Arrived in Wisconsin

We are here in Cable, Wisconsin, for the first leg of the IPC World Cups in the U.S. Team Canada made up of the National World Cup Team, Development Team and the National Group (which I am a part of) arrived at the Telemark Resort last night after a day-long journey from various parts of the country. Caroline and I flew from Ottawa at 11 a.m. and met most of the team in Toronto. We made our connection even though we were late coming in. Our skis weren't as lucky. We think they were offloaded in Toronto because there wasn't enough space on the plane. Thankfully, the USOC volunteers got them to the hotel safely late last night.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day: sunny and somewhat mild. The trails here at Telemark start right outside our door, which is really awesome. We took the morning to get organized and some people had classification. Since I wasn't one of those people, having been classified twice already, I helped our coaches scrape some skis in the wax room.

After lunch, most of us went out skiing. We skied the 5 km loop that will be used for the 15 km race on Thursday. My guide, Brian, isn't here yet, as there was a bad storm in Thunder Bay and he is somewhere on the way. So I asked Mary,, one of our coaches, to guide me today. The course is nice and mostly rolling, but there are some bigger downhills and longer climbs. The only downhill that might present a problem is somewhere in the middle of the course. It's got lots of turns through which you keep picking up speed. Mary and I went down it not realizing what it was like. I was holding on for dear life until the very last left-hand turn, where I got carried out to the outside and wiped out followed closely by Erica, who had to fall to avoid running over me, and Caroline, who fell to avoid running over Erica's pole. Then there was Mary, who looked back at me to see what happened and almost ran into a bush and wiped out to avoid that collision. So I caused a four-girl pile-up!

It's now evening and Brian has finally arrived. Yay! So tomorrow we'll be skiing at 10 a.m. and also possibly practicing some shooting. And I'm off to bed. Still need more rest after yesterday.

Good night from Cable.

Germany: Day 6: 15 km skate

Today was a very pretty and warm day here in the Black Forest. We had our long-distance skate race. I finally had a great race today. After the short sauna and some rest yesterday, my muscles felt like new instead of feeling tired and being full of lactic acid like before. We did 4 laps 3.75 km each. It was a tough course with a very long gradual climb, some wicked downhill corners and a very steep coulple of uphills just before the stadium. But this is a World Cup race after all! I actually didn't find the long gradual hill to be such a big nuisance - I train on those all the time up in the Gatineaus - it was the shorter steep ones that got me every time. And I've realized that I really need to work on those hairpin corners, because I'm too chicken to step-turn them, even though I know that in therory I can do it. I have exactly 18 days in Ottawa before I have to head out again for Nationals and the Paralympics (assuing I get to go) to work on some of that stuff.

Robert and I tried using the two-way radio headsets that the Vancouvver gang has been racing with in the last few years. We really liked them for a race like today's. They allow me to communicate with Robert if I need to tell him to slow down or to let me know about something, and they allow Robert to not have to yell over all the noise of the race and the distance between us. I can hear every word he says through the earpiece.

As for my result, even though I came in 9th and second last and was just 1.1 seconds out of the World Cup points, I'm still happy with it. I have never been anywhere near points in a long race before. And had I been my old classification, a B2, (they've just reclassified me as a B3 God knows why), I actually would have gotten quite a few points. I know this is too technical for you non-paranordic skier readers, but just know this: today was the best long-distance race I've ever skied!

Oh, official results can be found here.

Well, it's getting pretty late and I'm really sleepy, so I'd better go to bed. Tomorrow's the last World Cup race of the season, and it's a short bithlon, just like the first race we had in France. If I shoot clean and ski fast, maybe I'll get some points tomorrow. I certainly hope so. I also hope to go into Frieburg tomorrow after the race, since I still haven't done any sightseeing in Germany. We start late again tomorrow, so who knows. Then we get outta here early on Monday morning. So if I don't get a chance to update this tomorrow. I will see y'all in Canada and hopefully write from there. For now though, good night again from Oberried deep in the Balck Forest of Germany.

Germany: Day 5 - Biathlon Pursuit

Today was kind of a weird day. I've been totally stressed out and on edge all day. My race went alright I guess. I was 8th out of 11, which is not too bad for me. No points though. I didn't shoot well, only got 5 out of 10, but it was snowing all day and the guns tend to flake out a bit when the snowflakes get between them and the targets. Also, the biathlon range is just at the top of a small hill, which means that your heart rate tends to be higher when you come in, which in turn, makes it harder to hold the gun steady. Neither Courtney or I advanced to the pursuit finals, even though we thought we would. We were told last night that the top 10 would advance, but it appears that it was only whoever got World Cup points. So only 6 advanced. Robbi was one of them, but she ended up quitting the race for some reason.

Tomorrow is the long skate race (15 km), and I'm not looking forward to it, to be honest. I'm tired and it's a long way to ski. I didn't see the course, but I was told it was very hilly, so it'll be really hard. Oh well, I'll just ski it and not worry about anything else tomorrow. Yeah, at least that's what I'm saying right now.

Our Vancouver contingent is leaving us tomorrow, so for the last two races it'll just be Harris, Alexei, Jamie, Robert and me. I'm just about ready to go home myself. It's been a really long trip, but there's only two more days and races left. Ok, the girls are packing up their things and getting ready for their morning flight, but I gotta go to bed to get some much needed shut-eye before my long race tomorrow. Good night from Oberried.

France: Day 6 - Official biathlon training and opening ceremonies

Today was official traiining for the biathlon race tomorrow. Robert and I skied the course in the morning and tried out as many of the rifles as we could. There are 10 Eko rifles in all set up at the range. Rifles 1 and 2 weren't working I guess, but they are supposed to be tomorrow. On official training days, we're supposed to try all the guns to find out if there are any quirks to certain ones that we should know about. On race day, the official fills the lanes starting with 1, so we don't get the choiice, but it's still good to know what kind of gun you're shooting.

It was cold in Bessans this morning, -18, but I thught that, compared to the Ottawa -18, this was a walk in the park. The only thing was that the snow was really slow, so even going easy meant you were working hard. The course seems really nice though, mostly all gentle or short uphills and no crazy downhills. Tomorrow the B-category athletes (blind) start at noon, so by that time, the snow should warm up a bit, and it's been snowing all evening, so that should speed things up as well.

This evening was the Opening Ceremonies. Only two people from the "A" team showed up, but most of our crew was there. It was really neat and fun. First they had a parade, in which only Andrea, me, Robbi and Brian participated from our team we're not really sure why. Mary would have none of this monkey business and so she joined us as we were walking by. Everyone was led in by children from the area dressed in traditional costume. This is us after we walked in.

That was followed by some welcoming speeches. Then, after the World Cup was declared open, they said they were going to light the flame. This was done by having a whole bunch of alpine skiers come down the mountain with torches. It was really cool even though all I could see were some lights moving down the mountain. Here they are standing in the street afterwards. They skied right into the street!

Then, they announced that they had "une autre surpris" for us, and next thing we knew, there were fireworks lighting up the night sky! It was like Canada Day in the winter. What an effort for such a small place! At the end they had some traditional dances of the region performed by some adults and some little kids. Of course, our Mary went out to dance along with them! They ended up sweeping Andrea along as well, and there she is wearing my new media jacket. Haha try and find her!

It was a fun evening, and I was very glad I went even though I've got a bit of a sore throat today and am trying everything to make sure it doesn't develop into a cold. This is Andrea, Mary and me on our way back from the festivities. My camera battery was just about dead, so I think that's why things are a little blurry.

Oh don't worry, I will charge it tonight. I know how much everyone loves my pictures :).

Good night from Bessans.