Saturday, February 28, 2009

Online Bobsled Game

Well, after a few weeks off and some repairs to the sled, we are looking forward to our last few days of training for the 2008-2009 season! Don't worry, we'll post some pictures from our World Cup adventure (including the ensuing sled work), but in the meantime, we thought we'd let you try your hand at the fast-paced world of bobsled...online that is!



Click to Play!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

Sitting here this morning after a few hours of job hunting, I can't help but think of that famous line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities." After the incredible time we had with training the other night, reaching the best time we've ever hit AND getting ready for the excitement of the World Cup next week, imagine the cold water splash of getting laid off yesterday.

Yup, that was my Friday morning surprise. Well, I can't say total surprise as I worked in the travel industry and we've been hit pretty hard by the economy. And yet, we just finished a hugely successful travel show Jan 30-31 in which I put in a ton of work. We had 3,000 attendees last year and 4,500 this year!

So now I find myself on the hunt. And trying to stay positive and focused for World Cup forerunning next week. For anyone who's been where I am, you can imagine that some moments make it tough to do so.

What am I looking for? Wait, am I shamelessly self-promoting on my team's blog? Oh well, as they say, "(Team) Captain's Perogative."

I'm looking for something in the following fields: marketing, advertising, graphic design, public relations, instructional, writing, media production, journalism whether it be print, TV, or radio, and pretty much anything that's out there!

I am also open to freelancing to all you self-employeds out there. Hiring someone full time to do your marketing/graphic design/media relations can be expensive and quite simply unfeasable. Solution? I can freelance the work that you need to increase the public's awareness of your company and its services.

Whether it be something as simple as designing a business card or as complex as creating a website, I can help you with it. And I'm cheap! Much cheaper than you would pay someone full-time or even a professional production studio. You can expect to pay bucco bucks for that sort of thing. But I have almost 10 years of experience in the field and can promise you top-level work. When is the best time to cut marketing costs? Never. Companies make that mistake when times are tough and it only hurts them in the end.

And don't be afraid to pass the word around about my services! If you know of any friends, family, or previous employers who could use some inexpensive marketing and graphic design work, please pass this information along to them and I would be happy to work with them.

As you can see, I'm hitting the ground running. So many of you have been such incredible supports for my bobsled running, now I ask for your help in my financial running!

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Giving It Your Best is a Good Feeling

There are some nights in our sport that just feel amazing. Nights when everything just gels together. The energy is just right, the sled is dialed in, and the driving is just perfect.

Well last night was almost one of those nights (driver error on the second run ruined it). A slight drop out of Turn 11 and a brush in Low-Point kind of set us back from a perfect second run.

The good news is that we got all the bungies for the brakes replaced and moved the handles for the #2 spot back a little bit. Turns out we'll have to move them again, but the brake handles worked just great for both runs. We're trying to get the sled all dialed in for World Cup forerunning next week. We also need to adjust the driving bungies and use our coach's alignment bar for the runners. But that's a story for another time.

Last night we had a bit of a laugh because we got the sled up to the top and two-man after two-man kept arriving. Turns out there was a race-off to see who was forerunning for the two-man races. Oh well, we wanted to focus on four-man last night anyway! The ice was nice and the track was fast.

So fast that we PR'ed, or hit our "Personal Best" downtime: 49.87 seconds. That was our first run, and as soon as we came down the braking stretch and saw the time I heard the crew behind me start cheering. Our goal is go get down into the 48's, but we'll have to do some sled work and some leg work to make it happen. We were all very pleased with the 49.87, however. I know World Cup times are a few seconds faster than that, but it was a great accomplishment for us. And we didn't even have as fast a push as we could!

As a driver it feels very good to hit that mark! Now we just need to finish up work on the sled and get ready for World Cup next week. Cheers!