Competition of the year?

Foto: Sandi Bertoncelj

This blog post will be only about yesterday's "slopestyle" event in Kranj...

...i don't even know how or where to start...

Maybe as first i have to tell you, that i'm not writing this cause i dropped out in semi finals and cause i didn't win this event, but due to the way of judging, the game the judges and the organizer were playing with the riders and because that was really too much...

Before i get to the point of this post i have to tell you another thing. I'm surprised and impressed with what the boys from SAK Kranj did with the course, really respect to everyone who was shoveling there for many days and nights. Respect also to the boys from Džampa freestye for doing something in the right direction and to the organizer as well because organising an event isn't as easy as it looks, there are many things that we can't see, but have to be done...

Foto: Sak Kranj

The training started at 4pm, we were cruising, testing, riding the setup which wasn't huge, but it was fun to ride. After an hour and a half of training, 9 riders were registered and the competition started around 6pm. The system of the competition were elimination battles and the man with the better run progressed to the quarterfinals and so on and so on to finals. 

Every run one rider was choosing his line and the second rider had to go to the same line, but the problem was with speed for the last features in the line, cause snow was very slow, due to the rain and it was really hard to make the whole run with good tricks and judges unfortunately didn't care about that and it was a bit stupid or weird or something, judge for yourself.

Judging battles between riders was somehow strange, it wasn't really important who was better, the result was always, really always 1:1 after two runs and if i remind you that it was raining almost all the time during the contest, that delaying wasn't nice from the judges and it was bad for everyone, for us riders and for the people who came to watch the contest.  

Morning training

In quaterfinals i was paired with my friend Andraž, we both screwed the first run, but Andraž got the first point, then we were battling on the rail, i did sw on fs 270 of and he did a fs sw up, blind 270 off, so it was tottaly clear who was the winner of our pair, he of course. But like i said before it was always 1:1 after two runs. Because of that we decided to make another run on the rail, but only a boardslide over it and because the judges couldn't decide who was better, we had to make another run on the kicker line, after that one,they finally decided that Andraz was better.

My last battle for the 3rd place was with another friend, teammate Nik, but it wasn't important who will be 3rd, we wanted to keep it fun and we did a run together, holding our hands (no homo). The speaker said, that this one won't count so it is 0:0 and that we have to do a normal run, otherwise we won't be judged. We were talking about our next run, we wanted to do another run together, but because they put a lot of effort into this event, we decided to do a normal run, one by one, but with straight airs over all kickers. When we finished with our runs, the organizer ran to the judges and to the speaker and a moment later, he told us that we were both disqualified. 

Congrats to Andraž & Žiga

We raised a lot of dust with our last runs, but i'm not sure if i should say: i'm happy that it happened, but maybe something will be better now (even though i doubt it) or maybe i should say: unfortunately it happened, cause i think that, i will be the one who will be the bad guy, the guy who is always complaining about the judges and everything... Fortunately the last time i wrote a post like this one, i wasn't the only one who was complaining and today i'm not the only one either. 

In my opinion, we could have had a great afternoon session on the setup and "rider judge rider" judging, but unfortunately we have to have serious competitions where fun is prohibited...

Situations like that one yesterday are pretty bad for me, i lost all the hype for Slovenian competitions, because i know that i don't have a chance to get a good result on the next competitions, because of my acts yesterday, my writing on this blog and personal problems with specific people, but they don't even know that for me it's also good, cause now i will train even harder, put all the effort to my runs on competitions and then, they will have no chance to fuck me once again!

Peace.

Summer report

Foto: Sandi Bertoncelj

Today is five months, since my last post, many things had happened in that time:.

When the season ended for me I had to burry myself in school work and even though my presence in school was only 51%, i finished it in time without any problems.

Longboarding

                         

After school i went to Amsterdam for a week with my family and it was a great start of summer holidays, unfortunately i didn't take my kite with me, just one reason more to visit netherlands again next year.

