Jit's Journal: An "out-of-body" experience

By Published On: February 5th, 2007Comments Off on Jit's Journal: An "out-of-body" experience

Every time I kick out of the start gate, I seem to learn something new. That has become even more evident with the last series of World Cups that I raced.

EVERY TIME I
kick out of the start gate, I seem to learn something new. That has become even more evident with the last series of World Cups that I raced.
    To date, I have raced a grand total of five World Cups, and each one has given me something to learn from. Upon my arrival in Kitzbühel, I had little expectations of myself other than to go as hard as I could until I either made it to the finish or I exploded. Having scored only one good slalom result this year, my slalom ranking was still too high for a decent start number; I had no choice but to charge from the back of the pack. It was my first race in front a large group of fans because my previous World Cup experiences were plagued by bad weather.  
    The environment of Kitzbühel was alive and filled with drunken fans and their cowbells. At night I could barely sleep because of the noise in the streets from the bands and bullhorns. However, I did what I said I was going to do and gave it everything I could muster on the first day at Kitzbühel.
    I felt completely on the edge from the start of the race but it was fast. I made recovery after recovery and still maintained my speed. I had nothing to lose and no expectations on my shoulders, so I felt free to do as I pleased. In my mind I was in the clear when I made it to the flat, rolling section of the course after the rutted-out pitch, but my recovery count had gone over its limit on the day and I crashed out of the course as I tried to take a hairpin too straight in the compression of one of the rollers. I later found out that my parents, who flew over to watch me race for the first time in two years, got to watch the crash from the bottom of the course three times on the big screen as the crowd cheered (sorry guys). Though I crashed out, I was proud that I left everything I had out on the hill.
    The next day I felt just as ready go for it but I ended up straddling the fifth gate after my ski hooked up on the shelf left by the previous 70 racers; day done. Not what I had in mind, but that’s ski racing. It happens to the best and you have to move on.
    I moved on to the night slalom in Schladming after Kitzbühel was over. If there is ever a race to run in slalom, this is it. There are 50,000 screaming fans under the floodlights of Schladming, and most of them are heavily intoxicated. I was excited from the get-go. Because the race is at night, I was able to sleep in that day and use it to slowly get ready for the race later on. I did a spin on the spin bike, listened to some music and took a walk to get myself mentally ready to go. Finally, as the sun dipped behind the mountains, the time to leave had come.     It really didn’t hit me how big Schladming was till I slipped down for inspection. Various expletives ran through my mind as I slid down and witnessed the masses hiking up the mountain. I tried to focus on my inspection, but I ended up just taking in the view of what was happening. Every time you slipped near the fence, fans would honk the bullhorns and yell at you; quite a different experience than anything I have ever been through. I’m still coming off of the Europa Cup tour, where you’re lucky if there are five people cheering in the finish, so this was definitely something new to me. Finally I made my way back to the top of the course after inspection and waited for my turn to run. The time slowly passed, but finally I made my way through the darkness of the night to the top of the course. When I arrived I could hear the crowd but couldn’t see it.
    My heart pumped with excitement. I got myself ready to go like I always do, and mentally I used the same strategy I had used all year, but something was different. I kicked out of the gate and charged through top half of the course that is somewhat hidden from view of the fans. I skied perfectly normal until I made it to the breakover. “Oh my god” is all that ran through my mind. There were so many people, and it was so loud. The snow was super icy and the pitch was as steep as I’d ever been on for slalom. I was just hanging on for survival. I was having an out-of-body experience from the shock of what I was experiencing. I couldn’t believe it. I’m usually a mentally solid person in this sort of situation, but I broke. Things weren’t looking good. My mistakes amassed and I was getting tired from having to save myself every other gate from crashing. By the time I reached the bottom, I was skiing terribly and uncharacteristic of myself, but I made it to the finish. I was way out.
    To be honest with you, I really didn’t know how to feel at the bottom of the run. I was just happy I got it out of the way, but mad at myself for not skiing well. I took one last look up the hill and decided I would chalk this one up as experience. I know when I return to Schladming again I’ll be ready go. In reality, I didn’t even expect to be taking part in any World Cup slaloms this year, so I was just happy to get the opportunities; but being the competitive person I am, I felt like I let myself down. I’ll get over it.
    Right now, I am enjoying some down time in Patsch, Austria, before I make my way up to Are, Sweden, for the World Championships.
    Till next time …

— Jit

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About the Author: Pete Rugh