The last few days have been a bit rough and have kept with the up and down trend of the trip. In the giant slalom race the day after the slalom, I went down in the second run. I was a bit fired up right afterwards because I had again put myself in position after the first run to win the race. I was going for it and taking chances and doing that increases the risk of not finishing. I had some great turns on the top part of the course and that is what I took with me.
The race series finished up with two Super G races. I have never raced any speed events here in central Europe, so this was a new experience for me. The race trail was pretty mellow without any steep pitches or really fast sections. Considering I have not skied on my speed skis since mid-December, that might have been good for me.
In the first race, I was a bit thrown off by the speed. I skied well and skied the line that I wanted. It was obvious, however, that I was not accustomed to the higher speed because I was not as aerodynamic as the other racers. Many times while I was standing up, other racers were in their tucks. It was a simple adjustment that I could make for the next day.
Yesterday, for the following race, we woke up to a pretty heavy snowfall that began just before dawn. When I walked outside and saw it, I knew that the day would be a challenge. It was mostly because I had drawn number 3 in the race. When it is snowing or has recently snowed, the track gets faster as more people run the course. With fresh snow, it is always slow and as racers go down, the friction from their skis heats up the snow enough to melt it a bit. After the racers go by, the snow refreezes. The repeated melting and refreezing process makes the tracks considerably faster as the race goes on. This can sometimes offset the deterioration made near the gates from the ice. It is more important on flat sections or flatter races like the ones I did.
I had a solid run right from the start in the last race. About 10 seconds into the run, there was what looked like a little roll during inspection. However, in the race it was not so. Right as I came into it, I could see there was a small lip that kicked the racers into the air. I did not have the time to make a move and absorb the terrain by the time I saw it. From what the coaches who were standing there said, the racers were getting about 50 yards of distance in the air. I landed right at the next gate, just in time to stay in the course. I don't think that I have ever caught that much air in a course.
I think that jump charged me up a bit and got the adrenaline running because I charged with everything I had down the rest of the course. I came down in the lead and was holding onto it until there was a course hold after number 10. During the course hold, the finish referee told us to grab our stuff and go to the start. The race jury had decided after number 10 to move the start below the big jump and restart the race because they felt it was unsafe. That was a huge letdown after having a great run.
On the positive side, I had already run the course once and knew where I needed to ski strong and where I could take more chances. I looped back around to the start and was back in the gate to go again. I skied another very solid run, but in the time between the stopping of the first run and the restart a good amount of snow had accumulated again. I was able to stay in the lead until number 8, then like flicking a light switch the times got faster and faster. Quite a few higher-ranked skiers were able to take advantage of the conditions (including the snow stopping and sun coming out) and moved me back to 11th.
It was beyond frustrating to ski great and have circumstances outside of my control play such a huge influence on the race. I'm not saying that I would have won the race, but I ended up less than half a second off the leader. Under fair conditions, it would have been a significantly different race. Unfortunately, that is part of participating in an outdoor sport. Although I was looking to win these races, the other reason for doing them was training. And by getting three runs in the course of two races, I definitely got the best deal on that.