Las Vegas
All over the world skaters are racing, the international results pages at DESG are simply overflowing. Heck, even Lake Placid is rumored to have opened up the Long track ice this weekend! I always used to celebrate whenever I saw this picture on the Lake Placid webcams showing the concrete replaced by ice.
I would have liked to have raced this past weekend, I could use the work, as I only raced a handful of times in November, but there are more important things than Speedskating.
My cousin Patrick got married this past weekend in Las Vegas, and so Jessica and I hopped into the car and drove the 5+ hours directly south to join my brother, parents, awesome cousins, and the big love/snow family celebration.
Las Vegas is a strange place. Our drive from Salt Lake to Vegas started in a blizzard, but then passed through a heat blasted and bizarre desert landscape that looks 
more like scenery from the Star Wars Podracer scenes than anything of this earth. Imagine your insulated landspeeder/car skimming across the barren and twisted desert floor at 85mph; mountains and desolation surrounding on every side, you crest a final hilltop and wham! Suddenly a city of 1.5 million people rises from the Mojave Desert. It’s simply wrong!!
I could SEE the hotel I was staying at from 16 miles away. Admittedly, that was because the Stratosphere Hotel is the 800 foot high pin on the right of this photo,, but still…..
You descend into the valley, into one of the most wretched hives of scum and villainy in the known Galaxy, Ruled by the obscene obesity of the all powerful Hutt corporate-crimelords. Here is the view from the top of the Stratosphere. This thing is so big, after it was built jets coming to Vegas had to make changes to their approach patterns. They pass by you on eye level, am I on earth or at the Mos Eisley spaceport???
Getting around Vegas, an ancient taxi driver told us “The mafia was ok, sure they fought among themselves, but they treated people very well, but the corporate mafia!! They are horrible, they treat you like dirt unless their computers say you have spent over $10,000”.
Yet Vegas is nothing, a glittery shell compared to the people who are there. Walking through the casinos, the only way I can describe the scene is this way: A lot of years ago, I owned a bakery, during breaks my employees and I used to watch cars drive up, and we would try to guess, as a person got out of their car, if they were headed for the bagel shop on one side of the bakery or the liquor store on the other side. We got to about 90% accuracy in our predictions, heavy drinkers/alcoholics have a certain dehydrated stiffness to them, and even if they have significant bodyfat, usually there is a wasted aspect to their musculature and a dullness to their eyes, almost as if their bodies were already dead leaves waiting to fall from the tree.
What I saw in the casinos, was overwhelmingly the liquor store crowd. Pouring drinks down their throat and money into the open mouth of Jabba the Hutt. More power to them if they are having a great time, if this fulfills them. Personally it gave Jessica and I the creeps.
But I was not there to gamble, or even to make my elitist and snotty observations; I was there to celebrate Patrick and Rebecca getting married. It was also great to see Patrick marry someone who has the strength of soul that he does. He truly has found a partner, a peer. My cousin is an officer in the US Navy, and flies Helicopters. I said to him, “For the first time in your life, all the people who care about you, friends and family, we are all here.” Without batting an eyelash, Patrick said “well, not everyone is here, about half of my friends are in Iraq right now.”
There are truly more important things than Speedskating, like the safety of friends in very dangerous places.
I will end this entry with an interesting thing I had never seen before, a tradition at military weddings; it’s the “sword arch” and the price of passing is that the bride and groom must give each other a kiss. Marriage traditions abound in endless variations, but it’s all really about joy. Today was Joy, and a doorway into a lifetime of joy for Patrick & Rebecca.
Pat, go ahead and forward this video to all the guys who wished they could have been there (and Grandpa, we missed you as well, I have many pictures I will email to you).
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Filed under: Audio/Video, on the road
And he had, in three places actually, two bones in the forefoot and one in the heel. He had a cast put on Monday, and today he cut the cast off and tried to skate. He borrowed tape from me, and this was the result, a wild blend of hockey tape and duct tape. I thought it was quite funny that the tape seemed to match his boots.
Thanks Bob!! 
Top Blade Training Camp, Summer 2002
In the pic here, a few moments after my 1000, as I am leg-locked, heaving and retching to myself through a haze of lactic acidosis, I let my brother behind the video camera know how truly satisfied I am. 
Was I overstating my thoughts in an earlier post? About how huge some of the Chinese women sprinters are? Well, I will let you decide based on this picture. US skater Elli Ochowicz is not the tallest person, but still….. 
There were so many world records, but also a lot of great competition between friends. This is Eric Kraan and Arnim Ruleas, after a very intense 1000m race. Arnim led every step up until the final meters in a classic duel of fast starter vs fast finisher. Eric has battled a nasty back injury recently, and was more stoked about his own race than most of the guys who finished in the top 10.
Heck, in the USA, long track speedskating is so small, we gladly accept ANY people! Cheetahs, Wildebeest, Rhinos and Giraffes, if you are alive, come on out and skate!!! 
Here is the unique body position of Norwegian Peter Andersen, the Dutch joke that he practically “licks the ice” as he skates, as his unique personal body geometry brings his shoulders very low. I love watching this 10 year veteran of the world cup attack races. The crucial thing to notice is that even though his shoulders are weirdly low, his extension is tremendous and his hips are perfect in their position. Everyone has an individual style, but there are elements of technique that remain essential. Andersen exhibits a whole lotta style and a ton of essential. 
The skating world is buzzing about Chad Hedrick’s 1500m world record, and it was an astonishing thing to watch. He is the first man in history to go under 1:43. Incredible. He swallowed more pain during that last 400m than most can even conceive of, the picture here, 120 meters from the finish, tells some of the story.
A local security guard, preferred to turn his back on the real action, and watch the Dutch TV feed, he is even eating as he was watching.
Japanese skater at the start line, notice the lump of her hair, in a very, uuuh, left centered spot under her hood. There was much conjecture from our group wondering if this balance helped her turn left. 
