Well that was a much needed break. Got to get out of the snow and into the sun for some fun. I love seeing new countries and boy this one was unique. Some quick facts for you.. Off the coast of West Africa, Cape Verde consists of ten volcanic islands and five islets. The islands were uninhabited until discovered by the Portuguese in 1456; African slaves were brought here to work on plantations. Independence from Portugal came in 1975. African culture is most evident on the island of Santiago—where half the population lives. Cape Verde enjoys a stable democratic system. Water shortages hinder agriculture, but tourism is a growing industry.
Population: 476,000
Area: 4,036 square kilometers (1,558 square miles)
Language: Portuguese, Crioulo
Anyhow, I did some yoga, went surfing, stand up paddling, sight seeing, and did some major relaxing. It is nice to chill out. I don’t think I have relaxed this much since I have been able to start training from last injury. For the last eight months I have been so focused on getting back to where I wanted to be that I never really took my relax time. So this was great! I am now back in Austria ready to give it my all for another couple weeks training and testing.
Wow I had a big week. It was sweet, I got to forerun my first race on tuesday. It went well. It was a europa cup and Hailey and were pushing it. My first run was wild I was so excited to get in the gate and feel that race feeling. I went out the first run but since I was only forerunning I got to go for the second run and I was 7th so that made me feel pretty good. Its nice to see where you stand especially after all the training and when you are working hard to come back in a short period of time. Hailey and I trained on wednesday that was sweet, injected snow in kirchberg, pretty difficult. Then off to Garmisch. The men and women are racing this weekend and so it was so nice to see everyone. A bit hectic too. All the families and mens and womens team in one hotel is crazy. Super fun to see everyone and lots of things for us to do. We got to go visit the Army base here and meet some of the kids that live and visit. Some of the little kids were so cute and excited to see some serious skiers. he he… The women had a slalom yesterday and many people were expecting me to race, but its a very difficult hill to start on and I decided to just free ski the hill on thursday and forerun the second run. Which ended up being a better idea because I was all over the place. The hill was in great condition but its steep and the course set was more intense then I have practices. So it was good to get that out of the way. It was cool to be at a world cup again and see all the girls and feel the vibe and be in the gate and rip through the finish. I was a rodeo queen all the way down so I have a few more things to work on.
Next on the agenda are some fis races to forerun and some more training. Getting ready for France. Hopefully Ill be ready. You know me and how much I love those world champs! Gotta do it! Right… he he
I was writing my blog yesterday to say that we need to all send healing vibes to Daniel Albrecht for his big crash. Unfortunately we got hit hard again today. So I am sending lots of healing and love and the best of wishes to TJ and Leanne Smith along with Daniel and all the families. I got to hang out with TJ today and his spirits are high and he is already planning his strong comeback! His teammates were bummin to have him out again. On a better note skiing was great today, sunny and fun to be training with Hailey and some of the mens slalom team. Also for the first timers on the Hahenkamm Erik, Andrew and Donkey did awesome!
OMG Italy was awesome! We went up into Pozza Di Fassa and trained for the week. It ended up raining most of the time but it was so fun. It always feels so good to have a solid training block especially when you need it. I had Sarah and Megan there to train with and there spirits are always good. Also Sarah had the fam in tow so we pretty much spent the whole time watching Lasse grow in front of us. He was into dancing…. So cute. I gained about 10 kgs eating, the food was soooooo good and I kept getting my hands on gelato. Oh man but it was good. Anyways back to Austria, training with Hailey and Seth and maybe get to watch some of the mens races! Yippy… also the women are in Cortina so go USA, big weekend!
Since I have been training so hard I decided to go on a little adventure. A ski adventure in Kitzbule. From Kirchberg you can take a gondola that meets up with the Kitzbule resort (for us it would be the size of 5 resorts) and ski half way across tirol, till you are up on a mountain and can almost see italy. I could ski to Lienz almost. he he. It was a beautiful day and I went out with some of my friends who showed me all the secret spots. Some of the most amazing sights were not always the skiing but the trams and gondolas that get you across massive valleys and up rocky cliffs so you can dine in a little Austrian hut. After eating myself sick I had to ski all the way back. All I wanted to do was curl up and sleep until I got out there again and realized the best part was yet to come…. Pink powder is what they call it… Its when the sun sets and the snow dust off your skis is pink, beautiful, I skied till 5 and found my way back to Kirchberg. My treat for skiing all day was a little mountain water and then it was off to bed ready for a new day of skiing!
So for the last 5 years I got to rip around Europe in a brand new Audi. Lots of horse power and any color I wanted. Not this year…. here is my little baby. She is hilarious, can barely get all my stuff in it. Its a mix between a panda and a smart car. Getting up to 140 is sketchy so I try to stay away from the autobahn. Gets me to where I need to be and keeps the speeding tickets to a minimum. Cant wait to take this thing off roading!
Today was finally sunny! Super cold, just keeps dropping everyday but I dont mind as long as the sun is out! I got a full crew for me today which was awesome. Trevor and Jim my coaches and my kick ass Tech Marco worked really hard to put up a sweet slalom course for me. I got to do gates, lots of them! yippy. One step closer….. they felt really heavy. It was great, learning so much all over again, Trevor has some new styles he is trying to get me to work on and it feels funky but the girls are ripping so I trust him! Good to have Jim back over here and nice to have the support!
I finally made it back to Lienz! Its been over a year since the last time I was here and it was not a pretty sight for me when I left. I was on lots of drugs with lots of broken bones. Coming back was pretty emotional, scary, happy, excited visions of my crash and memories of the last time I was here. I spent the day cleaning up the house and unpacking, getting settled in for the season. It was dark when I finally made it out of the house, I decided to go take a walk. Super cold here and lots of snow which is not normal, but always christmasy and beautiful!
Oh and the suit…. thats the one I crashed in and they had to cut me out of…. anyone want to buy it? he he
Today was awesome! I got to ski some brush gates (minny gates) it was so fun! It was nice to start something new. I love to focus on new things, the feeling of getting better and then moving on or up the latter is great. My team mates where training slalom getting ready for Zagreb this weekend. Zagreb is my favorite race of the year and Im sad to miss for the second time, but next year ill be there gunning to be the snow queen. The girls looked great, really solid and fast. Its nice to have fast team mates because they push you to be faster and are there to give you some confidence. Sarah Schleper also was out for a while so she knows exactly how I feel and we have known each other for a long time now and she can always tell what Im thinking so it was good to have her there today. I was just thinking about all the hard work I did over the last year and hoping it was paying off….. I got some fun in there too!
So I finally made it back to Europe, it has been a year since the last time i was here and it wasnt a pretty picture last time i left. But this last year was fun and I learned a lot and got to meet a ton of really cool people. I feel like I have come a long way and the best part is I’m coming back with more. More excitement, more love, more energy to explore and do what I love to do which is ski! I got to spend the new year in Kirchberg, Austria which is where the team base is for the women. Of course I slept till 1 that day and then I couldn’t fall asleep and the fireworks kept me up all night. OH and I lost my bag for about 48 hours. I was a mess but I finally got to ski and it was so fun! Being back with the team all the girls had so much energy and humor and It felt really good to be back. A great way to start the new year!
