Hi everyone!
Whew, was that a slew of races! I flew back to Vermont on the 17th from my Canadian expedition, (video coming on that), and then Sandy and I quickly jumped in my car the very next day and drove on up to Sugarloaf, Maine which is about 5 hour drive for me. It was an aggressive itinerary for us, which some did not approve of but we both wanted an opportunity to finish on a good note before Christmas break.
First day was Slalom and I was pleased to learn I could still arc. Man! It felt great after the injected Nor-Am slope I just came from. First run, I fired into second and Sandy 5th. Overly psyched on the whole arcing thing, I did a little to much of it second run which is not fast on flats. I dropped back to 5th over all but Sandy kept his head on and took my spot on the podium at 2nd. Second day was another SL but unfortunately neither of us finished.. dammit. Thankfully young gun, AJ Ginnis kept it alive for GMVS with the win!
Next day was Giant-Slalom, a discipline I am feeling more comfortable in these days. First run, I came down in 2nd again followed closely by Sandy in third. Not a bad start. Inspecting second run I thought of how sweet it would be to win. Yeah, lets do that. I didn’t ski out of my head that run, didn’t really attack, just kept it simple and smart which was a good thing considering the craters in the snow from the 28 kids who ran in front of me in combination with the warm weather. Skiing through the finish I heard a bunch of shouts from my fellow GMVSers which is a good sign. You never want to finish a race and hear dead silence… that means you don’t really want to know how you’ve done because most likely it’s not that stellar. But shout they did and I ended up winning my first race of the season which I am totally psyched about. It’s a great feeling to have your results show all the hard work put in.
I was looking forward to keeping the momentum going but unfortunately the next day was canceled due to warm weather and soft snow. Either way, Sandy and I had accomplished what we came to do. Rip some arcs, have some fun, and have a Christmas with results to be psyched about. Which is something a lot of GMVS athletes could say, considering we had someone on the podium each day, or kids making huge bounds up like our fellow PG Miles Derrick jumping from bib #112 to finish 22nd in the Slalom. Seriously dude?
We also had Sara Kikut on the ladies side getting 3rd in the GS, while her twin sister Anna won the freaking day making it a pretty sweet day for our school. It’s great when everyone is doing well and that energy is sure to carry on into the new year.
Anywho, be sure to look for my video on my Nor-Am trip to Canada soon. I am working on it and it’s looking good! Happy new years and all that jazz
Life.Love.Skiing. 