Whistler, BC
Howdy from Whistler, British Columbia, Canada! We made it! I'm back in Canada. I’m currently sitting in a
McDonald’s by our house using their WiFi, so these updates may not be very regular this trip.
Megan Hill, Jamie Gruebel, Ida Bernstein, Coach Dionne, Andreas (He's a brand new bobsledder this week, so I don't know his last name), Joy Bryant (She's a skeleton athlete) & myself all loaded a shuttle at 2 am ET this morning to head to Montreal. It was -21 degrees F. Disgustingly cold! Flying out of Montreal was significantly less expensive than flying across the border, and it's about the same distance from Lake Placid as Albany. So, across the border we headed. We were all asleep when we pulled up to the border patrol station. Yet, when the border agent opened both loading doors on the van to make sure we were who our passports said we were, we were all very much awake and SO COLD! Nothing like being awakened and blasted with cold air to get you going. We made it into Canada and continued on toward the Montreal airport.
We got to Montreal at 4:30 am ET and made it through security. If you've never been in an airport at this ridiculously early hour, let me assure you that the line at a ticket counter can still be quite long, but the line at security can still be surprisingly short. We sat at our gate for about 2 hours and boarded our plane to Vancouver at 6:30 am. I passed out before we even left the gate. We landed just 6 hours later on the complete other side of the country. Welcome to Vancouver! We then proceeded to take two shuttles and stand outside for about an hour before we got our truck. We'll drive our bobsleds from the garage to the track in this truck everyday.
I’ll be in Whistler for the next three weeks. I am sliding with a different driver
for a little while. Megan (the other rookie driver on America’s Cup), through a
series of events, was allotted a spot in the World Cup events in Whistler and
Calgary. She brought me along as her brakeman. Sineaid, my partner in crime on America's Cup and Megan's typical brakeman, found out her foot is broken. She is now in a hard cast up to her knee. So sad she isn't along on this trip! Miss her tons! Megan and Jamie are both new to this track as drivers, as are Nick and Corey, so we'll all be at the lowest start this week. Since we came so early, the drivers will be able to move up the track as they feel comfortable to do so. Official training isn't for another 2 weeks, so they've got time to get used to this extremely tough track. Thank goodness! You better believe I'll be padded up these next few weeks! The women's bobsled will be the evening of Thursday, Feb 2, along with Women's Skeleton. Friday will be the Men's 2-man and Men's Skeleton events. Saturday will wrap it all up with Men's 4-man. I still have to pinch myself to believe I've even been invited to a World Cup event.
Bree Schaaf is the only World Cup women's driver coming to Whistler and Calgary. Elana Meyers and Jazmine Fenalator are headed back from Europe this week and going straight back to Lake Placid to train for the upcoming World Championships to be held in Lake Placid. Thus, Jamie and Megan got a chance to come fill their open spots. Emily Azevedo and Hilary Werth are the 2 National Team brakeman coming with her. Katelyn Kelly (my driver) will be coming next week to brake as well. So, there will be 5 brakeman vying for 3 spots (more like 3 brakeman vying for 1 spot in all reality). But hey, I've got a shot at that 3rd spot as a rookie. I'm pumped for the opportunity!
After our time here in Whistler, we head straight to Calgary. Oh Calgary...If you've read this blog, you'll remember Calgary and I weren't exactly simpatico last time around. I had my 1st crash, and 2nd and 3rd the week we were there. I'm looking forward to a new experience this time around! I head back to America on Feb 11. That's all I know for now.
We are unloading the crates tomorrow, and we slide for the first time on Wednesday. Oh boy!