Just a little rehash of last week and what the boys were up to. Forest did a great job of getting good training set up for Bode before the SL race in Croatia. They trained SG in Saalbach the day after Garmisch and then headed back to Maria Alm to train SL, GS and SG on the hard ice. Bode was able to try some new ski models and get some good training volume. The boys then decided to go to Kransjka Gora for the Europa Cup SL as a training tool and opportunity to get on the race hill since we are going there in March for a WC sl and GS. Bode tried 2 different skis for the SL race and decided to race Croatia on a ski similar to Garmisch but with the rear plate moved back slightly. The day after the Europa Cup They stayed and trained GS on the race hill. Good to train on the hill but it was very difficult early in the morning with brutal flat light.

Croatia was a short day as Bode made a mistake right before the bottom and failed to qualify for the 2nd run. He was skiing well but the mistake was enough to take him out of the game…Boo.

Back to North America and in his travels, Bode got sick again. He showed up the night before the SG after a couple of days of puking his brains out.

The morning of the race Bode got a warm up run on the new model of SG skis and felt much better. Unfortunately, the warm up hill was much different snow conditions than the race hill and his warm up did not give him good perspective for the race hill. He had made an adjustment to his boot set up in Hinterreit the following week because it was so icey. His more aggressive alignment worked better training on the ice but did not really stick out on the soft snow of the training hill in Whistler. The snow on the race hill was extremely grippy and his adjusted set up was way too aggressive.

Bode was not able to align himself over the ski comfortably as the ski constantly was pulling under him. He consequently ended up pinching the line and skiing too direct for most of the run until it caught up to him and he skied out. If you have ever had too much edge on aggressive snow it is a terrible feeling. You have to ski with your center of mass right over your feet and you often feel the sewing machine leg as it wobbles from too much grip.

The lack of result was disappointing because Bode is such a natural at this event but even more so was the over sight of having the boots set up for hard ice. Bode can not afford to make these type of errors and we all have to do a better job of staying on top of the details. Now is the time when we have to run a tight ship and control the few variables that we can.

Yesterday we trained GS on the top of the SG hill and got the boots back to where they belong for these snow conditions. Bode also tested a new and different GS model size 191 with a stiff constuction under foot and a softer tip and tail. He decided to go with his “Drake” which he has raced most of his GS’s on. Hats off to Lindsay Vonn and Julia who both had a good day in the Downhill and Lindsay wrapped up the downhill title. Right on.

GS race day and the weather is warm. Pitch is in good shape but there is a question as to how well the track will hold up. Early guys are able to put down fast times as the snow holds up but it starts to break down and in the middle of the course there is a soft layer on top which is a bit peely.

Bode ran 13th the first run and was a bit grindy through the middle but skied well on the bottom. He said the snow was just peely enough that he could not push on the ski the way he wanted. Bode was 10th after the first run and I figured it would be an interesting 2nd run because of the conditions. On the second run Bode won the top split and skied quite well through the middle but backed off and skied quite conservatively on the bottom. Most likely because a lot of guys were going out 4 gates from the finish. Bode moved up to 7th which was ok but nothing special. He showed sections of really fast skiing but was not able to put all the pieces together. I am still encouraged as he still has some physical issues from his crashes in Chamonix and he beat himself up a bit in the SG as well. All this coupled with another bout of illness has kept him from being at the very top of his game. Onward to Norway for 2 DH’s , and a SG where I am sure he can show his stuff. Think fast and stay tuned…it will be a rock fight to the end. Johno PS: pics of Gasser Rodel factory, GS in Whistler Benni, Reichelt,and Bode. Buckwheat’s self tatoos, training in Maria Alm.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 11:05 am and is filed under johnomcbride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.