Peaks, Valleys, and Burning Quads
Posted by: Kris Kaiyala
/ added: 02.13.2007
/ Back to News ��Chatter
It wasn?t until everyone around me started undressing that I got nervous.
Being the ski-racing neophyte that I am, I showed up at the starting gate of Whistler ’s 22nd annual Peak-to-Valley Race on Feb. 3 in my usual brown baggy ski pants and blue puffy jacket. It was windy and snowing. I?d heard from locals and competitors that survival was the biggest factor in finishing the race, and you might think so too considering the following: 180 GS gates spread along a 5 km race course from Whistler saddle to the base of the Creekside gondola. Survival. I took the mantra literally. With warm, regular ski clothes I?d be slow, but at least I?d survive.
What made me nervous was that underneath their jackets and pants, these people were wearing tight downhill suits. Some of the suits had national team names on them like ?Russia? and ?Canada.? Clearly I was in trouble here. I reluctantly took off my jacket and pulled bib number 145 over my fleece, figuring the move would shed a few seconds. It didn?t. I got smoked by more than two-thirds of the field, including one Hilary Lindh who completed the course a good 90 seconds faster than I. Let?s hear it for racing against Olympic silver medalists.
The Peak to Valley is a team event (at least one of the team members must be of the opposite sex), with two members racing the first day and the other two on the following day. Given the mixed bag of racing skill on our team, after much debate we settled on the name Team Shmooks (Team Creampuff was a close second). My wife?s sister and her husband are former collegiate racers, while my wife and I are life-long freeskiers, and judging by the video footage we saw of ourselves in the middle of the course, we?re likely to remain well off the racing circuit for a long, long time.
While Team Shmooks? overall performance will go down in Peak-to-Valley lore as pretty much forgettable, the event?and its swanky mountaintop after-hours dinner awards reception?were anything but. In fact, even though our weekend ended with us stranded on the Sea-to-Sky Highway for seven hours behind a landslide, we pledged to be back next year? squeezed into downhill suits all around and primed with off-season gate training.
Forget survival, next year Hillary will not beat my ass by more than 80 seconds.
Being the ski-racing neophyte that I am, I showed up at the starting gate of Whistler ’s 22nd annual Peak-to-Valley Race on Feb. 3 in my usual brown baggy ski pants and blue puffy jacket. It was windy and snowing. I?d heard from locals and competitors that survival was the biggest factor in finishing the race, and you might think so too considering the following: 180 GS gates spread along a 5 km race course from Whistler saddle to the base of the Creekside gondola. Survival. I took the mantra literally. With warm, regular ski clothes I?d be slow, but at least I?d survive.
What made me nervous was that underneath their jackets and pants, these people were wearing tight downhill suits. Some of the suits had national team names on them like ?Russia? and ?Canada.? Clearly I was in trouble here. I reluctantly took off my jacket and pulled bib number 145 over my fleece, figuring the move would shed a few seconds. It didn?t. I got smoked by more than two-thirds of the field, including one Hilary Lindh who completed the course a good 90 seconds faster than I. Let?s hear it for racing against Olympic silver medalists.
The Peak to Valley is a team event (at least one of the team members must be of the opposite sex), with two members racing the first day and the other two on the following day. Given the mixed bag of racing skill on our team, after much debate we settled on the name Team Shmooks (Team Creampuff was a close second). My wife?s sister and her husband are former collegiate racers, while my wife and I are life-long freeskiers, and judging by the video footage we saw of ourselves in the middle of the course, we?re likely to remain well off the racing circuit for a long, long time.
While Team Shmooks? overall performance will go down in Peak-to-Valley lore as pretty much forgettable, the event?and its swanky mountaintop after-hours dinner awards reception?were anything but. In fact, even though our weekend ended with us stranded on the Sea-to-Sky Highway for seven hours behind a landslide, we pledged to be back next year? squeezed into downhill suits all around and primed with off-season gate training.
Forget survival, next year Hillary will not beat my ass by more than 80 seconds.
Comments:
Posted by Conor Madigan on Apr 1st, 2007 @ 5:37 pm
80 Plus Seconds by Lindh
Being beaten by Hilary Lindh by 80-plus seconds...you're looking at this the wrong way, Kris! This was a complete victory on your part...the margins even on the Women's World Cup circuit are often into the 3 and 4 second range. In short, you kicked ass, my man. Quite impressive.
Cld friend Conor Madigan
P.S. If you really want to get Hilary's "goat" next year, hire Picabo Street as your "ringer"...those two were arch-rivals, so to speak, when they were on the Team.
Cld friend Conor Madigan
P.S. If you really want to get Hilary's "goat" next year, hire Picabo Street as your "ringer"...those two were arch-rivals, so to speak, when they were on the Team.
