Sunday's race

So, we were all wrong.  We did race on Sunday.  Amazing as there was a ton of snow.

Then, just after the race completed, it REALLY  started to snow.

If you wish to see more photos, the are in my gallery.

I'll bet

We don't race today.

We stepped out of the Chateau into 5cm of wonderful powder and it is really coming down.

But, the Lake Louise team will try.

mike@portcredit.net

Sent via BlackBerry on the Bell Mobility network

Saturday start of DH

Now delayed another 30 minutes due to snow and course prep. 1pm Mountain time.

That is all. 

It is now late on Saturday night.  No races happened today and we waited until 2pm for the races to be cancelled.   I give full credit to the Lake Louise Sled Dogs who did all they could to keep the course clean and safe.  But, mother nature just kept it snowing.

In fact, we got about 15cm of the forecasted 1cm.  

On TV, you get to see the nice front side of the start tent.  This is what the back looks like.  Ted kept calling it Ice Station Zebra.  The snow on my pack is what accumulated in about 5 minutes.

Saturday - it is snowing

It is snowing lightly here and there will be some concern as to which start we will use.

The visibilty is also poor and we won't know until about 11:30 which start we are going to use.

mike@portcredit.net

Sent via BlackBerry on the Bell Mobility network

Wow

With 60 minutes to live TV, we have to move to the lower start due to wind.
That includes all the timing equipment and the front advertising facade.

We should still be good to go on time.  

And, we were on time.  Vonn blew the compitition away.  

Thanks to Skunkworks Software for the screen shot of Lindsay going through Radar (speed) 2 at the bottom of Gunbarrel.  The new graphics are pretty cool.  

Ladies go for it tomorrow

Not too much been happening for the last few days.  Tuesday's training was cancelled as the track was too soft.  Wednesday was actually cold as was today.

Today, the radar was just driving me crazy.  The 'Skunk' and I have been trying some new radar views.  I'm finding that side slippers and even forerunners speeds are read just fine, but then the first racer comes down the track and all bets are off.  

Today was a great example.  I moved closer to the track (and netting) and thought that it would be a no brainer.  Not so lucky.  After lots of different adjustments, I got it right at racer 30.  Tomorrow is race day, so I had better get it right by the first racer.

It has also been cold.  Not normal Lake Louise cold, but cold enough.  Tomorrow, it is the full cold package including the coaches coat.  

From what I can tell, if you want to watch Friday's race, you might have to watch it on CBC Bold.  Saturday should be on CBC national (not sure for the rest of the world).  

The old boy still has it

Even at 36, Herman the Herminator can still race a Super G.  He did put on quite a show yesterday and our boy from Calgary was at least 2nd.  What a thrill that must be considering that Herman has been racing for decades and John Kucera is just over 20.  Wow.  But, John K has indicated that next time, he will be standing higher that Herman.  

The race yesterday went very well, except for the moment that Murphy showed up.  With 3 racers into the program, the battery on Radar 2 (bottom of Gun Barrel) died.  No reason why, other than it for some reason did not get charged, even though the charges we use did say it was charged.  

As I'm still trying to tune Radar 1 for the SG skiers (ie:  find the sweet spot that we get the best reporting), I now have to bail to the bottom of the course with the spare battery/RS485 box.  As this is a speed event, I can't go down the course and must find a way to get there outside the fence.  I can ski about 1/2 way, but the rest requires me to travel by skis down an up opened run with only enough natural snow on it to hide the holes and the rocks.  Then, through the woods, and down the outside of the A netting.  This still leaves me on the wrong side of the course and takes me about 12 minutes to get there.  

Dave B. gets escorted across the course to get the spare unit.  He tries to power the radar/interface box for a few racers by using a 9V battery which sort of works.  Dave runs back up hill, while I take off through the woods by foot to get back on a ski run.  Peter Dyson, who was watching the show from inside the timing shack, meets me at the lift with another spare battery and I cycle up and around to get back at my station.  Soaking wet and sliding down on my head through Sunset gully, I get back on my station after about 22 minutes.  Not bad I guess, but it should have never failed in the first place.

Not only that, one of the start clocks (the live one) also failed with a dead battery.  There is a pattern here.  We should get that sorted out today.

Today (Monday) is a sort of off day).  I'm sitting on the main floor of the Chateau either writing this or reading a book.  About every 20 minutes I get interrupted by the Japanese tourists who want their picture taken.  Too funny.  I have had to deal with every portable camera possible and figure out how to turn their flash on even with the Japanese character set on the screen.  All in the name of timing.