Above the clouds

                                      

A week after Amsterdam i participated at the first Bohinj lake SUP race. It was an interesting and fun experience. For me the race started already in Kranj, cause i was pretty late. Luckily i managed to get there in the last seconds before riders/skippers meeting. A few minutes before the start i stood up on a paddle board for the second time in my life, paddled to the start, where all the other riders were. I got a spot in the middle of them and when the judge gave a sign for start, everyone started paddling and someone from my/fun category hit my board with his paddle, i lost balance and fell into the water. That took me to much time and when i started paddling again, i was on the last place. Even though, i paddled as hard as i could and i managed to overtake some riders, so i didn't end up on  the last place. From that race, i respect all the stand up paddle athletes even more, cause it's not as simple as it looks from the shore. I have already decided, that i will attend one or two SUP races again next year.

Foto: Marko Notar

                                                         

Unfortunately, we didn't go to Greece as usual, cause of the situation there, which was wrongly presented by media. We went to Pelješac, where the wind should blow quite often and actually the first week there wasn't bad at all. Training early in the morning, then some swimming and computer work and in the afternoon kiteboarding was perfect, but unfortunately it lasted only one week and in the next ten days wind became just an illusion. Luckily many friends were at Pelješac at the same time, so it was a bit easier to spend days without wind, but still pretty boring. This year even Manca Notar - (slovenian professional stand up paddle athlete, if you maybe don't know) and her family spent two weeks at Pelješac. I have already known her before, but not so good and in that week before they went home, i had spent some time with her, heard some stories from her career, saw some of her trainings and realised that she is a real fighter, the most positive and hardworking woman i knew and i really respect her. I also met her parents and they are just as kind and positive as Manca and i really can't find one bad thing about them. Manca gave me some advices for stand up paddling, showed me rock running, which is a really amazing way of training and thought me how to look at things from a different perspective. The thing that surprised me a bit and i respect the most is that Manca’s family isn't even a little bit condescending, like many families of successful athletes.

   

     Rockrunning

     

        Awesome road at Pelješac

                        

 

      

      Golden hour

         Foto: Sandi Bertoncelj

                       

Morning view from the Pelješac highest peak 

                          

Kiteloop fun

                         

Cruising around with sister

                       

Black & white
Foto: Sandi Bertoncelj

                        

The days at home passed by quick, i spent them mostly on a mountain or on a road bike and two weeks before the holidays were over, i went to Premantura with friends, for some cliff diving. Years ago, when i was an alpine skier, we trained in Premantura for a week, every year, we had a track in the woods between trees, reminding a little bit on a ski cross course and i was really surprised when i found it during the morning run through the forest. 

Blueberry hill 

                             

Cliff diving at Kamenjak

                         

Summer holidays ended a lot faster than expected, but luckly September and October passed by pretty fast and that means winter is just around the corner & yesterday we returned from Hintertux, where we spent first four days on snow this season.

Špan invitational

                        

A look back

Qparks finals
Foto: Roland Haschka

It has been a long time since my last post, but in last two months i had so many things to do in school and i couldn't find any time to write.  So, if i return to the last part of the season, i thought that Label rail contest will be the last competition for me this season, but a few days later i got an email and i was invited on Qparks finals at Dachstein. With a huge help of many slovenian coaches, i managed to qualified to the finals as 5th, but due to painful knee i decided to do sw cork 5 instead sw 9 so, i ended up on 6th place and even if i went just on two qparks competitions, i ended up 8th in overall ranking for qparks tour.

Superpark Dachstein

Foto: Uroš Rojc

One week later our season ticket was still valid, so we decided to do one last trip to the Dachstein before summer. On saturday i stayed in the valley for some time, cause i didn't felt very well. Later i decided to build a quarter jump, but unfortunately i didn't had any options to get enough speed for it, cause it was mega slushy and my skis were pretty slow. After an hour of building a quarter and hiking for speed, i felt better, so i went  up on the glacier and had a great afternoon spring shred. On sunday and monday we unfortunately didn't had speed for kickers, so we filmed some things on rails and had tons of fun.

