Wednesday, December 31, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR


HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!
May all your dreams and wishes come true!
another one of my "me&my friends in Europe" pictures...

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY!
I am home since Monday and getting ready for Christmas: (tiny) Christmas tree and all.....
Good to be home!
Wish you a peaceful and fun time with your family and friends and hope to see many of you in the next few days!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

In Munich

Now we are sitting in Munich, waiting for out return flight on Monday.....A few of the bobsledders were able to change their flights and already home or on their way. The rest of my little sheep and I are entertaining ourselves at a boring airport hotel with doing nothing and eating..I am sure I gained a few pounds on this trip!
Yesterday I sent them all to a fitness centre (they are athletes, right?!) and went to the Christkindelsmarket in Munich. It was fun, and sure: I have said a few times in the past that I would love to spend pre-Christmas season in Germany and visit "a" Christmas market.
Thanks! I have had my fair share this year....
Still: Munich market and just being by myself was fun AND I am done with my Christmas shopping.
Today I took the "leftover" Canadians to a cool waterslide/thermal pool in Erding. What a blast!

Friday, December 19, 2008

and then they all left...


On Tuesday evening the race was cancelled and hell broke lose:
everybody was stampeding out the door.... But first they hit the bar: Now I can see why American Training centres do not have bars....their athletes are not trained enough to survive some heavy drinking.
Anyways: next morning everybody got up, dug out the cars, loaded the sleds and headed off for Munich...Almost everybody: One of the trucks had problems with the brake line and guess who was one of four to stay behind to take care of this little problem??? Of course! The team manager!!! At the end I didn't mind: the next day was beautiful weather down in the valley and had the rentall car company provided a solution to the problem, it wouldn't have been that bad....
So, it was a little stressful and my Italian is good enough to order a bottle of red wine....actually I can do that in almost any language... With the help of my favourite German son, who did not even complain about the phone call early morning, we found an exchange car and got out late at night!

Snow days....



And that is how I entertained myself....there was no or only unreliable internet at the centre...Nothing to do really, except to wait for meal times....and they did have a bar!!! And that is the difference between NorthAmerica and Europe: Olympic Training centre in Italy: Bar! Olympic Training centre in USA: we almost got kicked out because they found alcohol in the room of one of our athletes.....Cheers!

I remembered Italy differently.....


It has been a few days since my last post....and what kind of days those were:
Last Sunday we drove straight into a snow storm in Italy! The good news: everybody arrived safely at the Olympic Training Centre at Cesana/Torino. But that was the good news....After that we were just sitting around and watched the snow fall..and fall...and fall.....
The parking lot the next morning was a guessing game: Is this snow pile my car? Or this??? or??
Yahooooo..I found it!
keOutdoors was actually quite fun for "people like me" who do not really care about training times and conditions at the track. I have never seen this much snow in my life! For bored bobsledders who are just pacing up and down the hallways, not so much fun...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Another race day...


Another race is over with some results: Gold for the bobsleigh girls again. Congratulations! ..and 4th place for the skeleton men.
It is winter wonderland here: Austria is drowning under record snow falls, but the sun and chinook winds came through today. It was just beautiful!
We are now heading to Italy..I am excited!!...and by next week I will be back in Calgary for a short Christmas break. Yahooooooo..

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Innsbruck


Since there was another support staff member coming today who needed pick up from the train station,I had the opportunity of an afternoon in "downtown" Innsbruck. I was hoping for some inspirations for Christmas presents, but ended up strolling the Christmas market and after 35 years re-visiting the Goldene Dachl....Am I really that old already?????? The weather has been outstanding, a little overcast today, but still nice. This morning I went to the Alpenzoo...another location I still remember from "way back when". I went with one of the athletes and his family and we had a lot of fun. I guess this afternoon I have to go back to the track and videotape..every now and then I have to pretend I am actually working.
It is nice here, but everybody, including me, seems to be a bit tired of traveling and is counting down to get home... The hotel we are staying in is not the greatest and the owners are "real Austrian". Which means: they are doing us a favour by allowing us to stay at their hotel..and that is how they treat us....

