Day 17: The Final Countdown

It's late at night...your walking home from 'downtown' Whistler, and you stumble across these silent characters...makes you wonder.

Well, it's been a few long days since my last 'daily' recap. No matter how you look at it, 3 weeks on the go is a long time, and I simply got very tired by the end of my stint. All in anticipation of the 'Race of Kings', the men's 50km classic (and the 30km race of Queens for that matter) . And what a performance it was...If anyone watched the race, you know what I'm talking about.

Women's 30km...While all the action was focused on the final dual between Poland's Justina Kowalczyk and Norway's Marit Bjorgen, our Salomon crew had their eyes (and hope) on a silent skier making gains right behind. Japan's Masako Ishida has shown before that she has the talent and engine to finish on the podium, and we all had our fingers crossed! With 3 ski exchanges (using 3 different pairs of skis), she managed to climb back in contention late in the race with a strong last lap, and post a Olympic best 5th place, only seconds behind the podium - What a race for her!

As for the men's 50km...The race did not disappoint. Joel, Bertrand, Ivan and myself went out about an hour before the race to finalize the ski selection and 2 pairs were identified as the ones he would use for the race - Since the 50km now allows for 'pit' ski exchanges (you can exchange your skis up to 3 times), it's important to have a minimum of 2 pairs available. The tracks were very icy, but the skis proved fast and with great kick - I was excited! Of course, we expected our 'Salomon' boy to post another strong result as he tends to excel in long distance events, but this was not his day. Despite having fast boards under his feet, the klister conditions simply did not bode well for his style of skiing and coupled with a long 2 weeks of racing, he just couldn't kick his skis properly, struggling with kick for over 30kms of the race. A similar story affected Alex Harvey and both fell out of contention at the midway point.

Since the weather outside was miserable, I took advantage of the Canadian tech team's TV to watch the action from inside. From here, I was also witness to the high action drama going inside the actual wax room! As the skiers came in for their ski exchange, the techs would run the skis back to the wax cabin, tag team the glide first by reapplying powder and then gels. A quick exchange and into another tech's table to finetune the kick - and back out the door in less than 10min! Quite the production.

Watching the action from Team Canada's wax cabin! High drama inside and out!

Meanwhile...the other half of the men's team (Grey and Kershaw) lived up to the challenge of the world's best and hung in the final pack right to the end, with Kershaw sprinting for the win, and falling 1.6seconds short of the Gold, in 5th place - another Olympic best!

So what's the final verdict on the 2010 Olympics Games? The racing action, the weather, the people and personalities and of course my tech-mates made these 20 days some of the most memorable racing moments I've ever encountered. I can only hope to be part of another event of this magnitude in my lifetime - I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Time to pack up - Joel Knopff loads up Babikov's skate skis - Time to head home.

Frise lifts up a bundle of boots that were all knotted up together - It took me 45min to untangle this mess!

Team Canada Tech Yves Bilodeau takes a load off after a long 3-weeks, these boys have been hard at work and pulled off some impressive results. Oh, don't mind the dead thing on this head...

Day 13: Are You Feeling Lucky?

What did I say about having raised the bar for Canadians?

After today's 4X10 relay, we should be happy no? Despite a few tired bodies on the team, the boys skied very well, posting a solid 7th place, finishing ahead of powerhouses Russia and Italy - A best ever Olympic result, and second best international result ever. But we're not satisfied...

The past few days have been filled with...you guessed it...more testing. The beautiful sunny sky over the past week was a treat allowing us to test in good klister conditions (+5 to +10C), but now the typical CV conditions have returned, zero degrees, snow, fog, rain, sun...and repeat. So we hop on the zero (multi) skis, test structures, skate skis, etc...

With the distance races getting closer on the radar, we have to ensure that our team skiers have the best boards possible. So out we go, testing, testing, testing...So far so good. Of the 'numerous' pairs of skis that we brought to the O-Games, we are sifting through the lot and identifying the cream of the crop.

Athlete Updates...

