Whistler and On

WELL I LIVED!!!!

I slid on what is considered to be one of the WORLDS toughest tracks!!  WHISTLER!!! 

Sliding Whistler is the definition of an adrenaline RUSH!

Check out my teammate Laurie Bausch's Run in Whistler. It's a "helmet camera" so is puts into perspective how fast the track is. AND don't be fooled by the camera angle. We definitely do not see that far in front of us. We see about 6 feet at a time!
Laurie's Run on Whistler Track (click on link to see her run)

The track is definitely the hardest and fastest track I have slid yet.  I hit 82 MPH there. I have only slid on 4 tracks but after this week my coach said, THERE IS NO FEARING ANY TRACK NOW THAT YOU HAVE SLID WHISTLER.

Whistler was home of the 2010 Olympics, This is the track many of the sliders I am competing with  were watching on TV last Olympics and saying, man I think I can do that. Now we are literally sliding the track where our dreams first started.  Gives me chills.  A lesson to take there is you NEVER know what you will be doing in 3 years. Or at least if you are me and are running all over the place before “real life” sets in.

What did I take from Whistler?

Besides bruised ribs and an extra 3 inches of swelling on my hip ?

I learned that you have to ALWAYS be focused. There is no room for error on this track. If you miss a steer there YOU PAY FOR IT!  If you come off a curve wrong there, YOU FLY OFF! I wish I had all the video of us, it is probably pretty entertaining, Although I have been unable to sleep on my left side due to "bumping into walls."

This was one of the best experiences of my life! I also believe I am a better slider because of it as well. I cannot wait to get back on tracks I drive well and create as much speed as possible! 

The good video I have of the track would not transfer onto my computer consequently I only have video from the FIRST RUN when we were not even going from the top. We still hit 79 mph starting from curve 3. WHICH IS NUTS! But here is a quick clip from the day. I am probably only going 45-50mph here (curve 6) 

Here are some of the pictures of Whistler and the Olympic Village there!

Olympic Rings in the Whistler Village

Rings at night! Super COOL!

WE ALL LIVED!! This was after our first runs from the top! All in one piece!

View from the track. You can see the track to the left

Another view at night in the village! You can see some of the ski slopes

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The team trying to stay warm with some Starbucks

I have been training in Lake Placid this month. It is always great to get back to familiarity. It’s been a good month of sliding and it has been COLD! We actually had 2 days cancelled this week because it was too cold which is ironic since we practice on ice. 

Check out the video below to see how cold it got! A little Science experiment for you!

I am going out to Park City tomorrow. I have a regional race (USA Athletes only) on Feb 9th there! A win guarantees a spot in next years Olympic/ Team trials. Needless to say I am preparing for that race in order to perform my best. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement!