Happy August Everybody!! Yay its August so Au-Gust it’s time for me to send out another e-mail!! lol You get it? Its a play on words! HA
First and foremost I now have Twitter so now anyone who wants can follow me on Twitter
Follow @Jessbeck3
In this issue of Where Did I Come From Where Did I Go? Where Did I Come From Only Jesse Knows. (P.S that song will be stuck in your head the rest of the day and that's why I did it! lol)
In preparations for next month's Push Championships I just returned from spending two weeks of training on the push track out at the Olympic Park in Park City, Utah where I performed over 100 starts and pushes from the brakes, left and right sides combined (Pictures can be found on the media section of my web page under Park City Summer Training). The push track is a tool that enables myself and other bobsledders to push a bobsled during the summer and is an essential part of my off-season training. Its 200 meters of train railing sloping down a decline that mimics the start of the Park City Boblsed Track, equipped with a bobsled that has been retrofitted with train wheels on to push.
The push track allows me to expand my training from lifting and running to more sports specific technique. I work on perfecting the angle at which I hit the sled, my shin angle as I run, keeping feet dorsal flexed, and making sure that my foot strikes underneath my body's center of Mass (COM). In the past I have had troubles with keeping good body position over the crest so I made sure I keyed in on that the most. While I was there in PC I did over a hundred hits and pushes, and by hits I mean working on those first three to four steps off the starting bock. It was a productive two weeks of pushing and I made great progress as I continue to improve one step at a time. As you can imagine all the pushing, lifting, and running combined was making me a little tired but luckily I was taking ZMA and Amino-9 supplied by my friends at NOW http://www.nowsportsproducts.com/ that helped to keep me pushing hard and fast.
I am extremely excited for this year’s testing and season! I am making excellent progress in my sprinting, weight and push training. I am feeling muscle fire that have never really fired before, and I am more relaxed when I run than ever before something my current coach Eric and my coaches before all have helped with it. It’s going to be a Great Season!!
And Yes......... I have some stories to tell! I mean come on I was in PC for two whole weeks, that’s 14 days of fun, 336 hours of something that could happen, 20,160 minutes of possible madness, 1,209,600seconds of what is coming next!! lol (yes something is definitely wrong with me I can accept that...now can we move on?Thank you very much lol)
The first week I was in PC was the weekend after Harry Potter had come out and I wanted to see it, I mean who didn't! After having dinner with my friends Shauna and Val and some of their friends on the patio at Maxwell’s restaurant that’s right below my hotel, I start my two block walk to the movie theater. A little bit into my walk I got a strong urge to go to the restroom but I’m like it can wait. I get to the theater at 9:00pm which was perfect timing since the movie started at 8:50, since I was figuring that I would hit the bathroom then head into the movies right at the end of the previews. The best thing is that the theater I need to go to is right next to the bathroom. My objective and plan of attack was set, and it was time to execute! I head into bathroom while checking my watch and head for stall number 1! While a random though of hmmm it’s a lot of stalls in this bathroom quickly ran through my mind but no worries I am on a schedule here, and all bathrooms are different anyway! I am in an out, business done, hands washed and on to my date at Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardary. As I am walking out of the bathroom I see these Obviously confused women walking in to the bathroom! So being the stand up guy that I am who is never wrong I quickly warn them that they are headed into the wrong bathroom!! And like a newly unfrozen Austin Powers who has lost his inner monologue; while noticing the female image next to the bathroom I say out loud and to the giggles of the ladies “Oh wait was I in the wrong bathroom!? Yup I think I was” Guess I was the confused man who just abused the ladies room and was apparently running from the scene of the crime. Lol!
While in PC and against my better judgement I decided to try a Yoga Class! Actually the subject cam up while at Maxwell's because the girlfriend of their neighbor teaches Yoga and invited us to go. Initially was pretty certain I was not going but at the night wore on I began to realize that did need a good stretch to work on my flexibility and plus it was for only an hour so I figured why not. Two days later Shauna, Val, Jim (one of their friends), all head over to do some Power Vinyas Yoga taught by their friend Lindsay. As we are laying down our yoga mats Val informs me and Jim that they made a mistake the class is not an hour long its an hour and a half long, sorry guys! Me and Jim both had the What you talking about Willis look on our faces, because we both had to be convinced to come for just an hour and the thought of 30 more minutes was nightmarish!! While this thought is sinking in Shauna then tells me that guys in yoga class usually take their shirts off because it gets pretty hot and sweaty. I'm reply yeah and the Yoga class is only and hour right, yeah I'm not taking my shirt off till I see other guys in here with no shirt on! lol But this time they were correct because every other guy came in with their shirts off so I decided to take mines off instead. We are about half way through the class, a ton of downward facing dogs and an alleged neutral position that had no neutrality to it I am in am sweating my tights off and my shoulders are on fire from being in all these static positions. Then we go into some pose where both we are bent over forward both arms extended one leg on the ground and the other one extended behind us, the teacher instructs those who are able to go into some hand stand using their forearms as a base!! Yeah my thoughts exactly!! So of course three or four people in the class are able to do it so they start showing off!! Every part of me wanted to leave my mat and kick them over...but I didn't! lol Were going through all kinds of poses back and forth than in what sounds like the voice from the angel of mercy I hear...."Now for our last two stretches" and with out thinking I shout out "ITS OVER WERE DONE!!!!" everyone in the class starts laughing as the instructors says Yes!!!! Thank you God is all I was thinking!! After the class I did feel pretty good but during the class I was thinking I would rather do football gassers than try to contort my body into all these weird positions! I am not a Tree nor a Upward/Downward facing dog or happy baby! I mean really who came up with these positions. Furthermore NO Shauna, Val and Tim I don't want to come back on Monday are you kidding me!! lol I did think it worked really well I just need a less intense class to start with.
Now onward to a environment I am more comfortable in, one of the best things about training at an Olympic Training Center is that 99.9% of the people around you know proper weight room conduct. You know like don’t stand and stare directly in the face of someone when they are lifting heavy weight and trying to focus, or making what you assume to be witty remarks as they are about to perform a lift. Well in park city we don’t have a Training Center so we have to work out at the Park Basin http://www.basinrecreation.org/ which is pretty good facility. However not everyone who trains there are aware of the rules I mentioned. Now I am aware that my team mates are bigger than average and we do move a lot of weight around that most people are not normally witnessed to. Added with the fact that I am lifting in Under Armour running tights and Top!! For the record I am not a fan of lifting in spandex but it does keep your body heat in, keeping your muscles warm and loose. Since spandex moves with the contours of your body it does not restrict any movement, but….it’s not for everyone! Really it’s Not!!
Anyway on to the story. Now, usually when I walk into a weight room I get random stares from people that are internally thinking (Yes I am Psychic thank you very much) “what sport does he do? he is pretty ripped, but why is he in spandex? Lol Then of course there are the looks from the guys in the gym as to say “hey weird spandex guy, this is my weight room and seriously how can you possibly lift looking like Peter Pans Head of Security?” And my mental and facial response to those guys who find muscles via a syringe is “A lot buddy so take notes” lol This particular day happened to be my squat day so I go through my normal warm-up and by my third set of warm up weight so of the sarcastic grins begin to fade. I guess my spandex is no longer that funny to the people watching. Smile now Syringe boy! Oh…what’s wrong not in a laughing mood anymore? Hmmmm…..I wonder why? Could it be that my first warm up weight was your max hmmm…is that it? Ohhh too bad, guess you better buy some bigger needles! Lol
But all jokes aside, as I am about to do my last set of squat of 562 for a quick 2 reps, I am in full zone out mode, walking into the squat, headphones in with music up, rack let’s do the Leeeeroooy a Jeeenkins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU) , my boy Jim behind me ready to spot me; when this older gentlemen of about 65-70yrs of age approaches me to ask a question/statement that he figured to be amusing. As I see this guy walking up I stick my hand out in his direction as to say halt I am in the middle of something, but he keeps walking up just a smiling laughing to himself. I do my best to ignore him, not because I am being arrogant or anything but due to the fact that it’s a ton of weight on the bar and I need to be focus so I don’t drop it and or hurt myself. I wish I would have had my music up higher because as I get up under the bar the old man is finally gets his question/statement out! And can you guess what it was that was so important he just had to interrupt my focus to say….no it was not that little Timmy is stuck in the well can you pull him out! It was “hey can I work in with you but maybe we should add more weight!?” Like most weight rooms there is a wall of mirrors in front of the squat rack, so as I am still trying to block out the old man I see about 7 guys surrounding the squat rack with camera phones preparing to take pictures and video of me squatting. Once again it’s flattering and I get it, I just would have preferred if they would have taken the flash off their cameras and stood a little further back from me. I get done with my set, turn to gym saying “man that was so hard to focus in on” he replied “hell I had a hard time focusing on spotting you, I felt like we were in a circus” lol. I then asked Jim what else the old guy said, so apparently the old guy was offended that I did not want to talk to him at that time and remarked by saying “that guy is pretty serious I take it?” Jim’s response was “Ya Think!” lol The one cool thing about it was that one of the guys taking the video actually e-mailed me a copy of the video, so at least I have a that now.