Babikov (CAN): Yesterday, we found 2 very good pair of klister skis for Ivan to supplement what he already has - He will be aiming to post another strong result in the 50km Classic. Since this race will allow racers to swap skis up to 2 times during the race in specific 'pit zones', racers must have at least 2 pairs of race skis ready to rock!

Caitlin Compton (US): Up until now, Caitlin has been racing on 182cm skate skis - After trying out a pair of teammante Holly Brooks' skis a few days ago, she loved the 'feel' and realized they were 187cms! A bit longer, a bit better glide...We went back to the cabin, found a couple of good matches for the conditions, et voila!

Masako Ishida: The goal for Masako is a podium in the 30km Classic in a few days...The field is very competitive, but she is definitely part of a select group of 10 women who will fight for the podium. Their hard working tech team found 2 pairs that she really liked, a bit stiffer than what she already had, and perfect for CV's wild weather!

Happy Birthday Fabien! Team Japan's tech Fabien Blondeau (far right), celebrates his 26th b-day a la Japanese style. Fabien graduated from the US' Salomon Factory Team to go and work for the Japanese team a few years ago...


The Czech Republic skied a brilliant team relay - Lukas Bauer pulled the team back in medal contention after a strong 2nd leg, and Koukal (leg 4) hung in behind Northug's last km surge to rob France of the Bronze medal - these guys were ecstatic!!


We joined the French Nordic Combined and Biathlon tech team for a bit of after hours goodness as they served up some great cheese fondue! Fabrice Guy (ex-Olympic Gold Medallist - Albertville), shows off his stirring action - not so sure the food dept would approve of the cut-off shovel as an appropriate Fondue utensil!

Bad weather...
Good weather...Don't like the weather in the Callaghan Valley? Wait 5 min... Today's weather was wild. The tech teams certainly got tested to the max today, with everything from toonie sized snowflakes, to fog, to sunny breaks- Crazy.

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Twitter: @philvilleneuve reporting live or @salomonnordic.
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Day 10: Olympic Dreams...

I always wanted to go to the Games - and here I am. I just never imagined it would be as a ski technician...

Watching the men post 3 in the top 10 (or 4 in the top 16) yesterday was simply...amazing. I won't delve into the past too much but as most of you know, I tend to favour a certain skier by the name of Babikov.

As I stood on the sidelines, my heart was pounding like crazy - the anticipation of the start, the excitement of seeing him in the mix, the frustration of seeing him lose contact at the end of the classic leg, and then the surge of adrenaline as he climbed back in contention, and then the final gut-wrenching finish that saw him drop Northug like a rock, and climb up to 5th...WOW.

Ivan hunched in the back near the fence after his race...So close.

Yesterday I wrote: "We expect better." So here we have a 5th place, our best Olympic male result ever, and everyone is yelling and screaming "Wow! "Amazing!", "Fantastic!" Nordic fanatics across the world are looking at the Canadians, amazed at this great performance - everyone except one guy...

Ivan crossed the line...exhausted. He's disappointed. So close...

I could barely hold my emotions back...thrilled to have watch one of the best pursuit races in history, but tearing up inside to see him so disappointed that he didn't attain his dream. As Ivan sat hunched in the finish shoot, I stood and watched wanting only to jump over the fence and go to him - so I did! All I needed to hear from the volunteer was: "There are no rules for Canadians today...", and I hoped over the fence to squeeze the boy.

GMac, NST tech (and my roomy) - all smiles after the men's race - holding up Babikov's rockets! A big Kudos to the entire team of technicians...these guys take the grief when athletes suffer from 'slow' skis, and get no glory when the racers climb on the podium.


Ivan's mother and biggest fan - Tatiana (2nd from left) and wife Svetlana (1st from left).

As the crowds trickled out of the stands, I meandered back toward the cheap seats to 'get some air' and let the day soak in...I spotted a group of 'rowdy' Babikov fans still beaming...his wife, boy and mother amongst them - So Canadian...and so proud!

