Massanutten BX

It was not the best weekend for racing - it rained all day Saturday, poured for a while, it poured overnight then eventually dried out Sunday morning and turned windy. All the rain made the course conditions...interesting. Saturday wasn't too bad but Sunday it was a sheet of ice. Overall Whitney said it was worth it to come home - it was good to race at Massanutten again, great to see her old coaches and friends on the team, and she had two good days racing.

Saturday SBX 1 & 2
I actually saw the sun peek over the hills at our house Saturday morning but it didn't last long. The rains moved in quickly but they got the races started. This was a combined Appalachian Series/Southeast Series race and things did not run as smoothly as they usually do. There seemed to be a lot of chaos at the start gate, which is unusual. There were a over 100 racers and with things not running well it made for a very long day. Standing around in the rain, which was pouring down a few times, didn't make it any better. I'd so much rather bundle up and stand in 10* weather than the pouring rain we had on Saturday.

Whitney's racing went well. She was grouped with a jams woman, a youth woman, and an adaptive man. She was by far the best rider in the group and won both races easily.

Sunday SBX 3 & 4
It rained pretty hard overnight and was also warm so the course was a mess Sunday morning. They weren't sure if they'd be able to hold the race but were going to do everything they could to get it rolling. The course (and all the other slopes) were pretty much a sheet of ice and they had a hard time getting the cats up onto the course to groom it. After waiting a bit they were able to groom the course and get things started not too late.

Because of the rain quite a few racers didn't come back for day two. With fewer racers and a change in how the races were run (instead of the usual two races per heat (unless there were more than four racers) they ran "one and done") the day went much faster. It also helped that by the time they started the rain had mostly moved out although the wind was blowing pretty good.

Whitney had talked to Ellen about grouping her differently if she could for Sunday's races so that she'd be pushed. She had no competition on Saturday unfortunately. With racers not coming back she was put with two Open Class men and a jams man, good competition for her. In both races she finished third and in the second race she was only about a board and a half behind the top two finishers. Nice job!

It was fun, as always watching her race at Massanutten. Her dad was a course judge and had a good place to watch about halfway down the course. I drove up and found a good place to watch both days near the top. She had her own cheering section both days. On Saturday two friends of hers that go to JMU came to watch (yay for friends who come cheer in the rain) and on Sunday her sister and a friend of hers came up and four other friends came down to watch. Another friend who lives on the mountain came for a bit on Saturday and again on Sunday to take pictures of her racing. He's a really good photographer and I can't wait to see his pictures.

We came home last night, gear is drying, and shortly it's time to pack then it's off the airport for the flight back to Maine and more racing this week. She's got the NorAm/Hole Shot races Wednesday and Thursday then USASA Maine Mountain races over the weekend.

Massanutten Weekend

Whitney is home to race this weekend! I had to get up to Baltimore to pick her up (why does her flight have to come in during rush hour?? I almost have to leave before her flight leaves to pick her up.) then we drove down to Massanutten, with a stop at Chick-fil-a for dinner on the way.

She always loves racing on her home mountain, with her "boys" who are still on the team. And she enjoys seeing her old coaches, who are always happy to help her out. The one thing that will make this weekend interesting is rain. Hopefully they can get todays races off before the rain starts; tomorrow is much more doubtful. It's supposed to rain hard overnight and into tomorrow. Even if we're in a dry spot during race time the course may not be that great, we'll just have to see how it all plays out.
She's got four races this weekend, then she flies back to Maine on Monday and has NorAm races Wednesday/Thursday, then Maine Mountain races next weekend. A very busy stretch for her. After that she may do a Maine Mountain GS/SL race but I think she's done until USCSA Nationals at Lake Placid. Still deciding on the NorAm at Ski Cooper but she'll definitely be at the USASA Nationals/NorAm race at Copper.

This is also an Olympics year so there's that. The snowboard cross races are Wednesday and Thursday this week. Unfortunately the men's is shown live which means it's at 12:05am Wednesday morning and the women's is taped and will be on Wednesday (I think) night at 8:00. Can't wait to see them! Go Team USA!!

