When we last left our superhero he was having a terrible time getting home from Silver Star, B.C. Well kids it hasn�t gotten much better, in fact I have continued my bad luck streak of traveling mishaps. Today I sit in the Minneapolis airport waiting for a 4:55 flight to Calgary, because due to a combination of my own mistakes and certain things out of my control, I missed my 11:25am flight. I know, you are saying to yourself: �how could he miss an 11:25 flight?��and to be honest I have a hard time believing that it actually happened. But the sad fact of the matter is, it happened and its time to move on. I would move on that is, if I could only get on that next flight. As it is I sit here listening to the endless repetition of the electronic voice: �caution, you are reaching the end of our moving walk� and trying to finish up some things that didn�t quite get done at work yesterday.
Now that I am actually on my flight to Calgary, I thought that I should write a little something about where I�m going and what this camp is all about. Even though I am flying into Calgary, the final destination is Canmore, Alberta. During the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, Canmore hosted the biathlon and cross country competitions. At the time the trails at Canmore were considered the hardest in the world. They were (are?) hard because the designers made them technically challenging and physically hard. The staff at the Nordic Centre has even closed some of the trails by letting the shrubs grow back, because some of the trails are just to difficult for less experienced skiers. Not to mention that all the racing is done at altitude. I personally have never raced on the Olympic courses for biathlon, but I have skied most of the trails and I can say that it is my favorite place to race. The scenery is one of the big pluses for coming to Canmore. Even if you are having a bad day, all you need to do is look up at the Rockies and realize that all is really not that bad.
One other interesting tidbit about Canmore is that the area around it was used to film the movies Mystery Alaska and The Edge (the movie with Alex Baldwin, Anthony Hopkins and that big Grizzly). As a side note: I couldn't think of the name to The Edge, and when I asked Dave he couldn't think of it either. He became so obsessed with finding out the name that he went next door to the vidoe rental place to find it out. Many thanks to Dave Gieck!
Tomorrow I am hopping in a race with some of the juniors. The juniors are here using the races this weekend, plus the one on Thursday, as qualifiers for a trip to Europe to race the biathlon Europa Cup. I�m not really going to take the race that seriously, only use it as a tune up for the weekend races which are much more important. The weekend races are the first 2 North American Cup races of the year. The race on Saturday is an Individual race (4 shooting stages prone-standing-prone-standing for a total of 20 shots � one minute penalty for each miss) while Sundays race is a Sprint format (2 shootings, one prone and one standing � with penalty loops for each missed shot). After racing in Silver Star I think that I am in decent shape, but the real test will be this weekend, since more of the top Americans will be here to race. So I look forward to racing (but there are very few days that I don�t look forward to racing!), plus have I told you how much I love coming to Canmore? The only bummer about racing this weekend is that it is supposed to be brutally cold. Highs of around 7 are forecast for Saturday and I imaging that Sunday won�t be any warmer.
I believe that the field this weekend should be a �quality� one. Many of the best National Guard athletes should be here, plus the top Canadians, and my roommate for the week Dave Gieck (U.S. National Team). All the Americans are here to get ready for the World Championship/World Cup Trials in Lake Placid coming up after x-mas, plus there is money to be had also at these races!
I gotta run now. The batteries are dying and the plane is about to land. Next up is Customs, then I need to find the shuttle service to Canmore, then try to fit in a short ski tonite and wax up some boards for tomorrows festivities. I got a lot to do yet�
After spending about an hour and half in the Calgary airport waiting for my shuttle ride to Canmore, we are on our way. It takes just over an hour to get to Canmore and once there I need to take a taxi from the drop off hotel to the Drake Hotel. The shuttle wouldn�t go the extra three blocks to drop me off at my final destination.
After missing my earlier flight, waiting for the shuttle and then waiting for a taxi, I finally arrive at 9:45pm in Canmore and find my room. So happy to be here, but I wasted a perfectly good training day.
Thursday
This morning we had a little time trial. Since I only arrived last night, I�m not treating this as a very important race. We went up to the venue and I skied the course twice (there is only one loop, so it wasn�t that hard to learn) then it was time to race. I felt a little sluggish while skiing and didn�t really get too comfortable on the range and it showed. I ended up missing 2 shots prone and 1 shot standing. In the end I think several of the juniors beat me�whatever. It was good to get out there and do a hard workout. I felt rusty but hopefully this will get me going for Saturday and Sundays races.
Friday
Today I went to the venue in the morning for some easy combo training. After spending about and hour there I went back to the Drake to do some work and work on some skis. In the afternoon I went back to the venue to test skis. The snow on the course is very hard (read: Bulletproof) so in the end, I picked the stiffest pair of skis I have. Basically a boring day.
Saturday
This morning I awoke to temps in the �20 C range. It takes me a while to figure out that this really �4F in american. I am not really too happy to see that a small amount of fresh snow has fallen over night. The trails are pretty fast and it wouldn�t really matter what temp it was, because it is man made snow (ice), but with the fresh snow on top it will really slow down the speed of the trails.
After getting out to the range there was a jury meeting to determine if the race needed to be cancelled or delayed. I think that someone held a flame to the official race thermometer to get it above the legal limit as it was announced that the race would go on, pending another jury meeting at 10:00. After I zeroed my rifle I headed back to our wax room to warm up (and put on more clothes). Once I got there I found out that the race was being cut in half. Now the race would be about 9KMs (instead of the original 18KM) with 4 shootings and 30 second penalties for each miss.
