Needless to say, I made it over to Europe safely and withlittle sleep. It was a battle the whole first day here to stay awake throughoutthe day, but I made it and cannot begin to describe how good it felt to getinto a bed and sleep the whole night.
The day after arriving, I was thrown into the fire so tospeak with my training. My first day of training was on the European Cup racetrail at a small place called Kirchberg in Austria. There we ran a long giantslalom with the Austrian world and European cup teams. It was quite theopportunity to say the least. In hindsight, it was probably too much for myfirst day after traveling.
I felt that I needed to ski well and elevate my skiing tokeep up with the athletes that I was training with. This was a bit toughbecause I was not fully with it from fatigue. During my second run in thecourse, my ski hooked up at the bottom of a turn and shot me into the air. Imanaged to go through the next gate before hitting the ground. The first thingto make contact with the snow was my tailbone followed immediately by my head.I rarely crash hard, but this one really did a number on me and was harder thanI have crashed in years. It took me a few minutes to get up and moving.
Since that crash, my tailbone has been really sore andlimited what I have been able to do. I was scheduled to race two days later andit was a race I didn’t want to miss. I tried training the day after, but was atonly about 60%. After training that day, I was very doubtful about my chancesbeing ready to go for my first race, the European Cup.
After a day off, I started to feel better, but the boneand muscles were still really sore. In the end, I felt that I was feeling goodenough to race. I had been preparing and working hard for this race for quite awhile and wanted to have my shot, so pulling out was not really an option forme.
As I have said before, the field of competitors atEuropean Cup races is so strong it is almost overwhelming. I am currentlyranked 110th in the world in giant slalom and based off world rank I started48th. Nearly half the people ranked higher than me were at this race. Thisincluded the best giant slalom skiers from Europe, a few of which have recentlybeen on the podium in World Cup races.
The trail was much longer than anything I have skied in along time. The fastest time first run was a minute and 23 seconds. Typicallygiant slalom courses at my level are between a minute and a minute and 10seconds long. To make things more challenging, there were two very steeppitches about 50 seconds into the course just when the legs are beginning toget fatigued.
Starting position played an important role in the race.The organizers put water onto the hill in hopes of getting an icy surface, butit did not work everywhere. There were spots that were icy, then all of asudden a few turns where the snow broke away.
Looking back on my first run, I was a little bit on thetentative side in the top of the course where I fell earlier. This was not mygame plan going into the race, but I guess my subconscious won over. Down loweron the last steep pitch, I skied my more aggressively but had one mistake thatgot me low in my line. These two lapses cost me making it to the top 30 after thefirst run. When they reverse the top 30 for the second run, it is a hugeadvantage to be a part of that. I started 48th and managed to move up to 39thonly 0.6 seconds on a one minute 20 second course out of 30th place.
It never ceases to amaze me how deep the fields are overhere. In NorAm races, that run would have put me in to top 10, but not here. Iwas frustrated after the first run because I had not stuck to the plan that Ilaid out before the race. I shook off my crash from a few days earlier andcharged down the course in the second run. I was able to move up a bit more to32nd place, just missing out on scoring European Cup points (awarded to the top30).
It was a long, quiet drive back to the GMVS house where Iam staying. Afterwards, I came to realize that I have come a long way over thelast couple of years in my skiing and a 32nd place finish is not bad at thislevel. I was reminded that it is essential to charge hard and race all outevery run. I also know that I belong at this level and with good skiing - whichI am more than capable of - I can be in the top 15. I will have two more chances at the end of myEuropean trip in early February.
Until then, I will have some FIS races here in Austriawith similarly strong competitors. Two days from now, I will be back inKirchberg on the same trail racing in a FIS giant slalom. For now, it istraining and rest to make sure my body is at 100%.