Mount Sunapee SL/GS

Sunday was another day to get up early and head to the slopes. At least we could sleep in a bit since she didn't have to check in quite so early and Mount Sunapee is a bit closer than Stratton. I have to say the NH Series people are super nice; she really enjoys racing there even if it's only this one race a year. Actually when she checked in the director asked if she was Whitney and said that he knows his usual racers and didn't recognize her so put her together with her name. When they were talking later in the start area he did remember he coming last year.

Her original plan when we were talking about her race schedule was to just race giant slalom. She was planning on just racing boardercross and giant slalom at USCSA Nationals. Since then USCSA has added slalom to their events list so to qualify she had to race in a slalom event. This one worked out nicely, although Maine Mountain has one coming up on a weekend she has free later this month so she may give it another go.

There were only 20 racers on Sunday which meant for a short day, even with two races to run. They run GS first then reset the gates for slalom. For both races each competitor gets two timed runs and best combined time wins in the age group. As usual (I hate that I have to keep saying that) Whitney had no competition so she won both races. It was a super fun day though. This was her fourth time racing GS and she did well; could have been a bit closer to the gates but it was fine. She was pleased with how she did. I think she was a bit nervous about slalom. She's had quite a bit of practice this season on ski gates but this was the first time she raced slalom at an event (and ski gates are different than snowboard gates). She was actually excited about it, along with the nerves; she figured she had nothing to lose - she was the only open class racer so she just had to get down the hill and not miss a gate. Her first run went well and she was really happy with how she did. Her second run went even better and she shaved about a second off of her time. The excitement on her face when she realized it was awesome! Needless to say she was super excited about how she did.

At the finish after her second slalom run

After awards we went back to my sister-in-law's house for snacks and the Super Bowl. Whitney was disappointed that her team didn't win. In the morning we both had to hit the road - she had to get back to school for meetings and I had a long drive home. We couldn't leave without making a stop at Burdick's Chocolatier for hot chocolate (for her), coffee, and croissants. They make great hot chocolate and it's not too far out of the way for us to make a quick stop.

Up next - boardercross races at Massanutten. She's flying home on Friday and can't wait to race on her home mountain.

Stratton BX

Another day, another cold mountainside. It was 12* today when I was standing on the side of Stratton Mountain waiting for Whitney to race. I can't wait until next weekend when she's racing in Virginia since it should be warmer. After today she's decided that this is the last time she's racing at Stratton. The course isn't that great, the mountain isn't that hospitable to competitors, the organizers aren't that organized, and the competitors are left unsupervised and behave badly. Just not a good experience.

There were two open class women today and they raced with the one open class man. Whitney ended in third overall, second of the women. Since the course is narrow the best way to win is to get out of the gate first, hit the hole shot, and go. There are no places to pass so if you're first out of the gate you're golden. Whitney said that she could have finished second and beat the guy but it would have taken more effort than it was worth today. She fell at practice this week - snowboard gripping water leaking from a snow gun but a body in motion stays in motion so she face planted in the snow. She cleared concussion protocol but has a minor case of whiplash. Because of those things she didn't want to push it too hard in a race that doesn't really matter. Her neck is kind of sore today but otherwise she's feeling good.

Another race day tomorrow, slalom and GS at Mount Sunapee, then we both have long drives on Monday (although mine is a lot longer than hers). We will be together again next weekend in Virginia for more boardercross.

Sugarloaf BX

Mother Nature cooperated today and it was a beautiful day for racing. Granted it was really cold but it's winter in Maine. We got to Sugarloaf, Whitney checked in and got busy with race day prep. They started with course inspection, a few practice runs, riders meeting, then started racing. I decided because it was so cold that I'd hang in the competition center for the first race and would hike up to see her in the second. It was a good plan especially since she only got one run per race and the only good place to watch was by the finish corral. You could see up the course some and there were other parents there so it was good.

