Italy - part 1

Here is the first post from my trip to compete at the Europa Cup in Cesana, Italy. I leave on the 12th to compete in Europe again. America's Cup in Park City is next week, and we have no ice time scheduled for the first week of the new year. I have a number of issues to sort out with my runners and equipment, but they can only be worked out on the ice. I want to perform my best here in Park City, and I don't want to go back to Europe unprepared. It is pretty frustrating, and I don't understand why our athletes gets short-changed. I hope an email I sent will result in some answers. If I weren't so completely broke from the first half of the season, I would try to purchase ice time directly through the park.

Crash

One of our sliders here in Park City had a really bad run last night and crashed out of turn 12. She was taken to the hospital via ambulance to get some broken parts fixed. This was quite a surprise as she has a fair number of runs under her belt. I think she was slated to go to Calgary in a couple of weeks to compete in the America's Cup. We are fortunate to have dedicated medical techs on site at the Utah Olympic Park, but this reminds me that every run holds potential for exhilaration as well as pain. I can't recall a season with more major accidents and injuries, and we are only half way through.

I haven't mentioned, but Don Croce, the executive director of the Utah Skeleton and Bobsled Association, resigned a few weeks ago. This is a major blow to both our local sliding organization, but also to the sport at large. Over the past year he contributed a tremendous amount of time and energy, and we have lost a huge asset. He was instrumental in a number of excellent initiatives and programs, many of which occured behind the scenes where he never received any recognition.

Back in one piece

Okay, so they do have the internet in Italy, but it was pretty scarce in the small village of Sauze di Cesana where I was stayed at the Hotel Sauze di Cesana. The hotel computer is on the net, but the service is not really conveyed to the patrons. The best solution I found was a few towns away in Cesana Torinese where they have a library and a tourist info station. Both offer inexpensive net access. The day before I left I found a cafe with slow free wifi. Ultimately, I didn't get on the net to do much aside from filing my USADA forms for Q1 2008. Since I didn't do any updates from the field, I will post entries that will show up with earlier post dates to fill in the blanks.

Last night I made my first runs down the Park City track since getting home. The cold I picked up in Italy is lingering, and I probably should have just gone home and rested. The desire to get back on ice was too great, and I had a couple of nice runs. It was good to see everybody up at the track, and I also got to try out a new piece of gear. I will elaborate on that later.

Getting there is half the fun

The week prior to my departure went too quickly. I had fun forerunning the World Cup training and race in spite of a lot of waiting around for runs. I took Thurdsday the 6th as my "floating holiday" at work so I could forerun the actual race. It was also to serve as a day of preparation, and I did get some things done; however, I had forgotten that my work party was that evening.

I departed for Torino On Saturday morning, and my flight was delayed for an hour while the plane was deiced. We stopped in Atlanta and Milan along the way, and arrived at just after three in the afternoon on Sunday. Unlike the Atlanta leg where my gut was in serious pain for some reason (I really thought my appendix was ready to blow), I slept the entire leg from Atlanta to Milan and was fortunate to not get charged for oversize, overweight, and additional baggage. While in the Milan airpoirt, I ate my first slice of pizza for the trip and purchased a Vodafine sim card for the refurbed Blackberry 7290 I bought for my travels. This setup proved to be a handy investment.

I picked up my rental, a ford Focus wagon, at the airport Budget and made my way to Cesana Pariol. I made a couple of wrong turns, but managed to arrive at the track just in time for the six thirty team captains meeting.

I was expecting to see French coach Pillipe Cavoret because an arrangement had been made by the USBSF to have him provide me with coaching. I was informed he would arrive the next day. The jury for the race was sitting at the front of the room, and so I submitted my FIBT license for the competition. They drew nations for training order, and the US came up tenth of thirteen.

After the draw, I drove up to the start of the track to have a look. It was lit up in the dark like a glowing worm crawling up the hillside. This track is amazingly well protected from the elements as it is almost completely covered with shades. Good for track conditions, but not very conducive to spectating.

Upon reaching the start, I decided to continute down the road on the other side of the track. I passed four other athletes walking the road as I approached turn three. The road going down the back side of the track was reasonably plowed, but I discovered that it was also incredibly slick. By the time I reached turn three of the track, the only thing up for decision was whether I would miss the big wooden pole at the bottom of the hill, or sink the car into a snow bank. The ABS system was going nuts as I picked up speed towards the turn in the road adjacent to turn four of the track. Luckily, I was able to redirect the car enough to miss the pole and run it into a forgiving snow field. I got out of the car, and soon the four winesses arrived on the scene.