I was pretty happy to hear this as I was not really looking to spending an hour racing in these temps. Luckily for some people it was shortened, because I saw many instances of frostbite after the race. Tim Burke had his trigger finger so frostbit that he still couldn�t feel it at breakfast on Sunday.
I got to start 6th from last and I was hoping that at least going later would mean that it would be the warmest time of the day. Well maybe it was, and maybe it wasn�t, but it was still REALLY COLD! Once I got going though it wasn�t too bad. I raced in worse conditions in Minnesota so I was fairly prepared for what was in store.
After skiing the first lap I came in to shoot the first prone and proceeded to miss 3 out of my first 5. Not the way to start a race. After skiing the second lap I came in to shoot the first standing stage and proceeded to miss 2 out of 5. Well now I have missed 5 out of 10 and am in some serious trouble. Winning this one was gone after the first stage (the field was a quality one and 3 misses is not going to get it done) and after the second stage I knew that podium was out of the question. But this is a North American Cup race and I need to score good points here. So I got a sight correction on the next loop from one of the coaches (my misses were all a little high) and came in to shoot prone again. Finally I shot a full house (no misses), even though it took forever since one of my bullets didn�t want to fire. But it was really cold and hand loading a spare round was really not an option. One the fourth loop I felt a little better skiing and figured that if I could hit some targets on the last stage that maybe I could salvage some decent points out of this. As it would happen I ended up missing 2 more on the last stage. I tried to ski fairly hard that loop and when Chuck Lyda gave me a split that I had the 10th fastest ski time and that I was 9 seconds back to Scott Doughty, I thought I would see if I could make up the 9 seconds. Well the loop is only 1.85kms (and I got the split after about 300 meters) so I didn�t know if it would be possible, but I tried to give it a go. As it turns out I made up 8 seconds and Scott outskied me by 1 second. And my final result wasn�t as bad as I had thought. I ended up finishing 8th�.not good, but better than expected.
Curtis Schriener shot clean (20 out of 20), which is quite a feat, and logged the fastest ski split of the day to crush the field. Kudos to Curt he raced pretty good�I should probably give him some money for the clinic he gave us all today!
After the race I put in a real short cool down. Did I mention that it was kinda chilly today?�then it was back to the hotel for lunch and a nap. After getting up from my nap I decided to check the web and see what the weather forecast was for Sunday. The news was not good. It was supposed to be even colder than today with some wind for good measure. Plus the next couple of days are supposed to be much of the same. I had planned on staying here for a couple of days after the races so that I could get in some good training. This is looking like it will not be good for training so I begin to weigh my options.
After mulling it over for a while I decide that it is better to cut my losses and go home early. Minnesota was supposed to get a little snow and even though it will be cold there, it will be warmer than Canmore. I change my ticket and head to the bar.
After attempting to play pool, I decide that without my normal pool partner, Dan Campbell, I don�t stand a chance. I come to this conclusion after getting beat like a red headed step child, by some girl with a broken leg and a guy in suspenders. I didn�t even get a chance to play as they ran the table on me. What a waste of a loonie.
I decide that I should take on some of the juniors in a game of foosball. Lowell Bailey was first up (actually the only one up for playing). It didn�t take too long for me to teach him a thing or two. Being the good sport I am I gave him a rematch, but sadly Lowell was no match for my superior foosball skills. Hey Lowell, now you can tell all your friends that you�ve been taken to Cameronland.
After hanging out downstairs at the Drakes bar playing pool and foosball for a while, we all decided to go upstairs and hear the band play. We danced for a while and then headed off to bed.
Sunday
After breakfast we packed up the rental car (don�t ask me how we fit 3 ski bags, 2 rifle cases and 2 big duffles, not to mention three grown men in there!) and headed to Calgary so that Dave could catch his 11:30 flight. I don�t fly out until 2:05 so I�m just sitting around working on this journal entry and playing some solitaire.
After sitting around for a while at my gate waiting for my plane to arrive, I hear a page from the ticket counter. I go to the counter to find out what is going on and I find out that my flight is delayed. Something about some unscheduled stop in Minot for repairs. That�s great�just great!! I keeps my streak of travel troubles alive. New estimated departure 3:20��..stay tuned.
Guess what? Yep flight got cancelled. I had to go back and get my bags and then check in again. The lovely folks at Northwest put me on a United flight to Denver, then back on a Northwest flight from Denver to Mpls. So back to Customs (more paperwork) then sit around and wait.
After sitting in the airport from 10:00 this morning, I finally get on a plane at 3:30 in the afternoon. I arrive in Denver around 6pm�.I think. After some difficulty finding my gate for the Northwest flight, I see that it is also running late. The plane arrived at the time it was supposed to leave. After a few minutes we all boarded and then played the hurry up and wait game. After pushing back from the gate, we waited for about 45 minutes to be de-iced. At this point I was asleep.
After arriving in Minneapolis I proceeded to baggage claim. You knew this wasn�t the end of the story right? After waiting for my luggage (and seeing all the other ski bags arrive) it became obvious that mine would not be coming out. I headed to the lost baggage counter and filed my claim, then took a cab home.
Finally found my bed at 12:30�.good times!