Hello Everyone,
I would like to apologize for not being able to post the pictures from the last couple of race venues due to low internet access. However once I get back to the States I will upload all my photos from St. Moritz, Switzerland; Cesana, Italy; BMW World Munchen, Germany; and World Championships Konigssee, Germany.
The last stop on the World Cup was in Cesana, Italy or home to the 2006 Torino Olympics. I took some what I believe to be nice pictures of the area but in all honestly the Cesana / Sistere area of Italy is not somewhere I would suggest as a place to visit. I have been here before and I think the first time I was here I was more excite that the Olympics had been held here the year before but looking at it now I’m like yeah….not so much. I do stand by the fact that Vancouver Canada and the Whistler area where the Bobsled Event was held is an awesome place to go and visit!
In regards to the races one of my teammates the rookie on the team pushed with Napier because the coaches wanted him to get a World Cup 2-Man race under his belt. Pushing 2-man with Napier this year has been hard this year since Napes coming home from war is not in as good as of shape as he was the previous season heading into the Olympics. They ended up finishing in 11th place which was pretty good and nice momentum going into 4-Man the next day. If I have failed to mention it before the two man races are held on Saturday and the four-man races are on Sunday. The next day on Sunday we chomping at the bit for the four-man race, but for some reason Napes seem to not really have his head in the game. I wanted to say something to him however a deep conversation before a race is not always a good time to talk about things because you run the risk of opening up Pandora’s Box. Oh and speaking of Pandora’s Box in seventh grade for a play I played one of the seven demons that Pandora unleashed on to the Earth, I was Envy. We made Paper Mache mask that we wore on stage as we danced around and teased Pandora, thanking her for letting us out to wreak havoc upon the lands. If you have not figured it out by now This Was An Epic Play!!! If this play was performed today you would have to get to the Box Office a month in advance if you wanted tickets!!! It was so, so, so, so Serious!!! Lol
Now back to the race, after the first heat we were sitting in a disappointing 17th position! The run down the track was not as smooth as it could have been and Napes knew it, hell we all knew it! On the truck ride up after the first heat Napes apologized for the run then started to sulk a bit saying how he is always slow on this track and that even on the second run we have been slow all year!! Now people I am not one for licking wounds and bowing out of a fight! I am more like Dawg you better Suck it Up!! and Man Up!! At this point of the season I am tired of not standing in the Winners circle after our first run all year, so I cut Napes off and told him we don’t have time to think about this last run or down talk ourselves thinking we are going to be slow on the next heat. I told him to get that mess out of his head and focus on the fact that it is not an option and that we will go faster on the next heat!! After reviewing film we noticed that we loaded too early. Here is the thing with loading, usually the two guy loads directly of their driver unless the driver does not run the sled deep enough then the two guy usually picks a spot to load regardless of where the driver loads. When I was riding in the two spot I always picked a spot to load that allows each brakeman to be still accelerating the sled as they get in, since Jared who is a rookie is in the two spot with me on the breaks he just loaded off the driver who happened to load early. To avoid this from happening again I pointed out the spot on the track where Jared should load at.
The trick in picking a spot to load is taking in consideration the slope of the track and the rate of speed at which the sled is going after more weight is added to the sled in this case the added weight from the driver and brakeman. Since after the driver loads the total mass of the sled increases as it is going down the sloped start ramp thereby increasing the speed of the sled. This event is multiplied as each crew member loads into the sled, at this point on average we are moving at 30-35mph. The spot that is picked to load at must take all these factors into consideration, so as not to string out the fourth guy in the sled to a point where he is no longer accelerating the sled but slowing it down.
The second heat we loaded where we needed enabling us to drop five hundredths of our first push and Napes drove a lot better!! We stood in the Winners Circle for a good while watching as four sleds fell behind the run we had just put together!! We were joking, high-fiving, and laughing having a good ole time, we ended up in 13th which was not the top ten we had been looking for but it was good to end the season on a relative high point with Napes knowing that he just got over a hump especially as we were heading to World Championships.
You may be wondering what I mean by the World Cup Season coming to an end but we still have World Championships, so let me explain. For the sport of Bobsled we have a regular season that runs from about November to the middle of February. At the conclusion of the about 8 World Cup Races held around the world the FIBT announces and hands out awards to the top 6 ranked teams in the world on both the men’s and women’s team. The men receive awards in both Two-Man and Four-Man separately, then the points from Two-Man and Four-Man are combined resulting in the overall World Cup leader and top Six. For the women since they only do Two-man they receive only one award for the overall point’s leader and top 6. Then starting in the Middle of February we have our World Championship Race, which are basically the Olympics for the non-Olympic year! So it’s kind of a big deal since the winner is the World Champion! (Yeah I know you all figured that out already lol!). Unlike world cup races where the winner is declared after one day of racing and two heats, The World Championship format is similar to the Olympics where the winner is declared after two days of racing and four heats I hope that clears up any confusion. Also, if anyone ever has any questions about bobsled please feel free to ask.
Well I think that is probably enough information to read right now, so I will end here and send out another one in a few days if the internet allows it.
P.S. My phone has been off since I have been here so I have not received any voicemail, SMS, BBM, nor picture messages
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
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