To See or Not To See, That Was The Question

Apparently, the cat is out of the bag. Only a handful of people knew I had bad eyes, and only a select few even knew the extent of how bad they were. Well, not sure how or why, but it was announced to the world during the World Championships in Altenberg, Germany. Oh well, now that you all know, I'll fill you in on the details.


I have a degenerative eye disease called Keratoconus. Here's a good definition, "A progressive disease of the eye in which the cornea becomes progressively thinner and the development of an irregular, cone-like corneal protrusion occurs. As the disease progresses, vision becomes increasingly distorted." Notice the "increasingly distorted" I was diagnosed in mid-2001. It's been 7 years; that means I'm not doing so well.


Anyway, for some fun, I'll show you some images that a couple gentleman created to show the rest of the world what it is like to have Keratoconus. Here is what Dr. Elio Spinello and Ian McCain said about what they have created: "KCVision is a compilation of images designed to help communicate how and what individuals with Keratoconus see. Keratoconus impacts the cornea which is the clear window of the eye and is responsible for refracting most of the light coming into the eye. Therefore, abnormalities of the cornea severely affect the way we see the world making simple tasks, like driving, watching TV or reading a book difficult. One of the best descriptions of keratoconus vision is that it is similar to looking through a car windshield on a rainy day. These images may be useful in helping to communicate the severity of vision problems to friends and family members of KC patients, they are also useful in helping to understand some of the limitations that those with KC face on a daily basis."
(Have I told you what Keratoconus is yet?)


So, please observe, learn, and appreciate what these individuals, including myself have to live with on a day to day basis.













These two images show what a normal person sees, and what a person with moderate Keratoconus sees. This is what we call "Double Vision"

The Glare Effect

This is Ghosting

I'm sure they all look pretty much the same; but as an expert, they aren't and it's interesting to talk to Opthamologists about the condition because they actually know what I'm saying. For your information, I was more on the "Ghosting"/"Double Vision" side. I usually had to choose, the middle one. That may be why when I have few too many drinks and people tell me to follow the one in the middle, I don't have much of a problem; I was already following that one. OK, bad joke. But if you can't laugh about it, you can't live with it.

Well, the reason for this post is to tell you that last week I had my vision corrected with an ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens, or which is easier to remember Implantable Contact Lens)

If you would like to see how it goes, here is a link to the "Today Show" that did a live filming of an operation; the day before I had my operation. I had to dodge some of their equipment. Here is the video. (I'll post a link just in case you can't see it)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/23463382#23463382

So, as you can see. (haha, pun intended) I can see now. It's been a week and I'm still getting used to my new vision. In fact, I keep running in to things because I'm not used to the depth-perception. It's awkward. I'm sure I'll manage. Anyway, my vision has gone from 20/500 to 20/20. It is still fluctuating because my eyes are still adapting to the ICL, but whatever the outcome finally settles at, it will be better that what it was before.

See you next season!!!

P.S A great comparison that has come to my attention over the weekend, is the strength of contact lenses. I can't tell you how many times I've had to hear, "you have bad eyes? Well, gee, let me tell you how bad mine are". For years people have been trying to 1-up me; but they are always floored when they hear where I am, in fact, they don't believe me half the time. So, for all of you out there that know your prescription and have worn contacts I'll let you in on how my eyes are, or were. Most people have lenses that are -1.00, or -4.00, maybe even -7.00. That is pretty bad, I'm not going to sugar coat it. Well, for all of you out there that think your eyes are bad, my prescription was -16.75. That is not a typo, I'll say it again, -16.75. I'm not going to go any further in to it because I don't have to. -16.75

The World Championships

All I can say is that this has been two rough weeks. We are in Germany, a country that actually cares about Bobsledding, which means they are on their home track, and to make things harder nobody, other than the Germans, has been able to train here. So it's basically a battle for 4th place. If you get 4th you can consider it a win; the Germans are going to win this hands down. I know it's sounds negative, but it is, and unfortunately, that is how it works in the bobsled world. Not much I can do, other than my best.

Let me start off by saying, Altenberg is my worst track. In 6 years of driving my worst results have been here. This just isn't my track. So, when I tell you how the 2-man went you'll understand. Actually, it might be better if I just skip to the end, we finished 10th.


Just as the FIBT would have it, the Team Event was the very next day after the 2-man. We don't need to take a break. No, none at all. I wasn't totally worn out from racing as hard as I could 2 days in a row. Let's make it 3. So, we did. And 3 seemed to be the magical number of the day. I'll tell you why in a second. First an explanation of the team event, apparently they are trying to make it an Olympic Event. I doubt it will ever happen, but hey, who knows. If nothing else, it is a lot of fun. Here's how it goes, each country that enters the race gets to enter 1 female skeleton athlete, 1 male skeleton, 1 female bobsledder, and 1 male bobsledder; it covers the entire federation of sports. It really doesn't count for anything because there are only a few countries that actually have all 4 disciplines, regardless, it is the most fun anybody will have sliding. Because it doesn't really hold any weight just yet, everybody lets loose and has a great time. What is really cool is that each country has their own strengths and weaknesses; and to be honest the US has by far the strongest all-around team. We have Katie Uhlaender, the 2007 and 2008 World Cup Champion and 2008 World Championship Silver Medalist; on the men's side we have Zach Lund the 2007 World Cup Champion, and Eric Bernotas who is always fighting for that top spot as well. For the Women's Bobsled we have Shauna Rohbock who is 2006 Olympic Silver Medalist, 2007 World Cup Overall Runner-up. On the Men's side, well, you have me, and of course that is the most important of all. ;-) I'm like the 4 leg of the Men's 4x400m Relay. (You trackies know what I'm talking about). Plus, I have to say that, it's my blog for crying out loud. Anyway, as usual the standing changed each heat, this team was in first, then moved to 2nd. That team went from 4th to 2nd, and so on. It all came down to the Men's bobsled, the last event. I know what you are thinking, but really, it came down to the last run. We were sitting in 4th place, just outside the medals. We had to beat Great Britain, Canada, and/or Germany to get on the podium. Well, I did the best I could. I started out with a 0.28s deficit. In the end, we lost by 0.08. I did what I could, unfortunately it just wasn't enough. We ended up 3rd behind the Canadians, and of course the Germans won. Go figure. Regardless, not only myself and my team, but the entire field of atheltes had a blast. I can't wait for the next team race.