While waiting for the Men's 30km Pursuit, I watched a bit of ski jumping, which sits right behind our Salomon cabin - huge crowds lined the base of the jump and roared in awe as jumps went further and further down the slope.

A view of the ski jumping crowds at WOP

Day 8 and 9: In Pursuit of...

It's a big day...

The men's 30km pursuit start is a few hours away - The anticipation is rising! I'm holding the fort aqt the Salomon cabin this morning - the others are off testing on snow. I've already mounted a dozen pair of skate/classic skis from international team techs coming by - Good thing I'm good at sign language, comes in handy when dealing with Russian-only speaking techs.

I just had a visit from Babikov's tech (Joel Knopff): "I'm very confident about Ivan's skis...he's going to have rockets!" I like that.

Yesterday's women's pursuit was an awesome race to watch - and Sara's 10th place was a great result, payback for a disappointing sprint. It was good to see with a smile again.
The Canucks have had a good start to the Games, but we expect better. Funny how things change eh? A few years back and we were all giggles with a top 30...This kind of result doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

The past couple of days have been quite busy testing skis in the warm afternoon conditions. With blue skies and a hot sun, the temperature has been rising up to 14C! Having a ski that 'floats' on top of the wet snow is crucial, so around and around we go, comparing ski after ski, to find the best options in the coming days.

One of 'those days' has come...The rocket takes off in just over 2hrs!

The women coming down the hill at the halfway mark - Bjorgen led most of the way, powering hard in the skate portion of the race to take a convincing win.

Munny is all smiles - I took a tour of the 'public' areas after the women's pursuit, which I haven't had a chance to do up until now.


Dinner gone wrong! A little added sizzle from our chef at Teppan last night. Good eats with the crew.

Product News: SNS Wedge

The SNS Wedge is a Salomon innovation that allows skiers to enhance the efficiency, power and length of each skate stride. It is lightweight plastic insert that is mounted under the binding, raising the front of the foot by 5mm, tapering back down to 1mm at the heel.

The Wedge increases the skier's ankle flexion, thus allowing for a more powerful beginning of each skate stoke - In other words, by increasing the angle at your ankle, the ski 'squirts' ahead, up the hill (or ahead), increasing the 'free-glide' feeling.

The SNS Wedge can be mounted under SNS and NNN (screw-in) bindings only.

VIDEO: Italian National Ski Team tech talks about the Wedge and it's benefits.

The SNS Wedge, seen here in red (plate) mounted under the skate binding - The Wedge will also fit on NNN R3 screw-in bindings




A view from above of the SNS Wedge - mounted here on Valerio Chechi's skis - one of Italia's National Team members. Salomon has added hundreds of SNS Wedges to 2010 Olympians' skis all week long.


Ivan Babikov has been using the SNS Wedge since the end of last season

Day 7: Bartering 101

"Gutt price, gutt price"...

Ever tried to barter with an Armenian? First, a bit of background to help explain...

If you ever get a chance to enter one of the manufacturers' cabins at a major event, you'll be dumbfounded by the amount of gear they bring along. In addition to supporting their international teams skiers, ski companies always allocate extra equipment (boots, bindings, skis, poles, wax, etc...) in their shipments to accommodate the needs/demands from 'exotic' countries that only attend major events. For example...Bermuda, Peru, Brazil, Turkey, Algeria, Ethiopia to name a few, don't have many nordic shops to choose from (really?), or proper nordic equipment distribution, so their competitors, coaches, techs, use the Games to outfit their team upon arrival. Each take their turn to tour the brand manufacturers' cabins in an attempt to buy as much equipment/materials as possible with their limited (often non-existent) budgets - Getting the 'lowest price' is often very critical.