Quarter jump in progress

Foto: Uroš Rojc

Monday was also my last day of the season, it feels like this season was the shortest ever, but it was the longest i've ever had. I was skiing for app. 100 days from november to april. However, if i look back and compare it to other seasons this one was the best so far. Till the start of season i didn't have a sponsor for skis, so i started finding one very late, but i was lucky, i got a deal with Elan skis and this hyped me for riding even more. At the begining of the January me and Žiga released the first webisode of Spaced Out and we got great feed back and we knew that we are on the right way. We improved our riding, filming and editing skills, so every webisode was better and at the end of season many people told me, that we just have to keep doing this, cause they see that we are doing this cause we really love doing it and we enjoy every single second which is showed in webisodes. Competitions this season went great for me instead of world junior champs but okay. I won some slovenian events and i ended up on second place at Freestyle Cele rail jam. At qparks competitions i ended up 5th, 6th and overall on 8th place. At european cups i was 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th and 15th overall. At the end is usually the most important thing and for me this isn't riding, but all the experiences i got this season and it was really a lot of them. As you can see, for me this season was great, there were some bad moments, but only the good ones count.

Longboarding

Label rail contest

Podium

I spent the first weekend of April on Krvavec mountain. There was Luža contest on saturday and Label rail contest on sunday. On saturday i won on Luža contest for the 4th time in a row and in the evening we went to concert of slovenian band Mi2, unfortunately one of my friends didn't managed to hear the band, because of some reasons he had to leave the concert early. I came home pretty late and i was a bit tired next day, when we had a rail contest at Krvavec, but luckly i managed to do some good tricks for the competition and i won with: frontside sw up/pretzel 270 off on a dub. kink, lipslide/frontside 450 off a down rail and sw disaster 450 on a flat-down box. Congrats to matic for 2nd, to my teammate Bine for 3rd place, to all other riders and big thanks to organizers for a great event.

Luža

 

Mi2

 

Smoooth

450 off

 

Mid sw disaster 270 on

Luža

World Junior Champs Valmalenco

View from the top

We arrived to Valmaleco on monday evening and spent tuesday at our apartment, relaxing after a long drive. First official training was on wednesday, it went great for me, landings were pretty soft, i really liked the second kicker, i landed my planned run and after that, i was really hyped to try a new trick, but when i came back to the start, one FIS delegate said that training is over for today, see you tomorrow. I thought, alright i'll do it tomorrow, but the next day it was different, landings were harder and i really didn't wanted to try a new trick on this hard landing.

First rail and flat-down box

First kicker

Second kicker

Oh well, the curve

Second rail

Third rail

On planned competition day, friday, wind blew to hard and the delegates postponed competition to Saturday. Later in the afternoon i went with my coach to team leaders meeting and after this we moved to the wine bar with other coaches and delegates.  because of the competition next day I drank only one glass of wine and one glass of superbier, but i ate a lot different types of salami, cheese and bread baked at home. Others drank a bit more than me and i was witness to some interesting talks between coaches and delegates. However, i realized, that the life of the delegates isn't easy at all. I came to our apartment at 11PM and went to sleep, but i had so many things to think about and i couldn't fall asleep till 3AM. 

Super bier

We woke up at 6AM, packed our stuff and went to the mountain. Due to strong wind, landings became even harder and i had even more troubles with the curve right after the second kicker. I was in second heat, somewhere at the end and it was even harder to stay focused. In my first run i screwed right side 540 for the first time in my life and i fell, than came my second run, i took a bit too much speed for the second kicker and landed sw1080 deep and than, when i started braking i fell, wtf why?? Unfortunately i screwed at the most important competition of the season, but i had a great season and one competition won't change this. 

Right 5 japan

Europa Cup Vogel

Photo: Uroš Rojc

I spent my first day back home, learning for some exams in the next days. On thursday i went to Krvavec, very hyped for skiing, but when i came to the snowpark i lost all the hype i had before, cause the park wasn't shaped well and my only wish was to go home as soon as possible. I came back to Krvavec on saturday, feeling great and it was really good day. On sunday i went to Vogel mtn. with a photographer Uroš Rojc. Thanks to Park Vogel i had a private kicker session till 5pm and also thanks to Uroš for great shots.

