More spectators than Lake Louise

Last night was the qualifying runs. It is the evening that TV gets to work out its bugs (as does timing and data). Alphasports TV has to perform. We get to pull out all the equipment that we have begged, borrowed or stole (ok, borrowed... Many thanks to Precision Sports Timing as well).

Radar is one of the technologies that should be so simple, but often isn't. It is still a black art. The particular radar gun we use now 'should' send out only the data we want (the max peak speed). However, it doesn't work correctly. After talking to the vendor, they claimed that it 'sort of' works. No kidding. Many thanks to Ken Smith in North Bay, ON who created a magic box that captures the radar data and cleans it up. Without that happening, the radar graphic on TV would be a mess.

On the CBC show tonight, you might get to see some of the trial runs. It now looks like it doesn't come on until 12:40 AM (Sunday morning - Saturday night). You can watch it live on the internet (streaming) on CBC Sports or on CBC 4 (there is a CBC 4??). That may also be known as CBC Bold. Something I am sure you have to pay for if you don't have it already.

Tonight is an elimination night. Every goes in fours. You will see different bib colours on each racer and fastest to the bottom wins. Watch for the Austrian with the coloured Red mustache.

New pictures have been uploaded to my web site.

Almost Winter and the training starts

Friday dawned with a training run at 7am. The first trip out at 6am proved that it was much colder than I thought. Back to the room. Gortex rain pants, Sypder Shell and the North Face jacket. Glad I did that as standing on the start ramp right by the Chateau Frontenac was about the same as standing at the start at Lake Louise. (Ok, not THAT bad, but you get the idea). The wind was howling off the river from the east. Still above zero, but not warm like the other days.

Training was entertaining, if you were a spectator. Many did not make it 20 feet before sliding down on their butts. Others crashed hard into the right turn near the bottom. That is the very steep part that has a 'compression' at the bottom followed by an immediate right turn. Many hit the wall very very hard. Also, it looked like that wall took some damage, as I saw the crews rebuilding it and strengthening it.

The attached video is from the start of the media race earlier today. There are 2 small jumps on the ramp down. That seems to do in about 1/2 the people. If you don't make it over those jumps, you don't make it up the ramp at the bottom. A fair number of media types did spend a bit of time figuring how to climb up that hill.

I did keep looking or Rick Mercer to be in this. Haven't seen him yet.

Just like any sports event, more and more people start to show up who apparently know more about everything. This event is no different.

Yesterday, we got most of the core items in place. Today, my goal was to spend the morning working on the start. I had hoped to get the start eyes connected as well as seeing the start gates. As I jumped over the security gate, I immediately got stopped by security. Fortunately, Richard spoke English and explained we were not allowed on the ice at all. Well, there goes my morning. Hopefully tonight.

I have uploaded some pictures (just click here for those of you internet challenged). Keep that link handy as I will add photos as the days go on.

Tonight will be the crash test dummy test (about 8pm). Tomorrow is training runs and then on Saturday morning will be the time trials.

Crashed Ice - Quebec City

So, another escape from my full time job. The boys in RFID land have allowed me the pleasure to head to Quebec City for the Red Bull Crashed Ice bonanza. Or, maybe they didn't notice as they are on a cruise in the Caribbean. You can watch the short video for an idea on the insanity. 100,000 people show up to watch this. I didn't know you could fit that many people in old Quebec.

I'm going to find out what happened to this class action law suit. One guy doesn't like it as it takes 5 weeks to set up and a few weeks to take down. However, it does bring over $11M to the city. That is hard to ignore. If Quebec City didn't want it, then there are many other cities that would love it. Montreal included. Maybe we could do it in Toronto off the Bloor viaduct!

Many thanks to CBC for the image. It is to be aired at 11:40pm on Saturday night.

Jimmy and I are there, working for Alphasports TV (aka: Andy). As timing gigs go, it is pretty simple (compared to a World Cup downhill race).