As we were setting up the day for ski testing, one of the coaches of the Armenian Ski Team entered our cabin wanting to barter for equipment. After perusing through our cabin, he spotted some of our used/broken bindings supply accumulating in a box in the corner. He turned to Bertrand and in what sounded like bits of Russian asked: "How much?". Bertrand didn't want these used/half-broken bindings getting out in the market with the chances of coming back to haunt a dealer, so he said "NO". This was not an acceptable answer for the coach - More and more he pressed...Frise and I were giggling away in the background waxing skis...It was pretty funny listening to Bertrand try to deal with him as he simply would not take "NO" for an answer - How could this Frenchman not want to barter? Bertrand refused - Eventually the Armenian went away...

Exactly 3 minutes later, he showed up at the door with a bottle of Armenia's finest Cognac. "We trade, Cognac for bindings" he insisted. Bertrand shook his head in frustration...

The early morning laughs set the tone for a good day with our crew - Bertrand and Frise sifting through the skis to see what we should test


Testing, testing, testing...

Frise and Joel enjoying a sunny break - I much prefer testing skis in sunny blue blazer days, then CV's typical wet days!

Today was all about...yes, you guessed it...testing. What is 'testing'? Testing skis is basically taking a fleet of skis all prepared with the same wax, and finding out which one is the best on that particular day. The goal is to widdle down the selection to 2 or 3 pairs, so that the athlete in question can show up an hour before his/her start and test the best of the lot. In an ideal world, the snow conditions/weather on the day you test (typically the day before) will be similar to the following day's conditions - Unfortunately, we don't live in an 'ideal world'.

Most of the morning was spent skiing our own skis, and doing laps around the 'short' loop to gather information on our warm flex skis. Then as the time neared actual race time for the next 2 days' Pursuit events, we hooked up with techs from our international team racers to help them in their selection.

While Frise worked with the Japanese Ski Team (for female racer Masako Ishida), I teamed up with Joel Knopff of the Canadian Ski Team to select the best skis for Ivan Babikov's 30km event on Saturday. First we started on classic (8 pairs), and then moved on to skating (another 8 pairs). Each round consisted of Joel and I having half-pairs under our feet, feeling for which one would be fastest - After a 2km loop, We would each take a full pair and from a mark at the top of the hill, see which pair would glide the furthest. The process was repeated multiple times running each ski head to head and eliminating the slowest every time. At the end of the day, we found 2 great pairs of skate skis, and one very good pair of classic klister skis.

But let's put this in perspective...Just because we eliminated all the others doesn't mean that these aren't good skis - We're looking for skis potential of Olympic Podium! In other words, even Ivan's worst pair of skis (skate and classic), would most likely be the fastest pair you have ever skied on!

At the end of a long day...I caught these 2 buses being loaded up with hundreds of Police Officers! These are amongst the 8,000 Policemen/women that are scattered between Vancouver and Whistler!

Day 6: Crash of the Day!

Now that was a crash...

Yesterday we woke up to snowballs falling from the sky - this morning was a stereotypical Canmore Blue-Blazer...a la Whistler style! After one of the wettest weeks I've experienced in a long time, today the skies were clear and the sun was shinning - perfect day for a 'mot-or car race'...or XC race.

So here I was doing the usual athlete pre-race ski test session with speedster Stefan Kuhn at the bottom (halfway) point of the course when I catch a fast motion out of the corner of my eye - fast skier going off the track and into the bush...

I looked over and only saw a tree branch swaying...what the??

I turned back to Joel Knopff, and said: "Did somebody just go over the edge?"...At that same moment, local coach Lee Churchill, who was on the spectator side of the fence, yelled something at me that was drowned out by the noise of the growing crowds - but then it clicked. Someone did go over the edge! All of this happened withing 5 seconds or so...but I was on the move, and skied over to the edge of what was a steep creek bed/ravine/tree hole - whatever it was, it was deep and there was a skier at the bottom of it - screaming!

Looking down into the creek bed - the dark spot is Majdic's landing zone...This is a least 3 to 4m down!

Check out the CRASH VIDEO HERE.

The skier in question was Petra Majdic, the World Cup Sprint leader! I made my way down as fast as possible to assist, not knowing what to expect...broken bones? bleeding? The thought of taking a first-aid class crossed my mind...a bit late now.