Almost finished kicker

End of the day

When photobombing goes well

On tuesday we went to Vogel, but not to train, cause we had some work to do with first kicker and we finished around 5 pm. On wednesday we set the first and the last rail, but it took us almost a whole day. Finally on thursday, the course was ready and we couldn't wait to go on the mountain and shred. Training went pretty good for me, i did all the tricks i wanted to put in my run for the competition. On friday, the first competition day i was a bit tired, feeling no pressure in the morning, but when i came to the slope i was alive, more than ready for the competition. Just before my start i became as nervours as never before, but luckily, when i started it all disapeared and i enjoyed in my run. I stomped it and i was really happy, cause i knew, that my result should. For the second run i could be totally relaxed, but i saw my father down there by the side and in the moment i wanted to upgrade my run, but i wanted to much, so i fell on the first jump. At the end, when i heard, that i was 15th with a score 58,33 for a clean run: sw 270 on to sw, sw 900 high safety, right side 540 japan and sw on 270 off, i was, i don't know, stunned, angry, disappointed, however i was raped by the judges without lubricant. After the competition i heard, that judges were looking just for over head spins, not for grabs, creativity and for spins in both directions. So i was forced to change my plan for the next day and i changed it well.
On saturday, second day of the competition, the wind was blowing preety hard, landings were icy, we had only 4 or 5 runs of training, so all the terms for FIS competition were met. I stomped both runs, with easy tricks and huge amplitude on the second kicker, where i jumped over the whole landing straight to the flat, but i landed it clean. After the competition, i was waiting for results and it happened exactly what we were joking around about. I was 11th with a score 65,33 with run: sw on 270 off, sw cork 5 safety, flat 3 double japan and again 270 off, so now please tell me how is it possible to get such a big score for this shitty run?! Even headjudge Matthias said that, specially one judge didn't have any idea what was he doing, but it's kinda logical cause he was moguls rider before, but however that isn't the reason for not knowing grabs and tricks. We have wait for few more years to get newschool judges and things will get better. Days on Vogel were awesome for me, even if i didn't got the result i wanted, but i met new, great people and some new experiences.

Sw cork 5

Second kicker

Results from Friday

Results from Saturday

On monday we came to Valmalenco for Juniror World Championships. Today we had the first official training and i can't wait for another one tomorrow.

View from the top

Absolut park, see you soon!

Me with Luka Plevnik and Marko Bauman

I woke up on Friday expecting a lot of new snow, but when i looked through the window i realized that we got just around 10cm of new snow, but me and Žiga went to Zauchensee and it was a really nice surprise when we came to the top of the mountain and saw about 40 centimeters of new snow. For the first time this year i was on my powder skis made by Sense, but it was a prototype and unfortunately i didn't took it as easy as i should cause the skis are super light and i broke one ski, so i was forced to change them for my elan puzzle tbt's. Of curse i jumped over every cliff with them and once when i fell i broke my gopro mount. Right after that i found two lines of the day. We found some nice lines at the end of the day and for the next time we know exactly where to go first. However, it was one of the best powder days in my life.

Looking back 

From the top

My point of view on friday

On Saturday me and Nik went to Freestyle Jam Kope, which was organized very well and had a great vibe so i hope that more events in Slovenia will be like that. The organizators decided to make this jam without judges, so we had "rider judge rider" method of assessment and i thougt that me and Nik don't stand a chance against the locals, but surprisingly all riders judged objectively and it was great. Nik was third, local boy Damijan Gobec made it on the second place and i took the win. After that i thought that it's the end, but they had two more awards "best fail" and "best run". Luka Plevnik got an award for best fail and i got a cup and an award for the best run.

Sw 180 

On Sunday we came back to the Absolut park, due to some problems on our way we came to the slope pretty late, so i just got used to the new perfectly shaped kickers for spring battle. Monday went through fast and Tuesday came to quick. Those two months in Flachauwinkl ended so damn quick, i still can't believe it's over. However, tuesday was our last day of those two months in Absolut park, and for me it was a good one, cause i did a lot of new tricks, i did a sw 1080 for the first time and i think that now i know that you should never go for the last run, cause in this last run a lot of things can happens. For the last run i went to step down rail with close out and i wanted to do a blind 270 off with nose tapping the close out, but i fell off the rail only a bit to fast and consequently close out bounced me backwards on my back/neck and when i landed i hit the snow with my head pretty hard, but luckly i'm allright now.

I'll miss everyday shreding in Absolut Park

 But I'll be back soon!