Schlopy's Quiver: Three giant slaloms

By Published On: January 9th, 2005Comments Off on Schlopy's Quiver: Three giant slaloms

Schlopy’s Quiver: Three giant slalomsIf you’re going to compare skiing to car racing, World Cup is Formula One with a much smaller budget. We’ve got fewer people working on it, but as far as equipment goes, it’s paramount to have the best equipment. Everyone talks about fast bases in speed events, but it’s important in giant slalom too. Here are my diaries from three giant slaloms this year.

Beaver Creek, Colorado…December 4, 2004
Finishing sixth in the giant slalom at Beaver Creek was a great result. The interesting thing from the equipment perspective was it was just my third day on a new sidecut. I’m really liking it, and I think everyday I ski on it I’m going to get faster. So we’re back to square one because anytime you get a new sidecut you have to establish a new set-up. At least we know the sidecut is fast, but now we have to go through a series of testing days for a set-up.

At Beaver Creek, the snow was really grippy in a lot of the course, and was icy in others. It’s tough to know how to prep your edges for that. If they’re too sharp, they’re grabby. It’s hard to make a smooth turn and a smooth transition. It’s not a very smooth feel. We made them medium-sharp. That’s my service guy’s job to make a decision on that. He prepared them well. They weren’t too sharp or two dull. They were holding great, so overall it was a good prep.

Alta Badia, Italy…December 19, 2004
Alta Badia’s never been a good place for me, and the streak continues (I finished 20th this year)…I was disappointed because I’m skiing well, and at Val d’Isere I blew it with a DNF. Alta Badia is just not a hill that fits my natural flow. It’s really steep, and they set it kind of straight, so basically you have to go direct at the gate and slide and hit, and I’m more of a carving skier. This and Soelden have been the toughest hills during my whole career.

Bode talks about liking to slide a little above the turn, and people say I go arc to arc. That might be true maybe more so than other guys. But you gotta be able to skid it when you need to skid it. There are certain sections that are difficult to get through if you try to arc through them. Alta Badia’s like that for a lot of the hill.

At Alta Badia I wore the logo of a new sponsor on my helmet…GOPLAY21.com. At Beaver Creek I had worn “BodeMillerUSA,” written out on athletic tape, which got some chuckles out of people. A lot of people don’t know this, but you can’t wear the name of a website that applies directly to yourself; to avoid getting DQ’d, guys will drop the ‘www’ and the ‘.com’. The exact wording of the rule is ‘it is not permitted to affix a website address which refers directly to the athlete, either on the headgear or clothing.’ They also have rules against advertising alcohol and tobacco, and racial or religious discrimination. It’s not a problem to have a gaming site on your headgear. Hey, the FIS has a gambling site for their own race sponsor at some alpine World Cups.

Flachau, Austria… December 21
The Flachau GS was great. I was excited that the team had an awesome day, with four guys in the top-15. We could have four in the top-10 if we want, I think. It was really icy. A lot of people were having trouble with the snow, not getting good grip on the ice. It was pretty chilly, and a lot of the course is totally in the shade. Flachau is comparable to Beaver Creek and Val d’Isere: not that flat, but not super steep like Soelden and Alta Badia.

There were also some really direct course-sets. I’m coming off an injury, so maybe it just seems that way to me, but this seems like it’s been a trend this year. I suspect someone did it and then everyone else just started imitating that.

After Soelden I wrote about my teammates and I were fashioning our own protective wear for our gloves so that we could clear gates at high speed on such course. A few people e-mailed me to offer their own gloves, which was nice, and a few asked why we didn’t use carbon fiber.

Carbon fiber is actually brittle. When it gets cold, the force that we put into it just splits it. It’s actually better to have something a little more malleable. We use orthoplasts a plastic that can actually bend when it’s still cold. I have GS gloves that come higher than the ones I use in other events.

My boots are subject to temperature fluctuations too. Usually, in the ten to 25 degree range it’s the way I like my boots. But if it’s warmer, I’ll actually try to stick them in the snow. And if it’s colder, I try to stay in the lodge longer and keep them from getting super hard. If it’s really cold, they can get like rocks.

–Erik Schlopy will keep his irregular equipment diary, ‘Schlopy’s Quiver’ here at www.skiracing.com all year. He already has a stack of reader questions to work through, but he encourages you to send him more equipment-related ideas and questions through the site’s editor at webeditor@insideinc.com. Make sure to put ‘Question for Erik’ in the subject line of the e-mail.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh