January 8th, 2010 - Race Day

January 8th, 2010 – Race Day

Well today started off just lovely. I Woke up at 2:47am exactly, and couldn’t manage to shake it off completely. From 3-4am I tossed about, too many things were going through my head. I looked outside and it was DUMPING snow still. The forecast called for 20cm throughout the night (about 8in.) with another 10cm to drop today. On the brighter side, my nightmares of a rutted out ice-capade of a race course were gone. After what seemed like an eternity of sleeplessness, I finally popped open iTunes, and some much needed Crown City Rockers music got my mind back to where it needed to be. This part of today’s update won’t be posted until everything is said and done, so hopefully when I sign back in, it will be with some decent news. I want so many things to happen today. I want to prove that I have a place here. I want to make it past time trials against a field of racers that are beyond World Cup caliber. I want to earn the necessary points to be eligible for World Cup myself. I want to do my part to show that Team Philippines deserves a spot not only here, but beyond this level of competition. Eden Serina and Jondre Mina have blazed a history making trail, and I strive to maintain what they’ve started. I’m doing everything possible to prevent these things from distracting my focus.

It’s just after 6am now, and it’s almost time to get ready. The lift chairs are on a special schedule today; at 8am SHARP they will open, but for only 15 minutes. This is to give the competitors a chance to get up the hill early and prep for inspection. At 815 the lifts close again until 9am, when they officially open for the public. If there is ANYTHING left on your mental fix-it list, this is your last shot to handle business. Just after 9, we are allotted an hour or so of practice. For those that didn’t make it on the chair lift early enough, this time will be wasted inspecting the course rather than dialing in your line at full-speed. At around 1030, time trials start. They mentioned at the end of last night’s meeting that they “wanted” to give us TWO time trial runs. This would only happen if things moved along faster than yesterday AND if the weather permitted. It turns out that some injuries on the course caused us to get behind schedule yesterday. If it starts to snow, they will go back to the original plan; one shot – go big or go home. Alex Aguilar, a dear friend from way back reminded me to leave everything I’ve got out here… so here I go.




10:19am local time (1:19am PST)

So…about 30min after I wrote the entry above, I get suited up and I’m off. I take the elevator down to the 3rd floor where there’s a side exit door to the hill down towards the village. As I approach the door, it’s noticeably darker than the past few days. I know I left a bit earlier, but there should have been at least some light coming through. When I open the door...WOW…a WALL of snow blocked any hope of getting out. That’s fine, back in the elevator and up to the 11th floor where there’s an uphill access exit. Ha, I get out that door and the “check-in only” parking lot is buried. They predicted 8 inches of snow. At least 3 times that amount fell, and it was still coming down. I know the clock is ticking, so I start trudging my happy little self across the lot and towards the hill. It was incredible; this whole place was completely buried last night.

When I get down to the village I see NOBODY. Maybe I was a little apprehensive, and arriving 15 minutes ahead of time was too early for everyone else? I can see the lights on in the room where we had our last meeting. I walk in and the FIS Europa Cup organizer, the Resort Rep, and the Course builder himself are all sitting there scratching their heads. Francois (FIS rep) looks at me and says “Sorry…I guess you can go back and get some sleep”. No…..No Way this is happening. I said “So, no race today?” “Yep, today no race, whole mountain is closed for avalanche, course is no good”

It’s hard to recall how I used to behave when I was 4yrs old, but part of me thought that this was the perfect opportunity for a full-fledged temper tantrum. I couldn’t believe this; I had travelled THIS FAR, built a GIGANTIC budget, for what? A 4 day snowboarding vacation? That’s not what I came here for.

I left and walked across to the café, just as they were opening and the rest of the riders were coming out to get on the lift. One by one, they all had their choice words in whatever language they were speaking. I saw team Japan again, one of them had talked to Francois after I did. They said that FOR SURE today’s race was cancelled, but the resort was waiting until 9am to decide whether or not to open to the public. As he was finishing his sentence, two deafening explosions came from uphill. They were doing avalanche control, which meant blasting dynamite to set off artificial avalanches (before a regular person comes up and caused the same one). That was the HUGE downside of having no trees up there; it meant the race course itself was under avalanche danger as well. The starting line sits in a gorge surrounded by hills. One mistake up above, and the course and everyone near it would be buried. By now the village café was filled with over 100 competitors, their coaches, and everyone else involved with today’s race. The final word came shortly after; “The Puy St. Vincent Europa Cup has been cancelled for today. At 2pm, we will decide whether or not we can have it tomorrow.”

For some racers, the news wasn’t a big deal. They were staying here anyways. For a handful of the other racers, INCLUDING MYSELF, the news was devastating. We were the few that were scheduled to leave tomorrow. Team Japan was going to Austria to catch the next stop of the Europa Cup in three days, the rest of us were simply going home, but now with no points. If they decide that the race is ON for tomorrow, I can’t even stay. After time trials are finished, I will have missed my taxi to get to the train station. It’s the last train leaving for my Paris connection until early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow’s train won’t get into Paris until noon, giving me only an hour to take a shuttle to the airport, check in, and board the plane. There’s no way I’m taking that chance.

All in all, this is strike 2 for me personally. The first Europa Cup event in Isola France was cancelled due to low snow conditions. This one was cancelled after too much snow fell. What does this all mean? For me it means that TWO World Cup Qualifiers were gone. There are more, but my budget won’t allow me take this loss and simply bounce over to Austria to make up for it. My next opportunity is on the 18th and 19th, during the North America Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado. The World Cup stop is during the week of the 20th. On the 25th, Olympic Teams are announced. At this point, it is all but impossible to make it to World Cup level by this deadline. I realized this was a long shot from the very beginning, and all of these stars had to line up for bigger things to happen, but it’s only now the reality sets in. I can only deal with it with that much more aggression during my next event. I will still be racing this year; I want to get to Copper next week, Big White in Canada, and it would be a dream come true to make it to one of the events in Japan. I am flattered by the contributions and support that I have received, and I thank each and every one of you for everything you have done leading up to this event.

For now, I think it’s about time to get down to the village and plug my laptop in. it’s 2am back home. “Back home” sounds so great to me right now…

January 7th – Inspection / Full Speed Practice day

Thankfully today I was able to get back on the internet and catch up with some much needed communication. Thank you to everyone who caught me during my little hour window (130-230am PST) to wish me luck.

Today was our scheduled inspection and practice day, and from the moment I got to the village there was clearly tension in the air. By now we had all seen the roster, and we all knew how large the field of competitors would be. We all travelled here from somewhere (some farther than others), and we all wanted an edge on the others. Every opportunity I had, I would look at the other riders on the mountain, trying to pick them apart and look for any weaknesses.

The weather was much different than it had been the past two days. It was overcast, and small flurries were starting to fall. The sun never clearly came out, so the lighting was flat all day. Our practice window wasn’t scheduled until 2-4pm (2-3p women, 3-4p men), so lighting was going to be a huge variable.

I got to the course early to scrape wax, sharpen edges, etc. By 130p, the entire field was there doing the same thing. It was a zoo. Women started right on schedule; One by one they dropped out of the gates and onto the course, but something didn’t look right. The majority were struggling over the first feature, the ONLY feature on the course I had never ridden before. Boardercross slang refers to this feature as a Wu-Tang. From the side it almost looks like the “W” from the Wu-Tang logo, but from the racers perspective, it looks like a quarter pipe wall towering above you. You come dropping vertically into it, and with a perfectly timed shift of your weight, you compress to lift your board over and out of it.

With flat lighting, cold temperature, and a circus of people riding the course, conditions were much less than race-ready by the time the men got started. One by one they sent us, and we were quick to get back up as fast as possible. As I dropped in for the first “inspection” run, I felt the awkwardness of that Wu-Tang feature. My timing was a bit off, so I landed a little too far out. Tomorrow that mistake means getting sent home immediately, so I put that on the mental fix-it list. The rest of the course was extremely technical. No gigantic hip jumps or 60ft tabletops that you might see on a World Cup or X Games course, but enough tight turns and rollers to take your feet right out from underneath you. When I got back to the top, it was a disorganized crowd of guys bumping, pushing, and elbowing to get into the gates for full speed practice. Imagine 100 guys fighting for 4 gates at the same time. Full-speed run #1; came into the Wu-Tang hot, but compressed perfectly and pulled out with more speed. Turn 1 was a long, flat, tightening left into an off-camber tabletop. Got it. 2, 3, and 4; hard right, into a spine-entry left, into a long right. Check, check, annnnnd check. Turn 5 was nasty; coming out of turn 4 you’re at just under full speed, but this turn starts mellow then tightens into the mother of all “regular-footed” killers, a hairpin left. Add to that today’s randomly arranged assortment of ruts and gouges, and you have yourself a disaster waiting to happen. During my run I caught up and passed someone who crashed on that turn. I was no exception though, as run 2 sent me sliding off course in the same spot. Turn 6 is a sharp right coming out of that hairpin. It’s not a problem since you’re coming out of turn 5 with almost no speed at all, but it definitely plays on that confidence by sending you immediately into a washboard of rollers and the final turn. Turn 7 is going to be a heartbreaker for so many people tomorrow. It’s a sweeping left into the finish line tabletop. Sweeping turn? No big deal, right? Not even, I think the MOST CRASHES happened on turn 7 today. ON THE WALL of the turn (not before, not after, but on the actual bank), two rollers are there to take that first place spot you thought you had, and replace it with a nice crash that you probably won’t recover from. For me, I held an outside line to avoid the sharpest portion, and that kept me safe. After watching the rest of the crowd come down for their final run, things didn’t look so pretty. Out of the 20-30 racers that I watched pass through that turn, about half came out stable enough to take the final tabletop. The rest either slid completely off course (an immediate DQ during race time), or fell and came to a dead stop and had to CLIMB the tabletop (bye bye first place). I can guarantee that turn 5 and 7 are going to determine tomorrow’s results. If a crash is going to happen, its either on turn 5 when you’re slowed to a crawl and get taken out from someone hungry to pass from behind, OR it’s going to be on turn 7, when first place is right in front of you, and you think you can pass him on the inside for the dramatic win…and you end up taking both of yourselves out. If you’re lucky in either situation, you’ll be the one who hops, skips and wobbles to get on your feet in time for 3rd place.

