Aspen

Last week I spent in Aspen, Colorado. I had my first races since my knee surgery. I raced two Nor - Am Cup races.

First things first....

I arrived in Aspen last Saturday afternoon, Warner Nickerson and his friend Annette picked me up at the airport and I was able to join them at a family friends' place for the time that I was staying in Aspen. As we drove through the town of Aspen and up a hill where the houses got nicer and nicer, I could not believe the driveway which we pulled up into. From the outside you could already see that it was a beautiful home and as soon as I stepped inside, I could not believe my eyes. 

The view was stunning, and so was everything else about the place. You could overlook the whole town of Aspen and see right over to the race hill.

Warner posing with our sweet KIA ride and showing off his gnarly moustache. 

We were so lucky to stay in such a beautiful house. 

After I "checked into" my beautiful room, we went into town where there was an open-air concert with a band called BLIND MELON. It was their first concert back in two years and we really enjoyed it.

There were quite a few people at the open air concert!!

Warner, his moustache and lovely Annette enjoying the concert.

On Monday morning I started with bib nr. 30. which is quite high for a Nor - Am race. The reason for my high bib nr. was because I only raced in one  Nor - Am races last year, so I do not have any points any more. There were also quite a few really good world cup skiers racing just a head of me. 

I have got to say, the first day racing on monday I was quite nervous in the start because I had not competed in over nine months. That day I skied a few really good turns but I did not make it to the finish. 

At inspection... Overlooking the beautiful town of Aspen. I love racing there.

From the chair lift you could see that you would carry quite some speed in the last section. 

On the way up to the start, listening to music and focusing on what I need to do to ski fast!

The next day I found my race mode again and I stepped it up a notch and I skied a lot better. Although I made some mistakes in both runs, I was still happy with my overall performance. I finished 16th. 

Once a friend told me: "you should try to finish every race better than your start nr. is and slowly you will move up!! " I will never forget that, Daniel.... thanks.

Cheers Jeff