The 4-man was actually kind of exciting, at least for a few of us. Of course GER I won the race by over 2 seconds. Which is just stupid, that's not really racing now is it. Oh well. There was however a great race for 6th place. The top 6 sleds get trophy's, so at the worlds a top 6 finish is great. After the first run we were way behind, more that 1.10 seconds behind GER I. Gee, this is fun. They are the only team that has been able to go down the track in the last couple of years remind you. If they don't win, it would be a disgrace. Anyway, Latvia was only a few hundreths behind us. The next two runs we went back and forth, fighting for 6th. We all wanted a trophy, and to say we finished top 6. It came down to the last run and what should happen? Mesler strains his groin. No, really, he did. I swear. I couldn't make this stuff up. Now, we are fighting to the 100th of a second, we can't afford to have 3 guys pushing a 4-man sled. We did everything we could but the rules stated that Mesler had to race. We only had one choice..... to come together as a team, for Mesler to "Just get in the sled, we'll do the rest."

We took off from the start block like our lives depended on it. Which in a sense they did. When I called the cadence and hit the sled, I put every ounce of effort I had; Pavle did the same, and so did Curt. Mesler did one hell of a job not slowing us down even though he was hurt, which is not easy by the way. (Read a few post back about my groin injury, I went through the same pain.) We train in such a way that the 500+ pound sled gets moving pretty fast after just a few steps, for Mesler to keep up and keep from pulling back was an athletic feat. He did all we could ask for. Team Holcomb pushed 5.31; which tied the worst time all week. When we finally loaded into the sled we were 0.28 seconds behind the Latvians who were out for blood. Now, going into this run I knew that I had to do everything right. I had 19 runs to figure out all the turns, now is the time to make sure I applied what I learned over the 2 weeks. Not sure how, but it somehow came together. We went from 0.28 seconds back to 0.31, to, then 0.25, then with only 3 curves left we were 0.19 behind, and eternity in bobsledding. When we finally crossed the finish line we were 0.05 ahead at the bottom. It was a near miracle, in fact I would have to say it was one of the best runs I have ever had; and what a time to have it. We maintained 6th place and got a sweet-ass trophy. What an end to a rough season. Did I mention that the Latvian's were pissed? Well, they were. I don't blame them .

The best part of this chaos is that we came together as a team and stepped up to the plate; then we hit a home run. That is what we need, my crew did everything they could to give me a good start, and they did. All I could do is return the favor.notice the crowd in the background.

Good Save

Good Save Holcomb!! Of course I'm boasting just a tad, but hey I am rather impressed with my performance. Ok, actually I’m not. The first half I had 3 gold, 2 silver, and a bronze. The second half I picked up a single silver medal. OUCH. That is terrible, relatively speaking. Obviously 2 years ago I would have done anything to have just 1 top 5 finish. However, being called the #1 driver in the world after last year is a lot to live up to. I am expected to be top 5 in every race; I also hold myself to high standard and expect that I perform like I am a champion

Anyway, back to what I was saying. We struggled a bit in Europe after I strained my Adductor. I wasn’t able to push to my ability and we struggled at the start. Without a great start, it’s hard to drive so well that you actually catch up to the best drivers in the world. Not going to happen. So we had a rough streak with an 8th, 11th, and 17th. Luckily I was healing and we made a comeback in the St. Moritz 4-man to a 6th place finish. It was the turning point of the second half we were no longer on the downfall, we were now on our way back up. The next week in Königsee, Germany we tied for 2nd with the Russians.

After Königsee we moved to Winterberg, Germany for the Finale. We were in a tough spot. The World Rankings had me at 4th in the 2-man, 4th in the 4-man, and 3rd in the Combined. Top 3 was possible for each event.

In order to move into 3rd place in 2-man I needed to beat Italians by 4 places. Not impossible, but difficult. Sure enough after a decent first run I was sitting in 6th place with the Italians in 10th right where I needed them to be. The second run was equally as good and we not only maintained our 4 sled lead over the Italians but gained one more. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately, we were caught off guard by the Russians who placed 2nd in the race and leap–frogged over us to 3rd place. So, to make a short story long, we moved into 3rd, then back to 4th. DAMN!!!

The 4-man didn’t work out either. We were 2 points ahead of the Latvian’s. All we had to do was tie or better. No big deal right? If they get 2nd then I have to get first, but if the get 30th all I have to do is get 29th or better. Basically, just beat them, that is all that matters. Well, we didn’t. We finished .03 seconds behind them. DAMN!!!