On a more exciting note an a prime example of everything happens for a reason, I met/had dinner/hung out with the Host, producers, makeup artists, and camera crew of HGTV’s Designstar TV Show! This is how it happened. Originally I was staying with one of the ex-bobsledders who stays in Park City but the following week he was headed out of town so I decided to go stay at the New Park Hotel. My first day there I was on my way to go workout (yes I was in full spandex again lol) and I saw this confident woman walking through the hallways dressed with a bit more style and swag then most people I have seen in Park City. We happened to be getting on the same elevator so we did the usual polite hello and went on about our business. This situation happened about five more times within two days seeing each other on the elevator or in the hotel lobby, until one day she asked me “Okay! What do you do?!” So I told her who I was and what I was in town for some Bobsled Training over at the Olympic Park. She thought it was pretty cool and began asking a ton of the usual who, what, when, questions. I answered them an asking the same of her. She replied I’m Tanika Ray the Host of Designstar on HGTV, then asked if I watched HGTV much or seen the show. I admitted that I don’t watch HGTV much unless I am flicking through the channels and something catches my eye then I stop and watch for a bit. Long story short she ends up inviting me out to dinner to meet her producers and everyone, I agreed and she said she would let me know when. Later that evening a woman from the front desk was knocking on my door with a formal invitation to dinner. I have to admit I was feeling pretty honored by the invite.
I headed down to dinner about 8pm met everyone, talking bobsled, interior and exterior home design. It was a really good time meeting all these new people, sharing insight to each other’s world. It also turned out that Tim one of the camera men is a huge Olympic and Bobsled fan so he had tons of in-depth questions for me about the sport. Towards the end of dinner Tankia thought that it would be a great ideal if they could get a camera crew out to the park and record some of my push track training. I was thinking Brilliant and heck yeah! The next day Tim (Associate Producer) and Candence (makeup artist) came out to record me and my teammates training. I was happy Tim and Candence enjoyed it, plus I introduced them to some of the Olympians in Bobsled and Skeleton. They were both impressed at the power, speed, and technique they learned about while they watched us train. My teammates and I enjoyed the enthusiasm about our sport and it was good to talk to true fans who were not more interested in making Jamaican Bobsled Team references.Since I’ve gotten back to Colorado Springs I have started watching HGTV’s Designstar its a pretty good show and I recommend watching it so check it out.
Overall it was a great trip, training was awesome, I met some good people and God is continuing to bless me with great opportunities and keeping me healthy.
Thanks for Tuning in to another installment of As The Bobsled Turns!! This has been another 3Beckom production ;) winking
God Bless, and remember to follow me on Twitter @Jessbeck3
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
Summer Update 7-11-11
Happy Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven!!!!!!!
God continues to bless me in my life, training is going great, I'm feeling very powerful and fast so lookout!!! I am still working at HB&A www.hbaa.com five days a week, bobsled training six days a week which is broken down to three days of lifting, three days of running, six days of body maintenance and one day of complete rest. Working for HB&A I was able to take my first business trip. We took a three day trip out to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho to meet with base personnel and to get a general lay of the land for the project we are working on. I would tell you details but I don't want to put your life in danger.. Taking this trip was a bit different not because it was overwhelming or above my head but for the first time since the start of my sports career I was waking up for business meetings and not a sports related matter. It may not sound like a big deal but it really was for me. It was three days of 10-12 hours of meetings per day, luckily for me the base had a new workout facility complete with outdoor track so I did not miss any training. I do have to admit seeing jets take off every day while I was sprinting did not get old at all!! It felt like something out of a movies scene as I watched several jets take off and bank to the right to join their formation it was a pretty amazing experience.
As it regards to training I will say this, my flexibility and range of motion continue to increase along with my pushing technique. My lifting and sprint workouts are a little bit different since I am training under a new coach but I trust the change is working. For push training we have this piece of equipment call a Prowler Sled http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=prowler+sled&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=800&wrapid=tlif131040007122010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=withat we load up with weight and push across the concrete, along with the push kart I had built and my sister Tina shipped from Pennsylvania are part of the tools we use to practicing pushing in the off season. The other tools we use for summer pushing are the Bobsled Push tracks located in Park City, UT; Lake Placid, NY; and Calgary, Canada. Speaking of the Push Track I will actually be heading out to Park City for push training the last couple of weeks of July, which I am really looking forward to. The push training we do I do in the summer not only prepares me for the seaon but also prepares me for our Annual Push Championships in September that is used in the determination of what Sled we push on during the season!! This is a huge deal, one that I am looking forward to.
I would've throw a lot of lifting numbers and exercises at you but I usually only do that when I hit a personal record or some other milestone, this avoids the looking like a meat-head look. lol However if any of you would like to know some of the lifting and things I am doing shoot me an e-mail and I will tell you all about it.
On a personal note my sister Tina is safely back home from a six month stint in Iraq where she was doing some private contracting for the government, which the family is very thankful and excited about!!
I do have a quick funny story to tell........
I will like to preference this story by saying I can neither confirm or deny that I went out Saturday night with my teammates and danced the night away, while supposedly wearing a cowboy hat!! lol I can also neither confirm or deny that the alleged time of departure from alleged venue..... However back at the training center my room is on the second floor right next to the basketball courts. The next morning at 7:25am one of the young high-school camp kids decides this is the perfect time for him to work on his jump shot! Needless to say that from my previous extened night of studying the affects of long-term choreography on the body lol, I was not in the mood for this early Sunday morning wake up call! It was at this point that I became THAT GUY!!! I ripped open my blinds, lifted my window and Screamed HEY KID!!! "YOU MIND NOT PLAYING BASKETBALL SO EARLY IN THE MORNING!!?"
The kid throw the basketball away like it was on fire, said sorry and ran into the adjacent building!!!! I almost could not go back to sleep because I was laughing so hard! For a moment (.05seconds exactly) I felt a little bad then I remembered that their are signs by the basketball court that specifically say no basketball playing till after 10am every day. So you know what that little kid was breaking the law and someone had to stop him!! And being the law abiding citizen that I am I could not let this child's delinquency continue. By me intervening at a such a vital moment in this kids development I saved him from a life of continual law breaking and a possible criminal future that could see him breaking into one of your houses or cars. On that note, I say you are welcome society and no I don't need a plaque for my contributions to the mentorship of today's youth. I take my satisfaction in knowing that I am among those who are helping! lol
Please keep me in your praryers and pray that I continue to do great. I wish you all the best!
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
God continues to bless me in my life, training is going great, I'm feeling very powerful and fast so lookout!!! I am still working at HB&A www.hbaa.com five days a week, bobsled training six days a week which is broken down to three days of lifting, three days of running, six days of body maintenance and one day of complete rest. Working for HB&A I was able to take my first business trip. We took a three day trip out to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho to meet with base personnel and to get a general lay of the land for the project we are working on. I would tell you details but I don't want to put your life in danger.. Taking this trip was a bit different not because it was overwhelming or above my head but for the first time since the start of my sports career I was waking up for business meetings and not a sports related matter. It may not sound like a big deal but it really was for me. It was three days of 10-12 hours of meetings per day, luckily for me the base had a new workout facility complete with outdoor track so I did not miss any training. I do have to admit seeing jets take off every day while I was sprinting did not get old at all!! It felt like something out of a movies scene as I watched several jets take off and bank to the right to join their formation it was a pretty amazing experience.
As it regards to training I will say this, my flexibility and range of motion continue to increase along with my pushing technique. My lifting and sprint workouts are a little bit different since I am training under a new coach but I trust the change is working. For push training we have this piece of equipment call a Prowler Sled http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=prowler+sled&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=800&wrapid=tlif131040007122010&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=withat we load up with weight and push across the concrete, along with the push kart I had built and my sister Tina shipped from Pennsylvania are part of the tools we use to practicing pushing in the off season. The other tools we use for summer pushing are the Bobsled Push tracks located in Park City, UT; Lake Placid, NY; and Calgary, Canada. Speaking of the Push Track I will actually be heading out to Park City for push training the last couple of weeks of July, which I am really looking forward to. The push training we do I do in the summer not only prepares me for the seaon but also prepares me for our Annual Push Championships in September that is used in the determination of what Sled we push on during the season!! This is a huge deal, one that I am looking forward to.