Tonight is the final riders meeting, where we will get the official format for tomorrow. Tomorrow won’t allow a SINGLE MISTAKE. If you slide out, crash, or just flat out aren’t fast enough during time trials…you go home. We will be sent down the course 1 at a time, women then men. For the men, the Top 32 times stay and get seeded into brackets. For 33-100+, you’re done. I’ve worked hard to prepare myself for tomorrow, and I’ll be working even harder to make it to that top 32. This has been my immediate goal since the end of last season’s finish at the USASA Nationals. Whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll be pushing myself to the limit. For tonight, I’ll be preparing with plenty of waxing, sharpening, and sleeping. Time trials start EARLY tomorrow morning, so I probably won’t update until I have my final results. Until then, it’s about time to get to the riders meeting. Thank you all again for taking the time to follow along.

Touchdown France!!!

(Please forgive the context, spelling, and any other errors. Ive been writing this over the past two nights, when my mind was so confused and exhausted from travelling)


January 5th, 2010
So I’m here…sort of. Im sitting in a Train Station at the moment (my laptop says its 6:30am) back in California. Next stop from here is the L’Argintiere Des Ecrins station to jump on a shuttle up to the mountain village. I lost track of what time it is, what time I started, and most notably exactly how long I’ve been travelling for (although it’s probably much better that way). I feel like the sleeping pills helped me to be as prepared as possible for the time change here in France, but I can definitely feel the effects and confusion that comes along with travelling this far.

Next on the list is to figure out just HOW to get on the internet so I can communicate with everyone back home (I’m writing this probably a good 4 hours or so before I can post it). The language barrier has been a huge issue from the instant I left the East Coast and heard the Flight Attendant’s announcements. I’ve been surrounded by something very new to me and it was almost intimidating, especially knowing that I’ve come here alone. By the way, thank you Cindy for the Christmas gift, I’ve already used it to find out where in the world I’ve been going, and to order a $4 shot of Espresso from the Gare de Lyon station that brought me here.

…hours later.

I just arrived at my Hotel, its about 830pm local time. The 10min taxi ride from the train station up to the mountain village was 38Euro (I don’t want to calculate it again, it was heartbreaking enough dealing with it already). When we pulled up we were literally 10min late for the receptionist. Everything was dark, and I’m in the middle of a village with nobody around, its -4C, and the taxi driver says au revoir and takes off. Luckily a resident just happened to come out to the lobby to grab something from the vending machine, and he buzzed me in. I was able to call the receptionist, she walked over within 5min, and FINALLY I can call my travel day(s) complete.

Just my luck, there’s no internet here either, so that means I’ll probably be posting this up sometime tomorrow when I snowboard down to the village and meet up with all the other athletes for registration. For now I desperately need some sleep.


January 6th, 2010 – Recover, Sleep, Practice, Sleep, Registration, and SLEEP

WOW, now I know what Jetlag is…

I tried to convince myself that Jetlag was all in the mind, but there was no denying it when I woke up at 430am locally (730pm PST) and couldn’t get back to sleep. Last night’s extremely expensive cab ride left me with some mixed feelings about how well I planned a budget for the trip. And to add, my electricity adapter I’ve been using for my laptop literally blew up this morning so I needed to purchase a new one (my sincerely sarcastic “Thank You” to Walmart). Also, I didn’t mention it last night (since I thought I was still hallucinating), but that 10min cab ride was more like a Rally Racing dream. This dude driving a 4wd “Scenic” wagon was AWESOME, and I was so exhausted from all the travelling that I just held on, but with a huge smile.

