The last time I checked in my recovery from shoulder surgery was spot on. My range of motion was good, my strength was returning, and it looked like my AC joint separation was just a bump in the road. Then the X Games rolled into town.

It's been 12 days since my crash, 9 days since my surgery, and about 4 days since I stopped taking pain medication. I'm finally out of the fog and heading in the right direction.

I'm writing this blog from the waiting room of the Steadman/Hawkins medical clinic. Two days ago I was one turn away from my first World Cup Ski Cross win when I lost my balance, got tripped up by a gate panel and found myself in yet another ugly/spectacular fall.

We just arrived at St. Johann for the first tour stop of the New Year. To get here we flew Aspen to Munich via Denver and, oh yes, Los Angeles. When we left Denver I had this strange feeling we were going the wrong way.  It was definitely a first. The upside was we didn’t have to worry about weather.

Today was the first World Cup of the '09-'10 season and it was held in the South Tyrol, the heart of the Dolomites in Northern Italy. The Italians didn't have a lot of snow to work with so they built a short course. The fastest time on the course so far has been 42.24 seconds, set by Michael Schmid.

Once again we were fortunate enough to spend five days in Telluride, CO for one more training camp before the competition season begins. There wasn't much snow when we arrived but close to three feet fell while we were there.

I took a trip to Park City to visit the "Center of Excellence" (COE) and to check out the new start they have set up there. It's very cool. The Sports Science department has wired a start gate to test our power and quickness coming out of the gate. This was my first trial run and I was not sure what to expect.

This November, Casey took a different approach to pre-season training. He opted for Mexico's surf and sand over Colorado's artificial snow guns.

Recalling a cold day in October '08, Casey set out last week to beat his personal-best time biking up Castle Creek.

Trip to NYC, sleeping high or low, and a quick golf game.