Adventures of a Skeleton Slider - Year 3

So many of the sleds are boring -- just a piece of fiberglass or steel, in a simple blue, green, red or another single color.  If you're a skeleton superstar like Jimmy Shea, you can get a custom pod with a bald eagle and American flag on it, but that costs big bucks.

Last month, I did a story for Park City Marketplace on OriginalSnowboardArt.com, a company that produces TopSkins for snowboards.  They come in over 300 designs, and more are being added every day from artists around the world.  I figured if they could make one just a little bit bigger, it would be perfect for my sled. 

So I browsed around their site, trying to pick out something fun, when I found this Maple Flame model -- how cool to have a fiberglass sled that looks like wood?  Sort of like a super fancy Flexible Flyer.

As thanks for doing the story (and the free promotion), company founder Bob Lutnicki agreed to give me one for free, and then we took some pix of the application process so they could add it to the site.

Needless to say, the other sliders were pretty impressed by the design, and I expect that in the months to come, quite a few more will get ordered.  Finally, no more wondering whose sled is whose, because they will all have that personal touch on them.

ori2006 at 10:52:24 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Only 11 people racing today -- 8 guys and 3 women.  That's because all of the folks who didn't qualify for races 3 & 4 in National Team Trials are still in Lake Placid, waiting for the secondary qualifying races to see if they'll make the America's Cup squad.  You don't want to hear all about the controversy, and heated e-mail traffic that went back and forth all summer as the athletes and federation battled over how the various national teams would be determined, suffice it to say I put my $0.02 in despite none of it affecting me.

Aaaaannnyway, back to the task at hand, a race just for those club people who didn't have a shot at a national team, without all the new kids that will get added to the mix as the UOP completes other classes.  Steve Mayer, following a disastrous final race in Placid last year, is back in the club, as is Walt Harrison, though he apparently hadn't checked his e-mail and didn't realize that there was a race today.  Justin Stoddard missed making the top 12, but he's racing here before heading back to New York.

After a bit of a delay as the National Team Trials were finishing up, we got our turn on the track.  Amazingly, I turned in a solid 3rd place in my first run, with a 5.15 push (I guess all that soccer I've been playing this fall was good for something), and a final time of 54.03 -- 0.83 behind young Matt Revelli who set a PR with a 4.93 push, and 0.65 behind Mayer.  I say amazingly because I was a quarter-second faster than Justin... a place I've almost never been.

The second run was even better, with a 5.21 push (4th fastest), but a nice clean run that got faster as I moved down the track.  Again, consistency was my buzzword as I clocked a 54.02, the second fastest time in the second run, but still 0.41 behind Mayer, good enough for yet another Bronze medal.

As I look over to the sculpture where my medals all hang, I see lots of bronzes, set off only by the one gold medal from last season's club-only (no development teams) race.  I suppose I should be happy with any medal (just ask Justin about that, right?), but it's a little frustrating to see so little improvement.  I feel sort of like the Atlanta Braves -- winners of 150 straight NL East Division titles and one World Series to show for it.

Thankfully, this is all just for fun now, there's no pressure on me to qualify for anything, it's all about the rush of zipping down that track. 

I'll miss our next training session because it's election night, and I expect to be at the station until the wee hours waiting for some sort of result.  Thankfully, the local races should be decided early, now that the GOP candidate for county commission has totally collapsed in the last week of the race amid mounting allegations of lies, half-truths, and general cluelessness.  Of course, he's LDS, so that'll probably be enough to get him a ton of votes outside of Park City proper, but whether it's enough, we'll just have to see.

ori2006 at 11:00:20 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Surprise!  It's time to pull out the spikes, helmet and spandex suit, because the 2004-05 skeleton season is upon us once again.  You can imagine my surprise when I re-read an old e-mail last week and realized that not only did we have a training session scheduled for Friday, but the first club race of the season was on Saturday afternoon.  I had barely looked at my sled since putting it away in February, and now I'm supposed to go running down that track again?  Yikes!

I did some quick scheduling with the Friday DJ at the station to see if he could come in early so that I could make the 7 PM session (normally I'm on the air until 7, and at the station until 7:30 or so -- this could become a problem with future sessions, we'll have to see), then I just had to hope I could remember all the turns on the track and what I'm supposed to do in each of them.

Thankfully, there wasn't any traffic on Highway 224 as I raced up to the track, put my sled in the start house, quickly got it adjusted, and then got on the ice.  Folks said they were surprised to see me, as they had heard me on the air not 15 minutes earlier.  I didn't push too hard, as I tried to recall the mechanics of getting on the sled, then just sort of held on and let muscle memory take over.

Amazingly enough, I made it down without incident, and in fact, turned in a fairly respectable time.  Had a little trouble with the second run, especially as my visor was totally fogged for most of it, but in the end, the two runs were consistent, separated by a mere 0.06 seconds.

