notes: |
Today was the Rose comp. It was pretty fun, but certainly a learning experience.
Got there at about 9.30 and made a few runs waiting for Corky. Skied a couple with Craig and went off to get my bib. #33 :D. Went back to the Chutes and started scoping features. Of my two runs I was going to make my first big and my second mellow.
First Line: I didn't know how I was going to enter, but I knew it would have air. I picked 5 features I had planned on catching air on. The first four were 10 feet + and the last about 5 feet. I tried to choose features that had something (trees/rocks) to jump over so the judges could see that I was airborne; unfortunately for me when I looked up from the judges table later I saw that most of my technical airs were obscured by other trees... Stupid trees!
Second Line: I wasn't sure what this would be.
Run 1) I was the very first in the line-up so I was on the fence. The judges didn't see anything yet, so would I have to "WOW" them extra to make a mark, or should I assume that I would get a mediocre score and take it easy... I decided to WOW.
I was really nervous and I picked a slightly nasty air into the run that cleared some trees/stumps/rocks that gave me from top to bottom ~20 feet to moguls. I knew I had to cut hard left so right when I hit the ground I edged hard left. Since I was in bumps my full edge wasn't in contact with the snow and I spun out... I learned an important lesson here: After a month of not skiing and battling H1N1 I'm not quite as strong as I was before. I arrested on a tree, jumped up, and tried to recover my line. Right from here. I hit all my airs but the one goal post air into the choke of the chute. By the bottom of the chute I was totally out of gas. I could barely pick my way through the moguls. In fact at the bottom I stopped by Craig and just fell over because my legs wouldn't carry me anymore. I WAS EXHAUSTED!
SCORE: 5, 4, 5
I puttered around at the judges table for a while listening to what they were saying and what they wanted so I knew what to do for the next run. I found out that they never saw my entrance air because they couldn't find me, but they did see the crash (no + points for air, just - points for tomahawk... BOOOO!) The people who were getting the best scores were the ones not hitting anything...?! OK, so the next run, I had planned on picking an interesting entrance and skiing the rest of it hard with big long turns over to skier's left of the chute so the judges can easily see me.
Run 2: I tried airing over the rocks at an angle so it looked like I was getting more air than I was... I didn't scope the entrance well. There were rocks that I didn't see so I had to go much bigger than I had planned, but still not as big as Run 1.
After that first air, I learned a second lesson: FUCK! I'M STILL GASSED!!!!!!
My mind was saying "Long fat haul ass turns!" My legs responded with "GO FUCK YOURSELF!" I can't say there are many things more frustrating than knowing you can do something, but not being able to do it. I KNOW that I could have railed long turns but a month of not skiing and being sick really took it's toll on me. With that said, I skied as hard as I could which was not very impressive.
SCORE: 6, 5, 6
After runs 1 & 2 I can at least say that I really tried my best. I wasn't in condition to do much better than I did, but I can say that I learned a lot. I learned about nerves on the top of the line, that I have the skill to compete with the people who won today, I need to be healthy to compete at my best level (not necessarily pro level mind you), what judges would like to see in a line, and the crochity old man judges talk a lot of shit considering they are sitting at the bottom picking their asses with binoculars.
Finished about 4 more chutes runs with Craig. I was beat, but I was not going to give up or quit. I was hoping that skiing to absolute failure would make me stronger... I didn't get to failure (they closed the lifts), but I hope I got stronger.
After close I met up with Ray, Mrs. Ray, and Craig for some beer in the parking lot... Well, I met them. I was too tired to get out of my truck. I hung out for a few mins then went home.
At home promptly laid down and tried to recover. When I got up again at about 9 I poked around on the internets for a few minutes. I was exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open, but I happened across a post from H4B. He saw my picture as "Picture of the Day" on the Rose website. I didn't win a prize but I did get a little bit of cool guy exposure. I guess a good picture and great experience will be my trophy for this day. I think I can be satisfied with that... Until next year :D .
okbye
Pic courtesy of Mt. Rose & Facebook:
(Run 1, motor on, trying to flash the line)
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