Buy a brand new or a slightly used sled with a warranty. Don’t mess around. Spend the money up front at the beginning. I am very thankful I decided to go this route right from the beginning. I’ve had more than a couple buddies buy used sleds only to have the engines explode within a few days of riding them and they just lost the 3-5 grand they spent.

People say its easy. Sledding is not easy. The first week I had the thing I hated life. I cursed the idea of ever buying one as I constantly dug the 500lb machine out of giant snow trenches. After that week I felt like I got hit by a freight train. I don’t think my body had ever been so degraded. Not after back to back weeks of competing in icy conditions while sending huge airs, not after soccer tournaments in Phoenix growing up in over 40 degree heat playing two games a day at 90 minutes a piece as winger, sprinting non stop from touch line to touch line, not after skinning from the wee hours of the morning until after darkness on long touring missions.

Sledding is a money pit. Forget about the initial cost. How about the gas and oil every time out. The truck to tow it. The ramp to get it in your truck. The ski rack to carry your skis. The straps. The bungees. The list goes on and on. It is not cheap, but way cheaper than a heli trip to ak, and it lasts all year. I still have things I would like to buy to improve the experience, but I choose to save the money.

Sledding is frustrating. This last week I got gas in my eye. The week before that I may have broken my finger (it’s still swollen and crooked). The week before that I flipped the sled into a giant tree well, and the list goes on. I feel like this year I have grown from advanced beginner to an intermediate sledder, but no matter what there always seems to be an issue. The only comforting thing is the fact that even the best sledders still get stuck. So the digging, pulling, flipping, lifting never stops. It just happens less often.

I also heard a lot when I bought the sled. “Oh, oh. Athan watch out. Lots of skiers just become slednecks because of how much fun they are.” They are fun that’s for sure. But I will never be a sledneck. Skiing is way more fun and pure. The sled began as, and will always remain a tool to ski bigger and badder stuff.

With all that being said there is no better way to ski the lines of your dreams with relative ease. I have skied or watched my buddies ski lines right out of every skier’s fantasies. It isn’t easy, and I really wish it didn’t allow the kind of access you can gain, because of how much of a pain in the ass it is. But one thing is for certain, now I can never go back. I will never be without a sled in the Coast Mountains again.

Cheers,
Jake Thompson – Action Armada

Racing is such an expensive sport, it is almost impossible to practice. Last year, between the first race at VIR in April and the season finale at Road Atlanta in September, I never got the chance to do a single day in a racecar outside of the official TDI Cup weekends. My total practice amounted to one kart race with the CKRC. So unlike most athletes who can practice for their sport on a daily basis, I need to find other ways to make sure I stay mentally (and physically) prepared during the season. As I suffer through a long winter away from racing, my time at the gym is one thing that can keep me connected, as it reminds me that I’m working towards something. Racing is such a mental sport, it is important to always be in the right mindset, and if I want to become a professional I need to act like one on and off the track.

This winter I have focused on three main areas in the gym, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and returning strength to my injured shoulders. In addition to playing rec-league hockey, I have been doing my best to make it to the gym 3 times a week. I start each work out with a hard 1km run (best time so far, 4min 15sec), and usually end up with a 15-20 minute bike ride to work on my cardio fitness. I then go through a series of strength exercises, paying particular attention to my core and shoulders. I have had several shoulder dislocations from hockey (left and right), and had surgery to repair the right shoulder in 08, and I continue to struggle with both of them to this day. This winter I finally made the commitment to finish the physio I started after my surgery and have seen great results. I have improved my range of motion, get pain far less often, and can finally throw a ball again which is a big accomplishment. The last thing I need is to suddenly pop my arm out while in a racecar, either from a crash, or a quick jerk at the wheel, so this has been an important part of my training. Finally having good flexibility and core strength can help save you from an injury during an accident, and will serve me well if I ever reach my goals of competing in the world’s big endurance races.

