Sweden Post (1)
Posted on April 24, 2008
So, here I am. Sitting in Arlanda International airport in Stockholm, Sweden, shortly after converting my loose Euros and Swiss Francs into Kronors. Sitting here, sipping on a Cappuccino. Eating a croissant. Typing on my laptop. …with time to kill. Two hours, actually. This, is in stark contrast in every way to nearly every moment this last while.
I felt like I was;
Operating in perpetual urgency.
I had some one liners that I thought would become posts, and I am not going to say that I will ever get them out of me and into text to share. And, that feels just fine. Hehe, though the one that comes to mind first is: You get there faster at 240km/hr.
And so what do I write about now? The first race is over. The first two actually, if you count the team time trial. Damn, this one fine cappuccino. …and the croissant has chocolate in it. I was at World Champ Wednesdays last night. Scott Arlidge took the 1000m final. I didn’t even stick around to see who wound atop the points total in the points race, which by the way was brutal. Way WAY faster than last year, with 35+ extremely competent Senior Men skaters. Anyway, I rode my bike to the track, but things weren’t over until after 10pm and the sun had long since set, and riding home was not an option. So I got a ride back to Sandra’s late. I was a completely disorganized mess last night, and managed only a very little sleep with a 4am departure to the airport. I’m sorry Sandra, my love. I dropped the ball on that one.
I missed Zug. I injured my ankle somehow, and in the process of suppressing and denying the injury, I don’t even know how I did it, but for a while, I wasn’t able to stretch my Achilles tendon to position my foot any more than 90 degrees from my calf without excruciating pain. I’ve been through alot, and I have a good understanding of levels of pain, and a rather high tolerance for it. This was bad. It’s almost completely better, but I must have done some tendon damage. I think also, it was incredibly tight as my psychological stress was manifesting itself physiologically which decreased the comfortable range of motion, and increased the pain response. Anyway, I skated last night and a few times this week, and I can nearly skate all out on it again.
Which brings me to last night…. I went alright in my 1000m heat. I had a pretty loaded heat with Wayne Begg, DJ Nation, Reyon Kay, and a bunch of Columbian skaters. I managed 4th just behind the 3 NZ skaters who stayed tight together through the finish, but didn’t qualify for the final. It was 3+3, I was in the first heat which can be a bit of a disadvantage, and the last heat had Ruben Martinez in it, so it was fast. He led nearly the whole thing to guarantee himself a spot in the final. That heat took all the three time positions. Anyway, I actually had a good line high in the exit of the 4th last corner, but got pinched nicely into the wall as the inside line swung wide in response, and I basically let the Columbian in front of me. Sometimes I can be such a wimp. I think if I just held my line like that, I had enough speed to better challenge the front into the last lap. Great racing atmosphere though. I think it is going to be a great season. I can’t wait to be on good form. I am sorry to miss the training with the boys this weekend. Sounds like it will be some good training.
What a time for writer’s block. I think it is just a product of being hyper-stimulated of late. I’ve got so much great stuff to write about that I just don’t know where to start.
I was thinking about Eric Gee and his boot making process. I had Dominik take a bunch of pictures of me getting casted for my X-Tech skates. They are working really hard to make a great boot. They’ve been having feedback meetings with the skaters they are sponsoring this year. I am really loking forward to working with a boot maker who is genuinely interested in skater’s feedback. They’ve made some changes in the design of the boots already. Their soft gear is really really cool. And the guys are all going really well on the wheels. Kalon even happened to mention that the X-Tech guys were going well on them in Zug, and they look like they are high quality. They’ve got three series of wheels. A rain wheel, a track wheel, and a marathon wheel. I’ve heard some great things already about them from people who’s opinions I think I can trust. I am actually really excited about trying them. I just haven’t had the chance yet. They look really cool. Oh, so do the boots! Haha, to Eric: he used the old alginate pouring technique. He sliced them of straight afterwards, and poured plaster into them, and ten minutes later he had positive casts that I could look at and draw on if I need to. I have a few problem spots, which were easy to mark on the + casts. Plus I could mark the carbon height and wrap, and top eyelet mark if I wanted to. That was quite cool. From the accuracy of this method, I am looking forward to putting my foot into the boot. He also took a dozen or so pictures of my feet, and was really sure to mark my nevicular. He and I had similar opinions on the front wrap at the ankle.
Ok, and that ends Nerd corner. I told you I was a total dork. That stuff still excites me. :P I think there’s something fashionable about not caring, but I just don’t subscribe to that coolness.
I took time to write my team manager an email, so I’ve been rushing this writing again… Time’s actually nearly up. Lots of battery remaining though. I have to say, the Centrino Duo Chip on this laptop is far Superior to the AMD version of the same platform I had before in terms of battery life. It’s not even close. I still have 60%, and on my old lptp I would have long since scurried to find a plug. Haha, which I wouldn’t be able to plug into anyway, because I have no idea what the plugs look like in Sweden. I’ve got a swiss dealy… Have you ever seen the one from South Africa? It’s like a numb-chuck. Or some kind of weapon. (Hehe Sandra)
By the way, I have the most incredibly awesome girlfriend. She is truly amazing in every way. I am so, so lucky. Really, I am just truly truly lucky to have found and fell in love with Sandra. I miss her again here already. Hello Sandra! J
To my peeps back in T dot; what’s up? I hear the weather is excellent there, which is a real kick in the balls to me here, since I was nearly dying in the cold before I left. Soak it up! Invest some extra effort in working on your form, strength, and fitness at the beginning of the season outdoors. It will pay off huge. Then you can rest when you are in the full swing of racing while you increase your speed. How has indoors payed off for you?
Is Jacky still flying? Haha, I couldn’t believe it when I saw him fighting with Peter Doucet for the entrance of the corner in the relays. Keep it real.
What’s going on with the groups? I hope the “not fastest” group isn’t doing too much ‘steady tempo’ BS. I don’t know why, but somehow there’s always a push in that direction. Don’t be swayed. LoL. Really, that’s just stupid.
Georg: get in some DL repeats… I know Deano and Hegerty will join you for it. It’s the best way to learn to skate. I mean, I know you can skate… F, you know what I mean.
Pauley Boys: what’s up? Send me an email sometime… let me know where your thoughts are. Are you skating at TISC?
D to the P: What are your plans? I wont be at A2A… you should think about the 111km… it’s a way cooler race anyway. Sorry A2A. In St. Gallen the lead pack has full time motorcycles with us, filming, reff’ing, and this tray that you can grab water from at any point (kind of like in the peleton in top teir cycling racing), and a fully closed course. That’s a BIG difference. Oh, and a MASSIVE pack. I mean massive. There were portions of minutes at a time where I was at the front of the race and didn’t take a single stride going 45km/hr+ through winding roads in and out of small towns with actual crowds of people cheering.
Deano: how about an email? Wtf?
Has anyone noticed the amount of Michael Jackson covers that are out right now? Or is that just here in Europe?
Oh, and I have about 1000 comments that I have to go through, but haven’t been able to purge the spam. I can’t even get a computer to load the whole thing. I think it may be impossible for me to access the action tabs/options/buttons.
Ok, this post is too long, most wont even read it. And it’s lost its direction. And I am fine with that.
DoubleAwithabumankleplanstotrainandgetthisseasonstartedproperlyandcan’twaittofeelgoodonskatesagain… dot com.
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Leave a Comment
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
You must be logged in to post a comment.