OrangeTomato: Whistler World Cup

My first World Cup took place at the new track in Whistler, BC Canada, home of the skeleton / bobsled / luge events of the 2010 Olympic Games this spring.

The area is beautiful, and the ice is amazing. So clear! I couldn't get over how clear - it looked like there was no ice in places, only concrete, but that wasn't the case. Here it looks bumpy, but is actually as smooth as glass.

For another example, this leaf appears to be sitting on top of the ice, but is actually at least 1/2 inch underneath.

It is a notoriously difficult track, as I'm sure you have heard. My first runs were painful, and it didn't get much better quickly! I spent all of my time sliding and recovering, and had no mental capacity for anything else. Therefore, not very many pictures for you, but here are the few I took.

Walking the track.

This is curve 16, infamous as the curve that had to be altered during the Olympics.

Here is a random blast from the past for a couple of you - remember backpacking France in 1997? Yes, it's YOP!

Whistler reminded me a lot of Alaska, especially when this little fellow dropped by. First I peeked through the blinds.

Then opened the door.

He/she was begging for scraps. As cute as it was, I couldn't oblige since "a fed bear is a dead bear."

Super cute though, and reminded me of our dog Jean Luc as it scampered over the snow.

It hung out for a couple hours....But back to sliding. Here is a video of curve 6, my nemesis, from training. I couldn't seem to get the timing right, and pretty much every run was a mess there. This first video is a moderately ok run, filmed at full speed:

This next video was filmed in high speed, so appears in slow motion, but you get the idea. My poor ribs slammed into the saddle almost every run:

I slid with them taped up actually, for the next 2 races! Oops. I will admit to some shaking of my confidence.

The day before the race, I had finally put two solid runs together and even made it through 6 ok, hurrah! And started to get (a little bit of) my confidence back.

Finally, it was time to race. Again, I made sure to hydrate well.

And isn't my sled handsome in his first World Cup outfit?

Then, unfortunately, in the actual race I again missed the timing in 6 and slammed out so hard I rode my shoulder for a moment! Oops again...I'll post a video if/when I get a copy of it, since I missed the broadcast.

But, it was alright in the end. I got my first-race-jitters out of the way, pushed well, slid well except for that curve, and came in 16th place.

After the race, we went to Thanksgiving dinner. (Yes, the women raced on Thanksgiving day, and I was truly thankful just to have the chance to be there.) The boys - actually, really only Matt Antoine, he's amazing in the kitchen - had cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner! A whole turkey, stuffing, gravy, vegetables.....thanks Matt! Best way to end the week.

For the men's race the next day, Matt must have earned some good karma by cooking us dinner, as he made the podium by placing 6th!

Congrats.

Then, humbled but still comfortable knowing I would get this track someday, it was time to take off for the next race in Calgary...