I would've throw a lot of lifting numbers and exercises at you but I usually only do that when I hit a personal record or some other milestone, this avoids the looking like a meat-head look. lol However if any of you would like to know some of the lifting and things I am doing shoot me an e-mail and I will tell you all about it.
On a personal note my sister Tina is safely back home from a six month stint in Iraq where she was doing some private contracting for the government, which the family is very thankful and excited about!!
I do have a quick funny story to tell........
I will like to preference this story by saying I can neither confirm or deny that I went out Saturday night with my teammates and danced the night away, while supposedly wearing a cowboy hat!! lol I can also neither confirm or deny that the alleged time of departure from alleged venue..... However back at the training center my room is on the second floor right next to the basketball courts. The next morning at 7:25am one of the young high-school camp kids decides this is the perfect time for him to work on his jump shot! Needless to say that from my previous extened night of studying the affects of long-term choreography on the body lol, I was not in the mood for this early Sunday morning wake up call! It was at this point that I became THAT GUY!!! I ripped open my blinds, lifted my window and Screamed HEY KID!!! "YOU MIND NOT PLAYING BASKETBALL SO EARLY IN THE MORNING!!?"
The kid throw the basketball away like it was on fire, said sorry and ran into the adjacent building!!!! I almost could not go back to sleep because I was laughing so hard! For a moment (.05seconds exactly) I felt a little bad then I remembered that their are signs by the basketball court that specifically say no basketball playing till after 10am every day. So you know what that little kid was breaking the law and someone had to stop him!! And being the law abiding citizen that I am I could not let this child's delinquency continue. By me intervening at a such a vital moment in this kids development I saved him from a life of continual law breaking and a possible criminal future that could see him breaking into one of your houses or cars. On that note, I say you are welcome society and no I don't need a plaque for my contributions to the mentorship of today's youth. I take my satisfaction in knowing that I am among those who are helping! lol
Please keep me in your praryers and pray that I continue to do great. I wish you all the best!
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Still Here!.....lol
Hello everybody!!!
WOW O WOW that was a close one!! Sorry I have been out of contact for a while but I had been so busy after the season preparing for end of the world!! lol! I mean seriously I never new making posters, cardboard cut outs, writing on T-shirts, and exchanging all my shoes for sandal would take so long!!! (fyi my fingers may or may not be hurting from laughing so hard right now!) Oh! and it also turns out that it is a really BAD Ideal to think the world is coming to an end, borrow 2 million dollars from a bookie and use your spleen as collateral!!!!. So I will be changing my name to Don Honcho and moving!! lol I repeat learn from me don't try this!! Seriously though the end of the world predictions are a laughing matter and we are lucky this guy was wrong...again....this time!!!! Ok...OK...I have to stop really this group reportedly had over 200 million followers!!! I am boggled at the fact that this guy got so many people to believe him again after previously saying the world is going to end in 1994. Moving on.... Since it takes me a few days to write some e-mails can you believe this idiot of a guy has made another prediction for the world to end on October 21, 2011 because he claims that he misinterpreted the signs! lol O....O lordy the sticks and da trees done did told me a great storm be a rollin in, its gonna shake this her ground and things go get a rumblin!!! lol I really wish this guy was in Smacking Distance lol
A lot has been going on in the World of Jesse or as the laymen call it....Earth!! Hahahahah O'Come on that was funny. God has continued to bless me on my Journey towards 2014. I am still living and training at the Olympic Training Center out here in Colorado Springs, Co, and it is going Great!!! I am not sure if I had mentioned it before but the two Strength and Conditioning Coaches I was working with (Jon and Jason) moved on to go work with the US Army Special forces!! I wish them the best and know they are getting those soldiers in better shape than ever.
And don't worry about my training Jon left us in the hands of a pretty good coach named Eric. I have to admit I was not sure about Eric when I first met him, partially because he seemed to be a bit arrogant at first I guess we tend not to like people who remind us of ourselves!! lol Then last season over Christmas break I came back to the OTC (Olympic Training Center) here in Colorado Springs to prepare for the second half of the season and Eric was in the weight room. The major lift component on that day was Cleans, fyi I do not have the best technique in the world when it comes to cleans. It's and epic battle between me and cleans every time! Sometime the Cleans win other times I win! So as I am lifting I see Eric watching me and not saying anything, this goes on during my first two sets out of three! So on the third set I asked him what he thought and he told me it looked like crap and just kept watching!! lol I did another rep and he just shook his head! So I tell him hey you just going to sit there and critique me or are you going to actually help with some coaching!!! (My word choice was a bit more colorful) He told me he did not want to mess up anything I was taught. I replied telling him that this is the one exercise I struggle with and what's the point of me doing it wrong especially if he can help me fix it (here again my word choice was a bit more colorful lol). After that little bit of back and forth we began to talk more and get on the same page regarding his theories on how to lift and run. Eric's workouts are a bit different than what I am use to but I think they are effective and what I need right now. He is big on increasing my neurological system firing faster and more explosively, and I have to admit....its working!
Last year was good for me getting back in to competing and making gains at the start of this new quad! I know this year and every year following will continue to build upon one another. I feel a since of fluidity in my running that I had lost after my surgeries and injuries. For a while I lost that 5th and 6th gear in top in speed and I feel that returning and then some! As I mentioned at first I was really worried about switching over training styles and I have to admit some of the workouts I have been doing have made me wonder about them from time to time but they are effective and I am pretty excited about this summer of training and the start of our season.
Oh I almost forgot something important. God blessed me once more allowing me to get a job working for in the Urban Planning section of HB&A www.hbaa.com , an architectural company here in Colorado Springs. This company does the majority of its work on military installations (I am very interested in this type of work), college campuses, as well as some community planning. I love the diversity of the projects I have gotten to work on and it is a quick turn around of creating Area Development Plans. The work environment is great and I am learning how to use Google Sketch-up http://sketchup.google.com , which is a 3D design program that I have wanted to learn how to use for a while now. Later on this month I will travel out to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on a project site visit, it should be a pretty good experience.
Well that's all for now, if I remember any good stories I will let you all know!
God Bless and thank you all for your continued support!
Jesse
WOW O WOW that was a close one!! Sorry I have been out of contact for a while but I had been so busy after the season preparing for end of the world!! lol! I mean seriously I never new making posters, cardboard cut outs, writing on T-shirts, and exchanging all my shoes for sandal would take so long!!! (fyi my fingers may or may not be hurting from laughing so hard right now!) Oh! and it also turns out that it is a really BAD Ideal to think the world is coming to an end, borrow 2 million dollars from a bookie and use your spleen as collateral!!!!. So I will be changing my name to Don Honcho and moving!! lol I repeat learn from me don't try this!! Seriously though the end of the world predictions are a laughing matter and we are lucky this guy was wrong...again....this time!!!! Ok...OK...I have to stop really this group reportedly had over 200 million followers!!! I am boggled at the fact that this guy got so many people to believe him again after previously saying the world is going to end in 1994. Moving on.... Since it takes me a few days to write some e-mails can you believe this idiot of a guy has made another prediction for the world to end on October 21, 2011 because he claims that he misinterpreted the signs! lol O....O lordy the sticks and da trees done did told me a great storm be a rollin in, its gonna shake this her ground and things go get a rumblin!!! lol I really wish this guy was in Smacking Distance lol
A lot has been going on in the World of Jesse or as the laymen call it....Earth!! Hahahahah O'Come on that was funny. God has continued to bless me on my Journey towards 2014. I am still living and training at the Olympic Training Center out here in Colorado Springs, Co, and it is going Great!!! I am not sure if I had mentioned it before but the two Strength and Conditioning Coaches I was working with (Jon and Jason) moved on to go work with the US Army Special forces!! I wish them the best and know they are getting those soldiers in better shape than ever.
And don't worry about my training Jon left us in the hands of a pretty good coach named Eric. I have to admit I was not sure about Eric when I first met him, partially because he seemed to be a bit arrogant at first I guess we tend not to like people who remind us of ourselves!! lol Then last season over Christmas break I came back to the OTC (Olympic Training Center) here in Colorado Springs to prepare for the second half of the season and Eric was in the weight room. The major lift component on that day was Cleans, fyi I do not have the best technique in the world when it comes to cleans. It's and epic battle between me and cleans every time! Sometime the Cleans win other times I win! So as I am lifting I see Eric watching me and not saying anything, this goes on during my first two sets out of three! So on the third set I asked him what he thought and he told me it looked like crap and just kept watching!! lol I did another rep and he just shook his head! So I tell him hey you just going to sit there and critique me or are you going to actually help with some coaching!!! (My word choice was a bit more colorful) He told me he did not want to mess up anything I was taught. I replied telling him that this is the one exercise I struggle with and what's the point of me doing it wrong especially if he can help me fix it (here again my word choice was a bit more colorful lol). After that little bit of back and forth we began to talk more and get on the same page regarding his theories on how to lift and run. Eric's workouts are a bit different than what I am use to but I think they are effective and what I need right now. He is big on increasing my neurological system firing faster and more explosively, and I have to admit....its working!