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Lazy Sunday


Today was another day "away" from the Canadian Sports World.
We visited some more of M.'s interesting friends:
I am still dragging around enough adidas stuff for the rest of my life, so I shared some of the cool wear with the "Germans"...
Other than this it was a lazy Sunday, I am having a cold and as usual I am"suffering" quietly...I probably missed to pick up the conditioning coach in Munich today...I thought, he was arriving tomorrow?! Oh well...

Christkindlesmarkt in Nuernberg


My skeletonians left early for Austria and my bobsledders were heading to Herzogenaurach for some more shopping after the 4-man race. That gave me the opportunity to spent another day in Nuernberg with M.&R.
After all these years I made it to the famous Nuremberg Christmas market again: the smell of Bratwurst,Lebkuchen (kind of gingerbread) and Gluehwein, the Christmas decorations, even the cheesy Christmas music...That is the Christmas spirit!
We spent a beautiful early evening at the market and then met another friend at one of the little restaurants with good German food and beer from one of 300 micro breweries in the area.That is what this region is about: good food and good beer!
...oh, and before I forget: there was another World Cup race, too: the best skeletonian finished 8th, the bob sleigh girls were ok and the rest does not need mentioning. There will be another race next weekend.....

Monday, December 1, 2008

Second week of World Cup at the end of the world....


I am in Altenberg now...really close to Dresden actually....but in a totally different world! It is the middle of nowhere (but they do have an ice track and that is why we are here).The hotel we are in is quite a "culture shock" after the nice and familiar place in Winterberg. Skeletonians and I are living in a huuuuuuge place that used to be an East German hospital/prison/SED vacation place???? and my bobsledders are even deaper in the woods in a hostel style place called "Waldidylle"....
I never knew such places existed in this country?! Somehow soccer fields seem to be in more central locations.
The races last weekend were somewhat disappointing for (all) the boys, so pressure is on! The track is different again and seems to be more challenging: I have seen some interesting body positions on skeleton this morning while videotaping between curve 4 and 5.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

First Gold for the girls


What a weekend! Saturday morning started with the bobsledding girls and Canada 1 won the Gold medal!. All three sleds came in the Top 10.
After Lunch started the Men's 2-man race: Bobsledding does not have too many fans, but the ones who are there, are crazy! Dutch fans in orange overalls, a group of drummers from who knows where and even a group of Germans who have been supporting Canada 1 since 1995. They came with flags, Canadian jackets and an old fire sirene...... The race was close and exciting, especially for me since the organizers realized 10 minutes before start of heat 2 men's, that our "gold girl" had taken home the giant beer glass. But that glass was needed for the winner in the men's competition.
In good German tradition the winning sled receives a huge mug full of beer right after the race. They shuttled the girls to the press conference with that mug and then they took the girls and the mug to the hotel. But it wasn't a mug to keep..just to drink...Anyways, the race organizers found me, I found the girls and then the glass...Everybody was happy, except Canada 1...They had wanted to keep that mug!
...oh...and the Canadian men sleds came in 5th and 12th ....or something..

Friday, November 28, 2008

First World Cup race..


Today was my first World Cup day with Skeleton! The coach gave me a cool job: I was standing in the finish area and helped our athletes get off the track! That is where all the excitement is: finishing times, announcements, TV crews....all the other coaches and "little helpers" like me. After the women's race I was riding up to the starthouse in the same van as all the athletes! It could be sooooo much fun, if I wasn't feeling REALLY old between all these young people. I am just kidding, but I am somewhat of an outsider here: everybody knows everybody and sometimes even their grandfathers already "skeletoned" or bobsled together. I am not kidding! True story!! But in general all "these old guys" are nice and friendly and as they told me, the best way to make friends will be to bring them coffee or Gluehwein to the track!! Yeah right, I don't need friends here..., Everybody speaks German anywways....no matter which nation they are coaching, they are Swiss, Austrian, Germans....maybe some Americans.
Oh I am just listening to the German national anthem here at the hotel....I guess I missed the awards ceremonies..Oh well, the Canadian girls had the Bronze medal. No medal for the boys, but good results!
My camera quit working, probably due to the cold.So, no pictures from today. I will try and get everything working for the excitement tomorrow: Bobsleigh World Cup! I don't have a "real" job there , so I will just use my cool "access to everywhere" pass and watch the race!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Winter in Winterberg


