4-Man World Championships This Saturday and Sunday 9am est

Good Morning Everyone,

I just wanted to remind you to watch all 4 Heats of the 4-Man World Championship Races LIVE This Saturday and Sunday at 9AM est.!!! Just follow this link http://eurovision.digotel.com/fibt/index.html And if you are not able to watch it live, still click on this link and watch the video replay that is located in a video box link at the bottom of the web-page.

It has been a crazy season for me full of ups and downs but I will fill you in on everything at the end of Worlds.

Thanks and God Bless

Jesse

www.jessebeckom3.com

Altenberg Germany Race Week Jan 02-Jan08 2012

Flight to Frankfurt

On December 30th after ten days of semi-rest and semi-relaxation we headed back over to Europe for the second half of the World Cup Tour. In keeping with my history of flight delays/cancellations the flight back to Europe sadly would not disappoint. My flight out of Colorado Springs left at 6:20 am (I looked on line and there was a flight I could have been booked on that left at 9am) meaning I had to leave for the airport at 4:30 in the morning, then I was scheduled for a 5 hour layover at Washington Dulles Airport all of this before a 9hour flight to Frankfurt!!...yeah, I was not happy about any of this. After about four hours of sitting and playing on the internet in Washington Dulles Airport about 12 of my other teammates begin to arrive, (Must have been nice to sleep in Ahhh!).

Shortly thereafter we all boarded our plane, and after sitting there for about twenty minutes the Pilot announces that there will be about an hour delay while they fix a cargo bay door that was malfunctioning! (Thinking what I'm thinking?). We sat on the plane a good hour when it became apparent that we are not going anywhere for at least another hour if not longer. Having a good feeling about the next plausible outcome and to the chagrin of others passengers my teammates and I began making joke after joke about how we would not be going anywhere for a while. In the midst of our joking the Pilot who was in need of attention…. And…… apparently jealous of our conversation rudely comes over the PA announcing that they are unable to fix the cargo bay door and that we need to switch planes!!! I know right!! It’s not good enough for this guy to be sitting up front but he has to disrupt our conversation as well! The nerve of such people! Lol. Regardless at this point there was no need to be mad so I continued to joke with my teammates as we went to Taco Bell for a quick bite as we waited or change in aircrafts. Ironically enough the change in planes benefited everyone, since we were now on a more modern plane and.....I now had three row seat to myself! Ok so when I say everyone I mainly mean me! Lol After the plane doors officially closed I may or may not have teased our teams Physio (Sports Physician) who was sitting behind me! And I may or may not have informed him that I would be watching three different movies on each of the screens at my disposal! And… I may or may not have fully laid out in each direction possibly still teasing our Physio each time I changed direction.....I'm just saying that may have happened and that he may have deserved it since he was giving me guff (yes I just used that word) about my previous tight seating arrangement on the plane before. WHOSE THE BIG MAN NOW BUDDY!!!! OH YEAH I'M YO DADDY TODAY, THE PASSENGER WITH EXTRA LEG ROOMS LOOKS LIKE WHO? YUP HE LOOKS LIKE JESSE! ........Are some statements that I can neither confirm nor deny that I may possibly, could have made! But mind you this is purely based on speculation, hearsay, and eye witness reports by those with conflicts of interest lol

Taking into the time difference between the US and Germany we arrived on New Year's Eve. We rang in the New Year with bottles of juice in the hotel lobby!! It was so crazy; with all that apple juice we almost started a riot! lol Since we were looking at a five hour drive to Altenberg Germany we did not have any time of big celebration to ring in the New Year. And after that we tried to create a Hands Across America Chain but in Germany (Movie Beerfest reference)......yeah in short it did not work but that is a whole other story! lol

Altenberg, Germany Race Week

After arriving in Altenberg, Germany we checked into the Best Western Waldhoutel Stephanahohe. Usually when we stay in hotels overseas we are the only ones staying there (except in St. Moritz where the Canadians and the Netherlands stay at the same hotel as us), however the Entire Russian Bobsled and Skeleton Team, Austrian Bobsled Team, German Skeleton, and Australian Skeleton were at this hotel along with regular guest staying at the hotel. Although it’s fun to stat at a hotel with other teams we do enjoy being at a hotel where it’s just the American Team staying there, but not only because the competitive nature of the sport and the thought of eating three meals a day next to your competition, but also because we all use the internet which causes for an extremely slow connection. Now when I say its slow I am not being a spoiled athlete or anything but I tried to send one email that was maybe a paragraph long, without any attachments and it took me twenty minutes to do so because the server kept timing out on me. Needless to say I never even attempted to upload and pictures or videos since I could not imagine how long that would take.