The weekend wasn’t a total loss. We missed the top 3 in 2-man by a few points, the 4-man by even less; the good news of the year so far is that we were far enough ahead of anybody else in the combined that we had 3rd locked in no matter what. So, without further ado, I present you with the World Cup Trophy.

Sorry

Okay, okay. I know, I know, I know, I know........I KNOW. I've been a bit lazy with the blog. I keep saying, "I'll do it tomorrow". Now it's been 3 months and I haven't done anything. So I apologize to everybody for not being on top of it. I'll be better about it, especially since I'm in Europe and I have nothing better to do. Although, to be fair, it's not easy to keep up with a blog when you're busy whooping everybody's ass! Hehe, sorry, I couldn't resist that one.

Ok, so I'll try to get 3 months in one post. Realistically there isn't much to say other than we are dominating the season. It started in Calgary with a 2nd in 2-man and a victory in 4-man. Not a bad way to start the season. I was a bit worried going in to those races a lot of critics were saying that it was a fluke and that I wouldn't be able to maintain that standard. The last thing I wanted was to show up at the first race and totally flop, only to prove them right. Well, looks like they were wrong, really wrong. They can all kiss my rosey red cheeks.

The next week we moved down to Park City, Utah. My lovely hometown. I gotta say it was my best week ever. There are only a few things in bobsled that would be better than sweeping a World Cup in your hometown. I'm pretty sure you can guess what that is. Anyway, we were pretty excited to come away with two victories, and bring the total to 3 of 4 races. Again, not a bad start to the season. Off to Lake Placid.

Lake Placid is a very difficult track, and a bit rough. It's very hard to drive and very hard on your body. This was an interesting race, I've never really done well here. Last year I was pretty lucky with my results, a 2nd in 2-man and 7th in 4-man; I was in 14th after the first run of the 4-man. Ice problems allowed me to move up 7 places. Not a good way to win. I'd rather do well because I performed well, not because the track fell apart. Well, this year I was able to do that. I finished 3rd in the 2-man and 2nd in the 4-man all by myself. No help from the elements. It was a fair race. Yay for me.

I'm going to stop there for now. we just finished a rough weekend in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy and I'll need an entire post to vent on that one. In the mean time, thanks for all the support. We love hearing from people so don't hesitate to send us an e-mail. We usually respond in a timely manner, especially if you're a single female.

Later.

The First Week

Finally, I mean ALREADY, it's the first week of the 2007-08 World Cup Bobsled Tour. It seemed to come a bit quick, unfortunately I don't have much pull when it comes to starting the process.

The first week is always interesting, mainly because everybody wants it to start but nobody is really prepared. There are a lot of rules that we must abide by, both internationally and domestically. For us, the Americans, we have to choose our equipment before the first race. Picture this: you are given the option to drive the top 10 fastest cars ever built, but only given 60 seconds to drive each, then had to pick your car to drive on 10 different tracks around the world which are all completely different. What would you choose? How would you choose it? How many factors come in to play? That is just a scratch at what we go through as we choose our equipment.

Wait, did I mention that you have to choose the exact tires you are going to use......at ALL of the tracks?? Well, that is exactly what we need to decide.

Bobsledding is such a simple sport, yet so much goes into the process of getting down the track as fast as possible, everywhere.

To be honest, the team behind my team is not much short of genius. I mean, how does a 5 year driver win the 2-man and Combined World Cup, and 2nd in the 4-man???

Exactly!


--side note--

We had the fastest 2-man run on the first day of training.

We had the 2nd fastest 4-man run on the second day of training

Sorry for no pictures yet

--end side note--

National Team Trials Part 1

The first section of the US National Team Trials has been completed. By sections I mean tracks, I can't say 2-man because some of the 2-man is in the 2nd section. Instead, I'm refering to tracks. The first section was in Lake Placid, the second is to be held in Park City, UT. I didn't compete because my ranking from last year gave me an automatic spot on the team this year. I'm not going to lie, it's been nice not having to race, however, I kinda wish I still could. I'm not sure yet about getting to the first World Cup and not having any racing under my belt yet, but for all I know at this point it could be the greatest thing ever. I'll let you know in a few weeks.

Even though I wasn't competing this past week, I was in Lake Placid training and I was a forerunner for the Trials. I wanted to try to pseudo-compete by pretending that I was involved to get myself back in to the frame of mind, but I'll tell you what, it's not that easy. No matter what I did I knew in the back of my mind that it didn't matter. So I was a bit bummed. I didn't perform as well as I wanted, but I know that if I was racing, I would have been able to step up to the plate.

Ok, enough rambling. To the info you want, the current standings in the US National Team Trials is as follows Tied for 1st is Stephan Bosch and Mike Kohn. Each with a victory in the first two races. 3rd is Grayson Fertig, 4th is John Napier, 5th Matt Anderson, and 6th is Ivan Radcliff.

The trials will resume in Park City, Utah over the next few weeks (October 29 - November 11) The first week will be the last 2-man race and the next weekend will be the two 4-man races.

If you can make it out, it would be great to see some support. Good Luck to all the competitors!

Summer Is Officially Over

Yes, it's sad but true. In bobsled terms, the summer has officially ended. Why, do you ask? Well, because I have driven 80mph down an icey chute. We started bobsledding on last Monday, I took 2 runs. It was very interesting, it's the first time I've bobsledded as the returning champion. Well, everybody expects me to come out with record times on the first run. I don't blame them, trust me I want to see it too. Just don't forget that I haven't done this in 7 months. I dare any one of you to take 7 months off of driving your car. Sure, when you get back in it won't seem like you had even left, but trust me, there are many things that are going to seem a bit strange. It's like riding a bike, you can hop right on and go, but it takes a few minutes before you can do any tricks.