Just when I thought all was lost (budget wise), little things here and there became a huge relief. For le petit dejeuner today it was a Croissant and Espresso. I wanted to use my card since I knew I needed to hang on to my cash for the inevitable expensive cab ride in a few days. The guy said there was a minimum purchase needed for the card, but said don’t worry about it and sent me on my way. Sweet. When I stopped back into the hotel to change, the receptionist reminded me that I needed to turn in my card for the room deposit. But, she said “you are probably busy, you can just do it the next day, or even the next day”. When I came back in the afternoon to remind her, SHE was busy. She just said not to worry about it. Sweet again. I got down to the village to purchase a lift ticket, this is where I was convinced that I would be shocked, lift tickets in Tahoe are around $70USD minimum. To my surprise, lift tickets were only 26,60EU. Sweet yet again. I grabbed my stuff and went straight up top to check out the terrain.

AMAZING! The closest comparison I can make is the Blackcomb Glacier up in Canada. The mountains were gigantic, and completely surrounded the horizon. There were only a handful of trees on the entire resort, which meant wide open riding off of every chair. It had recently snowed up here, so there were fresh tracks everywhere. I was on my race board, so powder wasn’t gonna cut it today, although it was extremely tempting. From my first lap I could already tell there were competitors here. I could see people on the wide open trails practicing turns in groups of 5-10. Later I found out it was the home team, France is registered with 20+ ppl. The race track was being built throughout the day, so I frequently stopped by to lay out the rhythm in my mind. But, I finally gave in and went up top to catch the breathtaking view; some of the pictures posted on my Facebook Page will show it.

Practice went well today, and I got a chance to meet some great people. Hand gestures have become a standard, since I swear French is the most difficult language in the Universe. It’s now 8pm here locally and we just finished up the riders / team captain meeting to grab our jerseys. There are over 100 people registered, which according to the organizing committee is low compared to what was anticipated. This same weekend, the FIS World Cup takes place in Bad Gastein, Austria. Had it not been for so many riders going to World Cup, they would have seen close to 200 registered today. I got a chance to meet Team Japan tonight and was able to communicate with them much easier than anyone else in the past two days (THANK YOU Sanchez-Sensei and Masuyama-Sensei). Judging by the point numbers on the roster, there are some killer racers here. At least a quarter of the racers are well beyond the 50pt. minimum for World Cup entry. None of that is in my head, I know what I’m here for, and I want to take it. A very good friend reminded me that when it comes time to step in the gates, the guys next to you are just as nerve-racked as you are. When I keep that mindset locked in, I can look down my race line and everything else disappears…

Tomorrow is our official Inspection / Practice day. We aren’t allowed on the course until 230pm, with inspections first followed by an hour of full-speed practice. Tonight, my little seafood couscous dinner will be followed by a huge helping of race waxing, edge tuning / sharpening, and sleep. HOPEFULLY I will have this posted by tomorrow, I was able to find another power adapter for my laptop down in the village.

Kenneth

Next stop, France...

As the 2009 year came to a close, I was surrounded by great people and it reminded me just how much I had to be thankful for. With my very first international event coming up next week, it's been important to acknowledge all of the much needed support that I've received. The list of people I have to thank is so much larger than what I have listed on my blog.

To be completely honest, I'm going into next week with VERY mixed feelings. It's my first time traveling overseas. It's my first time attempting to take on an international field of competitors. I'm traveling alone. I've learned about 17 French words. What's really in store out there?

With only a day left before I leave, I also note the brighter side. I may be traveling alone, but I've got all of my reservations laid out and printed. The mountain in France is at an equivalent elevation to our mountains here in Tahoe. I'm READY. My new board is READY. My mind is READY. The European teams want these points, but I want them more. The Philippines team has been working hard all over the globe to make this year historical, and it's my time to contribute.

I leave early Monday from San Francisco, and I'll have my camera out the second I land in France. For those of you that have been following along, I will have my phone but I don't plan on using it. As soon as I'm settled in at the Puy St. Vincent village, I'll have my Facebook Page signed in to chat with you all. Once again I would like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support leading up to this season, I can't wait to come back with some great results.

Kenneth C.

Getting Fitted

This week was no different than the last three; stressing over event registration, getting my passport paperwork, trying to figure out WHAT ON EARTH all of the French Websites are telling me about getting to and from here, taking shuttles there, and so on and so on...

