to really go for it I hit a small rut about 2 gates in and immediately stopped pushing forward and got onto the tails of the skis - a bit of deja vu from the beginning of last season result was a very disappointing time, 5th slowest I think
So after giving myself a hard time and getting told off by the long-suffering OH, it was on to run 2 - the course was actually quite nice and flowing, a couple of open gates, hairpin, 4 more open gates, verticale then a couple of open gates into the finish. All the talking to's had a positive effect and this time I attacked the course much better, kept well forward and really tried to drive the skis. Over a second faster than run1 , which I was pleased with as most people's times seemed to only be a few tenths different. Still not as fast as I would have liked, return of the bad start, lots of skiddy turns and nowhere near the skiing I have been doing in training, but at least a step in the right direction.
A mixed bag then, certainly not an improvement on the points! But first race of the season, and hopefully I'll improve from here And there were only 2 of us in my age group so I got a rather nice trophy for managing to stand up Next races for me at Pendle mid-May. Few weeks to get stuck into the training before then and hopefully put in a better performance.
Hope everyone did well at soton this weekend
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Last Saturday at Soton then...
Well for me, a good, if not great day... Good things. The car did not catch fire on the way there, we didn't need to buy petrol and then find we left all the money at home, I managed to arrive with all the required equipment (boots, skis etc).
My 'boot heater' - 12V bootwarmers and a cool bag worked a treat. ZIPFITS do need to be warm when you put them on, and on Saturday they were the most comforable ever.
As we'd arrived early enough we had plenty of time to practise, SRSA races let you ski the course first, albeit without the start ramp. The course was fun (read simple), basically a couple of large (for plastic) offsets, a flush and then easy, open gates to the finish.
SRSA races run in age order, so I had to wait nearly as long as GrahamN, for a turn  , in fact the male 'old gits' age group seems to get bigger every year ! Lot's of Salomon skis in the queue for the start this year (inc me - I've 'borrowed Mrs Ski's  ).
So to the race. Southampton has a large start ramp. As per usual I manage a poor start, managing to open start wand about a decade before I start to move, and the (predictably) screw up the open gates at the top - a combination of coming of the ramp fast (good), and being on the back of the ski coming of the ramp (bad). A really really skidded turn get's me back on line through the flush - ski the rest OK. 11.72 - not disastrous, but not great. One of my club members says 'you looked like you started to ski halfway down' - he's right.
Run 2 - get the open gates better, but still need to skid the flush to get back online..11.52... Run 3 better still 11.47. 22 % off fastest skier. I'm not delighted by that, but not unhappy either
The afternoon is a duel slalom. You get 3 races against the 3 people nearest you in time. Race 1 is a bye..so I feel a little silly skiing down the course on my own - trying to balance finishing it - with skiing fast enough to get a feel for the course. Race 2 - the officials are starting the race with a whistle, rather than the word 'Go'. It's crucial to get a good start, so you need to be moving on the 'G' rather than the 'o' of 'Go'.. so I push of as soon as I hear the whistle start to be blown...my competitor doesn't.. so I worry about a false start for a microsecond, and go on to win. Race 3 - I get the less good start.. OK -time to push , push, straighter, straighter , faster, faster, arrive predictably at the last gate waaaay to late, and straddle
Next race is the CN at Bromley on 11 May..
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 1-05-08 9:32; edited 1 time in total
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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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ski, don't you mean 11th May?
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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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beanie1, er, yes. You joining us then ?
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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, no i won't be racing, but may be helping out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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beanie1, See you there then..
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skimottaret, You racing then ?
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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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anyone doing the CN at MK on the 1st of June? I too will be helping out out but not racing 
no, had two bad concussions in the last 6 months and have been told in no uncertain terms not to hit my head again for a while....
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skimottaret, Best not then. I will be doing an MK race (either CN or Lions)... just got to sort out a pass...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ski, Both the Xscape series races at MK are full, have you entered already ?
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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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rjs, They weren't when I last looked... looks like it's a pass for the CN then..
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ski, I'll see you at Bromley on Sunday along with Nick W junior. My target remains "don't come last"
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You know it makes sense.
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JuniorW will be there on sunday too. Only his third Club National but he's hooked! But before then, on Saturday he (and I!) will be at Gloucester for the first of their Summer Race League meetings. Two races in two days: who says the ski season's over?
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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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So Sunday. Hot and slow . 'nuf said. Very well done Graham !
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Poster: A snowHead
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ski, Much nicer indoors at Braehead.
