Chapter sixteen: Norway and unseasonal temperatures

Although I don’t think of myself as a writer, I am one who writes and by that logic I am susceptible to writers block. Another way to phrase it could be I am susceptible to procrastination but I like to think of it as a simple inability to write on command. Since I last spoke with you a lot of things have happened and a lot of days have passed by. I’ll start from the top and you can take a trip with me through the last few weeks. Let’s begin with that World Cup start. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the intricacies of downhill racing I’ll give you a quick run down. Before the actual race the whole field has to have at least one training run down the track, it is a race simulation but the results are essentially meaningless, so that’s where my story will pick up. On my first time down the track I had a whole set of thoughts running through my head, yes I was stoked, yes I was nervous, yes I was amped, but one thing was on the front of my mind: How will this part run? Will I go huge off that jump? Is that turn gnarly? A set of questions concerning how I will make it to the bottom and in what condition I will arrive there. Not so much fear, because I signed up for this, it’s what I want to do, but more the sense of not knowing and at the same time knowing there is only one way to find out. Anyways it turned out, that part ran fast, I went massive on the jump, and the turn I was thinking about… it really was gnarly. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Come race day I finally felt like I was racing “just another race”. It was a good head space and I am happy how it turned out, I left Norway feeling like I had taken a step in the right direction. That covers the Norway section of the title… sadly I still have to get to the Unseasonal temperatures part…

Just over a week after arriving, Norway took a break from exporting fish and shipped me to eastern Canada for what I thought would be National champs. Turns out I thought wrong… really wrong. The sun came out and it brought its friends; rain, thunder, lightning, mist, and clouds. Now apparently they had a bit of a falling out with Cold temperatures because it’s nowhere to be found and to give you an idea of what that means, we are losing 30 centimeters of snow a day. So despite the relentless work of our volunteers and coaches that bordered on the insane, our hopes of racing speed melted away into the Saint Laurence. This means two things, well no that’s not accurate. This means a whole bunch of things but only a few worth mentioning. One and two are that Erik and my big brother Conrad both earned Nor-am titles and world cup spots! Big big ups to them! The other things that it means are that downhill is finished for the year, leaving me a little shy of my goals and a little uncertain of future endeavours. I wanted very badly to put it on the line this week and finish on my own terms and it hits me right in the heart I won’t be able to. But this is an outdoor sport; there are so many aspects that are out of my control it would be immature to get pissed about it. I’ve taken a moment to let it go, there are a whole lot of races left for me this season so I will only be looking forward and put everything I have into each start.

Norway doing its best Canada impression, I'd say its bang on.

Going up.

Start hut and the rising sun #suchabeauty

Checking out the course

Casually burning down the house with the boys. #Thatcan'tberight...

Popular spot for tanning... in the winter

Traveling a long road, the destination is still unknown.

First World Cup action shot!

I'm having trouble loading the footage at the moment, but videos will be up in the coming days. Thanks for stopping by and following my story as it unfolds.

Morgan