February 4, 2010

An old Facebook 'Note' I wrote from last February, when I was only just beginning to get into the sport.

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nooooo, I'm not going to the Olympics... but I'm having a B-Last while I'm training for skeleton, and we'll see where this whole shibbang goes... Maybe i'll hang up the towel after the first week in March...or, maybe I'll be back in the Fall...whooooo knowwwsss!

I try to be flexible - to take each day as it comes. I would love to have a job I'm passionate about, to meet the man of my dreams and get married, and to enjoy the comfort of having my own apartment or house... but, I don't know what I want to be "when I grow up", and I haven't met the man of my dreams, and I thank AmeriCorps NCCC for helping me to realize that...dang it Leisl, that is OKAY!!!

Which is sort of how I discovered my love for ice. I spent 3-4 awesome months working for my family after AmeriCorps NCCC - it was a great time to reconnect with my friends, my family, and get re-stabilized for a bit. I love home, the farm, and all that comes with it - but I was ready for an adventure. After our fall season was over, (despite the much anticipated turkey killing weekend), the farm life begins to slow down... which was perfectly timed for my life to take a little twist... when one of good friends, Katie, called me up....

Katie: "sooo...I have a friend on the US bobsled team...she needs someone to ride in the back of the bobsled with her in some competitions in Park City, Utah...In 2 weeks...wanna go?"
Leisl: faints.
Leisl: "uhhh... YEAAHHH!!! But I know nothing about bobsledding! (besides kiss the lucky egg)"

And so it began... one of the absolute most random opportunities of my life, has now grown into something like an addiction. I became a temporary brakeman for Jazmine Fenlator, upcoming Russia 2014 Olympic hopeful, and soaked up as much knowledge as I could from her about the sports of both bobsled and skeleton. Jazmine, whats this? Why's that? Oh crap sorry I know I was supposed to do this. This fast or that fast? Oh crap sorry I know I was supposed to do this...oh crap...Yep- brakes? Now? Like...now now? OK!

And so it was - poor Jazmine was stuck with someone who had never seen a bobsled track, or a bobsled, and her only knowledge was from studying "Cool Runnings." If I were her, I would have been really second guessing my brakeman selection... but not Jaz. Like a mother hen to her chick, she showed me the ropes with a LOT of patience...and a lot of faith. I soon became as good-as-a-2-week-old-brakeman could be.

Our first couple runs down the track were really crazy! Without knowing what to really expect, my head was often ping-ponged around the inside of the steel sled, and my knees and elbows were dotted with bruises. But when you're adrenaline is rushing like crazy- you tend to not even realize the bruises til you're in the shower and notice an elbow that's now twice the size of what it was the day before. But to feel the pressure on the curves, and feel the speed under your butt, and get the occasional chance to see yourself on video makes it all so so worth it... its like "wow! we did THAT?! sweet!" Such a cool cool cool experience :)

We finished off the America's Cup Races in Park City (the only US women sled) against Canada, Japan, Australia & Brazil in 5th, 6th, and 7th places. Not too shabby for Jazmine being a new driver, and me having only ever seen a bobsled in real life 2 weeks prior!

I really hadn't had enough of the sport, and Jazmine welcomed me into braking for her in the America's Cup races to be set in Lake Placid, NY. I had been warned by many - "Lake Placid's track is nothing like Park City's." Park city was quick - I mean QUICK - hitting up to 4G's on a turn would send my head between my knees, put my stomach in a knot, and I walked away many days with a few stars and a little headache...I mean, come on, how "different" can a track be?

HA! I soon found out - VERY different. While Lake Placid's track is not as quick as Park City's...it is ROUGH. Park City's track would be: Riiiiiiiiggghhhtt, Leeeeefffftttt, riiiiiiiighhhhtttt, leffffttt....(weeeeee!!!!) where as Lake Placids track is more like: RIGHT. LEFT. LEFT. LEFT (ouch). RIGHT. (bang bang bang...stars stars stars). LEFT. (crap when are we done).RIGHT...... you get the picture?

It took a few days but my body settled in nicely to the bumps & hiccups along the track. After about 12 clean & clear runs, Lake Placid was hit by a frigid blast. Temperatures dropped to negatives, and windchill could slice through your warmups (brrr!)... and the ice...it got FAST. Like...record-breaking FAST.

Well, imagine learning the mile-long course and it taking...ohh 1:04 to finish... the next day 1:03...next day 1:02...next 1:01.... well... in the course of 4 days, to drop 4 seconds - that's a BIG DEAL - and there's a lot of driving that has to be changed in order to not only keep up with a course that is suddenly coming 4 seconds faster at you - but also the lines of pressure on the curves changes to some extent - so, those 14 runs you did before are now suddenly a good bit different than the runs you're about to complete (er...not complete).

