France is a country that I haven’t spent much time in thus far in my career, so I was glad the town of Chaux-Neuve had a good amount of snow to properly experience the area! Living up to expectations there was an endless amount of delicious French cheese and fresh baguettes almost everywhere you go. In fact when we showed up at the venue the first day each team received a block of local cheese as a gift. On our first day in France we skied on awesome new trails for me, I mentioned this in my last post but it was such an awesome ski I had to bring it up again. We followed that up with a training session on the jump hill that was quite fun. We had excellent conditions and I had a fun time jumping a hill we don’t spend much time on. The competitions in Chaux-Neuve are well known for the amount of spectators that show up to the events and how excited they are. It is somewhat surprising because when you show up as the town itself seems to be off by itself, not that close to anything other than super small farming towns. But as soon as the weekend rolls around it seems like every family (especially the kids) from the surrounding region come out to watch, and they cheer loud, no matter what. The announcer gets so hyped up during the competition sometimes you think he is introducing a basketball team at the NCAA Championship game, then a French athlete goes and man does it get exciting. At times he literally makes me want to cheer out loud for whoever is next up. During the races there are fans lining the majority of the course especially the hills, and they cheer super loud, by name. It surprised me the first time actually, some random group of people were cheering for me by name all the way up a brutal hill, and they don’t care whether you are in 45thplace or 1stplace. As you may be able to tell, the atmosphere last weekend was super fun! I also was able to make another step forward in my personal performance, while it may not have showed at the end of the day on the result sheet I made progress I was happy with. Below are some photos from the competition weekend! I am now back in Slovenia for a few days after a long drive from France. I spent a few days training and recovering here before the next competitions in Norway this weekend. We are staying in apartments these couple days so it is very nice to be able to cook for ourselves and have a quality place to spend time. Slovenia got a little bit more snow from the last time I was here which makes for much prettier mountains. As always, stay tuned for more!
0 Comments
Travel is the name of the game during the winter so it’s a good thing I enjoy it! Upon my return to Europe I spent a short week in Slovenia with Ben. We got a few days of great training on the ski jumps in Planica. In all the time I have spent in that area of Slovenia I have never seen the small town of Kranjska Gora so busy. It seemed like every family with young kids came for a holiday ski trip, it was actually kind of cool to see the town brimming with people and fully open. Typically when we are in town all of the shops and stores aren’t even open, although we had to wait a rather long time in line at the grocery store as it is quite small. After Slovenia we drove to Munich where we met up with my teammate Jared Shumate who joined us en-route to Otepaa, Estonia. I had been to this town in Estonia two years ago but it is not a country I have spent much time in, so I was excited to go again. I kind of forgot how far north it is, I don’t think we actually saw the sun while we were there. They did have tons of snow and put on a great competition! Taylor met us when we arrived in Estonia as well, it was fun to have a four man team at a competition once again. In the competition’s in Estonia I made some positive steps forward for myself and had fun racing on a hard course. We stayed in this Villa type of hotel that actually opened just for the competition weekend. It was right on this frozen lake and a very beautiful winter scene with all the snow and Christmas lights! If you want to check results from that weekend click here, below are some photos from the event as well! Our team then split up a little bit, Jared and one of our wax techs traveled to Finland for competitions while the rest of us made our way to Predazzo, Italy. It took us a while to get to Italy, however on the final drive we chose to stop near the end and go for a distance ski on the beautiful Passa Lavaze. The comps in Italy did not progress the way I had hoped, something that frustrated me. However I was in a beautiful valley with incredible mountains to enjoy. The town itself actually had no natural snow which was a bit weird. They did have a long track of man-made snow going all the way up the valley, it is known as the Marcia Longa Trail. There is a 70km marathon style cross country race all down the valley later in the year. So they were working hard to snow that and had piles of man-made snow all over the place in preparation. Even though there was no natural snow we were able to go on some beautiful and fun skis up the valley, check out some photos from that below! I am now in Chaux-Neuve, France after a long drive from Italy through the St Bernardo tunnel. The tunnel is about 5km straight through a massive mountain from Italy into Switzerland, it makes for a very scenic and cool drive to do. We have a fun competition coming up this weekend in France known as the Triple. This event is typically in Seefeld, AUT but because Seefeld is hosting World Championships this season Chaux-Neuve is the host this time around. It is a three day event, the first day is a 1 jump and 5km race in which everyone races. Then the top 50 finishers from day one do a 1 jump 10km race on day 2, and the final day is only the top 30 finishers from the day before, competing in a 2 jump 15km competition. Each days results compounds on the next day making for an interesting and fun event! If you want to check results you can click here, otherwise follow my social media or home page for more updates! Below are some photos from our ski the first day here in France!
