October 31: I'm a real skeletoner now ...
Well ... I think Tuesday night training won this round ... I've got the bruises to prove it!
"Champagne?!? What is there to celebrate?
Crumbly-ness?"
-The Doc
01.NOV.2015: Ottawa, Ontario19.MAY.2014: Mannheim, Germany02.MAR.2014: Middle of Nowhere, Germany01.FEB.2014: Sochi, Russia
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
All Russians Love Birch Trees by Olga Grjasnowa
Well ... I think Tuesday night training won this round ... I've got the bruises to prove it!
A bumpy, painful, intense 103.8 kph ... but 103.8 kph nonetheless!
Well, I can now take another of the negatives out of my header: at least I have done the sport now!
The consensus? This sport is a freakin' blast!
Today was my second day on the track, for a total of five runs now from the women's luge start. It's hard to explain what it feels like to be shooting down this track at 90 kph, pulling 3 Gs on some of the corners, but surprisingly enough, it isn't scary.
Part I
Skeleton school coach: “To ease you into the feeling of sliding and getting use to the track, you will be starting at the junior luge start today, about halfway up the track.”
Me: “How fast will we go from there?”
Skeleton school coach: “Maybe 50 – 60 kph.”
Part II
I am back in Calgary for the next phase of my new career as a skeleton athlete: the phase where I actually get on the track and do this sport for real!
The days of a 10-second run at top speeds of 40 kph in the warmth and comfort of the Ice House are all but gone ...
Tomorrow evening I will pull on a pair of tights and an old sweatshirt, load myself onto a fancy toboggan and let someone push me down an icy chute to reach an eventual speed of 80 kph.