Altenberg - Day 1

Day 1 (well, 2 if you count arrival, but I'm not) was pretty much centered around my first. Ever. Run. Down. The. Altenberg. Track.

For those not in the skeleton world, it's an infamous track - one of the Australians had to be airlifted out last week from Turn 4 during the World Cup race here, someone else was airlifted out a couple years ago from the same spot, and horror stories abound. The reaction from a newer slider when she heard I was going to Altenberg? "You've got balls, lady!"

Needless to say, I was (hopefully understandably) a bit nervous!

SUNDAY
As part of an attempt to keep ourselves awake as well as prepare for sliding today, the four of us (Cass and I met up with the two boys) went on a track walk in the afternoon. Just a few impressions from the walk:

• Long long start. I usually take 12 - 13 steps in Park City, 14-15 steps in Lake Placid, and this start will easily take 17-18 or more to reach the crest. Phew! I'm not an endurance athlete and that's a long way to run! ;)
• Turn 4 looks as scary as its reputation: quick transition from turn 3, a super sharp corner, very tall, and the wall is nearly vertical, followed by a crazy short transition to turn 5. Our sleds aren't made to turn as quickly as 4 requires, so the trick is to drag toes. Usually not an encouraged habit, toe dragging apparently happens a lot on this track.
  
• There are lots of LONG straightaways. Potential for lots of skidding, so relaxation is key.
• Kriesel (the 360 degree loops) is small and tight; may be tricky, and a lot of people get wrecked out of the exit.

Otherwise, the track didn't seem TOO bad...just a couple spots that can be really bad if you aren't on top of your game. So, trackwalk over, I was able to sleep last night.

A shot of kriesel:


MONDAY
We arrived at the track around 9;15am, signed in, prepped sleds, did mind runs, geared up, and tried to stay relaxed.

The start house...smells like plywood:


There is a TV in the start house that shows the views from the cameras down the track, so we could watch the other athletes' runs. Was it a bad idea or a good idea to watch when I hadn't even been down once yet??? Well...I decided to watch even though it probably wasn't a good idea....

One slider (I won't tell his name) had a TERRIBLE run! We were all gasping and yelling in amazement. He was practically bent in half out of 4, and we were sure he had lost his sled...then the next camera angle showed him in perfect form back on his sled. He had a few more bobbles, then entered kriesel. Camera on the exit: pow! He was off his sled, dragging and flailing. Next camera angle: back on his sled in perfect form. Wow.

Here's a shot of him coming off of 4 - you can see he's SUPER high which means he's got to come of sometime and the height makes that rather sudden:


Unfortunately, I don't have a shot of the bent-in-half part, but here's another slider, though having less difficulty, coming out of 4 and into 5:


After that, oddly, I wasn't scared. That first slider had a nearly perfectly awful run (and ended up shaving over 4 FULL seconds off the next run), then came back up just fine and ready to go down again, so clearly I was going to be fine. Not the expected feeling, but I was way more relaxed. (Sorry friend, but I took advantage of your misfortune!)

First run, I survived 4 with barely a tap, hit out of kriesel but not super hard, and had some skidding issues, but phew! One run under my belt.

Here I am coming off of turn 4; note that I have less height, thankfully:


And the aftermath as I enter 5, a bit rough but not too shabby!!!


After that, though, my helmet fogged up coming out of kriesel, so I was sliding completely blind and by feel from turn 10 on. I'm glad I have as much experience as I do now, since if that had happened on a new track a year or two ago I probably would have panicked and killed myself crashing somewhere; now, I was able to stay relaxed and focus on holding form, and go from the memorization of the turns I'd done. I thought to myself "this must be 12, here comes the g-load in 13, put your head down" "I think this is 15, here comes 16, ok, I feel the pressure so steer here....and here....phew I'm off clean" and then made it safely across the finish. Not trying to brag, trust me; it's just a good feeling to know I have some ability in me after all!

Second run went much better since I was more relaxed and could feel the timing more, but that meant that my lower part of the track had more speed...and so I hit the wall between 11 and 12, which made me go late into 13 and that is BAD...the sudden g-load as I shot to the roof slammed my head down and my face into my visor. I came out ok and was able to save the run, but my second speeds were super low, my nose hurts from hitting my visor, and my jaw is bruised from where it hit my sled. Oops! Oh well, I was a second faster and am relaxed and more aware of the track, so the rest of the week is promising.