Last year was good for me getting back in to competing and making gains at the start of this new quad! I know this year and every year following will continue to build upon one another. I feel a since of fluidity in my running that I had lost after my surgeries and injuries. For a while I lost that 5th and 6th gear in top in speed and I feel that returning and then some! As I mentioned at first I was really worried about switching over training styles and I have to admit some of the workouts I have been doing have made me wonder about them from time to time but they are effective and I am pretty excited about this summer of training and the start of our season.
Oh I almost forgot something important. God blessed me once more allowing me to get a job working for in the Urban Planning section of HB&A www.hbaa.com , an architectural company here in Colorado Springs. This company does the majority of its work on military installations (I am very interested in this type of work), college campuses, as well as some community planning. I love the diversity of the projects I have gotten to work on and it is a quick turn around of creating Area Development Plans. The work environment is great and I am learning how to use Google Sketch-up http://sketchup.google.com , which is a 3D design program that I have wanted to learn how to use for a while now. Later on this month I will travel out to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho on a project site visit, it should be a pretty good experience.
Well that's all for now, if I remember any good stories I will let you all know!
God Bless and thank you all for your continued support!
Jesse
Saturday, March 12, 2011
2011 World Championships Update
Hello Everyone,
I hope every ones week is off to a Great Start and if not Maybe you need to do a Desk Pop! I believe my last Desk Pop was September "08" (The Other Guys Reference, Watch it! It Good Un huh lol)
Thanks too the USA's High Speed Internet I have been able to upload all of my pictures!!! And unfortunately it was this Shirt Fairy going around stealing shirts before some photos and for some reason he kept getting me when I was not looking! lol All the new pictures are on my Media page within the first five selections on the list.
The last three weeks of the season were kind of interesting, some of it was good and some of it was uhmmmm not so good!! But before I get a head of myself let me reiterate the World Championships (WCH) format. As I stated we were there for three week the first week was an international training week that allows for drivers to get acquainted with a newly constructed tract or in this case a tracked that made changes to existing turns, followed by two weeks of racing. During World Championships there is one week of racing dedicated to each discipline within the sport. Thereby meaning that one week is dedicated solely to 2-man training followed by the 2-man race, and one week is dedicated solely to 4-man training and racing. In both instances four heats of racing are held over two days (Saturday and Sunday) with two heats per day. In the first heat of the race all sleds go off in order according to their World Ranking, in the second heat the sleds go off in reverse order 20-1 then the sleds not in the top twenty go off 21... until the end. On the third day of racing sleds go off 1 till the end, and only the top twenty sleds get a fourth run.
For the USA after National Team Trials are over with we have a Selection Committee who has been given the authority to choose who races what races in World Championships and also in the Olympic Games. In this case my teammate Laszlo was chosen to race 2-Man WCH with our Driver Napier and I was chosen to race the Team Event for WCH. The team event is where each discipline Men's and Women's Bobsled, and Men's and Women's Skeleton from a country take one run each down the track, the totals are taken and the team with the overall fastest time down wins. Each country is allocated two teams as long as they have the available athletes. The hard thing about the team event is that unlike a regular race where you know exactly how much time you have to warm up before you go, in this format it is constantly changing depending on how team member in front of you finished. At one point depending on your teammate you could be going off 1st and the next minute you can be going off 15th, so you have to do your best to be warmed up good but too soon. In addition to the fact that the Team Event was about four hours after the two man event making for a very long day considering we arrived at the track at 8:30 am and did not leave until 6pm.
In the 2-Man race my team mates finished on USA 2 finished 22nd, USA 1 Holcomb and Langton finished 6th, and USA 3 Butner and Quinn finished 25th out of 32 sleds. And while I am on the subject our girls kicked some Serious butt in there 2-man race!!! USA 1 Shauna and Val took Silver, USA 3 Meyers (First World Cup Season and WCH) and Gruebel took 9th, and USA 2 Schaaf and Azevedo took 10th out of 22 sleds!!!
In the team event USA 2 ( Daly, Meyers/Koplin, O'shea, and Napier/Beckom) the team I was on finished 8th and the USA 1 (Antoine, Schaaf/Azevedo, Uhlaender, and Holcomb/Tomasevicz) team finished 9th out of 15 teams. Don't get me wrong we always want to win every race we are in but it did feel good to be the USA 1 team!! Also, on this particular track there is a series of curves called the S's (S1-S4) because they are literally shaped like to S's laid horizontally. During most of the training week and in the earlier 2-Man race Napier had trouble with S4 where he came off the turn too early causing a dramatic skid going into a long straight away resulting in a significant lost of time. However during the team event Napier improved his exit on S4 (I am going to say it was due to my excellent ridding position in the back of the sled!!! I make it go straight lol! But its true!) resulting in us going faster than all of his heats in the 2-man race and closer too Holcomb in down time then he had been all week. After the race Napier was feeling confident heading into the week of 4-man, and I was feeling happy because he seemed to be getting a little of his swagger back.
Bobsled racing is like any other thing in life where if you have a bad moment, play, heat, presentation, test, race or day you have to quickly put it behind you and move forward. This is the mentality I have and what I expect of my teammates going into 4-man week. Four-Man week is the week everyone is excited for since it is the Original Bobsled format before Two-Man was introduced at the 1932 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. The 4-man is the event where all four of your Big Dawgs are at the line and all 800lbs of them combined are Jacked up out of their minds, blood pumping like a volcano ready to erupt, chompin at the bit to push the sled to Ludicrous speed right past Lone Star and Barf!!! lol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk7VWcuVOf0 The point is that come 4-Man day WCH the boys are ready!! and the Grim Reaper better take the day of if he knows what's good for him because if he wants some he can get some too!! We'll make that Sickle into and Popsicle and send his butt home to Momma Grimm! That's what I'm...Talkin....Bout! lol
Early in the the week of 4-man training we were pretty equal at the push with everyone else but our down times were pretty far off the mark so we were examining every possibility to the cause. Napier and the coaches were adjusting the sled steering to set it up just the way Napes wanted to where he thought it would be fast on this track. With the steering you can either give the driver more control or less control which determines how much he has to steer through a turn. On some tracks some drivers feel like they need one or the other so they obtain input from the coaches then make the appropriate changes. While this was going on the other brakemen and I were working on our loads and ridding position, finding ways to become more aerodynamic. The coaches and Napes would look at us from different angles of the sled taking pictures at times to show us how we looked in the sled. We changed helmets for this race that were more rounded than some of the previous helmets we were wearing resulting in better air flow and allowed us to get lower. Resulting in us shaving a little more time off at the bottom of the track and being closer to USA 1 and the other sleds, however there seemed to be some time being left on the tack but that is not something we could really dwell on much longer since the race was in two days, sometimes you just have to trust it will all come together on race day.
On the day of the race we were the 14th sled of the top of the hill, which is an important number for me to know as an athlete who is planning the perfect warm-up before a race. Depending on the athlete a pre-race warm-up can last between 30-60 minutes, and each sled take about two minutes to make it down and the track is cleared. So being the 14th sled off lets me know that I will go off about twenty-five minutes after the start of the race, I then add (count 35minutes backwards) an additional Thirty-five minutes to that to determine my warm up time. For example if the race starts at 11:30 am I will start my warm up at 10:25am which allows me a few extra minutes to spare.
We all warm up like usual, get to the line and ready to go! Since I am running the Brakes on the Sled I check both side pushers positions and the drivers position to make sure everyone is ready than I start the Cadence screaming out BACK-SET!!! Napier then Scream FRONT SET READY AND!!! I start my drop on the A since I have the longest distance to travel, which ensures that I hit the sled on the D in and along with my teammates. Now the race is on!! We all push and load with no major issues the ride down was not the smoothest and it show in our down time. We were in 11th when we finished our trip but it was still some good teams to follow and by the end of the first heat we were sitting in 18th place, this is not where we wanted to be but hey it happens. On the ride up to the top the only thing on our mind is push harder get lower and trust Napes will do his thing. The second run we push and load the same and Napes finds a little of what he did not have the first trip and on this trip instead of the being the 18th fastest sled down the hill we were the 14th fastest sled down! However some other sleds went faster the second run as well so we were only able to over take one sled moving us into 17th place going into the second day of racing. But even though we were in 17th place the best news is that we are only .12 out of the top ten!!! This is a tight race people and believe me knowing this we are all pretty excited since our goal is still in sight!