This year the Bodyn Project (bodynbobsled.com) who build our incredible sleds, not only fixed but completely refurbished our sleds, then gave them a complete makeover. I'll tell you what, they look INCREDIBLE and to honor your presence on my blog, I'm going to give you a sneak peak at my new sled design, 2 months ahead of the rest of the world. It's the least I can do to thank you for coming here and spending a few minutes. I just want you to know, these pictures hardly do any justice to the sleds, they look amazing and I can't give enough praise to the Bodyn Project and the engineers that made this possible. (these are in a large format so you can get a better idea of what they really look like.)








What do you think? Yeah, they're pretty nice. Again, wait until you see it on the hill. Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know that we've started and it's that time of year again. I hope you had a great summer, and cheers to a great winter.

I'll explain the poll

I know, two posts in one day. I'm so crazy. Anyway, I thought I would explain my poll this time. I guess my last poll didn't hit home because nobody knew what I was talking about.

Well, there's this tiny debate going on within the team. Not with everybody but quite a few. There are guys that have never even been in a bobsled claiming that they are on the US Bobsled Team. I can understand where they are coming from since they passed our physical test, but seriously, being on a team the represents the entire United States is much easier than an invite to a camp (or in some cases paying your way to a camp).

I've actually had a few fun experiences with this weird phenomena. Last year I was at a party, having a good time, talking with a few people about what I do, and I came across a gal who had a friend that was a bobsledder. I thought, "Really? Wow, what a small world." She began to tell me about her good friend and I was even more intrigued. She eventually asked me what team I was on, I said, "USA 1". Her wonderful reply was, "Really?!? You must know my friend, he's on USA 1". Cool, since there are only 4 of us, I'm pretty sure I'll know him. I asked her, "Wow, what's his name?". She told me, and I looked at her and said, "Hmmmm...I've never heard of him. Are you sure he's on USA 1?" She confirmed what I was asking, and we exchanged a few more discrepancies. Finally, she said, "Oh, you know what, you're on the US Bobsled Team, he's actually on the US Olympic Bobsled Team. He's ranked much higher that you are."

That's a true story, in fact, I had an almost identical story back on December 31, 1999 at a New Year's Party (It's a hard date to forget) I had a very similar conversation about "a friend" that was on the same US Team I was on. Pretty much the same outcome, she said, "Oh you must not be on the US Team."


That's just a small reason for the survey, I just wanted to tell somebody about the funny story. Now the main reason for my post is that we have a lot of controversy within the US Bobsled Federation on what the National Team is. We have a large number of athletes that have never even participated in a World Cup race that are going to sponsors and corporations claiming to be members of the US National Bobsled Team. We have guys that have participated in 1 race, maybe even 2 races doing the same thing. There is also another situation, that plays off of my earlier experience. The top ranked US team to enter an America's Cup race, the lowest level of international competition, is called USA 1. So they can now go around to sponsors, say they are USA 1, and make off like bandits. I'm in Europe for months at a time, busting my butt, not able to approach any sponsors during the prime of our season. Is that fair?

That is where the survey comes from. Who is actually the US Bobsled team?

Just an observation

Ok, I use a free blog service, Blogger. I'm not scared to admit it. Well, one of the features is to put Google Ads on the top. I decided sure, why not, I could use an extra $1.50 each month. Well, I just came to the main page to make sure it still looks okay, and I come across the lame Google ads that were posted. When I signed up it said, "Ads that are relevant to your site". How is "Kick Sled", "Nordic Sled", Or "5k race" relevant to my site? Do any of those have anything at all to do with Bobsled? I can understand that the majority of Americans don't know what Bobsledding is, but Google? Come on.

So it has begun

Wow! I'm writing this from my hotel room in Calgary on the last night of our first camp. First off, I can't believe it's 9:45pm and the sun is still out; it feels like 6:00. I'm totally tripped out. Anyway, what's worse is that I'm already pushing a bobsled.......ON ICE!!! It's July for crying out loud. Hell, I was pushing on ice before Utah celebrated Pioneer day. That might not seem like much of a deal to you but, trust me, it is.


All around it was a good week. We had a few days of pushing, in which we did some experimenting, nothing too promising, but hey, if you're coasting, you're going downhill.

As great as this week was, and how much it will help our upcoming season, and help us defend our world title, it will not be as easily dismissed as we would like it to be.


Last night at dinner we were talking about how much the Canadian push track is a joke. Not the facility itself, that is unsurpassed, but the cost. Currently we pay $250/hour. Guess what, that is 0.06 cents per second.

Sounds crazy right? Let me spell it out for you. When you look at the total money spent for us to push for 3 hours, it will blow your mind. I probably shouldn't be telling you this, mainly because I don't want everybody writing the USOC complaining at all the money we're spending, so please, don't tell anybody.


OK here's how it breaks down. There are 6 of us here 1x4-man team, 1 alternate, 1 coach = 6 people. That means we need 3 hotel rooms at $120/night x 3 = $360/day x 6 days = $2160. $40 food Per Diem x 6 people = $240/day x 6 days = $1440. 2 rental cars at $36/day x 6 days = $144. Gym fees of $10 per person x 6 = 60 x 5 days = $300. Gas was approx. $400 for the week, add on 3 hours of pushing for $250/hour = $750. Now finally add in airline tickets, trust me when I give you this figure (it was discussed) = $3600.