Well, tomorrow is race day, that's when the real fun starts.  :)

ori2006 at 10:36:45 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I talked with Wendy yesterday about what happened at the race, and it sounds like it was a total disaster, and political mess.  Some of the high- (or low-) lights of the National Championships in Lake Placid:

- There were no sled checks, spike checks or runner checks.  Certain athletes showed up late for the Parc Ferme and were allowed to race.  How can you have more controls for a club race than the national championships? 

- Apparently, the program director talked to certain Lake Placid-based sliders the night before the race and not others, giving them track tips and possibly some other info on what would and would not be checked, it's not a surprise that they did much better than the other athletes.

- Just a note that this is the third straight year that Nationals have been held in Lake Placid.  It's amazing how the USBSF always manages to find a reason not to hold it in Park City.  They usually claim that it would be too warm to hold it here, but two out of the past three years it's rained in Lake Placid, causing poor track conditions or cancelled races (2002).  Plus, there's nothing that says they have to have it at the end of the season.  Other sports have their nationals in January, then continue on with the regular season.

- I don't know if there was something new on the track or what, but the sheer number of crashes says that something was going on.  Walt apparently hit the wood so hard that he was unconscious for 12-15 minutes (amazingly enough, he held on to his sled and finished his run, but couldn't get up off of it, and started to slide back down the track before they grabbed him).  Curtis would have done the same except he went sideways into a curve feet-up instead of head-up.  Stokes rolled twice, Steve crashed once.  Tracy Anderson, after being totally overcome with emotion when she found she had tied for 8th in the seeding race, hit so hard in her first run that she had to bail on the rest of the competition.  Perhaps just for safety's sake, they should move the race next year.

ori2006 at 12:16:19 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

(NOTE: This report is from Brian Heil, who went up to Placid to watch the races)

Mayer 81'd out of turn 12 on his 3rd run.  After coming to stop under the bridge, he hurled his helmet 30 yards into the heart.  Walt was taken to the hospital after his 4th - heard them call for a stretcher board on the walkie talkie.  Stokes rolled over on both of his first two runs (58 sec. each), before putting down two 55s in his last two.  Soule set the track record in the last heat, only to have Bernoutas a few runs behind him break it again.
RESULT    ATHLETE MEN    Top 18 Qualify for National Team Trials next Fall (* = Park City Athlete)

1    Eric Bernotas   
2    Caleb Smith   
3    Chris Hedquist*   
4    Kevin Ellis   
5    Brady Canfield   
6    Chris Soule   
7    Zach Lund*   
8    Robert Murray   
9    Mike Cline   
10    Terry Holland   
11    Phillip Muirhead*   
12    Brian McDonald   
13    Jimmy Shea   
14    Maury Zuber   
15    Kyle Tress   
16    Ralph Mirabelli   
17    Justin Stoddard*   
18    Jason Askins*    
19    Jordan Oxendine   
20    Tim Schaaf   
21    Matt DeJulio   
22    Chad Omweg*   
23    John Daly   
24    Jason Vanderhoven*   
25    John Grey   
26    Jeremy White*   
27    Christopher Nurre   
28    John Bagley*   
29    Geoffrey Sitch   
30    Greg Bargo*   
31    Stokes Aitken*   
32   Walt Harrison*   
33    Adam Donahoo*   
34    Curtis Brimley*   
35    Jeff Browning*   
36    Adam Ohlinger*   
37    Tim O'Mara*   
38    Steve Mayer*   
DNS    Taylor Clyde 

 
RESULT    ATHLETE WOMEN   
1    Katie Uhlaender   
2    Jessica Palmer*   
3    Katie Koczynski   
4    Felicia Canfield*
5    Lyndsie Peterson*   
6    Natasha Ellison   
7    Jody Barton   
8    Bree Schaaf/ Boyer   
9    Rebecca Sorenson   
10    Kim Krowlewski   
11    Amanda Bird   
12    Marci Francis   
13    Mackenzie Flanders*   
15    Audrey Thompson   
16    Marta Schultz   
17    Lark Bunker*   
18    Babs Isak   
19    Stephanie Gachowski*   
20    Leah Ford   
21   Linda Cise*   
22    Cassie Revelli*   
24    Wendy Arnone*   
DNS    Tristan Gale   
DNS    Lea Ann Parsley   
DNS    Courtney Yamada   
DNS    Elana Ghanotakis   
DNS    Noelle Pikus-Pace   
    Jennifer Nescio   
    Lauren Cook   
    Lauren Nescio   
    Jessica Jacobsen*   
    Nicole Olson*   
    Sarah Moffit*   
    Kaitlin Potter*   
    Kelly Magnuson*   

ori2006 at 11:43:25 PM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I don't know why, but I really have a hard time really going after things that I profess to want.  Sure, I moved out to Park City to try to be a skeleton athlete, but did I spend time in the gym getting bigger and stronger?  No.

When I was in high school, I was on the J.V. soccer team for three years, I just expected that I would get moved up to the varsity for my senior year - not necessarily because I'd worked so hard the year before, but because it was "just my time."

I don't know why I'm so content to just drift through life, catching on to oppportunities as they come to me -- I suppose I've been relatively successful at it so far, finding good jobs, a great wife, and other things, but there's this constant little nagging in the back of my head that says I could be so much more with just a little effort.