Today was a civilized travel day. My sister picks me up and drives me over to the train station in Oshawa. Arrive 30 minutes early, pick up your ticket, get back in the car for a trip to Tim's and back 10 minutes before the train arrives. No security check. I don't need to worry that my bottle of contact lens cleaner is greater than 100ml. You get the picture.

And, you get internet. However, it is best you bring your own. You can plug in your laptop as soon as you sit down, stretch out your legs and plug in your HSBA Telus air card. Now, I have as much internet as I have at home. Very nice.

The Olympics - Vanoc style

My learned friend and colleagues call it Phistler for a reason. If it isn't foggy then it is beautifully sunny and warm. The problem is that you can't race reliably in either. However, that is ski racing. It is an outdoor sport. The weather affects everyone and everyone differently. Each run is different and each delay for 10 minutes changes the course. It either speeds up, slows down, is easier to see or harder to see. That is why race courses in the northern hemisphere are north facing (for the most part). It helps to keep the sun off the course and keeps it from turning into a big slurpy.

In a World Cup race, if you've ever wonder how they decide who starts when, you need to understand the FIS magic formula. So, let me steel the words that The Mighty Skunk wrote (rather than retype it).

In order to understand this dynamic, you've got to understand the basics of the "bib draw" process. For TV and for the crowd, FIS wants the "top seed" to run with bibs 16-22. So in other words, if you're the WCSL points leader and you want to ski early because you know the course is going to turn to mush, the lowest bib you can draw is 16. If the top WCSL skiers had a choice of any number, knowing how slushy the course has been, skiers like Cuche and Riesch and Vonn and Svindal would be choosing bibs 1-2-3. Julia Mancuso has been doing so poorly this season that she's out of the "top seed" and has been "stuck" with a low bib (1-7). But when you're racing in May weather (or Pissler in February), the early bibs are the ones to have. Same thing happened today with Weibrecht as happened with Mancusco in the DH. He was bib #3, as was Mancusco. He put down an extraordinary run, which in cold weather with a consistent course would have put him solidly in the top 10. But meanwhile, the course was softening quickly and was slowing down maybe 0.10 with every competitor. The sun and the warmth did the rest. Not to take anything away from Mancuso and Weibrecht, because everybody with bibs in the top 10 and certainly in the top 5 have had the same opportunity. They were both good and lucky.

Now you know. Not that it was a big secret.

Sadly our Canadians have struggled. The pressure from the local press is just amazing. If we could get rid of the press and let them report on what happened instead of the future, they might just have a chance. Being on your home ground is an advantage, sure, but you get every cub report you can thing of hounding you.

Canadians want to cheer all our athletes. But, imagine just how hard this is for them. Most of them have given up their lives to compete for Canada. The live below the poverty line. They are dedicated and driven. They have no life of their own. And, when they don't medal, they feel like they have let down Canada. The press is just brutal on them. We need standing proudly behind them and cheering them. The fact they made the Olympic team is amazing.

The the press.. world wide... If you want to rip apart an athlete for lack of performance, go ahead, do it. Just make sure it is someone who is a professional, like an NHL Hockey player. Knock yourself out.

However, for those that are amateurs. Leave them alone. They give their life to get to this level. Most live below the poverty level just. They have amazing passion. They need to be rewarded and recognized for being there to represent their country.

The above photo is one I took in Portillo Chile in September. Manny, Julia and Robby.

NOD races in North Bay

Even though I'm fortunate enough to be able to get to World Cup ski races and get to rub elbows with current Olympians, you still have to get back to the grass roots.

Which brings me to this weekend and my trip to my home town of North Bay, Ontario. My good friend Ken had an important set of ski races to run and ensure that the race is fair and done without error.

Well, Murphy was an Optimist and this weekend was no exception. Just like World Cup, we run 2 unique timing systems just in case we have a problem. We call them System A and System B. In the first race today, I hear "Start/Stop" on the radio due to timing. I walk in only to find Ken watching his Windows 7 computer reboot. Yep, the Serial/USB adapters caused a problem and the computer totally froze up like an igloo. Well, that is why we have a System B and he switches over to System B which is running the same program, but the DOS version (remember DOS?).