Being that I had yet to race on the track in Altenberg I was extremely excited. I was not only excited because it was a new track for me but because it is in the top 3 of the hardest and more dangerous tracks in the world!! That same excitement may have been the reason for my little truck malfunction. For all practical purposes this is my first year actually driving one of our cargo trucks which happen to be all stick shifts/manual. Admittedly I am not the best manual car driver in the world and frankly I wish every car was automatic! I truly hate the fact that on a hill you have a great possibility of rolling backward or forward more easily, in my opinion it’s just dumb and now I have even more reason to hate them. It was the first day of training and since I had not driven the truck in a while figured it was my turn to drive to the track, so we load the two man sled in and head out. The day was typical enough being a just as cold and snowy and I have to admit I was handling the driving conditions like a champ. I was shifting gears a lot smoother, feeling pretty confident in my driving skills. I pulled up to the track executing a three point turn backed the truck up and unloaded the sleds just as smooth as I would in an automatic car. After the sled is unloaded I go to park our truck next to the other trucks but there is no room, causing me to have to try and park on the private road leading up to the track where other trucks are parked as well. Unfortunately all the wider parts of the road were filled and if I tried to park on a narrower part I would be blocking traffic. I end up doing a circle down to the road entrance and back up through the gate where we unloaded the bobsled when I see a space to park!!! Once again I am feeling like new money because I have been backing up and down hills doing U turns I'm Like "WHAT Stick Shift I got this!!" yeah I was Wrong So Very Wrong!! So I park the truck and hop out and head over to help with the sled. Two minutes later as I am walking towards our sled one of the Belgium girls comes running up screaming "Jesse! Jesse! were you driving the Europacar Cargo Van!? I say yes why? She says you forgot to put on the Emergency Break and it rolled backwards into a car (evidently I was parked on a slight incline)!!!.....YEAH exactly what I'm thinking! Making the situation even worse is that I knew the only car it could have rolled into was one of the BMW X5' that was parked behind it!!! I start running back towards the vehicle and the only thing I can imagine in my head is that I just totaled a $90,000 car and I am not going to be able to pay for this in any form of currency unless they take monopoly money! I get to the vehicles and to my surprise the BMW is not totaled but the Cargo Van definitely hit it. I hop into the cargo van, slowly pulling forward re-parking it and pulling the Emergency Break! then hopping out. Go look at the BMW and thankfully it only has a nice sized dent in the back door!! Thank you God!! I was so relived because it did not hit anyone, the BMW nor the truck was totaled nor did it roll forward into the track which would have been horrible. And that was my start of the week how was yours? lol

Snowball Fight USA vs. Russia

As I previously mentioned the Russian and other teams were staying at the hotel with us and as long as it not race day we all pretty much get along with one another. However we were in close proximity to one another and there was snow on the ground soooooooooooo………yeah one day at the hotel after training IT WAS Snowball Fight Time Apparently! I suppose it was bound to happen, but the Russian pulled the trigger firs….but we held the trigger a bit longer. Here’s how it began, we pulled up to the back of the hotel to unload our Four-Man sled and as the truck is backing up to the garage we see a few snowballs come flying in!! We all start looking around to see where they are coming from and Surprise Surprise they are coming from the direction of the Russians whose garage was about 150 feet down from ours. These snowballs came in with a vengeance, hard fast and accurate which should be expected since we are a bunch of 220 plus guys who lift all day throwing snow balls at each other. After a few snow ball came in we devised a plan to flank the Russians! About four guys (usually only one person parks the van hoped in the truck as if to only park the van like normal. The great thing about where we parked the Vans is that it is a hill that is to the West of the garages housing all the sleds, Yup Taking the High Grown!!! While at the same time me and two other guys are straight military crawling from the North heading straight on towards the Russians alongside the Row of Russian Vans that were parked there! As a diversionary tactic we throw snowballs from our position as our guys up top got into position. The Russians started throwing snowballs in my direction, creeping up on us getting more in the open!! Soon as they got into a good clearing Snowballs from the guys positioned at the top began raining down on them!!! In our mind it was Gladiator and we had Just Unleashed Hell!!! Lol The guys at the top of the Hill was letting them have it something serious, while we were also letting loose! The Russians were caught completely surprised and began to scatter! They put up a good fight and we were still surprised at how accurate they were it was amazing!!! But in the end we drove them back into their Garages!! Lol USA 1-Russia 0 babe!!!

Start of Racing

In following with this season’s tradition the forecast for the races showed strong signs of blizzard types of snow. I guess we should have expected that since most of our race venues are in ski towns. The day of the race we could tell it would be one of those days, especially since the race was delayed twice!!! The first delay we were aware and planned accordingly, leaving for the track later than earlier planned. Once we arrived at the track the FIBT Jury members decided to delay the race another hour due to snow. Four hours after the originally planned event the race began!! The Germans were some of the earlier sleds and the weather was actually a bit nice (Yeah they have a snow maker they control lol), ironically enough after the German sleds had gone snow flurries began off and on throughout the rest of the first heat. The Start ramp did not look that bad but I do doubt how well they really sweep the start groves out Team USA is on the block in a foreign country. Any way after the first heat USA-1 (Holcomb Driving/Langton Braking) was in fifth position and USA-2 (Napier Driving/Robinson Braking) was in 17th position. During the last fifteen minutes of the forty-five minutes break between heats they begin to send forerunners down the track to insure the track conditions are safe to continue the race. Unfortunately the snow fall significantly increased, so much that by the time the pilots of the forerunner sleds reached the bottom there visors were covered with snow making visibility difficult. After the FIBT Jury members spoke with the drivers of the forerunning sleds they decided to cancel the second heat of the race for safety issues. With the cancellation of the second heat it meant that whatever sled position you were in after heat would be the official and final results of the race. Needless to say Team USA was extremely frustrated but that's the way racing goes at times...The only positive we could take from this is that tomorrow was the four-man race which we were banking on being a better day!

The next day I woke up at 6am to start my normal preparations for our 9 a.m. race, which included a quick breakfast and a forty-five minute weight room session focusing on explosion and speed (a.k.a Potentiation). With all that done it was time to load up the 4-Man Sled and head to the Track (I was not driving!! lol) This week we (USA 2 Napier, Beckom, Clark, and Fogt) were off 12th, and at about 2-minutes per sled I knew I needed to be ready at 9:24 a.m. get or take a few minutes. This is important information to know since it dictates when I need to start my one hour warm-up. During my warm-up can you guessed what happened?.....Yup it began snowing!! I am just like oh great another lovely day with perfect race day conditions! The good thing is that as the race began the snow started to stop, well.......that is until we stepped to the line and the snow just began falling like crazy!! In an effort to minimize the amount of time snow had to build on the start ramp we began stripping down to our race suits while the before us was half way down the hill; allowing us to place the sled on the Ice quicker and go as soon as we had the green light. Like clockwork we hear the start tone, see the green light, drop into position, call the cadence and we are off!! The hit felt good and as I was pushing I was thinking we are money since the timing felt great!! We get down to the bottom and look and are surprised by the down time and then we here the push time, we are not happy! It was pretty slow and off the pace we and no clue what happened. We stood at the bottom looking up at the monitor watching as the snow cleared up and sleds with seemingly sloppier runs down the track were beating us. It was not until we got to the top that the coaches told us how bad the groves were, the force was not with us on this run and it was extremely disappointing. Our Driver Napier also informed us that we were like a snow plow coming down with all the snow that had been built up in the track. But we had one more heat to go, so we had to forget about the first, and concentrate on the next heat and see if we can make up some time.

Just a quick note, in bobsled the second starts in reverse order from 20-1. Being that our first run was so fabulous we were third or so off. Thank God that this time the snow had actually stopped for us and when we got down to the bottom we found out that we had dropped our start by .11 which is a ton of time!! The face that we dropped so much time off was a relief since we have been battling all season against the stereotype that we have a slow crew when we Don’t! We were pleased with the start but that first heat killed us and we ended up in 16th a little better than the 2-man race but nothing to write home about which is also part of the reason it has taken me so long to send out an update since I like to be in a little better spirits when I send them out!

After the Altenberg, Germany Race it was time to pack up and head to Konigssee the site of Next World Cup Race.

Also, I want to remind you all that you can watch our races live and replay races you missed at http://eurovision.digotel.com/fibt/index.html.

God Bless

JB3

www.jessebeckom3.com

Members of the Mens USA Bobsled National Team Training Videos

Hey Everyone

Really quick I just wanted to make you all aware that in hopes to get more exposure for the sport of Bobsled and to show the hard work it takes to be a member of a National Team we have created a channel on Youtube.

Please Check out some of the Training videos posted by members of the USA Men's National Bobsled Team!!! at http://www.youtube.com/user/TeamUSABobsled?ob=0

We have a handful of videos up now but more are to come!! Be sure to subscribe to our channel so you want miss out on any future post!

Thank you

Jesse

Part 2 First Half Update

It’s been a good while now, I trust everyone has fully recovered from your Christmas and New Year Shenanigans!!! (Hey Favra what’s that restaurant you like to eat at with all the stuff on the wall!? Oh you Mean Shenagigans!? OOoooooo!! Lol ) and are well on your way in fulfilling your New Year’s Resolutions.

Now where were we…hmmmm…..starting memory enhancing…Enhances…..Enhance……Enhance! lol

Ah yes, the interesting people that I met coming back from Germany. After the last race we drove two hours to Frankfurt where we spent the night in a hotel five minutes from the airport. Just a quick FYI throughout the season there are really only two nights during the season where we as athletes get a chance to relax a bit; the first is the break after the first half of the season and the second is the night after World Championships. It just so happened that the Canadians were also staying at this hotel for the night, making for some good fun challenges that ended with a few people sleeping in later than they originally planned. I can neither confirm nor deny the reports of one of the Canadians missing his originally planned airport shuttle and allegedly running after said shuttle in an attempt to board it! Once again this is purely speculation! Lol

After successfully waking up to catch my shuttle from the hotel to the Frankfurt Airport I was looking at a sixteen hour travel day!! My first flight I managed to squeeze in a few hours of sleep in between watching movies (this would pay off later in the story). Ironically enough as I searched for a good movie to watch it dawned on me that I may spend a little too much time watching movies and T.V shows! Why do I say that you ask? Ding! Ding! Survey Say!! Because I had literally already seen 95% of all the show they had to offer T.V and Movies, Das ist Nicht Gut! Actually as I type this I just turned off the T.V next to me!! Lol I may need to read a bit more. Curse you Hollywood you mother of all temptresses with your shows of wonder and amazement!

Sorry I'm back on track now. Unlike others on my team I was not heading home to be around family for the holidays although I would have greatly enjoyed that. Instead I was heading back to Colorado Springs in preparations for the second half of the season and any possible testing/race offs the coaches may throw at us. The longest leg of my trip was the nine hour flight from Frankfurt to the Washington Dulles Airport, which as I mentioned was not to eventful but ironically very important. From there I caught a three hour flight to Colorado Springs where I had to pleasure of meeting Stuart W. Symington. I’m not sure if it’s due to the fact that I have traveled so much over the last ten years but I can now tell when I am going to have a good conversation with a person sitting next to me on the plane, this was the case when I met Stuart on the flight to Colorado Springs.

As I boarded the plane I was in straight Zombie Mode equipped with headphones in blaring music from my iPod. While I was preparing to sit down I noticed this guy who looked to be a good 6’4 in a suit behind me motioning as to say he was sitting in the window seat next to me. I took one of my ear buds to better hear what the guy was saying. To my astonishment I heard a booming voice come out as if this guy was the White House Speaker. He was holding his suit coat in one hand and a drink from Starbucks in the other. Without hesitation he looks at me and says “Hey you mind holding this for me?” I’m not sure if was just his general candor but something told me I was about to engage in a good conversation. At that moment I agreed to hold his drink and decided to take my other ear bud out, wrap up my iPhone and place it in my pocket. Immediately after we sat down the conversation begins. We exchange normal pleasantries ending with both of us respecting each others career choices (I have to admit I was astonished at what all Stuart had and is currently accomplishing). It turned out that Stuart is currently working at NORAD/NORTHCOM and was previously an ambassador to Rwanda and several South American Countries. There is a ton of things this man has accomplished but instead of listing them all (sorry Stuart I hope you don’t mind me talking you up) here is a general link about him http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/115603.htm .

We began talking about City Planning, Foreign Policy, Domestic Policy, how to effectively build relationships between communities, and how to address gang and drug problems that we are having in both the USA and Mexico. Keep in mind people I am physically and mentally exhausted from a brutal first half of racing and travel. As I was listening to every bit of insight that Stuart was providing one of the main thoughts going to my head is “Jesse please use some five dollar words so you don’t sound like a dumb athlete!” lol. Nothing against any of the conversations that I have had since beginning Bobsled but I had forgot how much I enjoyed in-depth mentally challenging conversations, it was by far one the best conversation I ever had. Halfway through the conversation we conversation we actually came up with a project of similar interest that we could assist each other with so we exchanged business information. As we continued to converse I could see the gears turning in Stuarts mind; and each time I asked what he was thinking one great ideal after another came from this man including the Name of the book for my Autobiography. To say I was in amazement was an understatement, Stuart possessed an honest general concern for his common man and I find that rare. The conversation continued until touchdown and ended with us exchanging contact information before parting ways.

After grabbing my luggage I hopped on the OTC shuttle that was awaiting me. I was very happy that it was only a twenty minutes ride from the airport to the OTC since in New York it’s a Two and a half hour shuttle from Albany to the OTC in Lake Placid. Upon my arrival I was pleased to see that dinner was still being served. I have to say that after a long day of traveling having fast food as my sole source of nutrition a good meal at the OTC was more than welcomed. (Come on that’s a line you would see in a fancy novel or a T.V stars inner monologue! Lol I am handing out gold here and no one wants it? You’re killing me smalls you’re killing me!)

Once I was done eating I went to my room to begin unpacking my bags along with everything I had packed in my car and that I had in storage in the OTC. By the way have I mentioned it was 9pm by now and I had been traveling since the crack of existence the day before!! But for some reason I tend to have OCD when it comes to settling into my room. Because I can never really seem to sleep until every little thing is unpacked, in its correct place and my bags are stored where they need to be. Jesse what time did I eventually go to be you ask…? Why 1am naturally but thank you for asking. What’s that you say….What time did I wake up because surely you slept in right? Sleep in? Are you kidding me you talking about SLEEPING IN!? SLEEP IN?! WHAT YOU REALLY ASKING ME ABOUT SLEEPING IN!? Being that I am brilliant and all Naturally woke up at 6am ready to eat breakfast and start my normal training routine.

As usual after I was done training I hit up Sports Med to stretch out, Ice down, and spent 30 minutes in the Normatec Recovering pants (Air pressured compression pants that aid in muscle recovery). I then returned to my room and figured I would shoot Stuart an e-mail to revisit what we had talked about the previous day. Later on that evening I received a response back from Stuart which eventually led to him inviting me to an annual Holiday lunch for his family and some of their close friends the following week. Yeah Exactly I was blown away by the invite myself so of course I accepted it.

The following week I met with Stuart and his group at the Garden of the Gods Club house for lunch. Unfortunately I did not have a blue blazer to where which was preferred, but I did have a nice shirt and tie which fit the occasion. For the record I have been to many luncheons to date but ironically and no offense to anyone but this was one of the most impressive luncheons I had been to. Not to mention the fact that the Symington’s as a family have their ducks in a row!! This was not your average luncheon! From the parents down to the kids in high school everyone here were world travelers and were fully aware of what was happening socially and economically. I want say any specific names but the high school kids were doing well in sports (golf, basketball, football and I believe swimming) and in their class work. When it came to those children college age and older, one was going to film school in Singapore, another was studying to be an actor in New York, one as a paralegal at a law firm, another was working on her Doctorate in Microbiology. Since Stuart was now working for NORAD/NORTCOM I also meet Lieutenant General, USA Deputy Commander Frank Grass, as well and a very successful multiple restaurant franchise owner named Christopher. Yeah yeah when I type it out it sounds like a random group of people but in actuality the thing that everyone there had in common was their ability to turn their work ethic and drive into success!

Among the general lighter get to know you conversations that you would expect at such a gathering Christopher posed a very thought provoking question. He asked us “Considering all of individual success how could we use our motivation to inspire others around us? He also asked us if we thought that the majority of our piers possessed the same since of pride in country as generations before us?” Once again I was thrilled to express myself in another format other than squatting an ungodly (That was a play on words because we were at the Garden of the Gods Club…..come on people!! Gold I tell you Gold! Lol) amount of weight or pushing a sled fast as Hermes!! (Gold again people!) After the lunch we exchanged pleasantries, I left and went to go workout. Another day in the life of the International Man of Mystery that is Jesse Beckom III! lol (come on that is funny!). The conversation was great and full of several good answers.

If you cannot tell I had a blast at this lunch getting to know Stuart , his family, and some of their friends. I may have only been in Colorado Springs for ten days, but in those ten days I met some great people, started a new project that will be very fruitful, made headway on a current project and had some solid training days! It was a Great Christmas Break.

God Bless Everyone

Jesse

2011-2012 Bobsled Season First Half Pictures

Greetings everyone I have posted the pictures form the first half of the season just paste the following link in your browser. http://www.jessebeckom3.com/37.html

Thank you

First half of the Season

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas everyone and have a Happy New Year! 2012 Here we come!!

The Curve Ball

Ah yes the surprise….Well not all surprises come with balloons and happy faces which ironically was actually the type of surprise this was.

I might not have explained this earlier but after the National Team is chose the Head coach has final say on who races and who does not. This allows coaches to make changes if for whatever reason they believe that a particular athlete(s) on a team production may have decreased. In an attempt to start figuring out what was going on with the start and why considering the push athletes testing numbers our start times were not in the top ten or higher, they informed the team that they were taking me off the 4-man team this week and were replacing me with the alternate!! Without me saying it you can imagine what was going through my head, actually from the expression on my face everyone in the room knew what was going through my head as well. The coaches asked if anyone had any questions and surprisingly enough I was able to hold my tongue because I knew that with the way I was feeling nothing positive, coherent or proper would have come out of my mouth.

After the meeting one of my teammates came over to speak with me about the coach’s decision. We talked about a few different things, resulting in me calming down enough so I could speak to the -coaches about the decision they just made. I ended up having about a forty-five minute conversation with the coaches, doing my best to understand their logic. I won’t go into the details of the conversation that was had but they were not happy with my two-man push the week before and as I mentioned before they had not been pleased with our four-man pushes either. They explained that this is the first of many evaluations and that they will possibly try something different next week. I admit I did not like their answer but I had to respect their decision just as they had to respect my reasons for why I thought taking me of the four-man was a mistake. Regardless their decision was their decision and for this week I would not be racing.

I would like to say that after talking to the coaches my anger had subsided but that would be a complete lie! In my head I was kicking over furniture, burning down cities, blowing up cars along with a million other things that would not be politically correct to type. Along with those thoughts a part of me was feverishly repeating the Lord’s Prayer to keep me calm. While this was going on I reached out to one of my sisters asking her to pray for me. The extra time from not racing made me really think about the bible verses that I read in the book of James ch2 v14 that says “what good is it my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has not actions?” It made me realize that if I claim to have faith that no matter what is going on in my life, no matter how horrible it looks from my perspective that if I truly have faith and trust that God has my best interest in mind then it will work out in the long run. Having those thoughts in my mind I decided to use this time to my advantage; I studied a ton of mines and others push video with my head coach as to identify any possible inefficiencies I may have in my push technique. That week I did have some intense lifting and sprinting sessions since I was not worried about my legs being too tired before a race. I even created a couple of new drills designed to reinforce proper push technique; personally although I was not racing it was a great week of training for me. On Thursday training it was my turn to push, allowing me to apply drills and technique I had been practicing. This resulted in me pushing closer to USA 1 in practice than I previously had; it was good sign from my stand point.

Like normal the 2-Man Race was scheduled to take place on Saturday with the 4-Man Race to be held on Sunday. Although I was not racing I still helped with sanding the runner along with all other normal sled preparations. At best the feeling of racing felt extremely weird but to counteract that weirdness I had an intense sprint workout before the start of the 4-man race, but sorry I am getting ahead of myself. For this week 2-man race it was Chris Fogt’s turn to push with napes once again the start was not exactly what people were expecting but being that Napes is a good driver and the track was long they finished in 11^th place. As I mentioned the next day was the 4-man race and I was definitely feeling like I was in a Bizzaro Land having to watch. Once again I kept repeating the Lord’s Prayer to keep me calm that along with doing a sprint workout helped me to keep calm. On this day the USA 2 sled was 12^th off, I helped carried the sled to the line for the guys as they prepared to push; placing it in the start groves for them as the sixty second start countdown began. While watching the guys push my adrenaline was pumping for them….I felt like a Wyld Stallyns(Be Excellent to Each Other! Thank you Bill & Ted) tied to a two-thousand year old tree forbidden to help my team! The guys pushed and the time was relatively slower to the field than it was our past races, once again Napes was able to drive to 13^th. After the race not much was really said we just packed up the gear like normal and headed on to the next race in Winterberg, Germany.

A day after we arrived in Germany one of my Teammates informed me that I was back on the 4-Man Team for the race; I thought the coaches would have informed me about this but I was wrong in that thinking but I was racing again like I should have been so who cares how the info came about. In their continual attempt to figure out our start issues the coaches decided to have a 2-man race off between Johnny Quinn and Adam Clark to see who would race in the 4-man race. This move was a bit unusual since the race off is normally in the discipline that you are racing i.e. if you race of for the 2-man position using the 2-man sled and switching out the two guys in question and you race of for the 4-man position using the 4-man sled plus crew switching out the two guys in question. Regardless Johnny won the race off thereby keeping our team together, now for the life of me I don’t understand why I was not given any type of Race off before they took me off the sled but that is just some of the things I have to deal with. Yeah not fun! Now our 4-man team was back to its original group, the man 2-was another story. In order to try and get Napes a faster start Justin Olsen was chosen to push 2-man with napes this week. Me and the other guys did not take it personal at all, we just figured do what you guys feel you need to do to get a faster start plus we were more concerned about getting a good 4-man result.

I feel like I keep repeating myself but the first half of the season was just not going the way any of us could have imagined. We thought we were good to go for 4-man until Fogt started showing flu like systems forcing us to use Adam for the day of 4-man training, allowing Fogt to rest up for the 4-man race. The 2-Man race went off as planned with bit of snow in the forecast that was pretty sporadic snowing for some sleds and stopping for others. Napes and Justin pushes were once again not as fast as people expected and initially they were in 20^th (only the top 20 sleds get a second run) but we thought they were in 21^st and we almost packed the sled up! Luckily Gomer the Russian coach told us he thought we were in 20^th so we waited for the official results from the first heat and Gomer was right! The sled was very close to being put on the truck!! It’s a good thing when the sled came back up we just left it in the scabbards and never attempted to take of the runners otherwise we would have been disqualified!! Once we found out that they had a second run we told Napes and Justin, they did a quick warm-up and were back on the start block. Their second push was better but still not where the coaches would have like to see it and in the end they finished in 14^th.

The weather conditions were pretty much the same for the 4-man race if not worse. The warm-up for the race if you want to call it that was straight blizzard conditions on and off, added to the fact that Fogt was still throwing up before the race and would be afterwards. In conditions like this the plan is to get the sled down and into the start groves as soon as possible before more snow builds up in the start groves and within the track itself. We get to the start line with our plan in effect! The sled before us goes off and half way down there run we all begin stripping down to our speed suits so we are ready to go as soon as possible. They clear the start of the track for our run, the 60 second clock starts, we drop the sled and are getting ready to go. However the light system that is a secondary measure is still red and not green! So they stop us from going! They then reset the clock and the light but by this time more snow has built up, my coach then stops the guys at the start and asks them if we can get the start swept again (it was a good catch). First of all they did a crappy job of sweeping out the start and snow was building up in the track as well since the message to sweep apparently got out slow. Meanwhile we are getting colder by the minute and this is not helping Fogt’s flu systems by any means of the imagination. Finally we get the go ahead to start and we fire out the hole…..yup at the bottom we find out our push is not what we had hoped compared to the field. Napes then tell us about the snow build-up he saw in the track and wouldn’t you know it that after the run the snot STOPS!! Are you Kidding me right now is all I’m thinking as I see sleds we out pushed coming down the track faster than us by a good amount. The second heat would not go much different except the snow had stopped but it was a lot to recover from and we finished up in 15^th! We were not happy by any means but sometimes racing is not always peachy keen. However it does mean that we have to work harder second half to fix whatever issues we are having and God willing second half will go better! I have to take my hat off to the guys on USA 1 because they have had some great finishes but I know we are capable of being on that same level!

The Break and Second Half

Due to this year’s Race schedule we only had a ten day break. I arrived in the States on December 20 and left for Frankfurt Germany yesterday, arriving in time to ring in the New Year!! Over the break I stayed at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs so I could regroup and focus on how I can help my team get better on the second half of tour. I took a few days off while I was back but then it was back to training. Along with lifting and sprint workouts I continued to break down my pushing form working on the small details that go a long was; slowing it down in my head in order to improve my overall technique. While I was back in Colorado I had the opportunity to meet some really great people who I am still getting to know but I’m pretty sure we will be friends for a very long time. I met one gentleman on the plane ride back from Frankfurt he name was…….well this e-mail is getting long so I will finish in my next installment!!! Yeah I just did that!

Sorry you all know I have a weird sense of humor

I am almost done labeling my pictures so check them out in the next couple days. They will be posted on the Media page on my web site under the title 2011 First Half Photos!!

P.S we just rang in the New Years at Hotel Mercure in Frankfurt Germany!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE AND GOD BLESS!!!

Jesse

www.jessebeckom3.com

EC and WC Update 12-12-11

Bonjur,

Yes I am in France right now how did you guess, Belle Plange, France to be precise. It’s pretty exciting since France has been of the Race Circuit for a while, and none the current members of Team USA have ever slid here well besides our coaches. It should be an exciting time. We are staying at the Ski Resort La Caralina, located in the French Alps! Yeah no big deal lol

Europa Cup races

I hope you do not mind but I have to back track for a minute. This year before the Official start of the World Cup Season we decided to Two Europa Cup Races as we prepared for the Season. The Europa Cup tour is a lower ranked tour but there is still a ton of competition on that level, similar to Division 1 and Division 1AA or whatever it is nowadays In a Europa Cup Race you can have anywhere from 45-60 2-Man sleds in a race while World Cup will have about 27-32 2-Man Sleds in a race. The race week is also very different; on world cup we have one 2-Man race and one 4-Man race a week that are held on Saturday and Sunday. On Europa Cup you have two 2-Man Races and two 4-Man Races in a week; we were racing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, along with our normal sprint and weight lifting routine. Needless to say it was a tiring couple of weeks. We flew in to the Munich, Germany Airport picked up our rental cars (Shout-Out to BMW for outfitting the USA team with 6 BMW X5’s while on tour!!) and rental Vans that we transport out bobsleds in as we travel from venue to venue.

The first stop on our Europa Cup Tour was Igls, Austria which is two-hours away from the airport; while in Austria we stayed at the Sportshotel. It’s a massive hotel complete with the always needed Hot Tub, Cold Tub, Sauna, Steam Room, and pool or simply put a Spa. The Spar area is really nice but the only catch is…….is that it’s a nude area!! Yeah that’s a whole other story now back to bobsled. Unlike in Team Trials our crew was finally able to race in its proper positions, I pushed from the left, Fogt from the brakes and JQ from the Right, but we still needed repetition as a crew and these Europa Cup races would provide that. The race two 2-man races had 49 sleds in it. On the first day Napier and Fogt finished 7^{th (Thursday)}, in the second day of racing Napier and I finished 10^{th (Friday)}. The first day of 4-man we finished 12^th, on the second day of 4-man we finished 9^th. A top ten finish was good but we always want top 6 if we don’t win. In both of the-man races we dropped between 5 and 7 hundredths between our first and second pushes!! It was good that we went faster on the pushes but we need to be more consistent and not leave so much time at the block on the first push. It basically comes down to timing and the crew being on the same page, but the more reps we have together the better our timing on the hit and our load will get resulting in a faster start time.

Directly after the 4-man race we went back to the hotel, showered, packed bags and the trucks then hit the road for a two and a half hour drive to Konigssee, Germany; the next stop on the Europa Cup tour. In Konigssee we usually stay at the hotel Fischer during the World Cup but they were booked, so we stayed at a hotel that was closer to the track called Hotel Brunneck. I have to interject for a moment: since we have been traveling over to Europe every hotel we stayed at served these five course meals that took a good two hours till completion. We accepted it and figured it was tradition and when in Rome blah blah! OUR THEORY WAS PROVEN WRONG AT THE HOTEL BRUNNECK!!! It was a staff of three people in the kitchen (2 cooks and a waitress) and they served all five courses in a good thirty-five minutes. This German lady was on it, running out salad, soup, drinks, bread before we thought about asking and the main meal came out just as quick! Meanwhile when we were in Austria they have a staff about ten preparing our meals, taking two hours to finish. Needless to say we loved the food and service at Hotel Brunneck added to the fact it was five minutes closer to the track it was definitely a good spot to be at.

The track in Konigssee is about ten minutes away from Berchtesgaden, Germany; it is also home to Hitler’s Crow’s nest and is a stone’s throw away from the Austrian Border. It’s a beautiful area, but you will be able to see it in my picture album. The races in Konigssee, Germany went about the same as they did in Igls. I did not race 2-man this week instead the duty feel on my teammate JQ and Fogt. JQ and Napes finished 13^th in the first 2-man Race, then Fogt and Napes finished 5^th in the second 2-Man race. We only had one 4-man race where we finished in 13^th place just .05 out of the top ten. Our timing was a bit off and one of the guys got hung up on the load which did not help; It was a race we definitely felt we should have finished higher in but that is why we race and practice you never know what’s going to happen.

World Cup Races

Ironically enough he start of the World Cup Season began in Igls, Austria; and yes you guessed it after the 4-Man Race we packed up, showered, and hit the road another two and a half hours back to Austria and two hour dinners! Lol However this time when we got to Austria our Team Manager Lenny spoke with the staff, informing them that they need to be quicker in their meal service for us since we don’t have time to sit around for hours enjoying the ambiance. Lol We were all glad he talked to them because it allowed us to come in and just have the main course then leave or they set it up buffet style saving us a ton of time. That’s Right AMERICA!!! Lol

I may have mentioned this before but whenever we change the normal operations of something in Europe, Drive down a road we may or may not supposed to be on, pull a U turn in the wrong place or do something like the Honey Badger would do we SCREAM OUT AMERICA (Movie: The Other Guys) and it Makes it all OK!! Lol Oh and Completely Legal!! It’s a rule written on the back of your passport, don’t bother looking trust me it’s there!

Going into the World Cup week I won a race-off against one of my teammates and the right to race the 2-Man race that week. The days of training leading up to the race went well we were pushing fine in 2-man and in 4-man; we all were feeling pretty excited going into our first World Cup Event of the year. I wish I could sugar coat it but I’m not good at that, the 2-man race was a bad day the start was not what we wanted and we ended up in 18^th place. I went back and looked at the film with my coaches to see how to improve and the film looked pretty good but we did see that my ground contact could have been longer. Since looking at the film I have been correcting that issue in my pushing and sprint work out making sure that will not happen again. Because in my sport you are only as good as your last push, if you give people a reason to doubt your ability it will snowball into a ton “is he really that good” theories no matter what you have done in the past. My sport is measured in hundredths of a second and if they are not fast then one race can be your last race. It’s a harsh reality but sometimes one mistake is all you get if that depending on the year. Please do not confuse my tone it is one of passion and determination knowing that my next race will be a thousand times better than my last.

Thankfully the 4-man race went a bit better, we were 12^th off in the starting order and after the first heat we were sitting in a tie for 10^th position. The first heat we pushed a 5.16, we were pissed because we knew we had a lot more in us than that. Going into the second heat we got our mind right! Emotions started to fly, words were said, and our blood was pumping a million miles per second!! My eyes were blood shot red and beads of sweat and adrenalin were pouring down mine, JQ, and Fogt’s face we were ready to blast this sled of the hill! We step to the line each of us grabbing the sled in our designation position. I call out “GOOD” to Fogt letting him know me and JQ are ready, Fogt screams out “BACKSET”!! Napier Yells “FRONTSET READY” and we all hit the sled with more power and speed then in the first heat! We can feel it as we are pushing down the hill and the load was a lot smoother and quicker than before. The trip down the hill felt good! When we got down to the bottom we were told that we pushed 5.11 dropping .05 of our start but the Canadian before us had a smoking r had a hell of a run and they pushed 5.10 beating us to the bottom by .02 at the bottom and a Netherland sled had pushed a 5.07 beating us to the bottom by .01 landing us in 12 position by .03. If we would have pushed at least 5.11 both heats we would have been in the top 10 to 8 sleds. Anyway the race was over and all we could do is take what we learned and apply it to the next race in Laplange, France which by the way was a 9 hour drive away!! Once again we headed back to the hotel showered, ate a quick lunch, packed the trucks and were off to France for World Cup race #2.

The drive to France actually went by pretty fast but at the team meeting that night the Coaches had a little surprise that I will tell you about in the next e-mail. Yeah I’m a little stinker I know.

God Bless

Jesse

P.S I will have to post pictures when I get back to the states

www.jessebeckom3.com