That night .12 was the only thing on my mind and what could I do to try and help us grab that .12. I talked to m teammates stressing the fact that we if we each just push 3 hundredths faster we can grab that time at the top and it will just multiply down the track! Literally that was the only thing on my mind the whole night! The next morning I woke up I thinking WAX!! I need some WAX because we were out and since our sleds had these new vinyl wraps on them we were told we did not need to wax the sleds. Today I was uhmmm .12 yeah I am going to wax the heck out of Elanor (The Sleds Name) and she is going to fly down the track! I knocked on one of the Skeleton girls rooms who I know had some wax (this may have been at 7:30am) asked her to look through her already packed bags for her wax because we really needed it. Thankfully she searched through her bags and found it for me, I then grabbed my teammates to help me flip the sled so I could wax it down. By the time I got done waxing Elanor she was looking so fast and smooth, the sled cover would not even stay on she was look smooth as butter babe!!
Our race was at 12:05 in the afternoon and as usual we left out an hour and a half before the race. We do this to make sure we have enough time to warm up plus you have to have all sled work done forty-five minutes before the start of the race. This means that the runners have to be on, cover off the sled and any mechanical adjustments that need to be made all need to be finished by that time. If you are still working on the sled or the sled is not at the top within that time frame your team would be disqualified or at the least get a hefty fine.
Like normal we are all warming-up getting ready for the race talking with each other making sure we are all feeling good. I am happy to say that we all were feeling good maybe even better than we did the first day! As we warmed up it began to snow a bit then after a while the snow began to get more consistent which changes the way we need to go about our start. Recognizing this I talked to my other brakemen and told them that make sure by the time the sled is dropped that they are ready to go! I told them to have their warm-up gear off and we are not going to wast time putting our shoe covers in the sled, we are just going to drop the sled call cadence and go. I then spoke with Napier letting him know that due to the snow we are going to be on a quick pace to get the sled down and go. We do this because even though they sweep the snow out of the start groves before every sled the snow still continues to accumulate in the start grooves. As you can imagine that extra snow in the start grooves cause the start to be slower and in order to mitigate the affects of the snow you get the sled down as quick as possible and go. So that was our plan.......funny things about plans is that they are not always executed.
We get to the line and as the coaches are moving the sled into position we are stripping down to our speed suits, taking off our shoe covers and stepping on to the start block!! We get the clear from the Starter, the coaches drop the sled and all the brakeman are in position soon as the sled touches the ice! I look up towards the left of the sled and I see napes get down into his start position and I start the cadence screaming BACK-SET!.....but there is a pause, or silence, or maybe its to noisy and we can not hear napes say anything. Now for our sport a pause is anything that is not immediate and that could be as little as half a second because it slows down the normal speed of the cadence and our reaction time. The day before we all talked about if I call the cadence and for some reason w are not able to hear napes then we will continue to fall and hit the sled with our normal timing and like clock work all of the brakemen fall and hit the sled at the same time!! Problem is Napes does not and we all see this and feel this as we hit! The sled is moving and napes is on the bar but he is now trying to catch up with the sled instead of helping push! Even though this all happens within a few seconds it plays in slow motion in our head, it is also at that moment that we realize that we are now out of any possible chance of getting into the top ten and may be out of the top twenty removing the possibility of getting a second run. Now Napes getting into the sled has to try mentally recover from what just happened at the start so that he can effectively drive the sled down. At this point as we load the thought that is in my mind and I am sure it is in the other guys mind is you have to be kidding me we are now out of this race. We get to the bottom and it is not a happy scene by any means of the imagination some tempers fly and now we play the waiting game to see if we get a fourth run. This was not the way this day was suppose to go and none of us saw this coming. As we get back to the top our teammates watching and had watched the replay told us what we already knew, that we left Napier at the start! Luckily we get a fourth run, so now we have to regroup to push one more time. The second heat the timing was better since we all hit the sled at the same time but we lost so much time on the 3rd heat it was really no coming back from it and we finished 19th overall.
It just goes to show you that no matter the situation be it sports, office work, or personal life if you are working on a team with a person(s) if you are all not on the same page in achieving a goal than that goal will not be achieved.
There may be a little frustration in my e-mail but it can not be helped because we were really close to acheiving our goal and we fell short when it counted the most. I am frustrated but my spirits are not down it just gives me motivation to work harder and get into a better situation next year.
I am pleased to say that USA 1 4-Man team took Bronze in the race and although it was cool watching them get their awards it would have been cooler to getting one right next to them.
Thank you again for all your support this Season and I will Bring home some Better Medals this Next Season!!
The 2010/2011 Season has come to an end and now starts the 2011-2012 Season!! And its off to Colorado Springs to Start training.
Special Thanks to all My Financial Sponsors
NOW Foods - the official site of NOW Foods International Contractors - Construction Salem Baptist Church of Chicago - Rev. James T. Meeks
Courts Plus | Elmhurst, IL, Fraternal Order of Police-Chicago Lodge 7 Wake Forest University VIsion Salon Manatts Construction
John D. Jevitz, DC - Chiropractic - Elmhurst, IL
Dr. Thomas Greenwald Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Joseph Thometz Otrhopedic Surgeon
Frank & Jolene Randall Sports Medicine, Consultants
Venus Beckom
Keith Mitchell Tina & Mark Fornwald
Ulanka Beckom Jesse & Addie beckom
Albert Beckom Denise Beckom
James & Anne Dout David Martin
James Elmore Verne Celestaine
Rebecca Anthony Jennifer John
Sarah Tores Albert Beckom
Stacey Ross Steve Smotherman
David Moore Kristin Houston
Beth Henning Danielle Williams
Thomas Greenwald Ernest, Hailey, Mary Hannah and Elle O'Brien Carolyn Spencer Elmhurst JC'S
Tate & Amanda Marcinkowski
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
I hope every ones week is off to a Great Start and if not Maybe you need to do a Desk Pop! I believe my last Desk Pop was September "08" (The Other Guys Reference, Watch it! It Good Un huh lol)
Thanks too the USA's High Speed Internet I have been able to upload all of my pictures!!! And unfortunately it was this Shirt Fairy going around stealing shirts before some photos and for some reason he kept getting me when I was not looking! lol All the new pictures are on my Media page within the first five selections on the list.
The last three weeks of the season were kind of interesting, some of it was good and some of it was uhmmmm not so good!! But before I get a head of myself let me reiterate the World Championships (WCH) format. As I stated we were there for three week the first week was an international training week that allows for drivers to get acquainted with a newly constructed tract or in this case a tracked that made changes to existing turns, followed by two weeks of racing. During World Championships there is one week of racing dedicated to each discipline within the sport. Thereby meaning that one week is dedicated solely to 2-man training followed by the 2-man race, and one week is dedicated solely to 4-man training and racing. In both instances four heats of racing are held over two days (Saturday and Sunday) with two heats per day. In the first heat of the race all sleds go off in order according to their World Ranking, in the second heat the sleds go off in reverse order 20-1 then the sleds not in the top twenty go off 21... until the end. On the third day of racing sleds go off 1 till the end, and only the top twenty sleds get a fourth run.
For the USA after National Team Trials are over with we have a Selection Committee who has been given the authority to choose who races what races in World Championships and also in the Olympic Games. In this case my teammate Laszlo was chosen to race 2-Man WCH with our Driver Napier and I was chosen to race the Team Event for WCH. The team event is where each discipline Men's and Women's Bobsled, and Men's and Women's Skeleton from a country take one run each down the track, the totals are taken and the team with the overall fastest time down wins. Each country is allocated two teams as long as they have the available athletes. The hard thing about the team event is that unlike a regular race where you know exactly how much time you have to warm up before you go, in this format it is constantly changing depending on how team member in front of you finished. At one point depending on your teammate you could be going off 1st and the next minute you can be going off 15th, so you have to do your best to be warmed up good but too soon. In addition to the fact that the Team Event was about four hours after the two man event making for a very long day considering we arrived at the track at 8:30 am and did not leave until 6pm.
In the 2-Man race my team mates finished on USA 2 finished 22nd, USA 1 Holcomb and Langton finished 6th, and USA 3 Butner and Quinn finished 25th out of 32 sleds. And while I am on the subject our girls kicked some Serious butt in there 2-man race!!! USA 1 Shauna and Val took Silver, USA 3 Meyers (First World Cup Season and WCH) and Gruebel took 9th, and USA 2 Schaaf and Azevedo took 10th out of 22 sleds!!!
