So its Saturday and instead of skiing after all this snow…I’m at home resting. Here is a rundown of my two ski evenings from earlier this week.
Tuesday January 10 : Edelweiss
First evening training for my daughter’s ski club. She didn’t go out too often last year due to scheduling issues. Weren’t going to go out every Tuesday due to her school work which is her primary focus and my racing on Wednesdays.
First thing I noticed is that getting out of the house for evening skiing is even harder when two of us are involved. Morgane was getting into her ski gear as the car was already packed and waiting. The club was starting to train at 6pm…it was 6:15pm when we left Ottawa. Not a big problem as I couldn’t leave too early from work and we eat supper before hitting the road.
The club was training slalom and I had the green light to hot a few gates as it wouldn’t be too many kids. I wanted to get a few runs prior to my first race of the Masters, especially that my main beer-bet competitor had won two gold medals at the BMW races in Val St-Côme that weekend. Many Masters racers generally train on Monday nights at Fortune. Hopefully I can get a few Tuesday nights of training myself at Edelweiss.
I brought my good slalom skis which I generally keep for races, my helmet and old 80s vintage hand protector. Morgane generally uses my shinguards and I left the Suunto watch at home. No need to accidentally smash it.
We were on the lift at 7:05pm, but couldn’t see any course on the hill. Left-side of Zoomer was now open and snowcrew was blowing snow on the right-side. The Ottawa Masters second race of the season was suppose to be held the next day on that side of the trail, but due to the last start and postponed of the first race at Fortune, a few switches were made on the schedule and so Masters will race this week at Fortune.
The full-gate slalom was set on the open part of Yodeler. We did a free run to warm up. Watched Morgane ski the course and as I took a few other runs down Upper Yodeler to Easy Street. Groomer was busy at that time on the second part of Yodeler. There was a good crowd waiting at the lift. I eventually skied the course. The middle of the trail was badly light, so it was hard to see even with clear goggles. I managed a few good runs, but I was somewhat out of breath on one particular run. Training ended at 9pm and probably managed about 10-12 runs in two hours. My ankle was hurting afterward, but felt pretty good. Maybe just out-of-shape as skiing a course aggressively and skiing Chemin-des-Bois isn’t the same.
Overall it was a perfect evening with great snow conditions and fun course.
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Wednesday January 11 : Camp Fortune – First Masters race … finally
Instead of losing time in traveling to and from work, I decided it would be easier to work from home. I needed to get through some work and it would be easier to do at home. I was hoping to have time to tune and wax my GS skis and maybe leave earlier than the previous night. It wasn’t mean to be as I finished my work at 5:30pm. Registration open at 6:15 and race normally start at 7:30pm. I guess it meant I have to skip supper also and that last March’s wax for the Masters Final would be good enough. 🙄
As mentioned above, Masters were suppose to be at Edelweiss on second Wednesday, but with the postponed race and uncertain status of Zoomer, it was decide to make a second try at Fortune. First race of the season, a GS on Slalom. I had brought two pairs of skis as sometimes GS race on Slalom look more like “Glaloms”. The course wasn’t as bad tonight.
First run: inspection and leave extra jackets at the finish area.
Stripped down. The -12c felt colder and humid.
Second run: First timed run: I overturned the course and played too conservatively. I wasn’t even close to my normal times. I wasn’t the only one to overturn it and not have a good run, a few others including my betting partner which had even a worst time.
The overall winner from last season, Ron’s blew the competition away with his time. His main competitor from last year was making his 1st run on skis tonight and wasn’t close. Bob that would go on and finished third didn’t where we could find that extra half-second on a 23 second run.
Third run: Run number 2: I decide to be more aggressive and skied half-second faster. A few of the folks that didn’t have a good first run made up the extra time which made more sense.
Fourth run: Run number 3: I felt a bit tired after my second run. Same game plan. Slightly slower than the second run. I arrived at the bottom and didn’t fell well. I felt totally out of breath, worst than after the second run and I needed to sit down. That’s when I blacked out. People around me woke me up. I hadn’t blacked out (minus having my head banged) since I was in Grade school.
Fifth run: I was feeling woozy, but okay enough to get back to the start to pick up my ski pants and jacket then I headed inside. Sat there for a while, I didn’t want the beer that I won. I eat a burger and had some juice…felt somewhat better. Good enough to drive back home. Once at home, noticed my heart was racing. My wife brought me to the Hospital where I stayed overnight for observation. Supposed to take some further tests next week.
