Winter Olympics..

I had Elan Ultimate RS ski's in the early 90's. Actually they were the only skis I have ever bought.

 

Ummmmm... Shaun White is pretty good. How come so many of the top US snowboarders come from SoCal beach communities - hours from a legitimate winter half pipe?

 

Well in Shaun White’s case his family literally lived in a van so he could ride up at Summit and travel around for riding. His brother was actually the “good one” and Shaun was insipred by him. Back in high school my friends and I had passes and would head up to SS for daytrips, often Saturday then back up again Sunday and they were always up there riding the park. I’m sure others may have similar stories or come from families who had houses up there that they could stay at and ride often.

That and there’s the whole skateboarding/surfing that kids in coastal cities are into that crosses over as well.

Just my thoughts...

 

Slalom history post updated with photos to quench your thirst for slalom understanding:
http://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/winter-olympics.7042/#post-119440

 

Shaun White is a pretty accomplished skateboader as well.

 

Yea, thanks for the history lesson Mr Teach.

I'm going back to the intensity which Curling provides

 

Amazing how things work out. I remember seeing him a few times up at Northstar around 2012. He was cruising around in a Lamborghini and was able to access the private parking garage under the slope-side Ritz-Carlton. I heard he had quite the elegant suite inside the hotel too. I'm sure the Lambo's all wheel drive proved a wise choice during the winter months.

It was very cool to watch his three runs last night.

 

And now he, literally, owns a piece of that operation... From van to board room!

 

I hear he's looking for a new drummer though.

 

Schiffrin's pretty good...

Edit:

But she can't win them all...

 

OK, this is incomprehensible. A World Champion Snowboarder who is competing in snowboard racing in these Olympics borrow skis from Schiffrin and wins the Super G. Clearly she is a phenomenal ski racer as well - but I really didn't think it would be possible to be a World Elite in both at the same time. In Mtb parlance, that would be someone who races World Cup DH and XC in the same weekend and wins at least one of them.

https://deadspin.com/czech-snowboarder-borrows-mikaela-shiffrins-skis-someh-1823095253

 

Thanks for posting that! Although I watched a little of the Super G tonight, I didn't stick around for this, and wasn't really listening to it. I
n the link, this was posted in the comments and I love it:

“We were in the mountains half the year, and I was in Prague, too, so I was going to two schools,” she said. “From the start, there were a lot of people who would say, ‘You cannot do both; you need to specialize, otherwise you will never reach a higher level.’ Since I was 14, I already had these discussions with my coaches about ‘you need to choose and blah blah.’ And I said, ‘No, I want to go in both, and if it matters to you that I do both, then I need to choose another coach because this is the way I will do it.’”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/sports/olympics/ester-ledecka-skiing-snowboarding.html

 

Yeah, actually, my analogy of DH and XC wasn't apt, as those are both on bikes. Maybe DH mtb and surfing at the elite level, in the same week would be a more apt comparison.

 

Yeah and NBC tuned away and had already "anoited" the current standings, and had to switch back to a taped re-run to see what happened.

 

Thanks for that article. What a family!

 

@herzalot why aren't skiers cold wearing noting but lycra in the snow? Is it lined with space blanket material or something?

 

In theory, you are only wearing your speed suit for about 3 mins without something on over it. Your coaches, wives, fellow competitors or friends take your jacket and pants down to the finish line for you. The suits are lined, so you can handle the temps for the 1-2 minutes you are racing. You certainly don't notice it during your race run. Speed suits are MUCH MUCH faster than conventional ski clothing. I would hate to see how fast Slopestyle or Halfpipe competitors would go if they wore speed suits. Glad they don't, though.

The biggest problem was when your clothes were on the way down the hill, and there's a course hold for either course repair or injury. Brrrrrrrr....

 

Marcel Hirscher is pretty good... (And a little lucky)

 

The Women's Skeleton.... Wow... Just Wow.
The little How To Videos plus the POV Cam.
I feel like a little timid boy watching that.

 

Figure skating is suck. I hope the ice melts. It would be way better if they renamed the tricks. Like a “quad toe loop” should be called a “1440 rodeo mctwist” and the men should wear baggy clothing that are not sheer or sparkly for no reason.

That sport could be revolutionized with a new
Division called “lumber jack long program”. The skaters would carry an axe their whole routine and wear carthart clothing

Or even just add a “best trick” Comp. 5min to try and land whatever the heck you can muster. 1 trick judged.

 

I did not realize that., so they are fleece lined, like riding gear?

 

Fleece might be a bit of an overstatement, more like a thin polypropylene lining.

What riding gear is fleece lined?

 

Carhartt and the "best trick" idea has some real merit! You have seen Blades of Glory right? I think you could really relate to Chaz Michael Michaels - before he was banned.

 

I have a bunch of Pearl Izumi winter gear that's is fleece lined. It is extremely warm in winter riding.

 

Oh. Didn't know. None of my MtB fashions are fleece lined. I'm a fair-weather rider for the most part.

Wait - I take that back. I bought a pair of knee length Race Face shorts in Whistler that are fleece lined. Forgot about those. Comfy!

 

I picked up a long sleeved fleece Pearl jersey at the outlet. It's great... As long as the temp never goes above 50-55! It's best in the 40s, and maybe upper 30s if I'm climbing for a long time.

 

I don't get why nobody is flipping on ice skates. I know it can be done. There hasn't been any progression in ice skating in years.

 

Yeah, anything above 50, you will be sweating pretty good.

 

So here comes the perennial WTF is up with curling question: WTF is up with curling?
Serious, a little bit on the highlights reel is okay, but hour after hour of coverage is ridiculous.

With all the skiing, skeletoning, hockey-ing, and even effen' ice dancing going on, show some of that stuff wall to wall. But skip the damn curling!

 

I love watching curling. Also love watching the other events.

Went curling in Garden Grove recently. They do it every Saturday at the rink there. It was awesome.