It has been a busy December but a fun one for sure. After Lillehammer I traveled back to the US to compete on home soil. Something I don’t get to do very often so it is a special weekend for me. I wanted to share more about that and how it feels for my team and I to get that opportunity. Before we traveled to Steamboat for the competitions we were in Park City for a short week. We got some great training and fun skiing, the team got out on a fun backcountry ski, check out photos of that below. After our week in Park City we drove over to Steamboat for the Continental Cup weekend. Because of how well our team performed on the Continental Cup circuit last year we had additional spots giving the opportunity for some younger skiers to test their skills on the international level. This is key for developing athletes and something that played a huge part in my development, it gives athletes incredible motivation to see where they stack up and continue to improve their level. For myself, competing in my hometown is very special, and one of the few times I have the ‘homefield advantage’. Steamboat put on an amazing event that all of the athletes were pleased with. Before the comps we had an evening skiing with some of the younger kids at the Winter Sports Club followed by an autograph session including all nations. It was awesome to see so many young kids totally pumped to be getting signatures from my team and all nations, there was a ton of energy in the room! The first day of competition was a typical perfect weather (rather cold) day at Howelsen Hill making for a great event. I didn’t have my best jump but was in contention enough for it to be a super fun race. We raced under the lights just after 6pm and man was it cold. It was almost comical watching all the athletes try to stay warm leading into the race as we were all changing. It was a super fun race right off the bat, after a few laps a large chase pack had formed in which we had several US skiers, while Taylor Fletcher had broken off the front (he skied away for the win!). It was a wild race, I lost a little steam at the end but had a solid day finishing in 9th place. On day two Steamboat delivered again with perfect weather, and not quite as cold. Again I had an ok jump that put me into a very similar position to start the race as the day before. We raced in the evening again under the lights and a great crowd came out for the race making for a super fun atmosphere. Very early on in the race a large lead pack formed, it was almost 15+ skiers deep at times and we had 4 US skiers in the mix of it (myself, Taylor, Jared & Ben). It was super fun racing in the lead pack with three of my teammates in front of our home crowd. Thanks to our wax techs we had awesome skis and we able to get some good recovery on the flats and keep the pace high climbing the brutal hills. The lead pack started to pick up the pace and it ‘thinned’ out to about 10 skiers going into the final laps. At the very end of the race the paced got boosted and I did everything in my power to hang on as long as possible, I didn’t have enough juice to stay near the podium but I was able to finish in 8thplace, a solid finish to end the weekend. We also had 4 US skiers in the top 10 and 5 in the top 30, a great showing for our team. Overall this was an awesome weekend with tons of support from the home crowd. I am now back in Europe for a few short days of training before I head to my next World Cup competition in Estonia next weekend. I am really excited for the new year and feeling good about how it will shape up. You can watch my team and I compete via the NBC Gold Pass here and you can always check results here. As always follow my social media for more up to date posts and media!