Petra was screaming in pain. As I came up to her, I noticed that her leg was in an awkward position, and immediately thought it was broken - hence the screaming. But she was riggling around, trying to get her ski untangled from the snow/tree. Her other foot still had the binding on it, ripped right off the ski. I unclipped her ski, and she immediately started getting up (a good sign I suppose) yelling: "Get me to the start!".

I could tell what she was thinking..."...I've got 30min to my start, I've crashed, I'm hurt, my chances of winning are gone!" Adrenaline was surging through her body...

I struggled to get out of the creek myself, having to punch boot holes in the frozen snow to climb back out. I turned around and with the help of a volunteer, we managed to pull/push her out back onto the course. Majdic was anxious to get back to the start and wanted nothing to do with emergency support - "I have to go to the start!". I grabbed her skis and followed her up the course, walking along the course - until her coach/tech met up with her a few hundred metres later. I passed on the broken equipment to him...and that was that.

Wow. I took a deep breath, hoped back on Stef's warmup skis and went back to the start area. Still in a daze about what had just happened, I saw young Andrew Musgrave (GBR) looking down at his 2 test pairs of skis. "Hey Andrew, do you need any help to test?" He looked up: "Yeah, sure...that would be great". Off we went...

Squish the blimp...squish it!


The camera rig that follows the racers up the hill

Racing Action...

The sprints were great. Stef qualified in 10th and skied very strong in the heats. This was the strongest I've seen him double-pole to the finish ever! Unfortunately, he was roughed up in one of the turns by a Russian (that eventually finished 2nd) which may have cost him. Technically, some would have argued that the Russian 'should' have been DSQ'd...but he wasn't, and Stef was eliminated, relegated to 15th. Not a bad result for your first O-Games.

Other N-A Results:
Women: Kikkan Randall (USA) - 8th; Daria Gaiasova - 22; Chandra Crawford - 26; Sara Renner - 34; Holly Brooks (USA) - 38; Perianne Jones - 41;

Men: Devon Kershaw - 23; Simeon Hamilton - 29; Torin Koos - 36; Drew Goldsack - 40; Brent McMurtry - 41; Andrew Newell - 45 (crashed); Garrott Kuzzy - 47

Day 4, 5...Already Becoming a Blur!

If you don't like the weather today, just wait until tomorrow...

The past few days have gone by so fast that I can barely keep up. From mounting a bazillion skis to testing our own skis, testing with the athletes, waxing, prepping...and simply being on 'standby' in case someone needs support. The only time I've had to chill is really during the race itself, which suits me just fine.

Prepping the warm/wet classic skis with klister - I call this the Frenchie production line


Frise prend un break...I'm off to watch the races, Frise decided to take a nap

After the races, it's back to the 'ranch' for a quick turnaround in our home away from home while in Whistler. It's a nice cozy home, great to chill after a long day on the trails - although we haven't had a chance to spend much time here just yet - maybe tomorrow...

Caught the rings lit up last night while heading out for dinner...A popular photo pitstop

Racing Action...

By now the news is out...Babikov's 8th place in 15km skate event is Canada's best male result at a Olympic Winter Games since Pierre Harvey's 14th in Calgary (1988). And speaking of Harvey...Pierre's son, Alex also set a new standard posting his best skate result ever with a 21st position - Way to raise the bar boys!

Other Canadian results: George Grey - 29th; Gord Jewett - 52nd; Madeleine Williams - 51st

Day 3: Sunny Days!

The sun came out today...for a bit a least.

OK, so I'm realizing that doing a day-to-day thing may be a little overzealous of me. The past few days have been getting off to an early start, hopping in the car by 7am to get up to the Nordic site and ready for action by 8am. With the first event looming in everyones' mind - it's important for Salomon to be onsight and present in the days few days leading up to the event in case of last minute equipment tweeks.