Doctor said that blacking out might have been unrelated to my heart racing and peak in BP. I don’t know what to think besides that HEALTH ISSUES STINK!!! Many reasons on why it might have happened, but no answers. Lack of food, dehydrated, out of shape, the cold, fatigue, is it related to my heart. Was it a freak event?
Conditions were amazing once again…unfortunately I felt crappy and concerned. Great to see a bunch of new blood. Hope I can be back next week.
I slept all day after arriving from the Hospital on Thursday and stayed home on Friday. Anyhow, it was snowing hard since and I’m taking it easy. Its a cold outside today and Morgane has exam, she’s missing her first race; a slalom at Fortune. She’ll be out to Sunday’s GS at Calabogie. I’ll see how I feel. Next week’s Master is at Cascades which is twice as demanding as a race at Fortune. We’ll see how I feel, tomorrow and later this week.
Here is the Race view from the outside, or should I say the inside as the Club Prez is out for the season with an injury.
Good Job Camp Fortune on Race #1
We had 60 racers for the opening night. Awesome turnout. It was a bit cool and windy but nobody lost a nose or a foot to frostbite so it was all good. The Mens two timing champion, Ron was in fine form winning again. Everybody else is out training like a maniac and there’s Ron on the bunny skiing with Olivia. He show up, not having been on GS skis all season, and mops the floor with everyone. I don’t know he does it, but I knows he does it. Relative newbie Justin showed his strength as a candidate taking silver and the permanent bridesmaid Bob elbowed Benoit off the podium and took home bronze.Our mustache from winning Jeff was 3rd in the Beer points/ Mark silver. The Beer lessons from Camille paid off because Sarah landed on the podium and took home the best run.
The night belonged to the Pelletiers. Pierre posted a respectable 13th but got chicked by his own daughter Allison, who at 49.66, landed in 8th place overall. Nice Race. His other daughter Joelle won silver and Stephanie bronze.
There were lots of new faces out and I extend a warm welcome on behalf of the Ottawa Masters.
Here is the rest post-race Masters’ Newsletter:
Next Wednesday’s race is going to be a SL at Mont Cascades
A few had questions about the schedule for this year. We did a couple switcheroonies to accommodate the resorts lane availability. We switched the Jan 11 Race from Edelweiss to Camp Fortune and the Jan 25 race from Camp Fortune to Edelweiss. So there. That’s it.
There will be a Make-Up race on Thurs Jan 26 at Camp Fortune.Big Ski Race Sale at Kunstadt Sports
Don’t forget! 50% off all Ski Race gear at Kunstadt Sports in the Glebe at 680 Bank Next week. Just walk into the store, walk up to the counter and tell them you are with the Ottawa masters and say: “show me the money!”The Great Ski and Ride Sno Bus Express
Buses will depart at 8 a.m. from Kunstadt Sports Glebe location at 680 Bank Street to:
Mont Ste. Marie on Saturday January 14 and 28 and February 11 and 25.
Camp Fortune on Saturday January 21, February 4 and 18 and March 3;
Special week night trips to Camp Fortune will depart from Kunstadt Sports Glebe location at 680 Bank Street at 6 p.m. on Thursday January 26, February 9 and 16.Training Monday Evenings with Troy at Camp Fortune
Don’t forget! Contact Camp Fortune ski school and sign up for Monday Night training with Troy. It’s Good. But don’t take my word for it, listen to what famed skier Eric B has to say about it:
First training night @ Camp Fortune. Coach set a killer GS course, made me want to take up tennis.
Judging by his time, I think there just may be a tennis racquet in Eric’s futureHow to find the new FacePlant page.
We moved the Ottawa Masters FP group to an FP page. This has advantages that the groups don’t have: it is publicly visible, there are more doo-dads and it can stream to our home page. There are disadvantages too.
1) A page can’t send event notifications to its fans. You have to go to to page and select the event and Join it yourself: Ottawa Masters Facebook page2) It’s harder to find. It would be nice if you could put your pages on your front side bar along with your groups and lists but alas you cannot. Go to your FB home, select Info (left column below wall) and scroll down until you see Activities and Interests: Other. Then Select “Ottawa Masters Ski Racing Club” out of the mob of things you like.
Cheers,
Gar
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