Monday, January 26, 2009

Down By Two

(A post from Blackout – Don)

Last Saturday came as a surprise to both Jeremy and I. We were unaware there was going to be a bobsled race; therefore, didn’t do much to prepare for it. Sure we’ve been at the track regularly, but practicing 4-man bobsled. The race was for 2-man sleds. Until Saturday morning, we hadn’t pulled out the 2-man in about a month and a half. That sled felt neglected (and it made sure we knew that).

We got to the track about an hour before the race to do a little maintenance. Most of the time was spent sanding runners. After about 45 min, the runners weren’t perfect, but they looked better.

Show time!

Once the sled was in position, Jeremy and I set ourselves and began the cadence: “Back. Set. Ready…”

Since I don’t see much in the back, I have to recall the trip down the track by feeling. And once I felt turn four, I knew something wasn’t right; we were taping walls and dropping out of turns.

Sure enough, once we crossed the finish line Jeremy turned to me and said, “Something’s not right with the steering.” (Yeah, that would explain the ride.) And after the first heat, Team Holm was in fourth place.

After taking a couple minutes to adjust the steering, and getting back in the zone, we were back at the top of the track waiting for our second and final heat of the race. (If there were ever a time to get in the zone, this was it. We needed a really good push off, and you could tell that Jeremy was ready to pilot.

Again came the cadence: “Back. Set. Ready…” And we’re off! We definitely pushed harder; I also gave it a couple more steps before jumping in. (I think I kick Jeremy by accident during the load.)

This time it was a lot smoother, and I could feel Jeremy taking the bobsled to higher lines than before.

Given the condition of the track (I failed to mention it was raining that day and we were sliding on slush – not ice, which would be far more conducive to bobsledding) we were pleased with the run. But, we still needed to wait for one more bobsled before finding out if we medaled.

Sure enough, we made it! We came in third. I gotta hand it to Jeremy; he did a fabulous job getting us down the track safely the first time, and having a killer run the second time. Medaling with a non-responsive bobsled is pretty impressive.

Team Holm Goes to Australia

A good friend of ours, Jason Oliveri, from the Australian bobsled team recently sent us a copy of this ad from an Australian broadcasting company Foxtel. As a team we're extremely excited about the ad because that good looking team riding in that red sled? That's us. We participated in a photo shoot last year with Getty Images and this photo is one of the shots we did. I have to give Kudos to Foxtel's creative team for putting the shot on the water, it looks amazing!



It's kind of exciting to see stuff like this coming in from all over the world. As a team we feel very lucky and blessed to have been able to take part in such a great thing.

To read more about the photo shoot, please click here.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Hmmm that's odd...


In the world of social media, numbers can either mean everything or nothing. It all depends on what you're going for. If your blog or online profile on the social site is just for fun, numbers don't mean anything. But if you're a professional blogger or a business profile, you try to boost your numbers as much as possible.

The Team Holm Racing blog is a bit of a mixture of both. It is written mostly in fun for our friends and family to follow our weekly training sessions and what life is like in the sport. We've made it very clear that we are not the US Bobsled team, but you can read all about them on www.usbsf.com.

That being said, it has been fun, and odd, to see readers finding this blog all over the world. From Utah to India, Australia to England, Switzerland to Japan, we've gotten hits from across the globe. And lately there's been a lot of them. We used to get maybe 7 or 8 views a day. Yesterday we logged 48. How does a jump like that happen? Blame it on lucky keywords or just a lot of posts, but it has been fun to see the power of the Internet in action.

We hope you enjoy our blog and the stories and experiences we get to have in the sport. We're very lucky to get to do what we do. As the Australian national bobsled team told us, we're lucky to have the opportunity to live close to a track, have training time to get to do it, and be able to just drive right up after work or school and slide.

We really are some lucky guys.

Monday, January 12, 2009

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Dear All,

At Team Holm Racing we've toyed around with the idea of putting together a fun video for the team that we can show friends and family as well as potential sponsors and groups we might find ourselves presenting to.

Well here it is!



Let us know what you think! And a special thanks to all the athletes, photographers, videographers, and editors who helped finish it. And an even bigger thank you to the man behind the scenes who sponsored the production of the video, Donny Osmond. Thank you, sir!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Taking One For The Team

This past Friday we had a bit of a last-minute change to our training session. And it reminded me of a sport-related principle that isn't often seen in the competitive world of athletics.

Right before the final check-in time for the session, two of our athletes let me know that they couldn't make it up in time. So there we were, three athletes with a four-man sled ready to go. As the clock marched forward, we desperately tried to find another athlete who would jump in with us. This is difficult at the last minute as all the other athletes who are up there are heavily focused on their own training schedules and needs. Totally understandable.

About fifteen minutes before the session was to start, Chad, one of the skeleton athletes, said he would be willing to ride with us and still take his skeleton runs down the track. I was so grateful as by this point I was starting to feel a bit nervous and frustrated.

The point I wanted to make, in gratitude for Chad's willingness to help, is that in the end he had to skip his planned skeleton runs down the track so he could ride with us. And we had some decent times, ones that I was very happy with. Like I said, its not very often that you see an athlete in any sport who is willing to give up what they want in order to help another. It was the perfect example of "sportsmanship."

A special thanks to Chad for helping Team Holm get their training in on Friday night and for helping us get some great times!

On a side note, we must have impressed the coaches as they kept saying that I was making the driving-coaching too easy for them. They had nothing to advice me on!

And to make matters even greater, after the session we were officially asked to Forerun (hill test) for the FIBT World Cup race to be held on the track in mid-February. Stay tuned for details and times!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Auzzie, Auzzie, Auzzie - Oy, oy, oy!


L to R:Jeremy Holm, Jason Oliveri, Jeremy Rolleston, Matt Storms, and Don Osmond)

This past week and a half has been a lot of fun for us as a team. As we've tried to cram in as many training sessions as possible to make up for the holiday break, we've found ourselves up at the track as much as four days a week.

One of the best part about bobsledding is all the friends that you make through the sport. Not that they're all bobsledders themselves, you get to meet athletes from all sports, summer and winter.

These past few training sessions we've had the great honor of training alongside some athletes from the Australian bobsled team. Jeremy Rolleston and Jason Oliveri. Despite requiring a few minutes of straight conversation to get used to their accents, we quickly became mates with these guys and had a lot of fun together (especially when they were so thoughtful and tried to buy us beer as a thank-you for all the help we gave them even though none of us, including the Aussies, drink)! I was able to sit and talk with Jeremy and go over drive-lines in the track and to help him in some spots he was trying nail down. Some of the Team Holm pushers were able to go over technique with Jason as well.

And then, the best of all, we were able to get Jeremy into our 4man bobsled for some runs just before they had to leave to head back to Australia. Two Team Holm athletes, Don Osmond and Matt Storms, even volunteered to ride with Jeremy on his runs down the track that night. I decided that Jeremy needed the runs and my athletes more than I did, so I helped coach at the top of the track that night. And he did great! Jeremy's first runs down in a 4man were very nicely done, so good on ya mate!

Afterwards we all went down to Main Street Park City for a farewell dinner. Although it ended up a late night by the time we all got to our homes, it was well worth it.

Jeremy and Jason, you'll always have mates in Team Holm Bobsled and we'll see you on the ice!