In the team event USA 2 ( Daly, Meyers/Koplin, O'shea, and Napier/Beckom) the team I was on finished 8th and the USA 1 (Antoine, Schaaf/Azevedo, Uhlaender, and Holcomb/Tomasevicz) team finished 9th out of 15 teams. Don't get me wrong we always want to win every race we are in but it did feel good to be the USA 1 team!! Also, on this particular track there is a series of curves called the S's (S1-S4) because they are literally shaped like to S's laid horizontally. During most of the training week and in the earlier 2-Man race Napier had trouble with S4 where he came off the turn too early causing a dramatic skid going into a long straight away resulting in a significant lost of time. However during the team event Napier improved his exit on S4 (I am going to say it was due to my excellent ridding position in the back of the sled!!! I make it go straight lol! But its true!) resulting in us going faster than all of his heats in the 2-man race and closer too Holcomb in down time then he had been all week. After the race Napier was feeling confident heading into the week of 4-man, and I was feeling happy because he seemed to be getting a little of his swagger back.
Bobsled racing is like any other thing in life where if you have a bad moment, play, heat, presentation, test, race or day you have to quickly put it behind you and move forward. This is the mentality I have and what I expect of my teammates going into 4-man week. Four-Man week is the week everyone is excited for since it is the Original Bobsled format before Two-Man was introduced at the 1932 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York. The 4-man is the event where all four of your Big Dawgs are at the line and all 800lbs of them combined are Jacked up out of their minds, blood pumping like a volcano ready to erupt, chompin at the bit to push the sled to Ludicrous speed right past Lone Star and Barf!!! lol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk7VWcuVOf0 The point is that come 4-Man day WCH the boys are ready!! and the Grim Reaper better take the day of if he knows what's good for him because if he wants some he can get some too!! We'll make that Sickle into and Popsicle and send his butt home to Momma Grimm! That's what I'm...Talkin....Bout! lol
Early in the the week of 4-man training we were pretty equal at the push with everyone else but our down times were pretty far off the mark so we were examining every possibility to the cause. Napier and the coaches were adjusting the sled steering to set it up just the way Napes wanted to where he thought it would be fast on this track. With the steering you can either give the driver more control or less control which determines how much he has to steer through a turn. On some tracks some drivers feel like they need one or the other so they obtain input from the coaches then make the appropriate changes. While this was going on the other brakemen and I were working on our loads and ridding position, finding ways to become more aerodynamic. The coaches and Napes would look at us from different angles of the sled taking pictures at times to show us how we looked in the sled. We changed helmets for this race that were more rounded than some of the previous helmets we were wearing resulting in better air flow and allowed us to get lower. Resulting in us shaving a little more time off at the bottom of the track and being closer to USA 1 and the other sleds, however there seemed to be some time being left on the tack but that is not something we could really dwell on much longer since the race was in two days, sometimes you just have to trust it will all come together on race day.
On the day of the race we were the 14th sled of the top of the hill, which is an important number for me to know as an athlete who is planning the perfect warm-up before a race. Depending on the athlete a pre-race warm-up can last between 30-60 minutes, and each sled take about two minutes to make it down and the track is cleared. So being the 14th sled off lets me know that I will go off about twenty-five minutes after the start of the race, I then add (count 35minutes backwards) an additional Thirty-five minutes to that to determine my warm up time. For example if the race starts at 11:30 am I will start my warm up at 10:25am which allows me a few extra minutes to spare.
We all warm up like usual, get to the line and ready to go! Since I am running the Brakes on the Sled I check both side pushers positions and the drivers position to make sure everyone is ready than I start the Cadence screaming out BACK-SET!!! Napier then Scream FRONT SET READY AND!!! I start my drop on the A since I have the longest distance to travel, which ensures that I hit the sled on the D in and along with my teammates. Now the race is on!! We all push and load with no major issues the ride down was not the smoothest and it show in our down time. We were in 11th when we finished our trip but it was still some good teams to follow and by the end of the first heat we were sitting in 18th place, this is not where we wanted to be but hey it happens. On the ride up to the top the only thing on our mind is push harder get lower and trust Napes will do his thing. The second run we push and load the same and Napes finds a little of what he did not have the first trip and on this trip instead of the being the 18th fastest sled down the hill we were the 14th fastest sled down! However some other sleds went faster the second run as well so we were only able to over take one sled moving us into 17th place going into the second day of racing. But even though we were in 17th place the best news is that we are only .12 out of the top ten!!! This is a tight race people and believe me knowing this we are all pretty excited since our goal is still in sight!
That night .12 was the only thing on my mind and what could I do to try and help us grab that .12. I talked to m teammates stressing the fact that we if we each just push 3 hundredths faster we can grab that time at the top and it will just multiply down the track! Literally that was the only thing on my mind the whole night! The next morning I woke up I thinking WAX!! I need some WAX because we were out and since our sleds had these new vinyl wraps on them we were told we did not need to wax the sleds. Today I was uhmmm .12 yeah I am going to wax the heck out of Elanor (The Sleds Name) and she is going to fly down the track! I knocked on one of the Skeleton girls rooms who I know had some wax (this may have been at 7:30am) asked her to look through her already packed bags for her wax because we really needed it. Thankfully she searched through her bags and found it for me, I then grabbed my teammates to help me flip the sled so I could wax it down. By the time I got done waxing Elanor she was looking so fast and smooth, the sled cover would not even stay on she was look smooth as butter babe!!
Our race was at 12:05 in the afternoon and as usual we left out an hour and a half before the race. We do this to make sure we have enough time to warm up plus you have to have all sled work done forty-five minutes before the start of the race. This means that the runners have to be on, cover off the sled and any mechanical adjustments that need to be made all need to be finished by that time. If you are still working on the sled or the sled is not at the top within that time frame your team would be disqualified or at the least get a hefty fine.
Like normal we are all warming-up getting ready for the race talking with each other making sure we are all feeling good. I am happy to say that we all were feeling good maybe even better than we did the first day! As we warmed up it began to snow a bit then after a while the snow began to get more consistent which changes the way we need to go about our start. Recognizing this I talked to my other brakemen and told them that make sure by the time the sled is dropped that they are ready to go! I told them to have their warm-up gear off and we are not going to wast time putting our shoe covers in the sled, we are just going to drop the sled call cadence and go. I then spoke with Napier letting him know that due to the snow we are going to be on a quick pace to get the sled down and go. We do this because even though they sweep the snow out of the start groves before every sled the snow still continues to accumulate in the start grooves. As you can imagine that extra snow in the start grooves cause the start to be slower and in order to mitigate the affects of the snow you get the sled down as quick as possible and go. So that was our plan.......funny things about plans is that they are not always executed.
We get to the line and as the coaches are moving the sled into position we are stripping down to our speed suits, taking off our shoe covers and stepping on to the start block!! We get the clear from the Starter, the coaches drop the sled and all the brakeman are in position soon as the sled touches the ice! I look up towards the left of the sled and I see napes get down into his start position and I start the cadence screaming BACK-SET!.....but there is a pause, or silence, or maybe its to noisy and we can not hear napes say anything. Now for our sport a pause is anything that is not immediate and that could be as little as half a second because it slows down the normal speed of the cadence and our reaction time. The day before we all talked about if I call the cadence and for some reason w are not able to hear napes then we will continue to fall and hit the sled with our normal timing and like clock work all of the brakemen fall and hit the sled at the same time!! Problem is Napes does not and we all see this and feel this as we hit! The sled is moving and napes is on the bar but he is now trying to catch up with the sled instead of helping push! Even though this all happens within a few seconds it plays in slow motion in our head, it is also at that moment that we realize that we are now out of any possible chance of getting into the top ten and may be out of the top twenty removing the possibility of getting a second run. Now Napes getting into the sled has to try mentally recover from what just happened at the start so that he can effectively drive the sled down. At this point as we load the thought that is in my mind and I am sure it is in the other guys mind is you have to be kidding me we are now out of this race. We get to the bottom and it is not a happy scene by any means of the imagination some tempers fly and now we play the waiting game to see if we get a fourth run. This was not the way this day was suppose to go and none of us saw this coming. As we get back to the top our teammates watching and had watched the replay told us what we already knew, that we left Napier at the start! Luckily we get a fourth run, so now we have to regroup to push one more time. The second heat the timing was better since we all hit the sled at the same time but we lost so much time on the 3rd heat it was really no coming back from it and we finished 19th overall.
It just goes to show you that no matter the situation be it sports, office work, or personal life if you are working on a team with a person(s) if you are all not on the same page in achieving a goal than that goal will not be achieved.
