Day 6 - Happy Valentines Day

Today was a late start for me: 12 noon load time. The brain trust that figures out how 1200 volunteers should take to the hill is truely amazing, One day before the big race, and our team drew the late start! I had plenty of time in the morning to have a nice talk with my family in Florida. After a nice bath and a bacon and egg breakfast (first one since I arived) I headed for the bus stop, Now that the games have started, the demands on the transit have increased exponentially. The bus was packed full, just like the night before. Gone are the days of have a private bus ride.

Today I grabbed my Atomics for out on the hill. Having the fat boards really helped with alot of the step packing I ended up involved in today. Once our team was assembled on the gondola bridge we headed up the hill. The snow was coming down really hard at that time. Dave got our direction for the day and for a nice change, we were assigned to cleanup the Toilet Bowl section of the course. As soon as we departed Creekside midstation for the Garbonzo lift, the skies began to clear. We arrived at the top of Toilet bowl and began to dig out both sides of the A nets. These are the really big nets that form the foundation of the safety system for the racers. All the snow around the edges of these nets needs to be cleaned up. We dragged the snow back about 3 to 4 feet from the nets and then used a hand driven snow blower to push the snow over the net. When this was done, we proceed down to the Carosel section (bottom to Toilet Bowl) to build a 4 layer B net system to cover the huge left turn these guys will be making tomorrow.

Some of us then ate our lunch at this point. Dave then asked Cory (his son), Fernando and myself to proceed down to the Weasel section to tamp the inside part of the A nets located there. This is perhalps that steepest section of the track. Climbing in behind these nets gives a new perspective on what was going on. Somehow we managed to complete the job of side step packing down this steep face (see pics to details). Once this was done, we proecced up to the top to see if anyone needed any more help. With the exception of some water injection programs going on, the track was ready.

Off to the Weasel House we went, were the crowd was very pumped up. The race was going for sure now. You could feel the excitment in the air: the first Olympic downhill at Whistler was set. We didn't get off the hill til 6pm (short easy day), so our time in the tent was short. After grabbing some groceries in Creekside, I headed for the Village to take in some of the Olympic vibe. I got to see a bit of the Fire and Ice ceremony, where local riders and skiers would fly through a set of Olympic rings that were on fire. This all happens essentailly in the dark. Very spectacular indeed.

I'm writting this entry from the bus on my way home, since last night I was falling asleep while writting. My apologies for the horrific job spelling: just no time for little things like that.

Early start tomorrow: 4:30 breakfast, 5:30 load time. Means wake up time is 3:30am

Go Canada Go!

PS Nice Gold Medal tonight EH?