February 3, 2006 – Following the Under 23 Junior World Championships in foggy Slovenia, Team 2010 teammate David Nighbor and I will embark on a two-week unsupported racing expedition around central Europe. The main objective of the trip is to gain more high-level international racing experience on the OPA (Europe Continental Cup) race series. Our first stop will be in the small mountain town of St. Maria Maggiore, Italy for two races. Then we will be off to Marbach, Switzerland for another weekend of racing.

Although Dave and I have raced many times in Europe before, we have always had the luxury of having a full staff of coaches and wax technician’s to do everything but race for us. Now that we are in the process of organizing our trip, we are quickly finding out how much work the support staff does, and how lucky we are to have them working with us.

So far the logistics for our trip have been coming together smoothly. We will be traveling without a car, hopefully getting around mostly by train or bus. We are going to be traveling as light as possible with a very small wax kit and one ski bag between us. Not only will the trip be a good opportunity to get international race experience, but we will also get to experience the coaching side of racing as well. Going to the coaches meeting the night before the races, testing wax and organizing feeds will be new for us and we are looking forward to the extra challenge.

Tomorrow after the races, we will be receiving a crash course in the application of high fluoro powders with wax technician Joel Knopff and then we should be set to go. Hopefully we will be able to send updates as the trip progresses. This being our first time on our own, we are anticipating every possible problem and will be ready for a “Gong Show”!