It has been approximately 18,691,200,000 milliseconds since I've been in this position. That would be some 216 days and about 8 hours since I've sat on a luge at the start of junior entry on the Lake Placid track. My last three runs, more than 6 months ago, were all personal bests, culminating in a 46.153 second trip down the course. This evening, as I manipulate my face shield with my thumbs and little fingers to fit properly on my helmet, I hear and feel my pulse race as if this were the first time that I had ever done this.
As I rock back and forth in the blocks on the same pod, my mind poses more questions than answers. "Can I replicate last spring's runs?" and more importantly "Do I remember what not to do, so that I don't crash (and burn)?" Not exactly the thoughts I expected to have, but... FORWARD!!!!
I paddle a couple times, not really trying to dig in hard, but rather to re-familiarize myself with the movement. Wow, this is strange sensation. As I drop onto the pod, turn 9 is already looming, and I grasp the outside edges of the sled, with my gloved hands. As I try to navigate the turn, by pressing my right calf onto the kufin, the pod climbs a little too high on the outside of turn, and then uncermonously directs me into the wall on the opposite side of the track. Not exactly the start I had imagined just last week.
Banking right through Shady 2, I drop the thirty vertical feet along the short straightway into the first turn of the Labyrinth. Not bad. I exit the turn in the middle of track. In Turn 12, I zip past Fred Zimny, our USLA coach for the session, who is standing at the end of the public entry ramp. While he is safely out of the way, it still is disconcerting having someone on the track proper, rather than on the side of the track itself.
At this point, I roll my head in preparation for the next left turn. I exit the Turn 13 early and enter into Bendham's bend. A minor adjustment. I exit into the long straight away that is the Chicane. I lay my head back, trying to resist the urge to slide like I drive car, by raising my head so that I can look forward to anticipate the next turn. I stare up at the middle of the track cover, remembering the positional relationship between where the sled is on the track and the entry point into Turn 17. Wow. A gentle touch of the kufin, and a smooth exit out of the turn, and I am feeling really good about the run. In and out of 18 and 19 without incident.
Sliding up the out ramp, I sit up and grab the kufins and pull up to slow the sled. As I pass the FINISH sign, I breathe a sigh of relief, and think "Well, a that wasn't too bad..." I get to finish house, a warm two room cabin, and talk with Fred via a two way radio. He tells me besides having my head raised too high, that I also had rolled my head too quickly exiting Turn 12, which forced me early into the next turn. I use his observations and will try to overcome and/or correct these habits over the next several runs. The run lasted 47 and half seconds, about where I left off last year prior to the Master's week of sliding.
