Llrauh September 3rd, 2006, 08:26 PM Ski racing is a sport within itself, and it takes a certain kind of person to be a racer. A good friend of mine came up with something that, in my opinion, summarizes our life as ski racers quite accurately. Anyone have any thoughts of their own?
"I used to think that I lived to ski race. Now I realize that racing was merely a medium for me to realize who I am, and what I could become; and more importantly, what it takes to get there." PEK
SkiRacer55 September 5th, 2006, 09:42 AM ...downhill is a cult...
SkiRacer55 September 5th, 2006, 11:54 AM Although I enjoy racing, I'm not a racer because I hated the idea of training, because I could have just been out skiing..... That said, I have one. This is just an observation that I turned into a quote many many moons ago.
Speed skiers have no next of kin!
And of course, there's the old favorite "Ski fast, take chances".
"Know your limits and exceed them frequently."
Sandgroper61 September 6th, 2006, 04:14 AM Early 80s:
Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe (Mexico) to Lamine Gueye (Senegal) on what was, for both of them, their first course inspection at Kitzbuhel. Standing above the Mausefalle:
Hubertus: "Lamine, do you believe in God?"
Lamine: "At Kitzbuhel, what is important is not whether you believe in him, but whether he believes in you."
Both survived, and went on to grace the Alpine World Cup with their "exotic" presence for many seasons.
Superb. I don't have anything quite to match that, but with a month on the glacier at Tignes looming ahead of me, I think back to my most common quote the one time previously I have done gates ...
"Ouch."
Yuki September 6th, 2006, 05:11 AM One that cracked me up from the movie Downhill Racer.
Dave Chaplet (Robert Redford's arrogant character), is home visiting his dad, a grass roots dairy farmer .....
Dad ... "I don't know why you do it"
Chaplet .. "I'll be the champion!"
Dad .. "World's full of em' .. " ............ totally dead pan unimpressed.
KevinF September 6th, 2006, 05:53 AM "At Kitzbuhel, what is important is not whether you believe in him, but whether he believes in you."
This might have to be added to my signature. Absolutely classic.
Martin Bell September 6th, 2006, 11:52 AM Another telling quote from Downhill Racer:
Young US racer to his coach, Gene Hackman: "That Chaplet's not for the team and never will be."
Gene: "Well, it ain't exactly a team sport."
Despite the leather ski boots and hay-bales for safety nets, that film is still relevant to modern ski-racing in some ways...
SkiRacer55 September 6th, 2006, 12:28 PM "I really lack the words to compliment myself today." Thing is, probably nobody else could find the words, either...
KevinF September 6th, 2006, 12:43 PM In my mind, there's only one Alberto Tomba quote:
"Last Olympics, I partied with three women until 5:00 AM. Now I party with five women, but only until 3:00 AM."
Probably not exact, but it gets the point across.
whygimf September 6th, 2006, 01:30 PM A Bode quote, 12/97, after a short stint having been introduced to World Cup Racing:
"I can beat those guys."
whygimf September 6th, 2006, 04:09 PM Always associated to the wonderful Stein:
"So Happy For You to Meet Me!"
whygimf September 6th, 2006, 04:14 PM Bill Johnson, prior to the DH at the Olympics, 1984:
"They should hand (the gold medal) to me. Everyone else can fight for second place."
sfdean September 8th, 2006, 12:46 PM Former World Cup overall champion Stephan Eberharter, on Hermann Maier's winning the Nagano Olympic super-G one day after an upside-down 70 mph crash through two fences in the downhill.
"I am the best ski racer in the World. But Hermann Maier--he is from another planet."
SLATZ September 9th, 2006, 10:04 PM "Faster and faster until your love of speed overcomes your fear of death".
Bumper sticker on a 68 Olds Toronado with boards with bindings mounted on them on a roof rack. Seen in the parking lot of the Mangy Moose in Jackson Hole, WY. :D
Bill Johnson: "It's still snowing".
Martin Bell September 9th, 2006, 11:12 PM Bill Johnson: "It's still snowing".
I remember that one very well from the Sarajevo Olympic Village. It was usually followed by his distinctive "a-huh, a-huh, a-huh" laugh.
patmoore September 10th, 2006, 12:03 AM My two favorites:
"When you're over the hill, you pick up speed"
and
"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room"
samurai September 10th, 2006, 03:36 AM "To win the Powder-8's; you have to be able to ski anywhere, anytime in any condition." or something like that. Know the film? Of course you do.
Picabo Street- after being asked why she is risking injury the week prior the olympics responded; "If I can jump out of an airplane, I can ski pretty damn fast." I fell in love with her at that moment.
samurai September 10th, 2006, 03:37 AM K2 poster; "You push the envelope, we'll lick the stamps."
sfdean September 11th, 2006, 12:50 AM 1. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
2. Life is short. Ski fast.
3. Any day you finish with the same number of bones you started with, and all the ligaments attached, is a good day.
4. It's important to have good judgment. And it's important to have good luck, those times when you show bad judgment.
JohnH September 11th, 2006, 07:28 AM I've upped my limits, so up yours!
Gate Crasher September 15th, 2006, 09:05 AM The older I get, the faster I was.
Flying Fossil September 17th, 2006, 10:35 PM Heard one this summer by a coach on the Palmer, an exortation to one of his racers in the start of a timed run:
!!! SKI LIKE A YUGOSLAVIAN !!!
- Fossil
Alaska Mike September 18th, 2006, 11:27 AM ... I think back to my most common quote the one time previously I have done gates ...
"Ouch."
My usual notable quotes can't be repeated on a family website. I have a habit of berating myself most profanely.
Flying Fossil September 19th, 2006, 11:13 PM Here's one from the seventies when the Mahre's were racing. I don't know if it was Hank Tauber or Harold Schonhaar at one of the summer coaches clinics in Bend they held when the USST was training on the high rope tow at Mt Bachelor. We all watched in awe on the hill then had classroom sessions down at Central Oregon College:
"There's two kinds of ski racers in the world; those that win World Cup races, and those that don't"
- Fossil
DownhillDave September 25th, 2006, 01:27 AM From Bode Miller's "60 Minutes" interview: "For me, the ideal Olympics would be to go in with all that pressure, all that attention and have performances that are literally tear-jerking, that make people put their heads down because they're embarrassed at how emotional they're getting, that make people want to try sports, talk to their kids, call their f---ing ex-wives—and come away with no medals. I think that would be f---ing epic. That would be the perfect thing." And Bode might have been talking about me when he said, "Defining your criteria for success is easier when you suck."
"Speed exposes weakness." Chad Fleischer
"Big Air. Kids today, that's all they want, Big Air. I say stick to the mountain. That's where the fun is. You want Big Air, kid? Pull My Finger!" Smooth Johnson, Master of the Carve
Guy Perillat, Killy's teammate, on the French style: "It is a natural technique, based essentially on flexion-extension with or without unweighting of one or two skis and displaying great freedom of spirit, dictated solely by the maintenance of the skier's balance and rejecting everything that seems superfluous or artificial."
For speed events, I find inspiration in advice from the great sprinter, cyclist Mario Cippolini: "If you brake, you lose."
And finally, my epitaph, a paraphrase of another cyclist, British Champion Tommy Simpson, before he perished on the slopes of Mt. Ventoux of exhaustion and amphetamines--"Click me back into my skis" ("Put me back on the bike.")
Einstein was right: the faster you go, the slower you age. |
