Christmas frolicks

Well a very Merry christmas to you all. I hope that you all enjoyed christmas as much as i have.

Apologies for the lateness of this blog. The last few weeks have been extremely busy for me with the first set of races kicking off and christmas time!

After the last blog things really kicked off with our trip to Geilo, Norway. After hours of sitting round our living room table we decided that going via the UK was the cheapest and best option. So on the 10th of December, Craig, Pete, Greg and myself travelled back to the UK to get our connecting flight to Oslo, Gardermoen. Our flight to Norway wasnt until the next day which allowed us all time to go home for a night to see our friends and in my case, my beautiful girlfriend!

We departed the UK early friday morning for Oslo. The flight was short and sweet and before i could realise it we were in the rental car, ski bags attached to the roof and all our bags tightly packed into the boot. The trip took us through the rolling hills that were layered with fresh snow but this meant that the roads were covered too. Greg our designated driver for the trip liked to see himself as a bit of a rally driver. So we hurtled down snow covered mountain roads in our 4 wheel drive Skoda Octavia. To my suprise the car stuck to the ice fields like super glue and we arrived in Geilo way before our ETA. The hotel we had booked was absolutely stunning with the front door of our little log cabin opening up onto the race piste.

The next few days were a little bit of a mess up with the first race of the weekend being cancelled due to the course being badly built. So the first day was used as a training day which led us in good stead for the race the next day. Unfortunately my qualifying run didnt go to plan when i put my arm through a gate and ripped my shoulder out of its socket. This made my body spin round and i practically stopped on course. NOT FAST! I finished my run and was not shocked to see that my time was at the back of the pack. After the race the organisers told everyone that there would be a race held the next day to make up for the first day. Unfortunately for me i had my flight booked and it would have cost me a small fortune to stay. So i said goodbye to Norway and traveled back to Lienz.

The next few days were spent training before the first World Cup race in San Candido, Italy.

We arrived in Italy on the 18th and started on the skis straight away. The course was short but fun and i thouroughly enjoyed that race. My time was respectable coming 3 seconds off of 1st place. The second race wasnt my best result but was also not bad.

I am currently in Saas Fee spending christmas and new year with my family and amazing girlfriend. Having lots of fun using my Satski and collecting some awesome data! I will be back to Lienz in the new year for some more training before the race in Les Contamines.

So i wish you all a happy new year and remember to keep skiing...

Peace x

This weeks training has been absolutely brilliant, and thank god, as the first race of the season lumes just round the corner.
Team spirit this week has been really high with the arrival of another new friend Mr Peter Whelan.

Pete has moved from the darkside of alpine to skicross. Seeing the errors of his ways I believe he will be staying with us for some time now and has proved to all that he can hold his own on course.

The last week has been absolutely brilliant with the festive season kicking off, with Christmas markets and Krampus. Now I know that most of you are probably wondering what on earth Krampus is? I shall try and explain as best I can... A mythological hairy horned figure that was a close companion of St. Nicholas. He complimented the giving of of gifts during the Christmas season by beating children who misbehaved with birch branches or by carrying them off in his sack. Krampus is specific to the Austria-Bavaria region but similar figures appear in other parts of Europe under different names. December 5th, the Eve of St. Nicholas, is still set aside to celebrate Krampus where people dress up in grotesque masks and unsuspecting women are whipped. Some of these traditions continue in parts of the United States. His origins remain obscure though he predates Christian Europe. Many postcards were produced depicting Krampus though he is sometimes mistaken for the devil.

This is what the Krampus look like. If you can imagine 300 of these beasts running down the street at you then you can comprehend what we had to go through! Very scary but fun non the less.

We have also taken up playing tennis and squash twice a week on top of all the other training. There have been some fantastic battles in the squash hall with Craig (team mate) and Ian (my coach) battling it out to become the squash master champion. Craig's fines and practice payed dividend as he claimed the tittle this week.

During training last friday it started snowing. We rode the train down through the mountain and reached the van which had a foot of snow on!! Our trip home which would normally 45 mins from Moltaller to Lienz took an hour and a half. Partly because we had to put the snow chains on the van and no one knew how to do it!! We attempted to drive up the mountain without them but this only left us half way up the mountain... stuck. We took the decision to get out and try and put the snow chains on. This was not fun.

It took around 30mins to put on the chains and start our journey home again! It snowed for another day which has left us in good stead for the first race this coming weekend. We are traveling to the UK on the 10th where we will stay at home for an evening before traveling to Norway. We will race on the 13th and 14th in Geilo, Norway. Hopefully it all goes well and the training pays off.

Hope your all well

Word x