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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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Sideshow_Bob, the boots are not necessarily higher than that from the ski base (mine happen to be) that is because I have purposefully put a 55mm riser on so I guess mine would be about 60mm above. however I was not intmating that I wanted to ski the races against the other Alpine skiers (that would be stupid, as telemark skiing is a lot slower). If I was to race in thisseries on an even par I woud just race on Alpine bindings and boots. My quesion was posed to try and forgea place for Telemark racing on the British Dry and Indoor Circuits.
I am well aware of the regulations and ICR of Alpine; they are largely the same in telemark. However we have no restrictions on length of ski or rise. I would love to come along but not to compete against Alpine skiers, whilst I may do well I would be seriously disadvantaged with a free-heel technique!
If you feel there is a place for some telemark racers then I would love to explore that - it would certainly help the sport to grow and our talent in GB to flourish.
Cheers
Andrew
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| TelemarkKing wrote: |
| Sideshow_Bob, the boots are not necessarily higher than that from the ski base (mine happen to be) that is because I have purposefully put a 55mm riser on so I guess mine would be about 60mm above. |
I think the issue is with the free-heel there's nothing preventing the heel of the boot being more than 55m from the ski base during a turn. That's the only technicality I believe they could stop you racing for.
| TelemarkKing wrote: |
| however I was not intmating that I wanted to ski the races against the other Alpine skiers (that would be stupid, as telemark skiing is a lot slower). If I was to race in thisseries on an even par I woud just race on Alpine bindings and boots. My quesion was posed to try and forgea place for Telemark racing on the British Dry and Indoor Circuits. |
I'd imagine it'd be very difficult to get enough numbers to support completely separate telemark races, so the best you could ask for is entry to existing races and if enough numbers turn up then perhaps a separate category for telemarkers. I could see an easement in the regs for telemark skiers; as you said you won't be gaining performance advantage by having a free heel. You'd probably have to run your own unofficial judging of whether skiers are telemark-turning down the course and have unofficial awards for best telemarker to start out with. I guess until people actually see and hear of telemarkers entering races you won't know whether there is any interest from others.
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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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When I was at uni we had a telemarker in our dual slalom team!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| beanie1 wrote: |
| When I was at uni we had a telemarker in our dual slalom team! |
She wasn't a blond Norwegian girl perchance? I remember her race-training and racing at BUSC 2000 on telemark skis.
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Sideshow_Bob, I will if you will
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Sideshow_Bob, no, it was a brunette scottish male!
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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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OK - ready for this? Bit of a job lot - three races to report on since the last missive; SRSA races at Southampton and Aldershot on the last two weekends in April, and the Bromley Club National last Sunday.
As you may have surmised from my tardiness in stepping up to the mark, the good result in the Aldershot LSERSA race wasn't quite carried through to the SRSA races . The irony here is that the SRSA series is overtly for beginners and early stage racers, but there are some seriously competitive agegroups in there, not least of which is the 30-49yo males. In this region the placings are on the best single time of three runs, which means there's no disincentive to giving it all you've got and anyone can pull anything out of the bag on their third run. The Southampton race was run down the main slope, so the previous week's practice on how to do right-angle left-hand turns was well spent . The steep start ramp led straight onto the dead flat section with the first couple of 4 open gates, followed by a (3-element) flush, then 4 more open gates to finish with. The top open gates looked a bit tight from below, but much more reasonable from above. I was fortunate in being about the right place when they asked for an extra forerunner to test the course before open practice started , and it seemed a pretty OK course. Fat load of good that did me though on the first run as I completely screwed up the transition from ramp to flat, got on my tails, got progressively later through the first 4, so the extent I virtually stopped in the middle of the flush to avoid skiing out. Time was 12.something_irrelevant - way back. Second run was better, but still had a bit of a silly skid around gate 2 - 10.99 and into 4th in group, still not brilliant. The group leader, one of our neighbours from Bracknell/Berkshire, is looking pretty darned good though. Final run, really must sort this transition.....oh bummocks as I nearly trip over my ski at gate 2 again. I'm so disgusted I sort of go through the motions for the rest of the run - but still come out at 11.05. Unfortunately the guy in 5th, also from Bracknell/Berkshire, nips in and beats my best time by 4/100ths, so now it's 5th for me. So serves me right for making a mardy kid's error - I could have got at least a couple of 1/10ths if I'd not given up on that last run. Still I got him back in the afternoon's "duel slalom".
