USCSA SL @ MC

[AtomicSkier]

Left Lehigh around 10am, got to MC just before noon, hung around for a little bit, and headed up the mountain for a 1pm start. Course was pretty tight, and not so rythmic. Someone definatly got excited that they got to set a course for once. Coming out of every combination there was a cranker not to mention a tripple flush coming into the finish, with a cranker as the second last gate coming out of the last flush. My parents have never seen me race, so my dad made the trek to MC to watch me, but that had really no affect on how I skied. The first few guys looked really fast, then our #1 got in the start house and smoked everyone by 5 seconds. When he raced USSA he was a 73 point SL skier. Our #2 guy was a few hundreds off our #1 guy. They were laying down 33 flat's on it. Pretty freakin good. I can hang a few seconds back in GS with these guys, but no freakin way in slalom. My goal was a, finish, and b, stay ahead. There were 20+ DNF and DSQ's because of the tripple flush right before the finish. People came in with too much speed and couldnt get through it (tighht) or they couldnt get to the offset second to last gate. I was running at the back of the pack, but the course was holding up extremely well, as the snow was perfect for racing. Got into a pretty good rythm in the start, into a double flush, made a few mistakes on the lower part of the headwall, didn't carry alot of speed into the bottom section, but, it meant I made it through the flush no problem and was 16th after my first run. My goal was top 20, since I've only ever been on a slalom course less then 10 times in my life. Second run course was a little more rythmic, but TWO tripple flushes, one 4 gates out of the start, and there was still a tripple flush right before the finish (opened up a little more with a less offset gate at the finish). I made some mistakes, lost some speed, cross blocked every gate though, and was resonably happy with my run which was 1.5 seconds faster then the first run, and was good for a 16th overall finish. Pizza and awards proceeded the race. Lehigh's men's team was the fastest in the conference, and the girls team was second fastest. As induviduals, Lehigh had the first and second fastest guys in the conference, and the third fastest girl.

 

We left arond 6, and our second fastest guy had hit the bar afterwards, ended up being like 6 in an hour, so if he asked if I'd drive back. I said sure. Pulling out of MC's loading area, this guy and his daughter started to cross in front of me, so I jabbed on the brakes, and they stopped, so I kept going, but then they started walking. So they stopped again and I drove around them. The Vernon police doing crossing guard duty didn't like that apparently, and made me pull over. They were questioning why I was driving a car with Vermont plates. Then they were questioning me about why we had so many skis in the back (10 pairs). They were just dicking us around for 5 minutes. Thank god I was driving, as I hadn't been drinking, as my friend definatly would've gotten a DUI. They were bitter they got stuck with crossing guard duty All was well, and we were on our way.

[Ski]

Where did your dad watch from?

 

 

And that 1pm start is sweet...Bode could use that.

 

 

And congrats on the 16th!!!!

[AtomicSkier]

Where did your dad watch from?

 

 

And that 1pm start is sweet...Bode could use that.

 

 

And congrats on the 16th!!!!

 

He watched on the bottom of the headwall where the trail bends, so he could see the whole run. Yea, the 1pm start was great for the whole team .

 

As for the Go-Pro, Bernie who?

[Ski1027]

Congrats to the Lehigh Ski Team on continuing the winning tradition! Good luck at Regionals. Gotta love the MC 1:00 starts, which usually ended being a 2:00 start most of the time, races were never run well there. We used to sit on the deck and have beer or two before the race on those days. I see the x-walk patrol is still out in force. Our #1 guy almost got arrested for crossing the street before the crossing guard gave him the okay to go.

[AtomicSkier]

Congrats to the Lehigh Ski Team on continuing the winning tradition! Good luck at Regionals. Gotta love the MC 1:00 starts, which usually ended being a 2:00 start most of the time, races were never run well there. We used to sit on the deck and have beer or two before the race on those days. I see the x-walk patrol is still out in force. Our #1 guy almost got arrested for crossing the street before the crossing guard gave him the okay to go.

 

MC was REALLY good this time. It WAS a 1pm sharp start time, and they really pushed people through.

 

As for the crossing guards. Some kid and her dad running out in front of cars, then trying to blame the driver is the hottest action they'll see in a day.

[Glenn]

MC was REALLY good this time. It WAS a 1pm sharp start time, and they really pushed people through.

 

As for the crossing guards. Some kid and her dad running out in front of cars, then trying to blame the driver is the hottest action they'll see in a day.

 

I guess yielding to pedestrians means nothing to you.

[AtomicSkier]

I guess yielding to pedestrians means nothing to you.

 

Girl comes running out, dad yells, she stops, I jam on brakes at 5mph, I released and kept going, and she started walking again, so at that point I just drove around them.

 

Yeilding to pedestrians doesn't give pedestrains the right to jump out in front of cars without looking. Common sense prevails.

[sibhusky]

But I thought you said this was a crosswalk. Pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk. That means if they are standing there DOING NOTHING, you are supposed to come to a stop and let them go. Don't ignore a cross walk here in Montana, they believe in them here.

[AtomicSkier]

But I thought you said this was a crosswalk. Pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk. That means if they are standing there DOING NOTHING, you are supposed to come to a stop and let them go. Don't ignore a cross walk here in Montana, they believe in them here.

 

Nah, no marked crosswalk, just a loading zone. The cop was just dicking me around since he didn't even see it.