December 31, 2011
A – AutoBahn: Driving fast, in the dark, en route to Oberstdorf. If you get the red ‘flash,’ you just earned yourself a speeding ticket (you’ll get it in the mail). We are unsure how many teams got tickets yesterday…. the numbers are still coming in…
B – Birthday: Happy 29th Birthday Kikkan!
C – Corny: Corny Big. The best German gas station candy bar eaten thus far while in Germany.
D – Drugs: Reporters & journalists utilize their own performance enhancing variety: Kaffee, Rittersport, & GummiBaren. Hey, the press needs some pick-me-up occasionally.
E – Emil: (Joensson). His parents were out cheering with matching blue parkas with ‘Anna & Emil’ on the back and a large Swedish flag. Unmistakable.
F – Foosball: Our hotel has a table. Nat schooled Northug this morning before his race. Northug was obviously worn out from the foosball, as shown by his sub-par performance today. C’mon dude, 6th? Is that all ya got?
G – Get Er Done: That’s what ya gotta do on a day like today. The weather was WET today, with 6-inch slush puddles throughout the parking lot and steady rain.
H – Heikkinen: (Matti) He crashed for the second time in two races in qualifications this morning. Yesterday he was caught in the men’s tangle before the finish. Bad luck.
I – Indecisive: Hairies, klister, hard wax? Or just flip a coin today….
J – Jochen: (Behle) German national team boss. He’s reportedly been under fire by the German press leading up to the Tour due to the team’s lackluster results this season. Maybe Jochen will keep his job afterall.
K – Kik-kastrophie: Her fluke crash. She pile-drived herself into the snow. Ouch.
L – Lahteenmaki: (Krista). She was observed changing after her qualification race in the athletes tent, standing on a table for everyone to see. No shame.
M – Muffin: Axel Teichman’s cat. Really dude? Muffin?
N – None: The amount of circulation in Rob’s legs during the 4-5 hr drive from Oberhof to Oberstdorf. Didn’t Bodensteiner have this years ago…I swear I read about it in his ‘Endless Party’ book.
O – O’Cortinif: It seems that every town in the Tour (that starts with O, and ends with F) has lousy weather. For consistency, FIS has just renamed the remaining Tour stops: O’Cortinif, O’Toblachif, & O’ValdiFiemmif.
P – Petukhov: (Alexey). Men’s #1 qualifier. He was observed wearing an Adidas ‘poncho’ while warming up in the pouring rain. Style points.
Q – Quote: (of the day) … “If you hear a squirrel in the middle of the night, it’s probably me eating Wasa Bread.” Nat said I had to put this in today’s post. Yes, I said that right before going to bed this morning at 3am.
R – Rain: RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY, COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY. PLEASE!
S – Sprints: Day 3 of racing. Hold on!
T – Two: Two-fifty-four AM (2:54) ….the time the Fasterskier bro-skis finally went to bed after the late night drive to Oberstdorf, and finally got the race articles posted. Cash tips graciously accepted (for going the extra mile posting stuff in the wee hours)….just mail them in.
U – Umbrella: Implements that Fasterskier staff wished they had at today’s race, and that dozens of more intelligent Germans packed.
V – Vodka: Vodka = Russian = Celebration. I’m pretty sure the Russian coaches and fans cleaned out the stock of Vodka in Oberstdorf tonight. Check out this link & scroll to 3:35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydyUPeioz0E
W – Wrong: One wrong turn on the drive from Oberhof to Oberstdorf. Thanks Nat.
X – X-cited: Topher was psyched for Jen to have arrived to help the F.S .bro-skis.
Y – Yellow: The color of France’s suits…Aura Jean was 6th today, and Maurice Manificat was 8th. Solid.
Z – Zeller: The ‘mother’ of the German women’s team at 32 yrs old. She calls Oberstdorf home, she’s the mother figure, and she ‘snuck’ in to the quarterfinals in 30th place. Props to the local girl.
