North American Cup: Whistler #3, #4

Traveling down the fastest track in the world was exhilarating. The feeling from the g-forces pushing my body down as I went around turns was unlike any feeling I have ever experienced. We hit speeds of 90 mph during our sessions!

In Whistler we stayed in the athlete village which is a part of where the 2010 Olympics were held. It was set up similar to a dorm or hotel. There were two full size beds in each room and shared bathrooms outside of the rooms with laundry and common areas at the ends of each hall. We had a chef who catered a healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. We also had access to a full kitchen for those who wanted to cook on their own. We had access to a full, olympic style gym in the building next door which also included a sauna and both cold and hot tubs for recovery.

Unfortunately during my stay in Whistler I wasn't able to do very much site seeing. I did visit the olympic village which is at the bottom of the track where there are many restaurants and shops. There was a lot of memorabilia from the 2010 Olympics around the town. Although I didn't get to indulge in any activities, there were a lot of activities to participate in. For example, some of my teammates got the chance to go bungee jumping. There is also skiing, snow boarding, snow tubing, zip lining, snowmobiling, hiking, and can rides down the track in a bobsled. I would definitely like to go back as a tourist and enjoy the city.

The Whistler races took place on Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving. I have kind of gotten use to being away from family and friends since I have been on this journey, but during the holidays it is tough. Seeing everyone via social media enjoying time with family and friends made me really miss being with mine. The day didn't really feel like a holiday since they celebrate their thanksgiving in October in Canada. In hopes of trying to make the day special, we asked the chef to make us a Thanksgiving dinner and ate together as a team. The chef did a great job and cooked everything from scratch. We had most of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes which included turkey, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, okra, and pumpkin pie for dessert.

I raced with Justin Olsen on the first race in Whistler. Justin is a great pilot. However, the speed of the track on race day caused the sled handling to be different than on our practice runs. We started the first run with the fastest start time in the first run of the race. We slid down the turns faster than ever, and we were going to be one of the fastest sleds of the day. Unfortunately, when we got into Curve 15, the nose of the sled took a dive down towards the belly of the track. No matter how hard Justin pulled on the D rings to steer, the speed and g-forces kept the sled going in the same direction it was going. We slid through Curve 15 and we were not in position to go smoothly into Curve16. Therefore, the result was that the sled rolled over into 16 and we slid across the finish line upside down.

Since we both stayed in the sled, it qualified us to stay in the race and to compete in the second run. I had minor injuries to my right shoulder, and he hurt his knee and elbow. But that wasn't going to stop us from finishing the race. We were banged up and a little rattled, but we prepared for the second run. We pushed the fastest start times on run two, and had a nice, solid run that put us in 8th place for the day.

I raced with Dakarai Kongela in the second race. At the start of our first run, our timing was off when we hit the sled which caused it to come out of the grooves. (Grooves are made in the track to keep the bobsled going straight when we push it as fast as possible before getting in the sled.) Because the sled was out of the grooves, my first four steps were dedicated to trying to run and put the sled back into the grooves. Once I got the sled's runners back in the grooves, it was off to the races for Dak and I. Despite the faulty push, we still managed to push the fastest start time of the first runs. Dak drove well which put us into fourth place going into the second heat. We knew we had to put down a great start time in the second run in order to stay in the running to be one of the top finishers.

During the intermission, we did some practice hits to make sure our timing was good. On the second run, we managed to hit the sled at the same time. This resulted in us having 9 hundredths of a lead to start. With Dak's superb driving, we were able to move up a spot in the race. For the first time for us, Dak and I finished on the podium in third place! It felt amazing to have earned the bronze medal and to have finished as the top sled for the United States. Standing on the podium with all of the photographers taking pictures was such a great feeling, and I hope to have many more finishes on the podium throughout my career!