What consists of equipment tweeks? Everything from binding installation on new skis, binding upgrade from old skis, replacement of broken bindings, installation of the SNS Wedge and preparation of podium skis (skis to be displayed by top 3 winners on the podium).

Fischer came to us this morning to mount their Podium skis with the new SNS Propulse...At least they got part of it right!

The shuttle buses have been going back and forth from Vancouver - Whistler - Callaghan Valley

Mornings are the busiest as this is when most of the teams are testing equipment, trying to mimic the upcoming race start. Techs are busy waxing and testing skis, athletes are focused on testing their race (or potential) race skis and our job is to assist them in whatever they need...For example, yesterday afternoon we tested 8 pairs of skating skis, all prepared the same, except for the grind. Based on our glide out/feel tests, one grind in particular came out ahead - We passed on this pair to an Australian skier (Ben Simm) to test against his current 'best' skis. It surpassed all of his skis and he ended up racing on it today - placing 44th - A good result.

With minutes to spare before the race start, we bundle up with warm (and waterproof) clothes, lock up the cabin and head out on course. Bertrand and Anthony's job is to cover the start/finish areas for last minute support or emergency. If a boot breaks, if snow is caught in the sole, then they are there to help the athletes.

As only one 'service' team member is allowed on the start line, I get to go on course and watch the action! Not a bad deal...

Spectators walking back from the biathlon stadium, on route to the Nordic stadium

Immediately following the race, Bertrand and Anthony are once again on standby, but this time to give athletes some 'podium' skis for their media interviews. With the O-Games being held in our backyard, the media is all over our Canadian athletes - and as most rely on Salomon products, we have to be ready to make sure everyone looks pretty for the cameras!

Babikov getting interviewed following the race, 'podium' skis in hand!

Tomorrow is another busy day...Hope you are all enjoying the show...but it's time for me to go to bed!

Day 1: Getting Into the Routine

Racing Action: And they're off...

The women biathlete had they're first race yesterday, the 7.5km 'sprint' - Here are a few quotes I plucked off the net from our Team Salomon racers:

Rosanna Crawford - 72nd: "It was fun all around. I am really happy with my race, I hit ten for ten and skiing was decent. For my first Olympic race I handled my nerves really well. I am really thankful to the crowd out there, they were fantastic."

Megan Imrie - 76th: "My legs were shaking like leaves and it was a struggle because of the soft sloppy conditions. My shooting has been really good leading up to the Olympics so I am confident that the next couple races will go really well."

Anthony, our Salomon Biathlon service tech was pretty psyched yesterday because Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia won the event on our S-LAB Pro boots, a great start to the Nordic races!

Good job girls!

Daily Morning Routine: Getting into the Groove...

Most mornings have been starting around 7am, with Patrice - let's call him 'Frise' - cooking up a storm in the kitchen with pancakes and all. The 'Frenchies' (as I call them) are all about big breakfasts, but in a healthy way - all good as far as I'm concerned, a nice change from my usual 'grab a coffee and go' early morning routine.

At 8.15, all 5 of us cram into our O-edition rental (1 of 5,000 I'm told) and hit the backroad out of town to the Nordic Venue up in Callaghan Valley. The drive up hasn't been too bad so far - except for yesterday's delay with the USA Vice-President blocking the road for 30min while he snuggled into his seat at the jumping venue!

If you're thinking of 'crashing the "Whistler Olympic Park' venue to join the party - good luck! As you turn off Hwy 99, you are stopped about a km into the drive by your first checkpoint. If you don't have a pass (or a day ticket) you don't get through! Then there is another checkpoint about 10km in, right before your vehicle gets swabbed, probed and scrutinized by an army of policemen and secret service dudes.

Our O-rental about to get the 'rubber glove' treatment...

Depending on your pass level, you get directed to the appropriate parking lot - in our case, the furthest one - and hop on a shuttle (if they stop for you) and get dropped off at the base of the ski jump, only a short walk from our wax cabin.

By this time it's almost 9h30...and the fun stuff hasn't even begun yet!