I was the same way in college -- content to write that term paper at the last minute and get a B+, when starting a week earlier probably would have gotten me an A.  Some people have that desire and motivation, and some don't.  I'm in that latter category, which is why my motto should probably be "Woulda', coulda', shoulda'."

I'll try to keep this updated over the summer, but no promises.  Who knows, perhaps I'll even put some updates on what my "regular" life is doing.

Another season down, but the adventure continues.

ori2006 at 11:39:07 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Just a couple more comments -- we love the volunteers who run the races for us, but sometimes they just don't quite get it.  For the second year in a row, they added up the race points incorrectly, this time telling Jeremy White that he had qualified, while Tim O'Mara hadn't.  A quick glance at the results (Jeremy 6-10-10, Tim 7-6-9) would have shown that to be impossible, but that didn't stop them from calling him up there.  They had Brandon in front of me as well, so when I got home, Lori and I did our own calculations and figured out the problem.

By the time they figured it all out, Jeremy had already left the track, and when they eventually tracked him down, he'd already made reservations for Lake Placid.  The race crew was so embarrassed, they gave him one of the "coaches selection" spots, so he gets to go as well.  I hope he makes the most of his chance.

ori2006 at 11:29:47 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Well, it all comes down to this.  This is pretty much going to be my last chance to qualify for U.S. National's, because I can read the writing on the wall which says that more people keep picking up this sport, and they're younger, stronger, and faster than I am.  I may be able to drive relatively well, but I just don't have the time to devote to training (both on and off the track) that will get me to that next level.

Another crappy start in the first run - 5.15 put me in 11th.  With a slow track (it warmed up and snowed a little overnight), building up speed quickly, and then holding on to it, is extremely important.  Some guys, like Chad and Adam Donohoo, drive well enough to overcome their slow starts, but I just haven't gotten to that point yet.

The racing was really amazing today -- in the first run, Jason Askins and Adam Ohlinger tied for first, with Donahoo 0.01 behind.  Fifth and Sixth were only 0.02 apart, and I was an eyeblink ahead of Brandon - 53.86 to 53.87.  Anything could happen in the second run, there could be a lot of movement in the standings.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough movement to help me out.  Brandon and I ended up tied for 11th overall as his second run was 0.01 faster than mine.  Officially I was ranked higher because I had the fastest time of our two runs, but the reward of being the highest ranked club slider was small consolation for me.

Even if Chad and Jason hadn't competed, I still would have only finished 9th, which would have left me out of Nationals again.  Basically, I held the same spot that I finished in the year before, while eight new people leapfrogged me (Vanderhoven and Ohlinger beat me last year as well).

Here are the final standings for the three seeding races.  Points are given as follows: 400 for 1st, 380 for 2nd, 360 for 3rd, etc.  Plus, "speed points" are awarded for each race, 1 point for every 0.10 faster than the average of the top 20 times.

1.  Jason Askins - 1239

2. Chad Omweg - 1219

3. Adam Ohlinger - 1176

4. Adam Donahoo - 1074

5. Greg Bargo - 938

6. John Bagley - 917

7. Jason Vanderhoven - 853

8. Tim O'Mara - 848

9. Jeremy White - 755

10. Crest Simeon - 690

11. Ori Hoffer - 626

12. Brandon Bargo - 561

13. Alex Hedquist - 420

13. Allen Blackwell - 420

15. Gary Peterson - 380

16. Charlie Brennan - 280

ori2006 at 11:22:41 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

I'm not quite sure what's happened to my start times, but suddenly I've dropped about 0.05 from my times -- I've been pushing in the 5.07 - 5.09 range for the last few weeks, but now, when it counts, suddenly it's up in the 5.13 - 5.17 range, and that's just not going to do it for me.

Anyway, after a slightly disappointing 12th place in the first race, I really tore it up in race # 2, getting a 9th place finish in the first run, and despite an 11th place finish in the second run, holding on to 9th overall for the day...a mere 0.03 seconds ahead of Jeremy White, who had recorded the two fastest start times of the day at 4.80 and a sick 4.75.

They say that all things being equal, every tenth of a second you're faster at the start translates to three-tenths at the finish.  By that theory, Jeremy should have beaten me by nearly a full second on each run, but he's yound and still hasn't quite gotten the driving part down yet.

I wish I had a start like that (he's a speedskater as well) which could give me that leeway to make some mistakes on the track and still go fast, but some folks are just more naturally gifted for speed than others (plus, he probably works out and stuff).

So after two races, I have a 12th and a 9th, with not many speed points, so I'm probably in 10th or 11th overall.  I'll need a big day tomorrow to make it into the top 8.

ori2006 at 10:46:54 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

Before we get back into what happened in the last two races, here's a few photos from up at the start (easiest place to get pictures 'cause we're not moving so fast up there).  Note the black-and-white race suit which sort of makes me look like a penguin (fitting, for those who know about my collection of "nature's waiters").

ori2006 at 10:34:36 AM MST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own