Whitney said both races were good. She really enjoyed herself the second race. The first one included some shady riding, nothing illegal or anything she could protest, just stuff that left her and the other UMF rider really irritated. She said the second race was great, lots of fun. There were four open class riders today so good competition. She had ridden against the three others at some point as had one of the other riders, the other two had ridden against two of the other riders so they were all pretty familiar with each other and had all beaten each other at some point so they were pretty evenly matched. Whitney ended with a fourth and a second, a good day at the races.

There were two other UMF riders and a freeskier there today. One was racing with Whitney (she came in third and fourth), one was in jams men and the skier was also in jams men. I liked what I saw of the new coach, I think he'll do well and Whitney likes him.

I'm not sure what's up next. She had planned to take the next few weekends off especially with the possibility of a job but the UMF team is talking about going to the BX races at Holiday Valley in the Western NY series the last weekend of January. The other possibility of upcoming races is a BX race at Stratton, VT and a GS race at Mount Sunapee, NH the first weekend of February. The next weekend she'll be coming home for the BX at Massanutten. She can't wait to race there again and I can't wait to watch her. It's usually good viewing at Massanutten since you can see almost the whole course.

Mother Nature Needs to Cooperate

The weather this winter has been a bit on the crazy side. We had very cold weather in Virginia over Christmas, unusually cold weather but it didn't bring any snow with it. It was good for snowmaking at Massanutten. They built a new retaining pond for snowmaking (and watering the golf courses) and thought they'd save some water for when it was cold. Only problem was that the levels were low enough that the water froze. No snowmaking!

It had been very cold in Maine as well but then it warmed up. It was very warm when we got up here Thursday night. Yesterday was still warm and they said a cold front was going to come through and we'd go into the deep freeze again. I think the front must have moved slower than they thought it was because it was still above freezing when we left this morning. Yesterday was rainy and foggy, especially over the rivers. Today it started off raining, then we went through about five minutes of freezing rain before it turned to sleet. On the drive up to Sugarloaf this morning we started off with a temperature about 35* and rain but as we got closer to the Loaf it got colder and the sleet did turn to snow. I'm not sure how much we got since the wind was also blowing but maybe an inch or two. The temperatures also dropped to 19* by the time we left in the afternoon.

So the crazy rain then cold and snow have left the race schedule in tatters. We got a message on the way up that there would be no racing today. I overheard a Sugarloaf employee saying that they had been out since 3am cleaning the ice off the lift chairs and weren't nearly done and this was at 8:00. Today instead of having time trials and race 1 they did practice (a very shortened one to make up for yesterday) and then time trials. Tomorrow they'll do both races.

This morning besides waiting for lift chairs to get cleaned off they were waiting for the temperatures to drop a bit so the snow would firm up some. From all the rain yesterday the snow was very soft and probably a tad on the unsafe side. I got a look up the mountain as we were leaving and there were big sheets of ice. Days like yesterday do a lot of damage to the snow.

Here's to a good race day tomorrow.

Really, Maine?

We're back in Maine; came up Thursday so Whitney could make it to the practice day on Friday and be ready to race BX on the weekend. After a very frustrating morning of phone calls and texts, trying to keep up with information, the Maine Mountain series directors and Sugarloaf decided it was best to cancel the practice.

It was very foggy this morning when we got up and that later turned to rain. The UMF coach was going to hold practice later in the morning and the BX practice was moved from this morning to the afternoon. Instead of doing any snowboarding today we emptied her car, put away all her clothes, books, etc. that she had brought home over break, took a drive, went to the movies, caught up on a few shows we missed, and went grocery shopping so she had snacks for the day tomorrow.

The fog turned to rain which turned into harder rain, then back to just fog, then to rain again. It's been a long day trying to pass the time. She heard from a friend that lives close to Sugarloaf that they closed the mountain early today because of the unrelenting rain and fog. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. A strong cold front is supposed to come through which is supposed to bring freezing rain, then sleet finally turning to snow tomorrow afternoon. If the fog doesn't lift much I may end up just hanging out in the lodge for the day instead of hiking to the bottom of the race course. We'll just have to wait and see.