After having trained pretty hard all winter, it was extremely gratifying to go through the physical fitness testing at the 2010 TDI Cup driver selection last month. I was able to achieve a top score on the VO2 max test which I was very proud of, and although I am still far from the most flexible driver, my flexibility scores were a huge improvement on where I had been a year earlier.

With about 7 weeks to go before I head to Virginia for the first race, I plan to ramp up my training to 4 or 5 days a week, to make sure that I spend at least a portion of every day in a mental space where I am preparing for the upcoming season. Today its a beautiful 10 Degreees Celsius here in Calgary, (about 52F) and with any luck its a sign of an early spring and I will be able to get some practice laps in a go kart before the end of April.

I’ll also be dusting off the old simulator wheel to start logging laps in the TDI Cup car on the Iracing Simulator. I used this alot before the first race last year, and it really gave me a leg up, knowing the twists and turns of VIR’s undulating layout before I got there. For anyone who hasn’t seen iracing, check out this video of the Jetta at VIR, I assure you it is VERY close to the real thing.

(BTW: The sounds on IRacing are extremely realistic. The turbo in the real car is so effective, you basically just hear a symphony of tire squeal!)

7 weeks is still a long time, but the sun is shining, the snow is melting, and Im getting excited.

Cheers,

Jake Thompson

www.jakethompson.ca

PS. OH CANADA! Thanks Sid!

Jesse Hall milking some turns

Jesse and Josh walking to the lifts at Solitude

tandem pow

oh really..Jesse gets it done on try #1 of 2

Josh dropping a knee and getting deep

Finding the light that was around for about 1 minute on this face

Tomorrow, Friday, I am working at Brighton, shooting with Michelle Manning and Leo Ahrens. It should be good as the forecast is for at least partly sunny skies.

-nic

-n

Last week I was in Vancouver for the first weekend of the Winter Olympics. Vancouver itself was completely nuts, but the atmosphere felt mostly like everyone in Vancouver coming out for their own party. I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Whistler and there was a very cool vibe up there. With Whistler hosting Apline Skiing, Cross Country, and the sliding sports there was a distinctly European vibe. The village was flooded with Swiss, Norweigens, Germans, Swedes etc all making the most of their olympic experience. I had tickets to the Luge, and I can say that I was completely blown away. After the tragic death of Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, the start was lowered slightly, but they top sliders were still hitting over 145km/h. Up close it was completely nuts. It also made for a much better spectator sport than I expected, as they had built a fabulous spectator terrace over the last corner complete with a massive big screen and live timing.

Luge Madness in Vancouver

Other than that, not much exciting here. I am looking at starting a new job in the next few weeks, which will hopefully put me in a better financial situation ahead of this season, and give me the opportunity to do some karting this summer to stay fresh. Here’s a quick video that my buddy Joey Atterbury showed me, and oldie but a goodie.

Cheers,

Jake Thompson

Action Armada

I think it was easy when I was concentrating on just being an athlete. Stepping out into this other role of film producer/director/cinematographer leaves me absolutely drained after the day even if I spend 90% of it on my ass, cold as all hell, in the snow. Mentally concentrating on making sure each shot is recorded perfectly is somehow extremely physically demanding. Sometimes I wish I just was just sending it all day like last year.

The footage keeps rolling in and Dendrite Studios is making stellar progress on our debut ski film. This is the latest Perspectives and it is the first truly showcasing some of the athletic talent behind the film. We have many skiers making their ski film debuts. These are just a couple of them.

Perspectives #5 is about introducing a couple of our athletes. Matt Elliott and Brett Crabtree star in this web clip outlining some of the terrain inbounds on Whistler as well as some nearby sled zones as skied by Crabtree. Matt Elliott is an all around ripper and kills pretty much every line on Whistler and Blackcomb. Brett Crabtree is the 2008 IFSA Freeskiing World Tour champion and skis with so much strength and makes everything look easy with his smooth style. A lot more will come in the final film of these two guys.

Enjoy!

-Nic

To check out the gallery head over to the photo section at Dendrite Studios http://dendritestudios.com/photos/

Some of these lines will make the final cut and be in the film coming out later this year!

Adios.

Athan