On to Aldershot, and home slope advantage. I came 2nd in group here last year, and am technically quite a bit better than then, so really looking for good things. There is a fair turnout of 136 overall, although a few of the faster ones are off at the GP in Norfolk - with 15 of us being in the 'old gits' group. In this series, the home team normally gets a double advantage (remember the formal of this is barely more serious than a fun race) as they've normally set the course at their last training session and had a good few runs working out how to ski it. Southampton had done so for the previous week race - but then blown it by changing their mind about which slope to run the course down on the day . Our coaches had decided to be more honourable and not set until the morning of the race , so we spent a while watching the committee of three (two of ours and one from Bracknell, who also train at Aldershot) set a course with some fiendish turns in it, coming into and out of a diagonal flush which spilled off our main slope and onto the neighbouring slope. So we then had half an hour of practice, during which over a third of the skiers were skiing out - by not taking the top half of the course seriously. Eventually the coaches decide to make major changes, and completely reset the top half of the course. This clearly completely changed the tactics required - but practice time then ran out after only half the field had had a run down it - and I was one of the hard-done-by ones  . We still had a pretty sharp turn out of the flush, but the top was a fairly straight run. So my first run was way too conservative - but I still end up 4th in group. Second run go for it a load more, have a big skid coming out of the flush but keep going for a 2/10ths improvement, but still drop a place (to that guy from Bracknell/Berkshire again), and I'm nearly 4/10ths off the leader - a guy I beat here handsomely last year. Final run it's time for death or glory - and get a bit of both, in that I hold the sharp turn, but then get way off balance coming out of it and finish the last two gates on one ski with limbs all over the shop trying to stay upright. Only 15/100ths improvement though, and I also get overtaken by one of ski's henchmen to end up in 6th.
The stiffness of this competition is crazy though for a beginners' format race: only 3/10ths separate the top 6 in this group, and places 4-6 are separated by 7/100ths - and I'm pipped by the same guy as at So'ton, this time by 3/100ths, which is really galling as I was beating him soundly last year. Even more surprising is that in the overall ranking, half of the places from 12-30 are taken by our old fogies group, which is actually better strength in depth than ANY other agegroup! (OK so we can't make the top 10 - that's the preserve of the teenage lads, but the overall winner with some really storming runs is actually a girl!) And to cap a completely miserable result, I get judged to have lost in the head-to-head against the Bracknell guy who's just pipped me in both these two races, even though I think I got him on the line ! Still this is what make this such an enjoyable race to be in (I have to say it's by far the most enjoyable of any of the race series I'm in).
And then on to the Club National at Bromley. Supposedly the level above regional races and stiffer competition and courses. The day dawns pretty clear and it's clearly going to be a hot one - such a complete contrast to the previous one in Welwyn. Not too hot to start with, but chacking my skis after practice (this being a more serious race there're no gates out for this), I see some telltale burn marks on my right ski - thank goodness I keep "practice" and "race" edges. So a quick rewax before the course inspection. The course ends up being pretty benign, straightish top two, then a loooong hairpin into three much wider offset gates between the two small rollers this slope has and then a final straight combination to a final offset at the finish. So the whole point of this one is to avoid getting too straight out of the hairpin and losing it at the first offset. This is possibly the simplest course of the season so far. I'm also trying out some different gloop on my bases.
First run down I make another real stooopid mistake - the new gloop is making my skis run much faster than I've felt before, and I spend more time worrying about this than about my line, and fall straight into the trap of bad line around gate 5 - medium slide and lose a fair bit of speed. 12.69 and down in 5th place, over 2/10th behind my training partner (whom I've been beating consistently since about June last year), with the guy who's looking pretty unbeatable in our group in SRSA (the fastest of the Bracknell threesome) looking pretty smooth. 2nd run manage to concentrate much better and improve over 3/10ths. It doesn't affect my group position (and I'm now 5/100ths behind my training partner) but I'm much happier with the run. I am still way too conservative though in the top 4 - not a lot of upper lower body separation, a bit stiff overall, and that's resulting in me taking the gates way too wide. I've had a bit of a breakthrough on this in training recently, but it's clearly a bit too new to be able to hang onto it in race conditions . So with this in mind I'm keyed up for the final run. Preparation goes a bit awry though when I remember I've not put the Notwax layer on just after I've covered the ski in a layer of clear goop - so that's going to hurt in the bottom half of the course. Try and make up for it by using every variety of goop I have up there (clear goop, followed by white pump oil, followed by Mr Sheen). There's also been a bit of wind which has blown the starter's gazebo away over the lunch break so it's now all in the blazing sun - it's HOT. Also noticable by his absence is ski - he's actually managed to complete some courses this year without straddling, so has to make up for it by not turning up for the final run ! Finally I get going and the skis run nicely, and I actually manage to start skiing half decently. Better line through the wide offsets and finally get myself to make an some halfhearted attempt at actually pushing off the skis in the final section. I can feel them sticking from about halfway down though, so it's still not going to be a great time. 12.32, so a small improvement - not great but it'll have to do, and still 1/100th off my training partner's 2nd round time. Looks like it's going to be 5th in group, but the time's not dreadful.
