Encore! Encore!

In the immortal words of Monty Python, "(We're) not dead yet."

This past weekend we were supposed to have three days straight of training (Fri, Sat, Sun). The plan was to have us forerun for the Western Regionals skeleton races in the four-man sled because let's be honest: its big, its fast, and it makes a lot of noise as it roars through a turn. Crowds love it and we would have loved to get a few more days of training in before the season ended.

But those hopes were dashed when we were told that there would be no bobsleds allowed around the races. The reasoning behind this decision depends on who you ask. Some cast the blame on the fact that there wasn't much time scheduled for the races themselves, but there have been comments made about something that someone irresponsibly did that caused this verdict to come down to eliminate bobsled for the weekend. We were frustrated and angry to put it mildly. Bobsledding has always been one of the biggest draws for tourists at the Utah Olympic Park and people love it when we train, but since we don't have as many athletes training out here as say skeleton or luge, we always are one of the first programs to suffer when it comes to training time. In other words, we get the shaft a lot.

So, we all quietly began to mentally and physically put our bobsledding season behind us and prepare for summer as we believed that the season was indeed over now.

But then the encore was called for.

It's not something I can talk a lot about right now due to the nature of what we will be participating in, but we are crossing our fingers for another opportunity to train and participate in a very cool project.

Basically what I'm saying is: More news to come so stay tuned!

Attention: Final Boarding Call for the Night

So, last night we had an incredible night of training, minus a few last minute delays and scheduling changes. Joe Sission was short a brakeman so Matt was going to slide with him, and that required some re-shifting of our plans. It was OT (Official Training) for the skeleton athlete's last night so they were scheduled three heats of training. We were very lucky to get to slide at all during their training as it is very uncommon to allow bobsledders into a skeleton race training session, so thanks to Steve Revelli and Tom Raty!

Well, on our first run we were all pretty excited, though I could tell that some of the athletes were a little tired. Even so, when we set the sled down on the ice and started pushing I could tell that it was a good push. I loaded into the sled and felt Don load in behind me and immediately noticed that his knees were farther forward than normal which affected how much room I had to drive. Not his fault, it happens a lot when it comes to four-man in general. With four big guys trying to sprint and load into the sled, it is no surprise when someone ends up out of position. So it definitely made driving a little interesting, but we made it down ok. Well, better than ok.

Our final downtime? 51.42!!!!! Not only did we break through the 52 second mark, we smashed it by 6/10ths of a second! We were all so excited!!! Our second run was a hair slower at 51.64, but that is because our push was slower, a 5.86 whereas our first push was a decent 5.68. All I can say is that as a team I am so proud of how fast we have progressed this season and how far we have come. We are now staring hungrily at that 51 second mark and with two days of four-man training left, we are going to go for it all: a 50 second finish time. I think we can do it, all we need to do is drop our pushtime down a bit and sand the runners a bit more as they are still pretty pitted from all the rust.

But you can bet that we are focusing our eyes on next season's races. Its our time now. Gold medals, here we come!

Fantastic Four

So tonight was an incredible night of four-man training. At first we weren't sure that we would be able to use the Club's sled, but thankfully we were able to work it out where we got it tonight.

And it was awesome.

Myself, Don, Matt, and a newcomer to the team, Brad Welsh, all put on our spikes for our first push start loads of the season....at the end of the season, sadly enough. But it was worth it. We practiced a few dry loads with the sled just sitting on the ice just to get a feel for the load process and to get a better understanding of how to get to our seats on a sprint. After that, we just sat around and waited. My old friend and teammate Joe Sisson was coaching a previous session, so he came up to the start and we shared a few stories with some of the newer athletes.

Well, our time came up and we moved the sled up to the starting line. I could tell that everyone was just a tiny bit nervous and all the skeleton athletes had there faces pushed against the starthouse windows so they could watch us.

Matt yelled "Backset" and Don and Brad both yelled "SET!" and I yelled "READY" and bam! We were off. Now, you have to remember that it was our first push-load so we just jogged a couple of steps and then started hopping in. I got in and all of the sudden I could hear Matt yelling "Get in! Get in!" Then I realized that I hadn't felt Don get in yet. Brad and Matt had to wait for Don to get in before they could take their seats. Well Don did make it in and everyone got into their positions just fine.

Our first run was actually a lot of fun, a mid-54 second. So we dropped another second off our time from last week. I was pleased with that considering we had 7-second push. Once we crossed the finish line all the guys were cheering. We got out of the sled at the finish dock and man oh man did Matt give Don a hard time for not getting in the sled. I had to laugh at the way those two just pick on each other. But it was all in good fun and we were so excited about the run. I asked everyone if they wanted to push farther on the next one and they were all for it. What was really funny is that when we got back to the Joe gave MATT a hard time for the way he was yelling at Don to get in. We all got a good laugh at how the tables were turned on Storms. But he's a good sport so he gave it right back to Joe.

On our second run everyone was pumped up still. With grins on our faces and a bit more fire in our eyes, we pulled the sled to the starting line, set it in the grooves, and called out our readiness. We didn't give it our all, we all held back quite a bit, but we dropped a half-second off our start time. And the second run felt GOOOOOD. It was a lot smoother and cleaner and we had a low 53-second downtime. And as soon as we crossed the finish line everyone just cheered. I heard Matt and Don and Brad just let out the loudest yells when they saw our finish time. I grinned. It was just an incredible feeling for all of us. Fourman training is pretty much the toughest side of bobsledding their is. Its more dangerous, its faster, and its harder on the body. But last night, all four of us were on Cloud 9. That was our track that night.

And as I sat there thinking about it, surrounded by some of the greatest athletes I've ever known, I was pretty grateful for what I was able to do. And then that got me thinking even more. We had just hit a 53 with AWFUL runners that haven't been sanded in years and that have rust marks and scratches all over them. On top of that, we pushed a 6.24, probably a full second slower than we could push if we really tried. And it was snowy last night so some of the skeleton guys were getting 56s, 57s, and even some 58s. So if we sand the runners, push our all, and on good ice conditions...wow. We could be getting 51s or even 50s! Now THAT is something to smile about!

Four-men in a little sled

So Friday night (Feb. 15) was a big night for Team Holm Bobsled. As a driver and as pushers, moving into four-man bobsled training after a season of two-man is a refreshing and exhilerating step!

And a little nerve wracking. While you might think that the two events are so closely related that there's no difference between the two, the honest truth is that there are big differences. The biggest would have to be for me, as a driver. The difference between driving a two-man sled and a four-man sled is comparable to the difference between driving a compact car and a full-sized tractor trailer rig. While they both go on the same road, their handling styles are worlds apart.

As it is in bobsled. In a two-man bobsled you are able to make quicker changes and corrections in your lines on the track. In a four-man sled, however, with that much mass moving at slightly faster speeds, well, its not as easy to drive. Once you drive a four-man sled into a line in a turn, it just stays there and when it gets to the end of the turn, if you don't start driving out of the turn at the right time, you can't just pull the sled down like you can in a two-man. Basically it boils down to the fact that four-man sleds are harder to correct and easier to roll over.

Four-man sleds are incredible examples of engineering. The fact that you can take an almost 1,400 pound sled and crew down the track at 80MPH in those tight turns, it just amazes me. And it sure made some of the newer pushers nervous!

I could see it on their faces as we got the sled prepped for training. To the untrained eye, the sled wasn't much to look at. You could tell that it had seen years of training and some neglect. The fiberglass body had cracks in it and the metal framework was rusted in several places. As a driver my main concern was the steering system. Was it rusted over? Was it responsive enough or would I have to drive heavy-handed? I had no idea and the thing about driving a new sled down the track is that you have about three turns to learn how the sled handles before the danger starts. So basically its a trial by fire 'learn it as you go' sort of experience.

Well, all the athletes breathed a sigh of relief when I told them that we weren't going to be pushing and jumping in at the start. Don (Osmond), and Hans were all a bit relieved when they found out that all they had to do was sit in the sled while Matt (Storms) walked us off the top and then jumped in. No running, no jogging, just a leisure walk. At least they had some peace of mind!

I was a bit nervous, I'll be honest. I've driven four-man sleds before, but it has been a little bit. About two years to be exact. So once we started down that ramp I started praying a bit. I trusted my abilities as a driver, I just didn't trust the sled yet.

The first run, while somewhat smooth, was a bit slower without the push and I was steering too much in the turns to keep us safe as I adjusted to the new steering system. But once we crossed the finish line right side up and with an ok downtime considering there was no push, well, I had a huge smile on my face. Honestly, we all did. We'd done it. We completed a four-man trip successfully, something some bobsledders never even do. When I asked if they all wanted to take a second trip the answer was a unanimous YES.

So we did. And it was a lot smoother and faster. Not by a ton since we didn't do a push start again and Matt just walked us off. But I eased up on the steering and let it run through the turns a bit more. We dropped a full 1.5 seconds off our time between the first and second runs! And we had even bigger smiles on our faces! It was so awesome! I couldn't stop smiling about it, I was so amped up! Everyone was so excited about it and we can't wait to try pushing the sled this upcoming week and loading in. Don and I and my cousin Caryn all went to grab dinner afterwards and I couldn't help myself, I just kept saying over and over again how much fun that was! I am so excited for this upcoming week as we get three days of training. Don was just as excited as we sat there eating our incredible nutritious Taco Bell!