The grand total for the week = $8794.00. (that's close to $10,000 a week, A WEEK!!!)

Why did we come here? To push. We pushed for 3 hours. That means it cost us $2932 an hour to push a bobsled on ice. Are you sick yet? 'Cause I am.

Would you pay nearly $3000/hour to do anything? HELL NO!! Then why do we? I'll tell you, the USOC would rather pay that than build our own track. (Did I mention that Canada makes money with the facility?) But hey, as Americans we should feel good knowing we're helping the Canadians. Yeah, helping fund their Olympic programs that are focused on beating the tar out of us.

I know how you are feeling right now, and I'm sorry, but I have to put the icing on the cake. The Ice House charges us $250.00 an hour; the average push on the track takes between 5.00 and 5.50 seconds; which means it costs between $0.30 and $0.33 per push. with 10 pushes at most; what happens to the other $247?

It's Been A While

So I've received a few e-mails over the past few weeks about my lack of blog posts. I understand you need a fix, I'll do the best to help you out, but you have to understand, I have to live my life too.

Actually, I have received a few "fan" letters wondering why I'm not posting right now. Well, I have two words for you, IT'S SUMMER. Are contractions one word? Anyway, there is no ice in the summer, therefore no bobsledding. My life isn't exciting enough to narrate day by day. Winter is a different story; summer not so much.

Oh, not sure if anyone cares or not but I have a new laptop. I still have my old one but, it's been dead for about 2 months now and it's starting to stink. God bless it's little soul. :(

Anyway, I thought I would satisfy your addictions and make this post to tell you there won't be many many this summer. If something cool happens I'll write about it; starting now; I don't think I can do my trip to the Kentucky Derby any justice at this point. But here's a picture just to give you an idea. (THANKS DR. SHARP!! and yes that is Samuel Adams himself.)

Speaking of photos, I know a lot of you have been asking for the great photos on my site, my MySpace, and my Facebook pages. If you want to get them head over to http://www.bobsleighphotos.com/ (note to all you Americans it's bobsleigh not bobsled). John is our #1 fan, and if any of you would like to challenge him for that title you are more than welcome, however, he's so far ahead it's not even worth trying. Note: All the pictures on his site were taken by him, yes, while he was at the race. (Sorry Dad, you're #2)

So, hopefully this fix will last you through the next few weeks, god willing, few months. If not, let me know, I'll muster something interesting to write about.

Ciao

-Holcomb

Every One Counts

This is a post that I never thought I would be doing. I was watching the Nightly News tonight and they featured the story of CPT Brian Freeman; the hero. It was your usual newscast. he did this, she did that, so-and-so-did it too. Well, I happened to see a story of a man that went above and beyond the call of duty; a man whos life, in his eyes, was just as important as anybody elses; especially a young child on the streets of Iraq.

To make a long story short, they showed CPT Freeman doing his best, taking care of everybody else. He made a mission of finding a young Iraqi boy a way to live. That way was by open heart surgery. The day CPT Freeman was killed the young Iraqi boy was given a chance to live; an unbelievable story.

Well, I happened to see the nightly news, they showed picture after picture CPT Freeman doing what he did best, live. What I saw, however, shocked me. A picture that I had taken of him flashed across the screen. I couldn't believe it. Now, I'm no anal photographer who demands that I'm paid for the pictures I take. (even though it was displayed on the most watched TV program in the US. ) What I couldn't believe was a picture that I had taken completely innocently had been published to the world as a tribute to his demise.

Well, the picture I took was as innocent as you can get. I was testing my new camera in a small hotel room in Albany, NY; I took at least 10 photos in just as many seconds. When I heard of Brian's death I sent all the photos I had of him to a friend as another way to remember him.

Where is this story going? Well, as a reminder, I was watching the news story of my friend's death when a picture flashed before my eyes;
That's when it hit home.

I was only testing my camera when I took that picture. I have a 10 picture sequence that includes that picture. I was only testing my camera. I wasn't taking pictures so that the world could remember CPT Brian Freeman. It was a picture I had taken in that small, insignificant moment of both our lives. (It wasn't even in focus.) That's when I realized that every one counts.

"Hey.......Brian!"

Stranger Things Have Happened

Heading in to the final 4-man race we had a 70 point deficit to the Russians. All week the coaches had been calculating what it would take to win the Overall 4-man World Cup Title. Basically the Russians would have to crash, and we would have to win. The chances of that are pretty slim. Mainly because when you're leading the World Cup by 70 points it means you're pretty damn good, and the chances that you're going to crash in the last two runs of the season are extremely slim. However, stranger things have happened.

The race started a little late that day. Not sure why, there is such a tight TV schedule that the race is literally calculated to within seconds for commercial breaks. It's actually quite impressive. So, needless to say things were a bit strange to begin with. Well, the Russians happened to draw number 1 and we were 9th. About the only advantage to being 9th is that you know how the best sleds have done before you go. Other than that, 9th pretty much sucks for a top seed draw. (Unless you're in St. Moritz, but that's another story for another time.)

Knowing what had to happen for the Russians to lose the lead, it was a pretty relaxed mood in the start house. Maybe a bit too relaxed. Its a completely different mindset when the World Championships are in the middle of the season instead of the very end; AND the last race doesn't have much of purpose because the Russians have such a huge lead. So, as you can imagine, the mood was light.

