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Nature Valley World Cup Ski Cross Jan 24th, 2010 Lake Placid, NY.

"This was the first track I’ve seen on the world cup that really excited me. Stacked with terrain it was more motocross style than a glorified alpine GS course with a few pro jumps. The one who deserves credit is Rob from South Lake Tahoe, CA. The USSA hired builder/owner of “On Course Events” for his experience in the dirt and snow. He’s built motocross, supercross and FMX tracks for the best riders in the biz. One of them being Ricky Carmichael, The GOAT. If RC had him build a track and he lives in the snow riding mountains in the winter then Rob has the skills to build a legit ski cross. That’s just what he produced. A challenging, technical track with speed. He had a roller into a kicker right out of the gate, 6 pump rollers to build speed into a double with a cranking bank to the right, drop off into a left bank turn with rolling terrain into an exit double.

There was not a moment you weren’t moving over terrain or assessing what you’re about to do next . 50 secs of action. The straight section kept it rolling with a step down double to single roller to a step up and then 4 rollers into a dragons back feature. It put us to the test. There were multiple options skiing this section. It took me 3 runs of casing and messing up to dial in a run that felt good and kept my speed up. It reminds me of a pump track or skate park where you get speed from the terrain. The more technical and difficult the better. If you make the smallest mistake. you loose speed. If you nail it, you build speed and that provides opportunities for passing. If it’s easy then the race against 3 others head to head becomes a boring single file line.

In typical fashion there was a bunch of criticism from the European teams. They said it was too difficult and it was a course that would “take out their Olympians”. Lots of crying. So the FIS stepped in and had Rob change 5 features after qualifying before the competition day. He felt his work in judging the speed and manicuring a pro level track for our excitement and a great show for TV and spectators was a waste. He wanted to be in the meeting to listen to the concerns, give his reasons why he built terrain like that and how these changes would affect the rest of the flow and safety of the track. FIS said “you can attend the meeting, but not say a word” So in respect, but to raise a finger he showed up at the meeting with tape over his mouth. Ha,ha,ha. This sort of freaked out the euros. Ha,ha,ha. Who is this guy Hannibal Lechter? They still complained and got their way. Now the track had to be altered to suit the lowest level of ability. Rob did a great job messing up his masterpiece as he called it. He managed to make it easier, but kept the speed up and still fun.

To the comp. I had three great heats to the final. The most exciting one was the semi where I put on a pass that took me from 3rd to the lead. Then in the final I blew the first kicker and was back in 4th. I worked it right up on the tails of the guy in 3rd going into the first turn, but then got pinched out by the fence. He rode me wide and the soft loose snow came off his skis and hit me in the shins like someone threw a rug at me. Instant speed loss when my outside ski pushed away and I went to my hand. From there it was game over. I pulled up on 3rd too late to take a run at him and then made one last mistake that could have put me on the podium. The game of keeping my wits and executing the right tactics didn’t happen. Easy to look back and think it through, but tougher at speed looking for that last chance. We get one run and there’s not much time to set up a pass if you’re in the pack. Patience and confidence is key. So I aired it out too far off the hip roller and lost that last chance. It was a fun day, but not like a win."

TV air date for this event is Saturday Jan 30th on NBC and again on Versus 5pm on 2/14/10.