Stevie Brügger, Pierre-Henri Vulliens, Erik Geerts, and Michaela Glasser got a good show, and they tried to help free the car. The snow was too much, and so we continued down the track. They gave me a ride to the track ops building where I went to find some help. Here I met Evo, who runs the track. He was a bobsledder in the Calgary Olympics, and is easily recognizable by the trademark cowboy hat he wears. I got Erik's number just in case, and then Evo and I took his Quattro back to my car. He thought our best bet was to try towing it out the next day, so we trasnfered all of my gear into his car and proceeded to my hotel. The girl at the desk, Gaia, didn't realize that I had made a reservation, but it all worked out. Luckily the German team was staying there, and so I asked their coach, Frank, for a ride in the morning. He was very gracious and said it wouldn't be a problem. Dinner had alrady finished by the time I arrived, but they set me up with a very welcome dinner anyway. What a night. I was so ready to sleep, but still had to assemble my sled and review track notes/video for the 9am sliding session. On top of staying up late, I just couldn't sleep well from jetlag and some anxiety about not waking up in time for my ride in the morning. I still felt unprepared for my first day of ice.

World Cup and other news

The World Cup for both skeleton and bobsled is in Park City as of today. I was up there after work forerunning for the bobsleds with Brad Stewart. Forerunning is just as it sounds. It is the practice of sending a few sleds down the hill in advance of the competitors to discover issues with the track. It constitutes precious ice time for me. I haven't been sliding since sometime last week, and I am feeling a anxious about getting runners selected for Cesana. I will be lucky to get another four runs before leaving because of the busy track schedule. It is worth mentioning that the track was prepped in a way that I have never experienced. Almost like a different track. It seemed much swoopier (great word) than usual, and yet forgiving. I really had fun. I would have had ice on Friday, but there was a freak accident on the track just before our training session.

In other news, I feel like there is not enough time in the day to accomplish all that I set out to do. This is not an uncommon sentiment, but it is especially true in the winter. I feel scattered and often wonder what I have overlooked. I have been trying to get information such as track notes, ice schedule, legality of equipment, etc from USBSF staff. No luck. The best help for Cesana has come from Peter van Wees of the Netherlands and Emma Lincoln Smith of Australia. Thanks!

After sliding this evening, I went to get some work done on a tissue buildup around my hip bones. I traumatized the areas in October by sliding on a too-tight saddle. Bumping into walls didn't help any either. Randy Parker fixed the saddle on my sled when I came back to Salt Lake City, but the damage had already been done. I am hoping to minimize it before Cesana as I expect to induce some more trauma there. Speaking of "Trauma in Cesana," apparently only one person busted his collar out there. That's reassuring!

Alone again

I called Luke this morning to finalize travel plans only to hear that he is no longer going. Our coach determined that with the way things are going over at Cesana, no coach for the EC, and Luke's relative inexperience that it may be too much. Luke was bummed, but also relieved. I am not sure if the door is closed for all other sliders, but that is my expectation at this stage. The caution level is up a notch for me, but I am still going.

Broken bones

Bumps and bruises are a regular part of skeleton, but worse things do happen on the track. I got word tonight that two of our sliders in Cesana broke their collars today during training runs for the Intercontinental Cup race. I don't have any details, but I was really disheartened to hear this news about my friends and I hope for their speedy recovery. Both of them are excellent sliders, and they have a lot of competitions that they need to mend up for this season!

Of course, this news also makes me wonder how my own experience will pan out in a little over a week. There is no US coaching for this race, I have received very little support from the USBSF in spite of specific requests for very basic assistance, I am in short supply of training time in Park City to train and test runners, and Cesana is making it clear that it is a track to be reckoned with.

Some good news - I will not be the lone US slider going to Cesana for the EC. Luke Schulz has committed to joining me. I hope he doesn't regret it after hearing about the carnage. He's a good guy, and I am relieved to have a teammate join me for this competition.

In other news, my request for time off from work has been approved. I asked for about four weeks - one each for Cesana, Park City, St Moritz, and Winterberg. The downside is that this will be unpaid time off during a period of huge expenditures. I would be looking for well heeled sponsors if I had a spare moment, but for now I will leave that to serendipity and keep my nose to the grindstone.

Have I mentioned that I work with some really cool people? Accenture has a regular e-newsletter they send out that spotlights people doing cool stuff. My manager took it upon himself to submit my story, and I was selected for inclusion. Apparently I will be the first story to come out of Navitaire. Pretty cool!