I haven't seen this much snow in years!!
It is winter in Germany! The drive to Winterberg has been somewhat challenging and I have been back to Frankfurt twice already for "late arrivals".
It is my first time here and it seems to be "the" winter destination for the Dutch...Or as the lady at the hotel called it: the highest mountan of the Netherlands. The hotel and restaurant signs, advertising etc. all in dutch.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The lady in the car and other technicalities...

My nice french rental car has a lady included: her name is Irene and she is telling me where to go...In all fairness I have to admit that I would not use her services, had my friend in Nuremberg not "forced" me. V. read the manual, gave me the short version and since then Irene and I are driving together: from Nuremberg to Cologne to Winterberg to Frankfurt and back to Winterberg. Irene's voice is somewhat annoying and she seems confused when I do not follow her instructions. Every now and then I tell her to shut up and drive where I want. Irene is then silent for a few seconds, but recovers quickly to tell me the "new route".
Another favourite technical toy is giving more problems: my beautiful Blackberry World Edition has not found the German network yet....I tried fixing it by my usual procedures: remove battery, shake Sim card, gently tap it or throw it against the wall. Nothing helped and I am back to good old German cell phone.
And now here at the hotel: it has wireless internet, but I guess not for 30 crazy internet addicted Canadians at the same time...So uploading pictures takes f o r e v e r........I will try again later, when evreybody else is at the bar ..or tomorrow when they are supposed to be at training!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Almost like Christmas..

Today felt like an early Christmas to everybody: We are at the adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany and received our equipment. Everbody has now an additional hockeybag "full of stuff".....winterjackets, shoes, gloves, T-Shirts, pants, socks....just everything!
Adidas was great to us: we were invited into the heart of the operations and saw the walk of fame: memorabilia from Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens and everybody else famous who has played and won in their shoes. We were treated to lunch at their facilities and then, believe it or not: the team decided to go to the outlet store to buy more stuff! We received great deals, but still: remember what I said before on how much stuff these girls are already traveling with???
I cannot wait to be at the airline check in counter, two days before Christmas with all this extra luggage.
As you probably guessed by now: we are in Germany. Travel went well, no issues, even the bobsleigh girl who couldn't find her passport at the immigration in Frankfurt, made it into the country. Now we have a few more days of relaxation and next week the World Cup tour will officially start.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Old Track




The last two days I have been busy with little issues of my bobsledders and spent too much time in front of the computer, but today I joined my "favourite skeletonians" for their training runs again.
The weather was nice and warm and the track in bad shape, so the group decided to cancel the runs and instead walk down the old ice track. Very interesting!!
The old track was built in the 1930s and still used until 1997. Even an absolute no-nothing about the sport like me could see how tough this track must have been on the riders. Our coach was sliding this track in World Cup races and pointed out specific insider information during our walk down.....I mean: he pointed out dried blod spots, broken side panels etc. and had "interesting" stories about bad accidents at the track.

So, my new job is not only fun and interesting, but also educating....even though today was not necessarily an advertising event for the sport of skeleton. Supposedly there exists a video about the runs on this track...can' wait to see it!! Probably bloodier than the last Rambo....