So stayed tuned for this week's updates and pictures! Its going to be a great week!

Frosty the Snowmen

So it was one of those nights of training. Not bad, not superb, just kind of in between. You can tell it is getting to the end of the season because all the athletes are getting a bit more sore and equipment is breaking just a bit easier.

But last night we took three runs (Don and I had two and Matt and I had one). The track was rather frosty so it wasn't as fast as we would like it to be. What happened is that Park City faced some warmer weather during the day yesterday, so the outside air temperature was higher. When this occurs, the ice on the track starts to melt just a touch. Almost "sweat" if you will. But then as the day went on and the temperature started the drop, this "sweat" on the ice began to freeze and this creates a layer of frost on the surface. Frost, for us, is a bad thing as it acts like a miniature layer of sand paper. As athletes we find its easier to drive since the frost gives us more grip than smooth ice, but it also slows us down.

So Don and I had a good push on our first run, a 5.68. Both of us want a 5.5 so badly this season! Our down time was a 52.40, so not too bad! Still, we are pushing for that goal of a 51 second run before the season is over!!! Matt and I had a bit slower push than usual, a 5.98. both of us were shaking our heads over that one. Not sure what happened there. But we had a clean run and posted a time of 52.57. So while our push was slower, our time was considerably faster when you do the math (52.40-5.68=46.72 and 52.57-5.98=46.59 SO 46.72-46.59= 0.13 BUT the pushes were 5.98-5.68=0.3 difference SO Don and I should have had a time that was 0.6 seconds faster than Matt and I).

Wow, doing that math definitely pulled out the arithmetic skills!!!

Anyways, as the season does wind down we have big plans for pushing ourselves physically over the summer, working with TOSH's acceleration program, and finding sponsors! So if any readers have suggestions for companies who may be interested in helping a team race for the Olympics, please let us know!

Be sure to check back this weekend because this Friday we are pulling out the big guns. That's right, its four-man time!

Two in a Row- 2nd Win for Team Holm

That's right, two in a row! Last Saturday (after surviving Friday's freezing temperatures) Matt and I participated in the 2008 Utah Pioneer's Cup bobsled race.

And we took first place for the second week in a row! We were pretty excited considering Matt has been extremely sick all week and we were just grateful that he was able to compete, although I could tell that it took a lot out of him. After fighting a fever all week and losing 14 pounds, it tells a lot about the guy's heart if he's willing to get in a sled at 80 MPH after all that.

But it paid off. I have to laugh as we again stuck it right at the low 52-second mark for both runs (52.21 exactly on both) but I know we will break into the 51s before the season is over! This gave us a pretty substantial cushion ahead of the next team, the Jamaicans, who we have a joking bet about who has to buy who dinner if they win!

Its been an exciting couple of weeks, and we look with some sadness as the season is swiftly coming to a close (end of February), unless we can get some training time in Canada which is our goal. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

We just wanted to thank everyone for all their support so far, it has definitely made a difference. Be sure to subscribe to this blog so you can get our updates in your email because we are trying to update it as often as possible!

Best wishes!

The Night Hell Must Have Frozen Over

It was cold. I mean, we're talking COLD. Friday (Feb 1st)night's practice was almost miserable. I had to loan my gloves to Don who was pushing that night and everytime I touched metal it was so cold it burned my hand. We're talking instant minor frostbite here. And we made the crazy decision to train in our spandex racing suits that night! Why oh why didn't we just wear normal clothes training clothes???

A highlight of the night was that we had a photographer from Provo come up to take some candid shots of us training, Mark Weinberg. You can check out some of his shots at http://mlwphotos.com/proofs/teamholm/ .

So, we've established the fact that it was cold. Like, in the teens cold. So on our first run as soon as I loaded into the sled and felt Don load into his seat, my helmet began to fog over. And I mean, really cloud over. Most of the time I can just tilt my head back a little bit to get some air on the helmet shield to clear it up, but this time I had about 40% visibility for most of the track. Imagine doing that at 80MPH!

But it only got worse from there. There was so much snow up at the track that it had covered the tarps that are over Turns 14 and 15. Once we came out of Turn 13 it was like looking down into an underground tunnel: pitch black. So that mixed with a fogged helmet made for a pretty interesting run! It was a 53 second and given the conditions I was ok with that.

So the second run was only marginally better, a high 52 and I just had to laugh. It truly was a great night of training in the worst conditions imaginable. It wasn't that we were really able to work on our technique so much as now we know that we can slide in the worst conditions possible. Its like they say, sometimes you just need to face the worst situations in life just so you can know that you can handle it next time it comes around. Experiences like that should give us all confidence that we really are stronger than we thought we were.

But, still, I think it was cold enough that Hell froze over that night!