TR X-wing Rally Europe Part 2
PART 2
We were then transferred from the hotel in Annecy to the Salomon Annecy Design headquaters.
To my knowledge this is where they develop their products, produce the race room skis and house all the Global operations staff. We finally got to meet Cara Jones (the lady who worked her ass off to co-ordinate everything, this girl rocks !)
We then began to meet all the people that we would spend the next 10 days or so with.
Jamie Parks (absolutely awesome guy !)
Wendy Fisher (very nice girl, down to earth and a pleasure to meet)
Smiley Nesbitt (also a stand up solid guy and a lot of fun to be around)
Ryan Lindquist (didn’t spend a lot of time with him)
Robin Lenell (Our # 3 team mate. This guy is #6 ranked in Europe in Supercross, watch for him in coming years, seriously mad skills in all departments and a fantastic person, mommy and daddy done good with him).
Among these Pro skiers were skiers from around the world who had won their qualifiers or had won the draw out of the US. We would soon come to learn that most of these people were seriously amazing skiers.
We then received all our freebie’s Free:
Salomon 08 season helmets
Salomon Valdez 15 backpacks (great bag by the way, used it for the whole trip and I may have it to thank for still having a back or life)
http://www.landausports.co.uk/Detail...unisex/id/3319
free Salomon soft shell ski pants
Free Salomon 178 CM Tornado’s with bindings
all kinds of stickers and event stuff as well, IE race pinny, race arm band, parafanalia.
Then we were led up to the parking lot to get our cars. HOLY SHIT ! ! brand new Black 0069 KM on the clock SAAB 93 Aero Turbo, leather seats, fully loaded, GPS. Jackpot baby !
It was all starting to sink in how lucky we were to win this wicked kick ass trip.
We were only loosely told how to use the car and were told how to read the navigation book.
We all loaded up and waited our 1 minute intervals for starting our first stage drive to Albertville Airfeild where we would be taught high performance driving and watch the pro drivers from SAAB do tricks in the cars.
I’ll explain the race rules at this time so the rest of the TR makes some sense.
Driving:
At the beginning of each driving stage we are given a start time and a projected completion time. The close to the projected arrival time we were the more points we got. We also got points for keeping a clean car.
Pictures;
Each team was to have one camera.. (this was later changed to as many camera’s as the team had) This was to be used for taking of picture of at least 2 team mates in front of the checkpoints to prove finding it & to take pictures that were to be scored by a panel of judges and picture points awarded. Pictures were turned in at the end of each day and only the previous 24 hours pictures were allowed.
Watches;
One Suunto S6 ski watch was given to each team at the beginning of each day and returned at the end of the day. This watch was set to record all downward vertical performed during the day. The more Vertical obtained each day the more points you got.
Skiing:
Each morning a map of where (loosely) the check points would be and a schedule of events. IE start time, special event times, checkpoint value’s.
The first morning they handed us a REECO belt that had 4 sensors on it for us to wear during the skiing. We did have to give this back, but it was a great idea and easy to use.
Most times we were handed a simple lunch for the day (greatly appreciated).
The special events thorough out the week consisted of: Dual Slalom, Supercross, Syncro, Moguls, Jumping, GS, a Freestyle mogul run, beacon search.
We were given a race start time and a picture and watch hand in time.
We arrived at the resort at 3 valley, got into our room and went for dinner anxious to go skiing as the resort seemed to have a lot of snow along the roads.
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Smiley Nesbitt getting his weapon of destruction
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Mmmm a room full of 08 stock
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Our TEAM
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READY... SET... GO !
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Our weapon for the week, Lucky # 7
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Saab performance demonstration cars
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Robin Lenell, watch for this kid he seriously rocks hard !
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Burn em up boys
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Arrived at Val Torens (3 Valley)
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The following is a squence of how a Canadian can drink a beer from his head without touching with his hands. Yes folks Stupid Human tricks really do exist.
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Part 1
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81885
Part 2
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81889
Part 3
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81894
Part 4
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81896
Part 5
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81902
Part 6
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82066
Part 7
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82134
Part 8
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82136
Part 9
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82143
Part 10
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82147
