I feel a long entry coming on, so please be patient. As many of you know this past weekend was the Bust n' Burn mogul competition at Sunday River . Ever since I was a wee lad of 11 or 12, I have wanted to dawn a competition bib and test my luck at one of the most challenging types of ski racing out there. Well I finally did it on Saturday morning. I headed up to Sunday River for some practice on Friday and was able to actually do the course about a dozen times. On Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to get my bib and to get a few more practice runs in before the start time of 10:00. The weather was snowy and icy, which made things a bit interesting. I arrived at the start gate and watched the first bunch of competitors do their runs until it was finally my turn. Upon stepping up to the start gate, I decided I would take the blue course, because in practice runs it was my better course. Only a little while early did I learn that it wasn't going to be a dual format race but instead a single format race, which means I would ski alone and would be judged on turns and air. A total of five judges rated my skiing, three on turns and two on air. I was quite nervous, because I had never skiied when a bunch of people were just watching me, plus I had this built up anxiety from all the years of wanting to do it. Overall, I felt my skiing was less than spectacular and my air was in my opinion a disgrace. I was so focused on the skiing, I totally neglected my air component and ended up doing two lame twisters, very disappointing. However, I am happy to have finally accomplished my goal. Yeah I didn't exactly bring my "A" game, but now I know what to practice next year and I promise you this I will make it to the second day. I finally saw the Bust 'n Burn Official Results last night and I finished 87th out of 165 competitors. I do have some pictures we took which are in the Bust 'n Burn Photo Album
I also found links to some professional photos they took during the competition, but wasn't able to steal them from the web site, so instead I have provided links to the photos below, you can even order a picture if you really want :
Bust 'n Burn Photo 1,Photo 2, Photo 3, Photo 4, Photo 5, Photo 6
Yesterday was an oddly amazing day. I didn't actually get up to the mountain until 10:30, because I was exhausted from a late night and the whole time change thing. The prior day had been very icy and I wasn't expecting anything great, but once I took a few runs I knew it was going to be one of those great days. The sun was shining, but it was rather cold, so I got all bundled up and stayed warm. The conditions were excellent though, you could do some nice carving, but at the same time the sides of the trails were covered with powder, you could also ski the bumps because they were nice and soft. It was amazing, however after a few hours my body was really feeling the strain and I had to take it easy. I didn't care and just kept doing runs right up until three o'clock. I must say it was quite possibly one of the top ten days of the year. Overall the weekend has reminded me why I ski and I am now motivated once again and can't wait to go up again next weekend. I also am very excited to go to Tuckerman at some point in the next month. I totally forgot that I have that to look forward to. The ski movie is going to kick ass, I think I am going to call it Kansas. The slogan will be, "It's long and boring, but you can't help but watch it."
Maddox did update his site recently with his latest rant calledTwenty-six things a perfect guy would do, and other propaganda disseminated by misguided women
Finally, I learned late last night about the death of MSNBC journalist David Bloom. It took me by complete surprise, especially the fact that he died from non combat related causes, and I wanted to mention it. Over the past couple weeks I have found his reports from the front line to be the best in the business. He would always provide you with the common man's view of the battle and what was going on. He was always quick to mention the soldier's he was traveling with and would pass on hellos to their families. In an age where Geraldo Rivera is destroying the reputation of the "embedded journalist", David was helping to show why we have journalists in the field. He was honest, funny and apparently loved his job, not for the fame, but instead for the joy of keeping the public informed. The common image we all have of Gulf War I, will always be the anti aircraft fire over Baghdad from January of 1991, I think in ten years the common image we will have of this war will be of David riding with the 3rd Army through sandstorms in the desert.
David Bloom (1963-2003)
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