The rain falls heavy into a rushing creek outside our hotel window in another foreign country – and for a moment I can hear nothing else….
It’s almost surreal, the life I find myself leading; maybe because it has all happened in such a relatively short amount of time … but, here I am – and the second half of our 2012/13 World Cup season is officially underway!
Six (as I have mentioned in the past) is the number of official training runs allotted for all international sliding competitions. Now, to put that in perspective, my dearest readers, that means – unless you have learned the track from other visits – sliders have a mere six minutes (give or take) to gather as much information and formulate a complete race plan. Then, we just have to execute it.
So, for a complete newbie it’s no big deal …. right? RIGHT?!!
My rookie World Cup season will be epitomized this half – I have only ever been to one track (Igls) of the five scheduled stops (Altenberg, Königssee, Igls, St. Moritz and Sochi). You won’t hear me complaining (loudly) though, it’s a reality that I am prepared for and am even a little excited about. I spent the time over the holiday break reviewing track notes and watching point-of-view video for Altenberg – visualizing runs that I had never taken, doing my best to imagine timing and steer strengths …. all in a concerted effort to convince my mind and body I would be ready.
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| Exit of Altenberg’s elusive curve 4 (looking back from 5) |
We then jumped back in an oversized sardine can across the Atlantic, landed in Frankfurt, connected to Munich, grabbed the rental cars and proceeded to promptly drive five hours to the eastern-most part of Germany – which brought us to this stop: Altenberg.
We unpacked, watched the plethora of new years eve fireworks and mid afternoon January 1st, 2013 – I found myself standing face to face with my 8th new track.
Happy New Year, indeed.
In terms of progress, official training was really great. Each run was better and better, in different ways, and while Phrixus did end up taking a ride laying on top of ME through curve 5 and some of curve 6, he and I were learning together. So come race day, I knew I was prepared to put myself into the top ten mix.
The weather presented no surprises, initially. We grinned, pulled up our hoods and quickly unloaded our gear into the start house the morning of the race. Rain, wind and grey, gloomy skies had been the theme – so I threw on my headphones and found my zone.
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| A true 360 degree Kreisel curve |
5th sled off, Phrixus and I knew our game plan. Cheering voices lined the über long start ramp (yes, much like last week) and I put down a push that felt technically better than it had all of training. I settled into position and looked towards corner 1. The rest was a series of control vs. letting the sled go. I crossed the finish with a big personal best – and a run that would position me in 7th going into the next heat.
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| Extra-shiny ice?! |
The coaches and I reviewed the push and the full run – and agreed that the mistakes made were definitely fixable, as they tend to be; commit to make it better! Little did I know, that would be the easy part.
The tough part came just in time for run 2 … with the rain refusing to let up the track began to deteriorate by the minute.
As you have seen, the second run is structured in a last to fast format (20th to 1st rank as determined in run 1) – this saw a bit of a variance in combined down times. Now, the effect wasn’t as great for every single slider, and in the end – this is exactly how weather can play a huge part in outdoor sports – it’s racing. We pushed on.
Sarah was off before me, and Mel was just after. I had done my best to block out the downtimes from the sliders ahead of me. I didn’t want to add any unnecessary stress.
My name was called as the next slider to race.
Marching my way outside, I blinked drops of sideways-blowing rain out of my eyes. I stepped to the line and Duff stood directly ahead of me, one hand steadying an upright Phrixus; he blocked a fierce wind that was whipping its way up the start ramp.
We would exchange a few words, and I took an extra deep breath … I knew this wouldn’t be the same track that I had been sliding all week – but conditions are conditions it had to be driven accordingly.
Swallowing any doubt that fluttered about in my subconscious, I pushed with the strength I had stored up. The water was obvious everywhere and the sled was slowing with a somewhat dramatic force … but there isn’t room to give those kinds of things much thought when you have over a thousand metres of track to negotiate at highway speeds, head-first.
Crossing the finish line – I saw a 3 next to a two-second slower downtime (in comparison to my first run) … I wasn’t sure how to feel. I had once again dropped placings.
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| We’ll see you next time Altenberg podium! |
Helmet off.
Wave hello to the camera/friends and loved ones watching online.
Smile and wave to the crowd.
Await the final race results.
Accept the outcome for whatever it is.
Learn and grow.
Ultimately, the water caused a slippery slope for more than a few sliders and I would fall just one spot land in 8th place overall. While my girls would see a very different change in ranking and fall further back on the list.
A very strange end to a very grey-coloured week.
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| The beautiful Königssee view |
The silver lining, from my perspective however, was watching all these incredible women from so many different countries react to their results. Some great, some bad but ALL with passion. A passion only felt when we are able to pursue a dream that permeates every molecule of our being. A passion that keeps us up at night, and helps cuddle us to sleep. A passion we are fortunate enough to rock every single day – all around the globe.
Perspective – a theme that continues to weave it’s way like a thread through every available inch of my crazy life.
So despite all the slipping and sliding, my overall FIBT Women’s Skeleton World Cup ranking has moved up to 7th – and our team has moved on to my 9th new-to-me track: Königssee, Germany!
We have completed one day of paid-training and two days of official training.
This track is once again full of new challenges, new adventures and new tricky situations – but I’m entirely ready.
After all, life begins at the end of our comfort zone.
**The FIBT Viessmann World Cup Women’s Skeleton Race #7 is scheduled for Friday, January 11th, 2013 at 5:15PM (Eastern European Time) So be sure to tune in online!**