One thing that did catch me eye was a message left for me as I arrived at work last week. "Kenneth someone named Dr. Kwan left a message for you - he said something about seeing you on KCRA and left his number."

...and WOW, THANK YOU KCRA!!! By some fortunate "accident", Dr Kwan had seen the footage on KCRA and said he had just the thing that could help to achieve my edge.

It turns out Arthur Kwan runs a not so typical dental practice up in Rocklin, CA. He wanted to introduce me to some new technology that's starting to blow up in the sports world. It's called a PPM, or "Pure Power Mouthguard". It comes in the form of a "mouthpiece", and has already undergone some in-depth testing with athletes all over the world. Dr. Kwan was nice enough to extend to me the opportunity to try one out!

Last night I went in for the fitting. The staff was amazing, and everyone was well educated on the benefits of using this technology. After taking a few molds of my teeth, we had come up with two different molds to work with. This is where things got interesting...

Now I'm completely aware that in every industry there are gimmicks. Everyone out there has something to make you faster, stronger, or more agile...and quite often they're too good to be true. When Dr. Kwan described some of the IMMEDIATE benefits, I was definitely skeptical. However, after experiencing the benefits firsthand, I was blown away.

We started with some simple strength and balance tests; Something to show how the human body acts when it aligns itself, and once again with the jaw and head "locked" in proper alignment. The difference was "jaw dropping" (literally...). The flexibility tests were astounding. I did some simple stretches, once normally, and once again with the test mouthpiece in. "WOW" is the only word that comes to mind.

Im very fortunate to have this type of support, especially in a sport where explosive strength and agility is a must. Not to mention trying to figure out how to breathe properly when your going all-out at high altitude. I cant wait to feel the difference when my PPM is finished!

Thank you so much Dr. Kwan and everyone at NuSmile Sacramento. For the rest of you following along, take a look for yourselves!!!

The MAKKAR PPM Official Website
Dr. Kwan's office: NuSmile Sacramento

My much anticipated story on KCRA!

What an unbelievable night!
Brian Hickey from KCRA contacted me a few days ago to let me know that the interview we did at Mikuni Elk Grove would air Wednesday night on the 6pm news. With alot of anticipation and a much needed boost after the bad news about France, the story aired as scheduled just before 630pm. With a little adjustment to the TV's at work, we all watched live as the story aired.
Brian and I talked a bit about exactly what it takes at this stage for a Snowboard Cross racer to make it into the Olympic Games. I clarified that the sport was relatively new, making its debut at the last Winter Games in Torino, Italy in 2006, and that there were a few things that need to happen in order for a rider to be "qualified".
The clip came out wonderfully, and I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. I came home to a flood of messages from friends and family that had a chance to see the story. In addition, two Fil-Am organizations contacted me about possible fundraisers and / or sponsorships. For that I'm extremely grateful, this is exactly the publicity I was lacking up to this point.

Regarding the story, there were just a couple things that I wanted to clarify regarding why I chose to take this "untraditional" route towards a possible Olympic career...
Some have asked why I chose to represent The Philippines since it was so complicated compared to competing as a U.S team member. For me, the choice wasn't complicated at all. My Grandmother has been the foundation of the Filipino culture in my family. In the same way that proffessional Basketball and Baseball players represent their "home countries" during Olympic time, I chose to do something similar. This is my way of having not only pride in the culture that has contributed so much to my upbringing, but also as a means of saying Thank You to my Grandmother, and the opportunities she provided for our family so many decades ago as they moved to the US. I took some time to go into detail about this during my KCRA interview, but understandably it was cut out to keep within the time restrictions.

Once again, I have to thank you all for your support and energy. I will attach a link to the clip (HERE)

Also a big thanks to the incoming support from:
www.IAmFILAM.com
FiliIslander Clothing

Stay tuned!

The clock ticks...

Another long week, with a handful of good and bad news from everywhere. With the weather finally starting to go our way in Northern California, I was able to get some much needed time in up on the mountain.
Towards the end of November, it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to afford to travel to the FIS Pre-Lim qualifier in France. I had to suck it up, rethink my plans, and start building energy for the next qualifier. Just two days ago I received an email from the head of registration for that event. The event was CANCELLED due to "poor snowfall conditions", with a brief "sorry about that" listed at the end. This started to make me wonder just HOW the rest of the athletes are able to deal with these sudden and unforeseeable changes. If I had booked the $1500+ travel and accomodations package for that event and received that same email, I would have been completely devastated. I can only imagine how many athletes that already reserved their spot at this event must feel.

So for now, the clock ticks...
One less event to build the neccessary points to make it to World Cup, and the deadline is only getting closer.