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Toggenburg Race Report
February 22, 2004

His whole world was reduced to a noisy 30-foot circle of light. Directly in front of him was an extremely dimly light dashboard on which only a few of the controls were lit. The tiny bulbs on the others had burned out long ago. It was a small matter however as he knew all the controls, toggle switches, and button by heart. Further out was a pool of illuminated white surrounded by gray and then complete blackness. The pool of light shook as the headlamps were jostled and jarred. His own body absorbed the vibrations as well. The vibrations were so a part of the ride that he only really noticed the hardest shocks. The rest of the time he felt the tremors at thousands of rpms were a normal part of body. The smell of burnt diesel fuel was all too familiar and pervasive. His Carharts always stunk of it and only his cheapest colognes could remove the smell from his nose.

He made his way up the north side of Goat, took a sharp right and then down the south side of Knee Knocker. Tomorrow was race day and the trails needed to at least start as groomed as possible. There hadn't been any appreciable snow for about two weeks so what was being groomed had already been turned into corduroy a dozen times before. It was barely snow anymore; more like fine ice pellets. He knew the racecourse would quickly turn into icy hard pack that would rut out over the course of the day. Although he had never raced he knew the racers loved that kind of surface. It would be so hard and fast that only the sharpest steel edges could grip it and then for only tenths of seconds.

The initial head wall on Knee Knocker was steep and momentarily he felt as if he would go right through the windshield. He loved that feeling. It was as close to weightlessness as he would ever experience. His arms and legs stiffened just to keep him in the fake leather-driving seat. He could picture the scene on Sunday. Dozens of skiers slipping down this portion of the slope to get to the start of the race. It would be a veritable festival of colorful, and to him, expensive skiwear and ski equipment. He chuckled at the word veritable. His friends would probably smack him for even thinking about words like that. The tiller ground on in a steady deep hum as the trail turned and headed into the final slope into what would be the finish area. Here he imagined an area full of parents cheering the kids through the timing light and into the finish area. Many would be proud, some would be enjoying themselves, some taking it way too seriously, and most would be glad that the race season was almost coming to a close. No one was cheering now, there was no one around. It was just past midnight. Even if they were he wouldn't have been able to hear them. He spun the yellow Bombardier to the left and headed for the machine shed just behind the triple chair lift. The grooming was done. The hill was ready for the racers.

And the two valiant racers from Cazenovia were more than ready for the hill and the race. In the JV girls division Kaitlyn Button, the Tiny Tiger from Perryville finished in fourth place again just 2 one hundreds of a second out of third. Even though four place in this tough division is something to be extremely proud of, everyone could tell the Tiny Tiger would continue to stalk a higher place finish and ready to pounce up in the standings. "I just need to ski a little more relaxed and focus on my technique and I will be able catch those girls I've been chasing all season", noted Kaitlyn. Both Coach Lapham and Button agreed, it was only a matter of time before the Tiny Tiger would tear into the competition.

Over in the JV boys group Barclay, Bode Miller, Talbot ended up with an 11th place even after crashing hard in his first run. Unfazed Barclay came back stronger than ever with a third place second run. " Like I knew I had like nothing to lose so I like you know let 'em like rip" said Barclay in the après race press conference. He then disappeared quickly to go ski the Patch.

Unfortunately no other Cazenovia racers were able to make the race. Alex "Double Jeopardy" Verbeck was away on vacation and Sam "I Am" and Bennie "Hana" Concilla were unable to race due to parental sanctions.

The entire team will be back at Toggenburg this week for the Kandahar Prelims on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If you see them in the meantime wish them the best of luck.