And what day did the ice peak in quickness? RACE day... which would be a PERFECT day for the veteran bobsled team... ehhh, not so much for us.

We pushed a decent push Race Day #1, but I could tell (despite only ever seeing the floor of the sled during the entire trip) that we were CA-RUUUISING by turn 4... which zips you right into the "Devils Highway"...a perfect...much toooo perfect name for a series of 4-5 corners which severly whiplash you RIGHT. LEFT. RIGHT. LEFTT(moment of silence because we're suddenly on 2 runners) --------KRRRRASHHIGHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGSHITGGGGG!!!!x 1/2 mile of upside-down bouncing around topsy turvey bruising what-the-hell-is-going-on chaotic scrambling messssss!!! I mean, we had a little crash in Park City where we ended up on our side...but now we were on our HEADS!!! I didn't even know this could really happen! Mind you, a night or two before we had secured new handles (which technically were cabinet handles) for me to hold onto while in the sled... which sounds reassuring until you are suddenly hanging from them with a 500-lb sled on top of you, your back and shoulder getting a burning sensation, and your helmet making the most disgusting noise you've ever heard...and remembering that you had DUCT TAPED the handles in... Dear Lord, please don't let my handles or my hands fall off....

There's no stopping a crashed sled til you've ended the course... and the finish is uphill... so as soon as you FINALLY stop sliding (on your head), you get the lovely pleasure of getting the whole experience again - but in the opposite direction!!! Its much like the old pendulum clocks, as you pendulum between the last 4-5 curves on the track until the track workers catch you and you're able to pull yourself from the wreckage (which, really its not wreckage but maybe just a messed up paint job).

Without too much elaboration at this point, Jazmine and I were DQ'ed from the second run because we didn't finish the race upright... which left the following, and final, day of competition. Jaz's mom had finally worked up the courage to come see Jaz slide...and decided to surprise us on this final day of competition... which probably wasn't the best day to see your daughter hurl herself down a chute at 70+ mph... *PLEASE see previous 2 paragraphs and add + mom running down over the hill + tears + "Jazmine, GET IN THE CAR RIGHT NOW we are GOING HOME!"* ....Needless to say we didn't necessarily end on a 'good' note, but I think Jazmine learned a lot from the experiences, and I had 30+ awesome runs in a bobsled and a crazy experience to tell my grandchildren about.

But, the problem was..and is... that I also got to see skeleton athletes competing while Jaz and I were training and racing bobsled. Now, skeleton is a sport in which a single slider sprints from the top of the bobsled track, hurles himself onto a flat rectangular 70 lb sled, and procedes down the icy chute head-first on his stomach. Tell me that doesn't sound cool right? Ok, you're right...it sounds crazy. But, if you have gone through any physics course, the sled is going to make it down (most likely right-side-up) no matter what - and the chances of hitting a curve head-first are..well...pretty dang slim...maybe impossible? I don't know..I haven't really gotten that answer straight-forward from anyone yet.

So, Jaz introduced me to Don Hass, the skeleton development coach. Don has been at the sport for 25+ years as an athlete, a coach, and builder of 100's of skeleton and bobsleds. He has helped several Olympians become...well, Olympians! A few of his athletes had become my friends in the weeks time, and their enthusiasm for the sport only fueled my interest. I soon signed up to attend one of his "beginner skeleton schools."

What a BLAST! There's no words to really describe what it is like to experience 60+ mph speeds head-first when your chin is just inches (I had chin bruises to prove it) away from the ice. It's almost like skydiving... especially the first 10-15 times... you feel as though you have no control, once you're pushed down the chute there is NO turning back, and the only instructions was to lay flat and in an aerodynamic position... with a little shove and a "good luck" you're suddenly hurled into one of the most intense and extreme experiences of your life. Ha! And all the veterans say that we're not going fast enough to "feel this happen, or that happen..." are you kidding me!!! I'm going 60 mph and they are calling that SLOW! hahaha It still cracks me up...but they are right - I am getting faster...and what seemed extremely fast day 1 of skeleton school, would now seem very slow to me.

So now I've finished the school, and have slid 2 days back in Lake Placid. I hope to get a solid 2 weeks of training in, then go home for a week, and then come back for "club races" and "eastern regionals" which will give me a national ranking (which sounds cool enough, right?). Who knows where this crazy experience will take me... for now, I'm just living the dream, loving the sport, and taking each day as it comes. Will I continue with the sport? I'm not sure- depends on how well I do this next month, and also depends on whether or not I feel that this is something worth "putting my life on hold" for and pursuing...but, I haven't even gotten to that point yet... in any scenario, this experience has rocked my socks off :)


Jazmine Fenlator as driver and Leisl Soergel as brakeman. Park City, Utah Americas Cup Races