Nascar nation is addicting

Today, my formula 1 racing uncle took me go-karting at a track in Denver. Car racing is very similar to skiing. You need to take it wide and give a little before the turn so that you can accelerate out of the apex (middle) of the turn. The only difference is that whereas in skiing you want a perfect arc, in go-karting, you want a smooth slide. I guess ideally tracking is faster than sliding, but in order to do the tighter turns a little bit of sliding at the top of the turn goes a long way for getting direction. Out of 48 laps, I beat my uncle once. I'll take that.

Winter driving will be no match next year!

Experience is everything

During all the sample stuff that I have been doing this week, I have picked up some valuable tips. After five trips of lugging 12 tents at a time from the back to the front of the warehouse, one of the warehouse guys told about the pallet jack. Even though that bit of entertainment had ended for the warehouse workers, I still had to figure out how to work the jack. Lets put it this way: it took me ten minutes to figure out that you had to pump it to get it to lift, then another five to properly steer the pallet... backwards. By the end of the day, I was the pallet jack pro.

how catalogues look so damn good!

Have you ever wondered the sleeping bags in outdoor magazines are so perfect looking? Because they are all pre-steamed, that's why! As an official aide to the photographer, I have the honor of doing the steaming... for all 50 bags.


Hey at least in college, if I ever need to steam a shirt, I will be an expert!

I almost forgot

No matter what other hobbies I pick up. Whether it be cooking, woodworking, or cross-country, I'm still a racer at heart. Getting ready to update some thing on the site, I went out and ripped some carves in my good ol' spandex. Yay slush carves!

Can I be a Left hand model?

Next time you go to a sample sale and enjoy all the low prices, think about the poor intern that had to mark and box all those samples. That is me. I spent all my mornings this week folding, counting and boxing samples. As you can see, my right hand and the tape machine got into a fight. It bit me, but I think I won the battle.

Later that day, one of the photographers for the catalog asked me whether I could do some hand modeling, for pointing out the features of a pack. I agreed with one condition: Left hand modeling only.

Who would have thought that I would ever be a model!

Expidition anyone?

At my new internship, I am preparing items for a sample sale. Not the most exciting task, but every once in a while, we find some pretty crazy items like this expedition suit. Too bad I didn't have it last year in Norway.

hardcore

Today, as my last day in Steamboat for a bit, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to skin up the mountain. Nevermind that stairs were still super-painful for my sore legs, or that the weather had gone from bad to worse, and it was currently raining. I was going to scale that mountain goddamnit! I think that attitude stemmed form three months of sitting on my butt. In Norway, I took a one-ski run, and it was the most nervous I had been since my last tele race, and it felt great. I was searching for the same feeling. I may not have gotten the nerves in the slush and snow, but I got the same big grin on my face that bad weather seems to bring out. It felt just like training in the rain on the piste l'ours.

It felt great.

No bad technique

They say that every time you take a break from skiing, even as little as two weeks, you have a chance to break bad habits upon return. With the number or times that I have restarted skiing this year, I better not have any bad technique. Today, being very very sore from yesterday's one run, I still managed to do two runs. Now that I am back on skis, I'm ready to spread some tele technique love. Let me know if you want to rip! Below, I'm in transition doing a drill with my dad.

My legs, my legs, my legs are on fire!

With my knee feeling much better after my stint of Volteren and Meloxicam, I decided to rekindle my ski progression. My awesome mom agreed to come with me (ski progressions aren't half as exciting as they sound), so I started on Tomahawk. Tomahawk is the flattest, easiest run on the mountain. I was feeling pretty good, so I did a little tele carving. By the end of the run (a green, btw), my legs were shaking so bad, that I took the fastest route down to the car (notice the slight grimace in the picture). Ah, gotta love atrophy.

Since I couldn't waste a beautiful day, I decided to go up North that afternoon (Sand Mtn. area) to try my hand at skinning again. I know, it was an easy progression day. Any-who, we will see as to whether I will have that good ol' can't squat down to sit on the toilet soreness tomorrow.

Glueless skins!!

Today, I set up some clipskins to test. The idea is super enticing... skins that require NO glue. They are held to the skis with clips... pretty cool. The top pic is me glueing the tip with none other than the dangerous book for girls (duh!), and the bottom is me gluing on the clips. I hope the glue holds! After the hour and a half it took to set them up; however, they better be worth it! Now I just need to test them out!

Cooking with Lorin

Here is a fun fact: since I have been stuck out of athletics for a while, I have started writing a cookbook. Here I'm making a kale, tomato, and garlic saute. Mmmm good...