The DOS version just works. 100% of the time. Never causes us a problem. IT JUST WORKS, which is great when you have a hundred or so people standing outside freezing their toes off. And, if it ever fails due to a power failure, it tends to reboot long before the monitor comes back on. Thank god for System B.

Next problem. Something we call back up hand timing. It is the absolute fail safe if we loose everything. The standard is to use an Alge Timy. Another 2 pieces of equipment that JUST WORK all of the time.

Except today.

Both of them failed. One won't stay turned on. The other one won't turn on at all. It is good to have something for the technology toss. Nice. (It is now 10pm at night and we are in Sudbury and it looks like I have fixed one Timy with a software update, but the other one is still dead).

Lastly, our 2nd set of displays. The ones we show off with by putting them up at the start so that the coaches can see the times of their racers. Nope, can't get those working either and I give up on getting those to work after about an hour.

Now at the hotel, with a fixed Timy, I can now test the display boards. Guess what, they work fine. Next test is to have them hooked back up to the computer that they were hooked to during the race which means that they were being driven by a USB/Serial adapter. This is the same computer that froze up solid this morning.

So, after all that, Murphy left and we were able to get the rest of the races in without any surprises. We are now in Sudbury and get to do the same thing again tomorrow.

It was also great to meet up with some old school friends (high school). Their kids are racing and we got to share some stories of some very fun times.

Follow up - a little late

Once the actual racing starts, the days get long and the last thing you feel like doing is writing a book (or blog for that matter).

Have a look at the attached picture and the sea of humanity.

Race day on Saturday for the Downhill was amazing. The weather was perfect as was the course. It wasn't without controversy thou. The final jump into the finish was totally removed this year in the interest of racer safety. This pissed off most of the Austrian fans as that jump has been in the race for over 70 years.

Once the race was over (no accidents, at least non serious), I made a trip around the course to pick up the radar equipment. While I was pulling out the units at the Mousefalle and one of the American's on the viewing stand started to ask me questions on how what it was and how it works. Turns out it was Scott McCartney from the US Ski Team. Two years ago, Scott crashed and passed me on the finish line. (Click here for the video) It was great to talk to Scott and tell him how good it was to see him skiing again. Pretty cool.

Kitzbuhel is very very big party. After dinner on Saturday, I went for a stroll downtown and I have never seen so many drunk and stupid people in one place at the same time. No need for washrooms, etc. They 'just do it' were they are standing. Then again, it was about midnight.

Sunday was the Slalom race on a different hill (just to the west of the Downhill race course). A 2 run race with about 40000 fans standing there. Again, the weather was pretty good and very loud. Hence the reasons for the David Clark headsets. Remind me to send them a Christmas card as they saved my ears. After the end of the race, comes the 6 hours that we spend packing up all the equipment that took us 5 days to install.

Just when you think it is safe to go to bed, your dreams are dashed and you have to present yourself at a dinner that has the major players of the entire event join you. A 4 course dinner that takes hours (how civilized) even if it is Lamb. At least we didn't have to get up at 4am to catch a train, as the Ski club was kind enough to send a van to drive us to the airport. Perfect.

Once at the airport on Monday morning all we have to do is drop the bags and head to the lounge. No such luck. Seems that Air Canada has had to divert a plane from Frankfurt to Munich. Instead of a plane with 50 people on it, it is now full. So much for using my last upgrade coupon.

Fortunately, the Air Canada gods must have been watching out for me. Just as the doors closed, the 'In Charge' attendant finds me and asks me if I have a coupon for an upgrade. Do I?? You bet I do. 30 seconds later, I'm sitting up in 3K and testing out the recliner. I would just hate to see that last coupon go to waste.

I'm now back in Canada where it actually gets cold (in Austria, -10C is pretty cold). Going to be a frosty one skiing this weekend at Craigleith. It is great to be back.

Don't forget to review The Might Skunk's Blog in your spare time.