Anyway, they finally cleared the track for the first sled, RUS I. Off they went, down the track to a simple victory. All he has to do is finish the race and he'll be World Cup Champion. They had a pretty good start time 4.84. Not quite as good as ours of 4.82 but still fast enough. When you're in the start house, all you really listen to is the start time and the finish time, everything else is pretty much worthless information. So nobody was really paying attention to the announcer, especially because half of the people can't speak German. For all I know he could have been calling me a half witted orangutan all day. However, there is one thing that people do understand, emotion. No matter what language somebody is speaking, even if you don't understand, you can understand how they are feeling, or what they are trying to express by the tone of their voice. It's very interesting.

So, we were sitting, waiting for our turn, joking with one another, counting down the seconds to our departure from Europe when the announcer began screaming with shock and excitement, we all recognized right away what had happened. Russia had crashed.

I've been to Europe 15 times and I can still only do 3 things in German; order a meal at McDonald's, clear a bobsled track, and send a letter via Airmail. Luftpost bitte. So, like I said, everybody knew exactly what had happened to the Russians. The light mood that was so refreshing was now a mood that I only see a few times a year. The door has been opened, now we just have to walk through it. My whole team new what was at stake, we missed a World Championship by a few hundredths, we're not going to lose the World Cup Title by a few points.

We went out there and performed to our ability, we finished the first run in 2nd place, only a few hundredths out of first. It was the first step in getting out 4-man title. For once, every sled in the race was just as important as the next. You see, even though the Russians crashed, they are still allowed to take a second run given that all 4 athletes crossed the finish line touching the sled. (Touching meaning they could all be dragging behind, holding on to the sled as they finish and it would still count.)

Where was I, oh yeah, there were 21 sleds in the race. If 20 sleds finished ahead of the Russians, they would not get a second run; we would only have to finish in the top 13 to pull ahead in points. That would make life much easier for us, unfortunately they beat 2 sleds. Our luck wasn't that good.

Knowing exactly where the Russians stood for the second run, every coach and athlete started making the calculations. Here's what it came down to, if we stay in 2nd place, the Russians have to finish 13th or worse; if we win, they must finish 10th or worse. There was no finishing 3rd for us.

Nobody on that tour thought it would come down to the last run. Not with a 70 point difference. Well, it did.

The second run started, and the Russians were off 2nd. They knew exactly what they had to do; and they did it. They put down a smokin' run. They moved up from 19th to 15th, to 12th, to 11th, 10th. One more sled and it was over. Sure enough they beat Russia II by .05s. Coincidence? Probably not. They ended up in 9th place. One spot ahead of where they had to. I'll tell you what though. They had the fastest run of the 2nd heat, and they lost to Germany I, Andre Lange, by .03s. Anybody that crashes and nearly beats Germany on a German track deserves the World Cup Title. That is a feat in itself.

Needless to say, we knew there was no chance for us to beat the Russians, but we still had a chance to win the race. We stood at the top of the track as ready as we had ever been. We had another great start, another great drive, however, I nearly crashed in the same place as the Russians. Hey, there was a rut in the ice from all the sleds before us and we hit it nearly sending us over on our side. No problem, I'd actually been there before in the 2004 World Championships. Experience saved us. We ended up finishing 2nd behind the Canadians, and 2nd behind the Russians.

Now that was close!

Like the title says, that was a close one. Since the race in Cortina D'ampezzo, Italy I have been the 2-man world Cup leader. With a 4th and a 1st place since then I put a decent size lead on Pierre Lueders. About 70 points. A nice cushion heading in to the last two races. I mean come on, if Andre Lange can skip two races and get disqualified in one and still be in the hunt then a 70 point lead is more than enough.

Well, as most of you know, I blew it last week in Winterberg and cut the lead down to 10 points. I headed in to the final 2-man race today in Konigsee, Germany with a 10 point lead on a multiple World Champion, Olympic Champion (2006 Olympic Silver Medalist as well), World Cup Champion; basically one of the greatest drivers that ever walked the earth. To put the icing on the cake, he won the World Championships when they were here in Konigsee in 2004, AND he won the World Cup race here last year by .30 seconds, eternity in bobsled. So, maintaining my lead, and becoming the first American to win the 2-man overall World Cup title (still being verified), is no easy task.

I started the day off with the completely wrong mindset. The days leading up to the race, and even at the race we checked with the FIBT on who is declared the Overall Winner under different circumstances. Basically what it came down to is that I had to stay within 1 spot of Lueders to be crowned the Champion. If I beat him, I win hands down, if he beats me we go to a tie breaker where the pilot with the most wins would be the victor. Well, if he wins the race, which he's done the past 2 times we were here, we would be tied for the most victories. Who knows how they'll decide after that. So, to make a short story long, I have to stay withing one spot of Lueders.

That is not the way to go in to a race, instead I should have gone out there and done what I needed to do, drive my sled, do my part and not worry about Pierre. There's nothing I can do about how he performs. I can only perform to at my best. But, of course you live, you learn.

Well, when it came to race time, it just happened to work out that he drew #7 and I was #8. The good news is that I had the advantage of seeing what I had to do, the time I had to beat. The bad news is that when he went down it was the fastest run so far and by a lot. Especially when the first 6 sleds are 6 of the 10 best drivers in the world. Well, I did what I came to do, and drove my ass off. I came through the finish .04 seconds back, and 1 spot. Perfect. Only one run left.

The second run seemed a lot more relaxed than I was expecting. I knew what I had to do to win, but at the same time, I wasn't worried about losing. To be fighting head to head in the last race for the World Cup against Pierre Lueders is a victory in itself.