There may be a little frustration in my e-mail but it can not be helped because we were really close to acheiving our goal and we fell short when it counted the most. I am frustrated but my spirits are not down it just gives me motivation to work harder and get into a better situation next year.
I am pleased to say that USA 1 4-Man team took Bronze in the race and although it was cool watching them get their awards it would have been cooler to getting one right next to them.
Thank you again for all your support this Season and I will Bring home some Better Medals this Next Season!!
The 2010/2011 Season has come to an end and now starts the 2011-2012 Season!! And its off to Colorado Springs to Start training.
Special Thanks to all My Financial Sponsors
NOW Foods - the official site of NOW Foods International Contractors - Construction Salem Baptist Church of Chicago - Rev. James T. Meeks
Courts Plus | Elmhurst, IL, Fraternal Order of Police-Chicago Lodge 7 Wake Forest University VIsion Salon Manatts Construction
John D. Jevitz, DC - Chiropractic - Elmhurst, IL
Dr. Thomas Greenwald Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Joseph Thometz Otrhopedic Surgeon
Frank & Jolene Randall Sports Medicine, Consultants
Venus Beckom
Keith Mitchell Tina & Mark Fornwald
Ulanka Beckom Jesse & Addie beckom
Albert Beckom Denise Beckom
James & Anne Dout David Martin
James Elmore Verne Celestaine
Rebecca Anthony Jennifer John
Sarah Tores Albert Beckom
Stacey Ross Steve Smotherman
David Moore Kristin Houston
Beth Henning Danielle Williams
Thomas Greenwald Ernest, Hailey, Mary Hannah and Elle O'Brien Carolyn Spencer Elmhurst JC'S
Tate & Amanda Marcinkowski
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Italy World Cup Update
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
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
Friday, February 4, 2011
Winterberg and St. Moritz Update
Hello everyone,
I am currently in Cesana, Italy the last stop on the World Cup tour before World Championships!! The last two weeks have been up and down.
In order to find the fastest pushing combinations on USA 2 we had been changing positions and people on our four-man crew. Two weeks ago in Winterberg, Germany we came up with a pretty good combination resulting in my team mates Collin, and Laszlo on the side with me on the brakes (back of the sled) we pushed relatively faster together than the combinations before and ended up finishing 11th in the race, so close to a top ten finish.
Now while World Cup is going on Junior World Championships is also about to begin this week in Park City Utah. The athletes eligible for Junior Worlds must be 16 to 26yrs of age. Besides Napier my driver there is a new driver named nick who started driving last year who meets this age requirement, along with Laszlo and Collin as brakemen. In order to see who would have the choice of going to race Junior Worlds or not Collin and Laszlo had a race-off which Laszlo won. After conversations among the coaches it was decided that Collin would go back to the States and race Junior Worlds with Nick. Colin was also sent back because this was his first experience being away from home and after Junior Worlds he voiced that he had no intentions on continuing with the sport at this time.
This turn of events lead to the combination of Jared and Laszlo on the side with me on the brakes going into the St. Moritz Switzerland race the following week. The Track at St. Moritz is by far every bobsledders favorite track and the coolest! It is the last remaining naturally man made track in the World!! It is where bobsledding was invented, it is over a mile long, passes through two nearby cities, winds through a forest, and we hit speeds up to 91 mph! The track is made from the existing snow in the area and if there is not enough snow they truck it down from the Alps. The track is so smooth and long and our Bodies sleds hum when they get up to speed, it’s a beautiful thing! I have a ton of pictures on my web site www.jessebeckom3.com of Winterberg, Germany and St. Moritz just look for the folders marked by each city’s perspective name. However it takes a while for me to upload pictures to my site and the hotel we are staying us charges us hourly to use the internet so I will not be able to post pictures till Tuesday. But take my word for it these places are beautiful!
Four-man Training went well on Thursday, we were about .04 off the push of USA 1 on both practice runs, and we were all feeling pretty good going into the race. That Friday like every week we took off to rest and prepare the 2-man sled for the 2-man race Saturday. The two man race on Saturday was at 9 a.m. so we had breakfast at 6:45 and headed to the track at 7. The race seemed to be going smoothly my team mates Napier and Lazlo pushed and came down the hill. As I helping with the sled at the bottom Laszlo had a weird look on his face, then explained that he felt his hamstring pull on his last step getting into the sled. At that point several thoughts rushed through my head, I felt bad for Laszlo but I knew I had to get my mind in race mode because I would have to take the next run. While thinking about getting back to the top of the hill as quick as possible I began thinking what are we going to do for 4-man now! I quickly regrouped my thoughts taking them off of 4-man and placing them on the moment at hand. I usually take an hour to warm up, but today I only had about 25 minutes!! One of my team mates asked me if I would have enough time, I told him It will have to be enough today! This is the moment where in my warm-up I start praying several prayers to God asking him to heat my muscles up quicker so I don’t pull anything. Immediately during the warm-up my heart race started to increase, my adrenaline was starting to flow I had to remind myself this is not my first rodeo, and calm down before I got going too soon. I gathered my thoughts focused on what I had to do and did it. We ended up pushing 4 hundredths faster than they had pushed in the first heat. Under the circumstances I was ok of the push and I know if I had be just 1 hundredth slower than their first push time they would have tried to hold it against me regardless of the circumstances. We ended up finishing 15th but on the run I went down on we our down time was in 12th position so overall it was a pretty solid performance.
Then next day since Laszlo was unable to race we went with the alternate Johnny Q for the race (the alternate has changed every week it’s been crazy). This is not the ideal situation since our alternate had never done a World Cup race nor had we spent anytime practicing together but hey we made lemonade. The night before the race we made internal modifications to the sled, adjusting foot pegs and handles for Johnny Q, and then did about 15 loads in the sled to get ready for the race in the morning. During the race we did not have our smoothest loads or fastest pushes and ended up in 16th place. It was not the best situation for Johnny Q to be thrown in but I give him a lot of credit for stepping in and giving it his all when his number was called. Sorry I do not have any amusing tid bits in this e-mail but like I have said before I will do my best to tell stories the way I experience them and all the changing up over the last few weeks does not make for fun or productive bobsledding.
The good news is that our trainer Peter has been doing a ton of rehab with Laszlo’s hamstring and it seems to be better, so this week he will be able to do 4-man with us! Wish us luck.
God Bless you all.
Jesse
I am currently in Cesana, Italy the last stop on the World Cup tour before World Championships!! The last two weeks have been up and down.
In order to find the fastest pushing combinations on USA 2 we had been changing positions and people on our four-man crew. Two weeks ago in Winterberg, Germany we came up with a pretty good combination resulting in my team mates Collin, and Laszlo on the side with me on the brakes (back of the sled) we pushed relatively faster together than the combinations before and ended up finishing 11th in the race, so close to a top ten finish.
Now while World Cup is going on Junior World Championships is also about to begin this week in Park City Utah. The athletes eligible for Junior Worlds must be 16 to 26yrs of age. Besides Napier my driver there is a new driver named nick who started driving last year who meets this age requirement, along with Laszlo and Collin as brakemen. In order to see who would have the choice of going to race Junior Worlds or not Collin and Laszlo had a race-off which Laszlo won. After conversations among the coaches it was decided that Collin would go back to the States and race Junior Worlds with Nick. Colin was also sent back because this was his first experience being away from home and after Junior Worlds he voiced that he had no intentions on continuing with the sport at this time.
This turn of events lead to the combination of Jared and Laszlo on the side with me on the brakes going into the St. Moritz Switzerland race the following week. The Track at St. Moritz is by far every bobsledders favorite track and the coolest! It is the last remaining naturally man made track in the World!! It is where bobsledding was invented, it is over a mile long, passes through two nearby cities, winds through a forest, and we hit speeds up to 91 mph! The track is made from the existing snow in the area and if there is not enough snow they truck it down from the Alps. The track is so smooth and long and our Bodies sleds hum when they get up to speed, it’s a beautiful thing! I have a ton of pictures on my web site www.jessebeckom3.com of Winterberg, Germany and St. Moritz just look for the folders marked by each city’s perspective name. However it takes a while for me to upload pictures to my site and the hotel we are staying us charges us hourly to use the internet so I will not be able to post pictures till Tuesday. But take my word for it these places are beautiful!
