Wina Sturgeon Posts

The first bobsled World Cup of the season ended in disaster for the U.S. team, just three months away from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Todd Hays, the former freestyle fighter, kickboxing champion and college football star, injured his hamstring badly as he jumped into his sled in the four-man bobsled race at the Park City, Utah, 2002 Olympic track. Hays and his crew were leading the race at the time. The track is the same one where Hays won the Olympic silver medal in four-man bobsled, the first bobsled win for the U.S. in nearly half a century.

Mogul champion Jeremy Bloom has been training non-stop to get ready for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. So why did he suddenly announce his retirement from the U. S. team on Nov. 11, less than three months before the Olympic Games?

"It was a combination of a lot of things," Bloom told FanHouse. "Over time, the meaning and all the work of training six to eight hours a day didn't have as much purpose as it once did. Skiing still holds a very special place in my life, but my passions have shifted to other areas."

Mogul champion Jeremy Bloom has been training non-stop to get ready for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. So why did he suddenly announce his retirement from the U. S. team on Nov. 11, less than three months before the Olympic Games?

"It was a combination of a lot of things," Bloom told FanHouse. "Over time, the meaning and all the work of training six to eight hours a day didn't have as much purpose as it once did. Skiing still holds a very special place in my life, but my passions have shifted to other areas."

The news quickly spread all over the world; Ryan St. Onge was back. He won the Deer Valley Freestyle World Cup aerials with a triple back flip and four twists -- called "double full full full" and while in the air with the risky jump, just hoped he could land with his skis on the ground.

"I knew that if I could somehow get my feet underneath me, it was going to be the biggest scoring jump that I could possibly do. I had a good takeoff. I stretched for my life, and somehow my feet got down, and I was so happy," St. Onge said. It was the U. S. Olympian's first World Cup win since 2006.

In the women's aerials, Emily Cook managed to take third place, despite the domination of the Chinese women, who went one-two. Nina Li won, followed by teammate Xinxin Guo. Of the 12 international women who qualified for the finals, four were from China.

The story of the second day of the annual World Cup is best told in a series of visual, behind-the-scenes moments.

While the aerialists soared into the night ski like acrobats without trapezes, a line of exhausted volunteers slowly moved up the mogul hill shoveling and chopping the snow, getting the dual mogul course ready for Saturday. They were fluffing up the snow to make soft landings below the jumps for the final day of competition.

Canada's Veronika Bauer was the first freestyler out for the women's finals, but hung on to her "first place" for nearly the entire competition, as skier after skier blew their landings, touching down with a hand, landing off center, or falling. Bauer ended up in fourth place, not because her trick was that difficult, but because she was one of the few who nailed her landing. Nice!

It was a bluebird day on Thursday, and Deer Valley put on its usual excellent show. The opening day of the event featured moguls, with a bump course that was slightly in the shadows, and so remained firm, even icy, as the rest of the mountain was bathed in warm sunlight.

It was a good day for the American women. U. S. mogul skier Hannah Kearney won, solidifying her number one world ranking. Teammate Michelle Roark was second. Only the top 16 women made the finals, and seven of those were Americans, including Shannon Bahrke and Sandy's home town hero, Kayla Snyderman.

Sal Ruibal is 55. This year was his best ever in mountain biking. He won the 55-and-older category in the prestigious and grueling "24 Hours of Big Bear Lake' in West Virginia, coming in 13th overall in a world-class field that included elite riders like Tinker Juarez and John Stamstad.

Forget his age; Ruibal is getting more skilled, and faster. His secret? "I got a coach," he said. He advises all serious weekend warriors to do the same. "I think that if people want to succeed in a sport, they should get a coach."

Ruibal, who began mountain biking in 1995, explains that he was stuck in the middle of the pack, "Trying to figure out what I needed to do to be a better rider and get closer to winning, to be with the fast guys at the front. That was important to me."

He first worked with Chris Carmichael, who is Lance Armstrong's coach. Carmichael runs an online coaching service called Carmichael Training Systems, for cyclists, mountain bikers, runners and athletes in numerous other sports. Ruibal said all athletes, from elite to novice, need a structured training plan. "When you have a coach who is your teacher and (training) organizer, then there's an order, a progression, and progress."

One of the reasons that running gates will make you a better skier is because the race course forces you to make exact turns. The more sloppy your technique, the more difficult it will be to make those turns with any precision.

The recreational pay courses of Nastar are perfect for practicing your turns. They're usually on mild blue runs, the sets are always a relatively easy back-and-forth giant slalom, and Nastar gates can be run without much concentration; so you can fully concentrate on how you are skiing and what you need to do to turn better or go faster.

This is especially true if you are a club or Masters racer. For example, the newest technique among World Cup racers is to hit GS gates like they were slalom gates. It's a more direct and faster line. But a lot of recreational racers are a little wary of getting that close to double-paneled giant slalom gates, or bashing them when they're not designed to give like slalom gates. Nastar is great for learning how to do it. You can run the same course over and over again, getting closer to the gate with each run. You'll learn the feel of hitting the gate without bruising your arm or shoulder (though some sort of padding is a good thing). You'll learn how to angulate over to hit the gate with your arm without hooking a ski. By practicing for several days, you'll get the technique wired in, so you can do it in a race and be a lot faster.

Shawn Lake started out as a racer. But once he learned to ride park, it was slopestyle all the way for Shawn. The 19-year-old has podiumed in several contests already, but his big thing is helping beginners learn to jump and ride rails -- without trauma. Here's some of Shawn's best tips, for both skiers and snowboarders:

BIGGEST MISTAKES

The biggest mistake most people make in the park is riding out of their ability. Start out in a small park with little jumps and rails. Learn on 'ride-ons,' rails that are real low to the snow. Work your way up slowly. Other snowriders will always be willing to give you help, just ask. Ask a lot.

BODY POSITION

You want 75% of your weight on your front foot, with your leading edge off the rail about a half inch or so. You want your head up, to be looking at the end of the rail. You want your knees bent, and a good wide stance. A lot of people keep their hands down and stand up straight on the rail. You want to be in a slight squat.

For skiers, since you're sliding sideways, turn your body facing down the hill for the landing. Your skis will follow.

This first-time park rider got tips from Shawn that let her ride with confidence after this photo was taken. He helped her eliminate the three biggest flaws for beginners: "Look ahead when you hit the lip of a jump, not down at your board or skis. Keep both hands forward. Knees should be bent."

I was all ready for my friend Zara to pick me up to go skiing at Brighton Resort. She came in, handing me a belated Christmas package. I opened it and looked at the gift in total bewilderment. It was two brightly colored tubes of cloth, filled with something or other. "Rice," she explained with a big grin, adding, "Microwave them for two minutes."

Still puzzled, I nuked the tubes. When they were done, she was right there, armed with a potholder and my ski boots, which she had unbuckled. Pulling out the boot tongues, she slipped a tube deep into each boot, then buckled them again. "Your boots will be totally toasty when you put them on," she said.

I silently scoffed. But when we reached the resort an hour later and I pulled out the gizmos, they were warm. And so were my boots. The warmed plastic even allowed my feet to slip in easily, with no grunting tugs. And the boots felt like heaven.