The second run came around, Pierre did his usual magic, I did my best to keep within reach and it came down to the last two sleds. At that point it wasn't about the victory, or about what place I finished. It was about staying within 1 place of Lueders. There were two sleds left and I was .10s behind. This track is short and the times are always very close. It would be so easy for either one of the two Germans to come down and slip in between me and Pierre. It didn't happen.

Three weeks ago I suffered through a difficult and extremely disappointing 4th place finish at the 2007 World Championships. This week, was the most glorious 4th place finish ever. I didn't make it on the podium, i didn't get a medal. No congratulations. But, I had achieved what no other American ever has. I was the 2-man World Cup Champion.

Still confused but much happier!!

I'm still confused, not many answers came after the 4-man. Once again I had a fast sled, a fast push, one good drive and one bad drive, only this time I came out in 2nd place, tying the track record annd once again I'm out by .03 seconds.. How is that? I did pretty much the same in the 4-man as I did in the 2-man. The only major difference is that I almost crashed the 4-man, and I am about 99% positive that it didn't help my time But hey, it seems its the only thing I didn't do in the 2-man. So......next year, I'm going to nearly crash in both races.



It definitely helped that I finished 2nd. I was pretty bummed after that 8th place finish. Not so much that I finished 8th, but that I narrowed the gap between the Overall 2-man World Cup lead. It means I'm going to have to race my ass off in Konigsee. I'm only 10 points ahead of Canadian Pierre Lueders, down from 40 points. I normally wouldn't be that concerned because he has to basically win the race and I've pretty much beat him at every track so far this year. Unfortunately for me, he's won the last two times we raced in Konigsee, and one of them was the World Championships. So, there is no doubt that he is going to be one tough SOB.

Confused

Can somebody please help me out on this one:



Fast Push + Fast Sled + Bad Driving = Slow run



but, as I proved today:



Fast Push + Fast Sled + Good Driving = Slow run





how is that possible?



I could understand my result today if we had a bad push, or our sleds weren't the best. But when you have the "Big 3" you should be fast. Regardless.



Oh well. Tomorrow is another day, wait, why do people say that? Wasn't today another day? Everyday is another day. Instead, they should say don't worry tomorrow is not today.



So, back to what I was saying. Oh well, tomorrow is not today. We had a bad day in the 2-man. Winterberg may be one of the easiest tracks to get down. Its why new drivers choose to start here. However, while getting to the bottom on all 4 runners is very easy, getting down fast is not.



Now its time to redeem ourselves in the 4-man.

When it rains, it pours

First I missed a World Championship medal by one place in the 2-man. Then I miss a World Championship medal by .02 in the 4-man. The next day, my keyboard stopped working on my laptop. A few days later the computer not longer charged, and the hard drive crashed. It was all down hill. One system at a time would fail until finally, at 10:39am on February 7th I officially pronounced my computer dead.

I performed the autopsy that evening where I extracted the hard drive, pulled the RAM, and kept the WiFi card just in case. It is what he would have wanted, he was a donor. Maybe his parts could save another computer. I had to respect his wishes. I sewed him back up and was preparing for cremation when I lost control. My emotions got the best of me. How could I have just let it die? Why God, Why? He was too young to die, there were so many websites, video, pictures that he hasn't seen. Its not his time!! Eventually I couldn't take it anymore so I punched my laptop for not fighting harder, for not trying. I punched it again hoping it would just snap out of it, wake up, and laugh that the joke was on me. But it didn't happen. All I could do was shove it aside in disbelief. There was nothing more I could do.

I had given up after a few minutes. Made my way towards the TV, try and find a new friend. Someone else to connect to. But wait, what is that noise? That small hum of electricity? I must be hearing things, There's no way it could be, he's dead. Its all in my mind, its just me wishing I heard it. Hold on. What is that? What is going on? I quickly grabbed my laptop to find the source of the noise. To my astonishment and disbelief, the battery was charging!

Incredible.

I gently grabbed the computer and made it more comfortable on the table. Then quickly marked off the area with police tape to make sure nobody entered the area and disturbed the recuperating computer. The ICU is a difficult place to be, he could go either way. Right back into the dark, or just as quickly (about 90 minutes to fully charge) come back to life.

I sat, and waited. Waited. The longest 90 minutes of my life.

When I finally got a full battery I gently pressed to power button. All I needed was a sign of life. He was literally brain dead at the moment. No hard drive, and his memory was gone. However, all i needed was a reaction when I poked him. Sure enough, I did.

When I felt he was stable enough, I re-installed the hard drive, the RAM and the WiFi card. Booted him up and celebrated. Unfortunately, he's not back to full health. Still no keyboard, but for the most part, he's ready to go. I bought an external keyboard and now I'm writing this blog from my own computer. Which days earlier was only a prayer.

World Championships Day 2

4 runs, 6 miles of track, and over 4 minutes and 21 seconds of bobsledding only to miss the a medal by 0.02s. Yes, I said .02. To the make it easy on your brain, that is 2 hundredths of a second. TWO!!! Again, that's 2/100's of second. Do you know how close that is? Of course you don't, the human mind can't fathom such a time. TWO HUNDREDTHS!!

Ok, I'm over it. You get the point. Although, I do want you to try an experiment for me. Here's what you're going to need:

1 Friend
2 Stopwatches
and 4 minutes of free time.

Now, you and your friend grab the stop watches. On the count of 3 start each stop watch. (try to start them at the exact time. Do one in each hand if you have to)

Wait 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

as soon as the clock hits 4:21 each of you stop your watch.

