The Age Thing, Perspective

So I'm talking to my about-to-turn-23 year old daughter, Rikki, this morning. She told me she thought it was funny she thinks almost the same exact thing about feeling like she was fit when she was 18 but now has to resolve herself to being too old to compete at the world class level. Really I was not trying to sound sad or sound as though it is too late to accomplish goals as you grow older, which in this case for me, is PSIA Level III. But I do think one must face reality and make the best of what you have. And heck, there are advantages to getting older. I remember an old cyclist telling me that what he looses in physical ability he gains in wisdom and trickery. As a ski instructor I have gained a great deal from all the years I have spent teaching skiing. From my experience with all kinds of people over the years, I have learned a tremendous amount of appreciation and skill in helping others reach their skiing goals. I have learned to figure out what people really want, what their motivations are and help them fulfill their wants and needs. I definitely did not have that same level of skill in my early years as an instructor when I was full of myself and very physically fit. Guess it’s all a matter of perspective.

BTW, here is a picture of Rikki competing at Worlds when she was 18.

The Age Thing, Physically

All my training is paying off, but slowly. I'm really starting to feel fit again with all my riding. The only problem I feel is knowing how fit I once was. It wasn't so long ago that I was training as a serious athlete with a goal of winning a medals at Masters' Track Nationals. Ahhh, but life happens as they say. So now I'm working at getting fit again with a goal of earning Level III at PSIA certifications. Last year during exams my back hurt and I guess you could say I was feeling my age. Then there was this guy taking the exam in his late 70's or early 80's! He did not pass at that particular event, but apparently it wasn't his first attempt and he keeps trying.

Yesterday I finally got up the courage and felt fit enough to join the local group ride. These are a bunch of young guys, in their 20's and 30's mostly, who race regularly on the weekends in this region. They're pretty fast, and I would say, very fit. It was great to get to ride with these guys and test myself, but again the only problem was remembering how fast I once was, when I was their age. On the positive side, I was able to keep up pretty good. I think with a few adjustments to my equipment and my diet (read, no more beer), I could actually compete with these guys and give 'em a run for their money. That feels good. I just need to remember that my new goal does not really mean "beating" competitors, it is more like becoming the very best I can personally be (reminds me of a joke I used to say about I was already in the Army).

I'm pretty sure that I'm not too old yet to physically meet the demands of Level III if I make the effort to be fit for the event. It makes me wonder though, is there a point where one must finally admit that one's time is past? Riding with this young group of very fit men sort of puts things in perspective. Seeing the older gentleman still trying to attain Level III in PSIA puts things in a different perspective for me as well. It's looking at two extremes in the aging process of an athlete. So what's the moral of the story? I may come back and edit this, but I think the moral for me is to just do the best I can while trying to balance my expectations with reality.

Generalist vs Specialty Skis

I totally agree with an article in September Ski magazine about having the right ski for the given conditions is best, "Put Your Best Ski Forward." Since I usually have limited cash, I generally try to find a ski that will do it all, also known as an “all mountain” ski. But as the article points out, this is a compromise. Last year I really felt the difference in my ability to ski gates fast when I switched to a ski designed for racing the kind of course found in Monarch’s Town Challenge. My times dropped immediately. My all mountain ski is too short and has a tighter turning radius than needed on the course. This resulted in my tails breaking loose and slowing me down. Once I put on the right skis I was able to hold the edges much easier and thus reduce or eliminate any skidding and slide much faster through the gates. Having nice sharp edges helped a lot too. My all mountain ski, since I’m on them all the time, need tuning more often, and as a very busy ski instructor, I don’t get to it enough. So it only makes sense that I would not ski the course as fast as someone with the right equipment optimized for the task. Only makes sense, doesn’t it.

I’m wondering what adjustments I need to make in my tools to optimize for the task of passing Level III this coming year. Last year I worked on my boots, poles, skis, but I’m not sure I got it quite right. I think I can do better with more modern boots. I think I went too short for poles last year. I can see now how shorter poles altered my technique. One of the things that I was getting gigged on was that my hip was dropping to the inside causing too much angulation. Do you think poles that are too short could contribute to over angulating? I do.

The article talks about the width of skis and their purpose. Wider skis have a harder time maintaining an edge on hard pack, for example. Narrow skis don't float as well in powder. It all makes sense. The right tool for the task is the way to go. Guess I better start looking into getting a pair of race skis and some powder boards and keeping my everyday "all mountain" skis tuned up.

Rode Hard Today

I was on my road bike today for a 3 hour ride. Most of the time I was thinking about how much it will end up helping me when ski season gets started. I find the only real way for me to get in shape is to ride my bicycle and watch what I eat. Now if I can cut down on the beer, I’ll be really getting ahead in my quest to be fit for the upcoming season. I started out in the spring just riding a couple times a week for about an hour each time. Now I’m up to at least 5 days a week and riding for 2 to 3 hours! I’m obsessed! Don’t give me your cry baby story about how hard you’re working out on your bicycle. I think the more you ride the more addicted you get and the better it feels. You can feel sorry for me if I don’t ride for a day and I’m all grumpy cuz I need my ride fix.

I'm Committing Myself

Okay, I’m committing myself to this new form of publishing. This topic of course is all about my skiing and my students.

This message posts to this blog via email. Looking forward to sharing all kinds of stuff with you.

What This Blog is For

I'd like to add an entry every day that I am teaching lessons at Monarch. My hope is to post my feelings about how lessons went and also post pictures that I take with my cell phone. Perhaps I can even post video's that I take with my phone.
Posting everyday would create a diary of all my students. It would help me remember their names and help me to keep track of how my work and career are going. Being able to just send an email to this blog helps tremendously. I should be able to write from the ski area, hmm, perhaps even send to my blog from my cell phone. I'll have to test that.

August and I'm Waiting for Snow

I'm starting to get anxious about this coming season. I've been riding my bicycle quite a bit. One of the main things I think about as I ride is that it is going to get me in shape for this coming winter. As an aspiring soon to be level 3 instructor being in shape is important. I think it was in the last PSIA Rocky Mountain Instructor to Instructor newsletter, Bergy from Winter Park, who is a highly respected examiner in our region, said that athleticism is vital to high end skiing. I've only got two manuvers to pass, medium radius carved turns and pivot side slips, to become accredited in the manuvers.

I ran into another instructor this summer that didn't pass level 2 in the Spring. He was angry with PSIA and was saying all kinds of stuff about how the organization is stupid and unfair and how he should have passed. I didn't know what to say at the time, but later I remembered how Bob Barnes told a group of us at an indoor clinic about how he didn't pass some certification exam he had tried. If Barnes can fail an exam and continue on to write books and be the outstanding examiner that he is, I don't feel so bad about not passing the Level III exam the first time through.

The exams are tough, and they should be. When you pass them, you know you deserved to. I don't know if it's getting harder, I sometimes hear full-cert instructors say that if they had to do it again they are afraid they wouldn't pass. As a matter of fact the instructor that I mentioned above had already attained Level II quite a while back, but he didn't pass this time through. I think it might of had something to do with taking it for granted. I think he didn't prepare well enough because inside he felt like it would be no big deal.