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lake Placid




Yesterday late afternoon I went for a little window shopping in "downtown Lake Placid".
Nice little tourist town for rich white people....The foto is main street Lake Placid and that pretty much is all of Lake Placid!! The rest is surrounding hills, lakes, neat little white houses with green trims, more trees.....and the Olympic facilities. Everything spread out throughout the country side.
Since I went out late afternoon, the moon came up and it looked just stunning over Mirror Lake...I wonder why that lake is called that?!.....But remember: if you all watched the movie: this is where the "monster/old alligator" is living.........

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Adirondacks..


Today I had to drive back to Montreal to the airport for a separate pick up.
This gave me the opportunity to drive through this beautiful vacation country at daylight. I was planning to stop at some "points of interest" like the High Falls Gorge and do some walking and sight seeing. Unlike Canada in the USA these natural walks are fenced in and they charge admisson for the permission to walk the walk. I would have paid the fee, but even though my guide had read "open year round" and not "open year round except November" it was closed!
I still did some looking around and walking and I felt totally safe since I was in a "special no kill area"......

US Training centre



ok....hard to believe, but I am actually staying at the US Olympic Training Centre. I am not quite sure how I made it here, but I am in!!!
That I am feeling really old and un-athletic between all these "trained and healthy " young people is beside the point.
Staying here is definitely interesting: these Americans are so proud of their training center that they have their signature everywhere: even the toilet paper holders have the olympic rings and a proud USA signage. With the elections just gone, I cannot stop thinking "We can do it, Yes we can!!" every time I use the washroom.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Luggage and group travel....

When I travel, I usually have less check-in luggage then some people have for their carry-ons. Now I meet about 16 bobsledders ( all good: they are shipping their equipment..) and 16 skeletonians, who are not shipping their equipment for check-in at the airport:
They all had each: 1 sled (these things are heavy), 1 runner tube (looks like a gun case and holds the extra runners) and then their personal luggage...Let's just say: when I moved last year, I had less than some of these girls are taking on a trip!
West jet was great to us and we all made it onto the plane . I felt a little exhausted by the time I reached my seat and with the extra weight charges I could have paid for another nice vacation. I guess that is all part of the job.
The rest of the day went by pretty quick and uneventful: flight to Montreal, pick drivers and get them their rental cars and then everybody headed off to Lake Placid.
"Nice" as Canadians are with "us foreigners", the German coach and I got a separate car, because nobody wanted to spend the extra time at the border for our visa procedures: filling out forms, getting finger printed, pictures taken....But oh well: we went through all of it, paid our $6 each admission fee and entered the U S of A...

Two weeks in Calgary


These days in Calgary went by pretty quickly!

Weather was still great, so I had some more fun time with the motorbike...except the evening when I dropped it off at its winter location in Calgary SE. Driving on Deeerfoot Trail at rush hour traffic when it is dark and starting to snow....Not so good!

Some other evenings were spent with the blue truck...It is soooooo much fun to pick up and drop off trailers, sitting in the big truck, music blasting and drinking Tim Horton's green tea "black".
I met some of you for coffee, lunch or dinner and it always felt like time was too short for all the stories.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Back in Calgary..

Monday was supposed to be an easy ride home...leaving Vancouver early in the morning and enjoying the beautiful weather and sights while crossing the mountains. This plan worked for about 100km....Then the left rear tire expired!
Then I tried to find the spare tire and the car jack...then I had to phone Crowfoot Toyota to get the phone number for road side assistance...then I tried to explain to the nice lady from roadside assistance where I was and what I needed...then I had enough:I read the manual, put on the stupid spare/half tire and drove into Hope.Unfortunately nobody there had a tire the size I needed. They recommended to drive back to Chilliwack or Vancouver....But you know me: going backwards is not an option!! So forward to Kamloops it was! At 80km/h..that is all the spare tire would allow. The 4th store in Kamloops had my tire, but no time to put it on the rim right away....Patience is a virtue which I don't possess, so I grabbed my tire and drove off. In tiny little Chase a young native guy did exactly what I wanted and after a 10 minute pit stop at his tire shop, I could finally make up some time and sped into Calgary where a delicious "adventure" dinner (the cook had never done a curry dish before..) was waiting for me.
All good now! Today I even had the chance to take the bike out for a bit and I met my skeletonians at the track here at COP.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Bears....