So now to watch my competition come down - and remember at this level placings are on the sum of the best of the first two times plus the third, so you carry an ad/disadvantage into the third run, but anything can still happen. First it's my training partner, and while I'm willing him on, I do have a bit of schadenfreude when I see he's making a bit of a meal of it and is a bit scrappy. 12.67 - so well more than enough to wipe out that 5/100ths disadvantage and I've beaten him....phew! Bit of explanation required here. OK I'm competitive and tend to go into things a bit too deeply in working out who else is doing what and where I stand relative to the rest of the field. But he's the most competitive guy I know, pretty keen on good-natured sledging, and he's a bit needled that I've been beating him so consistently over the last year (after being consistenly beaten by him for the previous season and a half). So I'm mightly relieved that the rightful order () has been restored - and that he can still take away that his fastest time was faster than mine. A few racers later it's another rival, the guy from the agegroup down I pipped at the first Aldershot race - and he's not looking too clever either....12.56 so I've picked up 0.24 on him there . Hey - what was his lead over me? It was only 8/100ths - I hadn't actually twigged it was so close - so I've nabbed him again (and on his local slope too), so I've got at least third. Next comes one of NickW's coaches, who's ranked quite a bit higher than me, but is around the level I'm really targeting to beat this year. Talking to him earlier he's been saying how he's out of sorts today, doesn't feel happy on his skis, yada yada - and he actually looks it coming down the slope (he looked much smoother at Welwyn). So what's his time? 12.23 - so he keeps his place. Finally my group leader from SRSA, who's only started doing national ranked races this year. He's actually not looking comfortable either, you can see him trying to push his skis forward at every turn as they are clearly sticking, but he's still pretty smooth with it. His time comes up as 12.20, 2/10th slower than his best, but still a comfortable lead.
So that's that - I've got third, which is my first national level podium finish, and as gsb noticed I'm rather pleased with it - actually primarily relief at not being on the tail end again of another close finish. And despite the huge penalty (handicap to normalise results between races), I improve my national ranking by over 10 seed points. After the initial euphoria dies down though, I do have to admit that it was a pretty weak field - there were some notable absentees who would have been well out in front. And I'm still really feeling that the race sharpness I had in the second half of last season is just not there - that seed point improvement is still only 1/3 of my base target for this year, and this is one of the notoriously easy places to pick up points. I know I'm technically way better than this time last year, but the results are pretty mixed. The positives from it though are that that third was 2 places better than my performances towards the end of last season, and that one of those scalps is that I've now beaten the guy who won my agegroup in the LSERSA series two seasons ago, and came 2nd last year, 4 times out of 4 (OK the Welwyn race was him skiing out - he was way ahead of me prior to that) - and this time it was on his home territory. But I've definitely lost ground against the Bracknell trio - maybe they're better, but they do keep moaning about having little training time, and I certainly can't claim that. What is clear though is that I've really been missing hard and fast gates training. I've had a few sessions with Bracknell and the level of training courses is very noticably different between our club and Bracknell - but that's largely a reflection on the standard of the skiers in our clubs - I'm the fastest in our club, which is a bit on the recreational side, but would be no higher than half way up Bracknell's pecking order. But, as last year, results are improving as I get race-practice and it's not too late yet. Must do something better on that front though next winter.
Going to have to miss the Club National at So'ton next Sunday (have a ticket for Glyndebourne), which is another difficult one to call. There's a very weak field, so it could be another one for easy points, but the penalty will be huge. It all depends really whether the highest ranked skiers can stay in the course or not - the second ranked entrant is notorious for skiing out of courses. My next race is LSERSA at Brentwood the following Sunday.
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GrahamN, Mrs Ski was not well..so had to go home
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FAQ
