I'm writing to you from the beautiful Whistler, British Columbia. We had a great week in Calgary. The rest of my training runs went well. No crashes the entire week. So exciting! Several of the boys in our house and all 5 girls rented the ice house for an hour on Wednesday afternoon to work on our push technique. This is an indoor, ice start ramp. It's the same concept as our push tracks in Lake Placid or Park City, but it's much more realistic since we're on ice. I've been to the ice house several times to watch or film, but this was my first chance to actually push. We learned lots, and it was great for Anna and Kelsey to get pushes in since they are both so new to the sport still. Getting better everyday.
Thursday and Friday were our women's races. Anna was on brakes that first night. We had some trouble at the start, but we ended the night in 6th with my 2 fastest down times yet. It was my first runs under 60 seconds, and I was thrilled. Since we finished 6th, we medaled on my first night competing as a driver.
Friday night Kelsey was with me on brakes. We again had my 2 fastest down times, and I even broke the 59 second barrier with a 58.75. Yeah! And we had my 2 fastest pushes to date. We were sitting in 6th by 0.02 seconds after the first run, and the Korean women edged me out of 6th on the second run. We finished 7th on night 2 of competing. I so proud of my girls. They are learning fast and improving everyday.
Saturday we watched 2 great 4-man races. Our boys continued to dominate the NAC tour by winning all the men's races. We were standing in curve 9, known as the kreisel, and missed the amazing start my Jake Peterson's crew during the first race. Dak was on brakes, and apparently his spikes filled with ice. He fell but managed to hold onto the sled. He was drug behind the sled into curve 1. Michael and Nate were already in the sled and waiting for the down call the brakeman gives thinking they were doing to be decapitated if they stayed up. They ended up just sitting down because they weren't sure if he would make it in the sled. In curve 1, he pulled himself in and they made it down. They ended up in 5th after all. Impressive. They won race 2. Pretty good day for their crew despite the craziness.
Check out the press release for my first race as a pilot:
U.S. Claims 11 Medals in Calgary North American Cup
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| View of the Start from Curve 1 |
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| Our boys as the practice paparazzi |
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| Kelsey and I had 2 PR pushes during NAC Race #4 |
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| Coming through Kreisel |
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| Kelsey & I coming up the outrun |
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| Anna & I with our 6th place medals |
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| Berit & Sineaid at the start |
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| They placed 5th both races in Calgary |
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| Colin competed in 2-man |
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| Codie took 1st & 2nd in the 4-man races |
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| Team Bascue |
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| Jake's crew and the beginning of their epic start. |
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| Dak is down! |
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| Dak being drug behind the sled. |
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| Dak getting into the sled in Curve 1. So much determination! |
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| No craziness at the start during the 2nd race, and they won. |
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| Nate's signature move. |
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| Winner! |
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| Jay's crew |
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| North America's Cup Bobsled Medalists |
We had another white knuckle drive through the mountains with our sleds on the trailer from Calgary to Whistler. We've been here all week standing with coaches in curves and learning all we can. Big thank you to Coach Dionne for going on a track walk with Berit and myself. Hopefully it pays off this week, as we start sliding the fastest track in the world tomorrow. So excited!
