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.