Squaw Valley

After a long drive from Park City to Reno and after a crazy night in Reno we finally made our way to Squaw Valley. The race organizers had a difficult time building the course due to the blizzard of ’08. We heard they weren’t going to get the race off at all. Luckily we are racing but the course isn’t what anyone really wanted or expected. It’s short and flat and it has a lot of whoops. The course is never exactly what we want but someone is still going to walk away with the win tomorrow and $15,000. My hat goes off to all of the course builders. They spend hours in the cat trying to put together features that will work well for everyone and it’s not easy. Then the athletes roll in and start complaining about this feature and that feature. It’s a thankless job so, if any racers are reading this blog, make sure you go and thank your course builder. I know I don’t do it enough.

We had an opportunity to go to Marco Sullivan’s coming home party at the Chamois two nights ago. It was a lot of fun. Congrats to Marco on his first World Cup win in Chamonix. And thanks to Junior and Katja for putting on the party. The cat got Marco’s tongue at the party so Daron Rahlves had to give the speech for him. It was well done and everyone got to cheer Marco on at the bar.

Qualifying went well. I was third. My shoulder is still pretty sore but I think I will be able to race relatively pain free. I’m shocked that it feels this good after only six days. It’s the best it could have possibly healed so I’m psyched. I didn’t think I was going to race here and I was actually questioning the rest of my season. Because of that I will be appreciating every moment I’m out here doing what I love and loving what I do.