Four-man Training went well on Thursday, we were about .04 off the push of USA 1 on both practice runs, and we were all feeling pretty good going into the race. That Friday like every week we took off to rest and prepare the 2-man sled for the 2-man race Saturday. The two man race on Saturday was at 9 a.m. so we had breakfast at 6:45 and headed to the track at 7. The race seemed to be going smoothly my team mates Napier and Lazlo pushed and came down the hill. As I helping with the sled at the bottom Laszlo had a weird look on his face, then explained that he felt his hamstring pull on his last step getting into the sled. At that point several thoughts rushed through my head, I felt bad for Laszlo but I knew I had to get my mind in race mode because I would have to take the next run. While thinking about getting back to the top of the hill as quick as possible I began thinking what are we going to do for 4-man now! I quickly regrouped my thoughts taking them off of 4-man and placing them on the moment at hand. I usually take an hour to warm up, but today I only had about 25 minutes!! One of my team mates asked me if I would have enough time, I told him It will have to be enough today! This is the moment where in my warm-up I start praying several prayers to God asking him to heat my muscles up quicker so I don’t pull anything. Immediately during the warm-up my heart race started to increase, my adrenaline was starting to flow I had to remind myself this is not my first rodeo, and calm down before I got going too soon. I gathered my thoughts focused on what I had to do and did it. We ended up pushing 4 hundredths faster than they had pushed in the first heat. Under the circumstances I was ok of the push and I know if I had be just 1 hundredth slower than their first push time they would have tried to hold it against me regardless of the circumstances. We ended up finishing 15th but on the run I went down on we our down time was in 12th position so overall it was a pretty solid performance.
Then next day since Laszlo was unable to race we went with the alternate Johnny Q for the race (the alternate has changed every week it’s been crazy). This is not the ideal situation since our alternate had never done a World Cup race nor had we spent anytime practicing together but hey we made lemonade. The night before the race we made internal modifications to the sled, adjusting foot pegs and handles for Johnny Q, and then did about 15 loads in the sled to get ready for the race in the morning. During the race we did not have our smoothest loads or fastest pushes and ended up in 16th place. It was not the best situation for Johnny Q to be thrown in but I give him a lot of credit for stepping in and giving it his all when his number was called. Sorry I do not have any amusing tid bits in this e-mail but like I have said before I will do my best to tell stories the way I experience them and all the changing up over the last few weeks does not make for fun or productive bobsledding.
The good news is that our trainer Peter has been doing a ton of rehab with Laszlo’s hamstring and it seems to be better, so this week he will be able to do 4-man with us! Wish us luck.
God Bless you all.
Jesse
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ingls, Austria Update
January 18, 2010
Guten Tag, aus Austria,
On January 9th we arrived in Ingls, Austria for our first World Cup Race of the second half of tour. We flew into the Munich airport in Germany where we spent the night a Holiday Inn Express. In the morning we drove our rental cars and large rental trucks over to the storage warehouse where our bobsleds were shipped. We loaded up seven bobsleds five 2-man’s and two 4-man’s, along with our luggage, weights, tools and our sports medicine supplies and were off into the deep dark world known as Europa!!! A Warning for those meek at heart! Oh yes many a men have made such a trek all have come back from……but not all have come back alive……nor sane! BEWARE!!BEWARE!! My bag I am watching movies and typing again, that’s never a good combination! Lol In Ingls we stayed at the Sportshotel that was about ten minutes away from the bobsled track.
It is now January 17, 2011 and we have completed our first race in Ingls, Austria. It was a rough week to say the least, the Sled I race on USA 2 finished outside of the top ten in both two-man and four-man. My driver is still getting his feel and strength back up since before he left to help fight the War in Afghanistan. It seems that we are still shaking the rust off in terms of driving and pushing but the overall goal is to be strong five weeks from now as we head into Konigesse, Germany for World Championships. After the 4-man race in Ingls we went back to the hotel ate lunch, then jumped in the rentals making an eight our drive to the next race venue located here in Winterberg, Germany. While in Winterberg the USA team enjoys the comforts of the Avital Hotel. J As the City Planner side of me comes out I was in awe at the fact that this hotel is in the middle of single family residential with a small hint of multi-family residential. Now using most city designs and planning laws that I know about this hotel is in the wrong place along with the other spot zoning surrounding this place. However they did do a great job matching the hotel façade with the façade on residential structures making for a smoother transition between two distinctive uses. Ok enough of that….Ouch my brain hurts now, just messing it hurts because earlier today I figured out the meaning of life and have been creating the calculations that explain my discovery in laymen terms. Now where was I, oh yes bobsled.
As we went on strolls around Austria I have had about six different collisions with people walking. Either I or the other people have come around the corner too fast along with their perspective group and I have almost run them over! Immediately upon seeing me before they even get a chance to take another breath they quickly say Entschuldigung! Entschuldigung! Entschuldigung! with a look like they have just saw their life flash in front of their eyes, while their friends either are laughing or fearful for them. Oh and Entschuldigung! means excuse me! A couple of other times as we walk away you hear them speaking in German saying that was a big guy. My group and I found it pretty amusing.
Oh!!! And I am not sure how many of you all know it but I have an extraordinarily huge sweet tooth!!! They have this chocolate over here by Milka that is amazingly good!!! Now they sell Milka in the states but it tastes nothing like the Milka in Europe! The chocolate here is very smooth and rich, it makes Hershey taste like you brought it out of a gum ball machine. To my delight they have two different sizes of Milka one is the normal candy bar size and the other is about three times the size of a normal candy bar!! So you know what I did, yeah I have already brought about 14 of the large bars 8 small bars and about 6 other different types of chocolate bars. I brought this one bar that was pear/Carmel flavor it was all types of awesome. And don’t worry I have included pictures of everything on my web page. www.jessebeckom3.com so enjoy but unfortunately not as much as I will!!
God Bless
Jesse
Guten Tag, aus Austria,
On January 9th we arrived in Ingls, Austria for our first World Cup Race of the second half of tour. We flew into the Munich airport in Germany where we spent the night a Holiday Inn Express. In the morning we drove our rental cars and large rental trucks over to the storage warehouse where our bobsleds were shipped. We loaded up seven bobsleds five 2-man’s and two 4-man’s, along with our luggage, weights, tools and our sports medicine supplies and were off into the deep dark world known as Europa!!! A Warning for those meek at heart! Oh yes many a men have made such a trek all have come back from……but not all have come back alive……nor sane! BEWARE!!BEWARE!! My bag I am watching movies and typing again, that’s never a good combination! Lol In Ingls we stayed at the Sportshotel that was about ten minutes away from the bobsled track.
It is now January 17, 2011 and we have completed our first race in Ingls, Austria. It was a rough week to say the least, the Sled I race on USA 2 finished outside of the top ten in both two-man and four-man. My driver is still getting his feel and strength back up since before he left to help fight the War in Afghanistan. It seems that we are still shaking the rust off in terms of driving and pushing but the overall goal is to be strong five weeks from now as we head into Konigesse, Germany for World Championships. After the 4-man race in Ingls we went back to the hotel ate lunch, then jumped in the rentals making an eight our drive to the next race venue located here in Winterberg, Germany. While in Winterberg the USA team enjoys the comforts of the Avital Hotel. J As the City Planner side of me comes out I was in awe at the fact that this hotel is in the middle of single family residential with a small hint of multi-family residential. Now using most city designs and planning laws that I know about this hotel is in the wrong place along with the other spot zoning surrounding this place. However they did do a great job matching the hotel façade with the façade on residential structures making for a smoother transition between two distinctive uses. Ok enough of that….Ouch my brain hurts now, just messing it hurts because earlier today I figured out the meaning of life and have been creating the calculations that explain my discovery in laymen terms. Now where was I, oh yes bobsled.
As we went on strolls around Austria I have had about six different collisions with people walking. Either I or the other people have come around the corner too fast along with their perspective group and I have almost run them over! Immediately upon seeing me before they even get a chance to take another breath they quickly say Entschuldigung! Entschuldigung! Entschuldigung! with a look like they have just saw their life flash in front of their eyes, while their friends either are laughing or fearful for them. Oh and Entschuldigung! means excuse me! A couple of other times as we walk away you hear them speaking in German saying that was a big guy. My group and I found it pretty amusing.
Oh!!! And I am not sure how many of you all know it but I have an extraordinarily huge sweet tooth!!! They have this chocolate over here by Milka that is amazingly good!!! Now they sell Milka in the states but it tastes nothing like the Milka in Europe! The chocolate here is very smooth and rich, it makes Hershey taste like you brought it out of a gum ball machine. To my delight they have two different sizes of Milka one is the normal candy bar size and the other is about three times the size of a normal candy bar!! So you know what I did, yeah I have already brought about 14 of the large bars 8 small bars and about 6 other different types of chocolate bars. I brought this one bar that was pear/Carmel flavor it was all types of awesome. And don’t worry I have included pictures of everything on my web page. www.jessebeckom3.com so enjoy but unfortunately not as much as I will!!
God Bless
Jesse
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