Now compare times. Are you within .02 second of each other? I'm going to bet they are not.

Try the experiment again, this time counting down to the moment of stopping the watch. I am willing to bet you are still not within .02 seconds of each other.

Now you see what kind of time we are talking about.


So why did we finish 4th? Well, it was a combination of many things.

1.)My Thumb.
Yes, my thumb hurt. it was determined to not be broken. I'm really happy about that. Unfortunately, on our first push I was a little hesitant and we weren't as fast as we could have been.

2.) That damn kink.
About 45m down the track is a bump, that pushes the sled to the left down the straightaway. Its very difficult to drive, and I didn't get it right all weekend.

3.) Equipment.
Its not all bad, we were lucky to finish 4th because Bob Cuneo and the Bodyn Bobsled Project have provided me with a fast sled. The Allianz-Whelen-Speedo sled is the fastest in the world. I was able to make mistakes and still finish 4th. Thanks Bob!!

4.)Heart
My Pushers knew I hurt my thumb, they knew I was going to be hesitant on the push, they stepped it up and pushed their best to keep us in the running. Thanks PAVLE, STEVE, and BROCK!!

I know most of the Media calls my performance a disappointment, and I broke the winning streak. BOO ON ME!!! But I'm very happy with a 4th place finish. Of course I'm pissed about missing a medal, but look at it from the other side. I finished 10th in 2003, 12th in 2004, 8 in 2005...............4th in 2007. I improved, I got better. I can't ask for more this early in my career. Instead of walking away the 4th place loser, I need to build and learn from this experience and come away the 4th place winner.

4-man World Championships Day 1

I’m doing this a little different today. I’m posting this blog entry via e-mail so if it looks strange, or has some weird formatting I’m sorry. I guess I should have tested it first. EH, who cares.

Anyway, day 1 is over. My team is sitting in 3^rd place .2s out of 1^st. As for me, I am sitting in my room with a cast on my hand. Well, a plastic splint like thingy. I managed to damage my left thumb getting into the sled on the second run. Not sure what exactly happened, well, I know what happened, I don’t know why though. The push bar collapsed as I was loading into the sled and it smashed my thumb pretty hard. I’m tough so it didn’t bother me one bit. Actually, that’s a lie. It was excruciating. Of course, after it happened I couldn’t look down and see if it was ok, I was still in command of a 1300lb. ice rocket that was home to 3 other souls for the next 65 seconds. (65.18 to be exact). To make matters worse, St. Moritz starts with a 300m straightaway, and I managed to use every last inch of that straight to think about how mangled my thumb was; and as everybody knows, your imagination always runs wild. I was totally convinced that the bone was sticking out and that I was going to bleed to death before I made it to the bottom. Obviously I didn’t. Turns out it’s probably not broken however the doc says I tore a ligament. Guess I’m just going to have to kick your ass with one hand!

Seriously, I think were sitting in a great position, even after the mayhem. Had we had a clean 2^nd run and moved into first there would be a lot of stress overnight. Luckily I left that stress to the Germans. However, I don’t think it’s going to affect him very much; being that he’s won the last 4 World Championships and double gold at the Olympics. He’s a tough SOB.

So, that was my day. How was yours?

I’m doing OK, I guess.

Alright, alright, alright! People, when I casually bring up the question if anybody is reading my blog it’s not because I’m being funny. I’m serious. Is anybody reading this?

Well, it only took about 4 weeks for the hate mail to start coming in. Fortunately, my last post was about my daily schedule and everybody was forgiving. (for those that asked, yes, that really is our schedule.)

So, through popular demand, I’ve decided to make a commitment to write once a week during the season updating my life, my racing, and the team in general. It’s the least I could do. It’s not like I’m trying to take over the world or anything. (or am I?)

Alright where was I? Oh yeah, kickin’ some ass is where I was!!! Since our last encounter, I’ve pretty much scared the living shit out of the Germans. My last post was on November 15; I had yet to compete in the World Cup season. Well, here is the short version, after 5 of 8 races I’m ranked 1^st in 2-man, 2^nd in 4-man, and 1^st in the combined. The actual results were: Calgary 2^nd and 5^th; Park City 2^nd and 6^th; Lake Placid 2^nd and 7^th; Cortina 1^st and 1^st; Igls 4^th and 1^st. So as you can see its going well.

This week (and next) we are in St. Moritz, Switzerland. One of the best stops on tour, and my favorite track. Its also the location of the 2007 World Championships. Tonight I’m writing this after the conclusion of the 2-man race. I finished 4^th. Not too bad. Wait, its F***ING GREAT! My best finish in a Championship series (World Championship or Olympic Winter Games) before today was 14^th in 2-man; that was last year at the Olympics. My best finish in the World Championships is 18^th. So, as you can see 4^th is pretty damn good. I made a few mistakes throughout the competition and kept us from getting a medal, but I can’t be too hard on myself. I’ve never been in such a high pressure situation so I’m pleased with my performance. Plus, I need the practice.

We have the day off tomorrow so I’m pretty excited. Its been a while since I have been able to just wake up and not do a damn thing. Its not often in the winter months that I can do that. After that we have a few days of 4-man training , then the race. I think we have a great shot to do well. We’ll definitely have a great start. The sled is really fast, all I have to do is point it in the right direction and we’ll come out on top. Unfortunately that’s much easier said than done, but I’ll try and keep you updated on how that goes over the next few days.

Oh, and please stop with the hate mail.