Chasing 49's

During a normal training session at the Park City track, most sliders will do somewhere between two and four runs. Any more than that, and your body usually starts to complain. Lately, I just can't seem to get enough. I have been taking five runs most sessions this week and only stopping because everyone else has left. Tonight I took eight, and it was probably one too many. My neck is a little sore as I sit typing this out, but the ice was so beautiful I couldn't resist.

Our training session started at 6pm with eight sliders. I was trying another set of borrowed runners. Out of four runs, I had one okay run, one mediocre run, and two downright scary runs. I just couldn't dial them in. Meanwhile, teammate Matt Griff had established that this was fast ice by throwing down a personal best of 50.06 seconds. The US session ended, and the international session was set to begin at 7:30. As I suspected, Yuuji Takahashi from Japan was the only slider for the two hour session. I had promised him I would slide in his session, and I had another set of runners I wanted to try out. Besides, Griff had just put down a great time and I wanted one as well. What I really wanted was to get into the 49's - uncharted territory for me.

Yuuji went first while I fussed with getting my runners changed. I made my way to the start hoping that I wouldn't be bouncing off walls as I had in the first session. As I got underway, I could tell that these runners were really responsive. Much better than being our of control, right? Well, there is such a thing as too much control. I managed to keep things more or less together, but did get into trouble a couple of times due to to the excellent steerability. As I flew up the outrun, I could see the clock showing a personal record! A 50.17. Still shy of a 49, but close enough that I had to go again. Ice like this doesn't happen every day. Next run was a 50.14. Even better, and a good enough reason to go again. I took two more swings at it and started doing worse. I was beat by my last run, and called it a night. I will resume my pursuit on Tuesday only because the track is closed on Monday.

International training

Over the past week or so, I have had the opportunity to train with world-class athletes from other nations including places that defy geographic limitations with respect to winter sports such as New Zealand, Australia, and Jamaica. These latest recruits to the Jamaican bob team were brand new to the ice this week - it will be interesting to see their progress. Japan, the Netherlands and Great Britain were also represented. Most of them have now made their way up to Calgary for the World Cup race taking place over the coming week, but the Japanese team stayed for one last day of training before leaving this evening. The picture is of team veteran Kazuhiro Koshi giving the trademark point which he does before every run. In addition to sliding with some great people, I finally admitted that my equipment was giving me problems. I usually wait too long in arriving at this place, and I held true to form this time around. After almost two weeks of progressively worse sliding, I realized that I had a bent runner. I borrowed a different set and things were great.

Some other videos

Utah Winter Games - Park City - Jan 20 2007
Start
Curve 6

I am not exactly sure who took these, but they did a great job! I will post the info if I find out.

Think fast

On the way up to the track tonight, I was on the phone with another skeleton athlete and we got talking about how team trials went. Then we went down a somewhat abstract path. Surprised at how far we have come, but then wondering how we will get faster. Fast enough to compete at the highest levels of competition. I am still using the same gear that I used last season, but I am somehow going faster. I know that I am driving a little better, but does that explain it all? What is it that makes the best sliders consistently so much faster? Is it all in their head? Is it the shoes? I have a hard time quantifying my own marginal improvements.

Nick Vienneau - US Skeleton Team Trials - Training Runs - Lake Placid, NY - 2007

This is a copy of a video I put on Google Video comprised of clips from training runs in Lake Placid. Of special intereset is the purple Spyder suit I use for training...

Auspicious Beginning

Last weekend marked the end of national team trials for skeleton. I ended up ranked tenth in the nation, which was better than I expected at the outset of the season. I will be competing on the Europa Cup (EC) circuit in Cesana, Italy, St Moritz, Switzerland, & Winterberg, Germany. I will also do an America's Cup (AC) race in Park City. I am beyond excited about the trajectory for the season, and am especially excited to slide in St. Moritz. It is the the cradle of the sport, and home to the only natural track in the world. The EC team is comprised of two men, the other being John Daly. He has slid a number of tracks in Europe already. The biggest hurdles I face at this stage are pulling funds together and getting time off from work. My employer, Navitaire (an Accenture company), has been amazing thus far, and has really backed my pursuit. On the money side, it has been flowing out of my account ever since team trials began this October in Lake Placid. It required two trips and three weeks of the month because of a flawed trials criteria. That is another story. The cash outflow has just begun. I am flying into Italy next month and then into Switzerland in January. I will spend a hair over three weeks in Europe to do all of the races. Unlike the World Cup and Intercontinental Cup teams, Europa Cup receives no funding at all from the USBSF. Regardless, things are shaping up great so far this season!
(Photo Credit: Steve Peters)