Bears in Whistler are like pigeons in the city...everywhere! They must have built this track right in prime bear habitat.
I have seen so many bears in the past 10 days that I am starting to recognize them and see their differences: there was a little cub climbing a tree, a teenage bear sitting in a tree and looking down on the people below, big black bears, small black bears and an especially fat and cuddly brownish black bear.And they are all eating grass and flowers...like cows.
It took me a while to take a decent foto, because...as all my German friends who have visited Canada know:...whenever you bring a camera and want to see a bear, they are hiding.
But this one spent all morning with me beside the track on Friday....safe distance, of course!

Yeeeehaaaaaaw....I did it!

Bobsledding is soooooooooooo cool!
The coach took me down in a 4-man bobsled from Damenstart. It is around curve 3 and starts slower than the regular start...that means we were only driving at a speed of 120 km/h instead of 130km/h or faster.
I was second in the sled and didn't take my head down, so I could watch the track. It was so much fun and I cannot wait to go again: this time from the "real' start.
Next week I will see, if they'll let me try skeleton.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

video cameras & cables...

Ok, my mornings are spent with the skeleton team, videotaping certain positions of their training runs...Sounds easy, right?
Maybe for some people....But there are issues, if you (like me!)
1. have never used a video camera ever before..
2.don't get the hang of sensitively using the zoom..
3. have to do a quick swing to follow the sled, while balancing on a slippery little wall..
4. don't have the right shoes or didn't bring your icers, so everything is REALLY slippery...

But all in all: videotaping is easy! Compared to:
Taking care of the 100m video cable... Getting it all out and setting it all up I can do fast.
But: rolling up this frigging thing in an orderly manner after training?! Not so fast.. Actually I have been so pathetic with it that the skeleton coach decided to take it upon himself to look after the cable. He just couldn't watch it any more! Now he wants me to "admire" him for doing such a great job!
Oh well, whatever.....I am sure I am good at other things!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Soccer versus Bob&Skeleton


Watching these athletes for over a week now, I am actually quite amazed by the lack of support staff...Everything that needs to be done (and there is a lot that needs to be done!!) is done by the athletes: preparing the sleds, loading and storing the sleds, repair and on and on... Bobsledders spent about two hours before a run and one hour after a run on looking after the sleds! That time is on top of working on their personal fitness levels! But then again: maybe guys just enjoy hanging out together and pretending to work with some screws and bolts?!
In this regards soccer players are sissies...they just have to show up for the game and (maybe) bring their cleats. Everything else is taken care of! The advantage of soccer is that it is a team sport....and there are always substitute players that are called substitutes! In Bobsleigh never call the second brake person spare or substitute!!! Big faux pas!
I am not sure what they are officially called, but maybe "team mate, who only starts sometimes"?!

PS: I am very proud of this picture!! Do you know how hard it is to catch a bobsled going at 130km/h with a normal camera???


Tuesday, October 21, 2008

first day..



About 30 minutes after arriving in Whistler after a long trip from overseas, I was at the brand new bob track.
And I was put to work right away: videotaping the skeleton training runs at curve 11!
Perfect job for me with my "advanced technical knowledge'...and these Skeletonians are really fast! The first driver escaped my lense, but then I caught on and I didn't do too bad. Actually I have been back every day for videotaping since.....

PS: this is actually a foto from a later date at curve 16...

Long time gone...





Seems like a while since I left Calgary:
First a delightful trip to Vancouver, then a successful trip to Germany:
We had great weather (as usual..), excellent training and delicious food (all these Schnitzel weigh heavily around my waist..).
The day trip to Berlin was a "cultural learning experience": but the kids all knew: the faster we get over with that stuff, the more time they will have for the shopping mall..