16th Landgraaf, Netherlands Slalom

I finished sixteenth yesterday at the indoor slalom World Cup opener in Landgraaf, Netherlands. I’m a little disappointed with the result as I know I’m riding faster than that. I had some mistakes that cost me. I was stoked to be back in the starting gate and racing again. I had some drama yesterday after almost being disqualified in the first run when I hit a stubbie gate on my heelside turn head-on and bounced around the gate correctly. I was disqualified initially, but after video review the decision was reversed and I got to keep racing. After two qualification runs I tied Benjamin Karl for sixteenth position. We had to do a run off for the final. I lost by a hundredth. Benjamin went on to win the event. I really enjoyed seeing everyone again and riding together. It was a fun scene. We had a strong team performance yesterday. Adam Smith claimed a second place finish, Justin Reiter finished seventh, Zac Kay thirteenth, and me sixteenth. We’ve been training hard together; nice to see everyone riding fast. Doris Guenther from Austria won the women’s race, her teammate Heidi Neururer second and Dutch favorite Nicolien Sauerbrei third. Erica Mueller had a solid first run, but crashed on her second, finishing thirty-second.

I’m traveling home today. I’ll be in Aspen the next few weeks training and getting ready to get back on snow in a few weeks. Our next training session is in Summit County in November. We race again November 19th and 20th at the Copper Nor-Am competitions. The Swiss team will be racing and training there as well as some other Euros, so should be a strong field. Join CKF Oct. 23rd at 5:00 pm for our 3rd Annual Aspen Summit for Life Cantina Kick-off Party. There will be free music and snacks and an opportunity to register for the Aspen Summit for Life 2008, www.summitforlife.com! Talk to you soon,

CK

16th Place Landgraaf Slalom World Cup 2008 – Photo Rutger Geerling, FIS Media

Landgraaf Slalom Men’s Podium 2008