Mar 17 Team "Heather's Mom"

I know several of our followers have been waiting anxiously for this blog entry. Where to begin....yes, at the starting gate, of course! It was Tuesday, March 13th, the third week of the Alta Town Series ski races. I had been recruited under the guise of a needed female for a race team that Jason Koza was organizing at the Alta Lodge. Despite loud objections from both Heather (she was already on another team) and myself, Jason and his persuasive friends some how twisted 80 bucks out of me to be the mature woman on their team! (Note: there is NO handicapping for age in this race league). Only days later did I find out that this group of young racers had officially named their team "Heather's Mom." A little poking at Heather on that one!!

So, I survived the first 2 races - one giant slalom and one slalom - feeling pretty snappy about the fact that I had at least successfully crossed the finish line in both races despite not earning any points for our team! Now here it was race #3 on an extremely windy and chilly morning following a very warm day. If you do the weather "math" you'll calculate that the snow conditions on the race hill were going to be VERY firm! I should have re-thought this entire venture as I stood in the starting gate barely able to stand still as a 40 mph gust hit me broadside. But no, just wanting to get my one run done, I shoved off through the starting wand. The first gate was an oh-shit moment as I realized I had no edges and the course was an ice rink. My mantra: take it easy Jean, turn early and high! Ha, ha, ha, ha!! About the 5th gate another gust of wind, easily 40 mph, nailed me broadside and shockingly blew me so far out of the course there was no chance to make the next gate!! Yeehaw - survival instinct kicked in and I just skied down outside of the course. Oh well, DNF'd (did not finish) that race. I stood at the bottom of race hill watching the next racer in his lycra race suit run the course with little problem (oh, were those ice skates on his feet??).

Now 3 days later on Friday, Alta has "open racing" so you can practice. I thought just maybe getting back in the saddle after my DNF might be a good thing before I have to do a slalom race next Tuesday. In the starting gate I joked with the race attendant that I thought I'd better practice for the town league although it probably wouldn't do much good at my age. As I headed down the course, he chuckled at the obvious lack of talent and then turned to Mike to comment on the fact that I was racing with the town league. Mike set him straight that I had been coerced into the league by a few youngsters at the Alta Lodge. Mr. Race Attendant then shouted OMG - that's HEATHER'S MOM! He even radioed down to the finish shack the news that Heather's mom was in the course. Now I'm really embarrassed!

Bottom line, Jason did recruit some high quality racers for the team so we are slowly moving up in the ranks, no thanks to me. Maybe I should just stick to buying shots for my teammates!