It was a quick two weeks in Norway and I am now back in the US for training and home competitions! Back tracking to my time in Norway, my team and I started in a town just outside of Lillehammer called Sjusjøen. It is a very small town mostly based around what is typically a very large system of Nordic trails. We stayed in this awesome little cabin walking distance from the trails for the first segment of the trip. Usually Sjusjøen has tons of snow and skiing however this year all they had was a 4km loop. Quite honestly, it was scary showing up to Norway a place I typically pair with being a Winter Wonderland to no natural snow on the ground. We were still able to make the best out of it and got some great training in, it’s always fun to be back on skis and snow regardless of the circumstances. We were also planning on jumping that first week however there was no snow on the hill when we showed up. Lillehammer did an awesome job of making an large amount of snow the first week we were there opening the jump for training the week leading into the competitions. It was a little behind schedule but really good to start jumping again, it feels great to be jumping on snow! As I expected I had to work out the kinks a little bit but each day I was able to take steps to continue to improve my jumping. My team and I had a great minicamp leading into the comp regardless of the snow situation! A few days before the competition started we moved down to Lillehammer where we would be staying with the rest of the teams. Our wax team showed up and we all started to get back into the groove of competition weekends. Personally I didn’t put together a competition that I was satisfied with, however I did continue to make improvements each day. I had some jumps typical of where I know I can jump, and they are right in the mix which was good for me to realize I am capable. I also got to compete in my first ever Mass Start Nordic Combined competition, a format the World Cup hasn’t seen for 10 years. It was a learning experience racing with that many guys on such a hard course but very fun. If you want to check results from the weekend click here, and check out some media below. I am now back in the US where I will be training with my entire team before the Continental Cup circuit kicks off in Steamboat. I am extremely excited for the opportunity to compete at home once again, that will be the weekend of December 14-15, I will post an update with more info on that so stay tuned!
At the end of every season I tend to think to myself, man there is so much time ahead for training before we start competing again. Yet, as I am heading to my first competition of the year it feels like the training season flew by. Backtracking a bit, since my last update I have been in Park City with the rest of my team in the midst of our final preparations before the season kicks off. Our team now has access to a new roller ski treadmill thanks to Park City Treadmill. This may sound weird, however, it is essentially a very large treadmill dedicated to roller skiing and it’s perfect for our workouts this time of year. Each intensity session is very specific in how hard it should be, i.e. not too hard but also never too easy and the treadmill is a perfect way to dial that in. This worked really well for our team as we all got multiple sessions and saw great improvements throughout each one. It allows for great hands on work with coaches so that each athlete is getting full attention during an entire workout. November tends to be an in-between month for the ski jumps as they have been closed to summer jumping and it’s sort of holding pattern waiting for the snow/temps to help us out. Regardless, this is an important time to make sure that all of my body mechanics and flexibility are continuing to improve along with maintaining the technical feelings I have from my last jump sessions in Oberstdorf. It is also key to get really good recovery so that I am fully energized and fit as possible for the start of the season. Due to weather we weren’t able to get the hills open in time for us before we left, so those gym sessions became even more important. This is wasn't that bad though, as we planned for something like this. We choose to skip the first weekend of World Cup competitions in Ruka, FIN and instead spend a week in Lillehammer, NOR training. That is where I am now, we will have the opportunity to work out the kinks and get some quality training before the first World Cups on Nov. 29th– Dec. 2nd. I am very excited for the next two weeks as Lillehammer is a one of my favorite places on the World Cup circuit and its FINALLY time to compete! To check up on results in Lillehammer click here. This season NBC Sports Gold has a new service that will allow you to watch all of my World Cup Competitions both Live or On Demand Replays so you don't have to wake up at crazy hours to see me compete, follow this link to learn more! Also Check out a few photos from our in between time in Park City. I am currently joined by Ben Loomis & Taylor Fletcher in Lillehammer, after those competitions we will all fly home to compete in the Continental Cup’s in Steamboat Dec 14th& 15th! I am very excited to compete on home soil again this season, it is a very special weekend. Following Steamboat, Ben and I will be traveling back to Europe to compete in Ramsau, AUT at the next World Cup location. This next month will be a whirlwind but I will start to post more consistently so stay tuned! As the season approaches a great way to follow me is through my Social Media accounts (located on my home page) and the FIS Nordic Combined website. Also check out this video from FIS getting spreading the hype for the new season! |
Jasper Good
|