Copyright © 2010
by Shane Cooper
Apr
15
Ski season is winding down here in Colorado. Even though the weather is warm down on the front-range, it’s still snowing at higher elevations.
This weekend, April 15th and 16th is the last training weekend of the year for EMSC. Eldora closes on Sunday and we still have a race next weekend at Loveland.
Then… it’ll be over and I can take the ski box off the top of the car.
Feb
28
Well, the Prater cup is pretty much over. However, I have a lingering reminder of how intense the sun was in Crested Butte. Sun reflects off the snow and will hit every underside part of your face. Believe me, I know, my entire face is burnt to a crisp from my collar up to my cheeks. Fortunately, I was wearing a baseball cap and great eye gear.
One of my collegues stated that it looks like I was wearing my superhero head and eye mask and was exposed to some nuclear explosion. Thanks Dave!
The good news, Dylan had a great weekend between the hot-tub, ski racing and winning brand-new Oakley Goggles, he made out pretty well.
Off to Council Cup since he wasn’t fortunate enough to get selected for the Junior Olympics, so we have to finish the season on the next best thing.
Feb
6
Okay, so the majority of you who may stumble onto my personal blog may not ever have a chance to run or be involved in running a downhill ski race. Of course you may not have ever even had the oppurtunity to GO to a race, much less run or volunteer for one.
However, it can be a very interesting situation. I recently found myself being involved in the running of a race recently which entailed more than volunteering for a minor job. I was thrown into the thick of the details as the Race Administrator due to several serious events that happened to our “official” Race Administrator.
So, long story longer, I became the Assistant to a Race Administrator that was actually across the state. We did everything via phone and email. That was the easy part. The hard part was actually all of the dynamics related to everyone else. The race was a great day. However, we ended the day with several serious issues related to the timing and capture of each racers time. Weather and many other factors contributed to several miss-timed races. Okay, well actually, it was a lot of miss-timed races. So, the judges and timing officials had to work on the details of the race by going back to the detailed tapes that are captured on the timing equipment. While the official primary software package did not pick up the times, the back-up system captured every blip going across the finish eye.
Well, that situation by itself would make any Race Administrator gringe with fear and go running for the hills. However, that major snafu was not really the thing that frustrates and annoys me the most.
It’s the “group” of parents that add to the frustration. Basically, they take this way too seriously and do nothing but gripe and complain. Of course the group I’m referring to are those that typically do nothing or volunteer for nothing. They’re the worst. We recieved complaints about not having start lists printed for all of the parents, they grumbled about lunch, that we provided, we had complaints about athletes not in the right start order, times not posted or announced and the list goes on. Everyone’s ME monster comes out and then of course it’s worse with them living vicariously through their athlete as if their child/athlete will be attending the next Olympics. They all fail to actually statistically review their athletes chances. Slim to none! With about 100K plus ski racers in this country, only 1 or 2 every 4 to 8 years will ever get a chance to attend the Olympics. The odds are about as good as winning the lottery. There’s always that chance, but the focus shouldn’t be on being top finishers but having a great day and feeling like they accomplished something beyond the average kid their age. This alone should be the reason they get up on top of the hill and let loose. Oh, and having fun. That’s it, rant over.
These events are my sanity check on my own attitude towards my fellow earth bound neighbors and it always amazes me to continually get a reality check. Humanity never fails me.
-Shane
Jan
24
Breckenridge Colorado. It’s cold, the sun is shining and all of the athletes are dancing around attempting to push the blood down to their toes. They’re all anticipating the days first run.
Ski racing is the only sport where you can go faster than the speed limit on nothing but two sticks and your legs. For those who’ve not had the oppurtunity to ski fast, it’s about as high adreniline rush as you can get. It takes focus and poise, not to mention hours of training to ride a razors edge.
This past weekend, January 20th through 22nd was the Age Class Super-G. Super-G is a very fast racing event only second in speed to downhill.
Dylan made two runs on Saturday and one last run on Sunday. After each run, the smile on his face said it all. But, the phrase, “Boy was that fun!!” told the entire story of why he races. “It doesn’t get much better than that!”
Dylan may be small, but everyone says, his technique is all Alpine Racer.
Three day race weekends take their toll on us all. However, the team camaraderie, sportsmanship and sense of accomplishment can’t be taught in any class-room.
Next race is here on our home turf, Eldora. It’ll be a Slolam run and more technical. It’s not Dylans favorite as he loves the speed events.
Stay tuned…
- Shane
Jan
9
First race of the season for Age Class. Usually, it’s bitter cold and windy. This year, it was neither. The early morning drive was riddled with cars in the ditch and a nice heavy snow-fall the entire drive. At the resorts parking lot, the front-end loader they used to clear the lot was driven by a wild man. I’m not sure if he was having fun flying around in the deep stuff like it was butter, or actually trying to take us all out as we skurried to the warmth of the lodge.
Free-skiing was the best I’ve ever done at Loveland. Usually it’s icey and wind-blown. However, this past Sunday it was a major powder day.
Jodi was nervous and didn’t hike up to the finish on Dylans first race. Since it was his first official race since recovery, she wasn’t sure about watching. He was strong, confident and showed great potential. You see, I couldn’t help it I skied down and watched. We’re down playing his racing this season so knowing his time was not relevant. He looked great and I was extremely proud. His hard work through the summer and early fall training paid off.
Dec
31
The single biggest high-light of the winter break was Friday, bar none! Instead of the team heading up to Eldora to train, they had scheduled a “Free-skiing” day at Vail where everyone could get discounts. (Vail is bragging on being the costliest day pass in the country at $81.00 per day. WHOA!)
Fortunately, we went through the Vail Ski Club and only paid half that.
While the kids and coaches found every cornice and cliff they could, yours truly looked for every “easy” by-pass. With a bum knee, I’m not about to have to see my doctor again for at least a few years. I figured, better not speed that visit up. Hey… I’m no slouch, but I don’t do cliff jumps. The end.
If you’ve not ever been to the back-bowls of Vail, then you’ve missed a treat. This was my very first ski visit to Vail. I was there years ago. Okay, many years ago. Well, a very long time ago… but never to ski. Maybe it’s this year or maybe it’s just that I hadn’t been in that spectacular of a bowl, but it was the best skiing I’ve experienced in a while.
Probably the best thing the team had going was it was something different than looking at gates all day and only being able to free-ski Eldora. There’s something to be said watching your coach biff it off a 20 foot cornice only to have to one-ski it down to the bottom of the bowl to fetch a ski. I know I’ve gained a new respect for a few of the coaches, kids and even Dylan watching them ski stuff most mere mortals would walk-away quaking in their ski boots.
At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted, including me, but all had huge smiles on their faces. It was worth the 3 hour drive there and back.
