Europe 2006: Chill on a Swiss Hill - IGSA World Championship
by Scott Peer
http://www.chillonaswisshill.com/?menu=race

On July 14 Lynn and I departed from LAX on a direct flight to Zurich
on Swiss Air (11 hours). In Zurich we picked up the rental car, and
headed to the Zurichburg Hotel for the evening. The hotel looks over
the city, and has a traditional old part next to an ultra modern part
that is round and wooden, reminiscent of a ship, with rooms spiraling
up along the outside and inside an open area and spiral ramp going to
the rooms with no stairs. Sunday morning we picked up Bill Smrtic at
the airport, drove to Chur for a bit of sightseeing and to get a map
to get to the race. We found the course and camp with ease, and then
looked for food and lodging in the village of Tomils at the base of
the course. Being Sunday, everything was closed (which was only a
convenience store, post office, restaurant, and gasthaus). So we
headed on to the larger town of Thusis 10 minutes down the road and
got food and lodging at the Hotel Weiss Kreuz.

On Monday practice started at 11 or so, definitely not on "Swiss
time". So we loaded on the cattle truck, which was a good choice
having ramps to get in and lots of fresh air. The course protection
was not all in place yet, but there was plenty of time for taking some
slow runs to get to know the course. The course started out at about
10% grade, which is about as level as the road is anywhere along the
route from the valley floor to the top of the mountain about 20km
above. The start area had some shade from the surrounding woods, which
was good because every afternoon the temperatures got well into the
80's, making leathers pretty hot. From the start we'd get up to about
35mph before slamming on the brakes for the first hairpin turn to the
right, which was so tight that the luges could barely pull off the
radius to make it around. From there it was a short shot to the second
hairpin, which was a replay of the brake from 35 to 20, then go left.
The next section was longer, with high speed section of chicanes,
including a 90 degree left that generally required braking (one young
Brazilian attempted it without braking on his luge and destroyed his
ankle in the crash and went to the hospital for surgery). Speeds of
about 50 mph were reached by the most daring of the racers in this
section. Just after the chicane was the braking zone for the third
hairpin, to the right, which seemed even tighter than the others.
These hairpins are really tight, tighter than the ones on Mt. Baldy or
any of the other races we've had except perhaps Zell Am See, Austria.
After the third hairpin it was another short section followed by,
guess what, more braking for the fourth hairpin to the left! That was
followed by a longer high speed section which included one chicane
that most luge riders did a brake tap for (but was no brakes for
inline). With speeds going up to around 50 again, it was time to brake
for the fifth and final hairpin to the right, which was slightly more
open, and was in an open field with a spectator area and beer/snack
tent. The finish line was shortly after the fifth hairpin, and the
stopping area was on the pitch (around 10%), about 2.2km after the
start. Overall the course was very technical, enough so that many
riders rode their brakes down all the way on the first practice runs,
and a couple of riders withdrew from the race upon seeing it. The fact
that the side of the course was mostly steep woods, with some drop
offs, probably didn't encourage them to race, either. I found the
braking on inline to be a major challenge, and on buttboard the
braking was fine but the sharpness of the turns made them a challenge
to get around.

After dark there was the opening ceremony in camp, a nice affair with
flags from the 15 countries with racers. Most racers stayed in the
camp, which was a slightly inclined field accessed by dirt roads.
There was one building used for registration and cooking the group
meals, with a few picnic tables in the shade of a canopy for eating
and hanging out. Luckily we only had a couple of hours of rain in the
week, because there was shelter enough for less than half the crowd.
There was also a larger tent for shade, but it was not tall enough to
stand under most of it, and it had a dirt floor. There was also a
stage/screen with amphitheatre type layout on the field for awards and
entertainment. Off on the side of the field where porta-potties,
Spartan tent showers, and further off a swimming pond. The camp was
filled to capacity with cars, campers, trucks, and tents; a major
party scene as at most races.

On Tuesday there was more practice, after which Lynn and I headed to
the top of the mountain for dinner in Feldis. The road to Feldis is
not all paved, and we thought we were lost at the point where the road
went down to being a one lane steep dirt track with drop offs into the
forest and no guard rails. But at the top of the mountain the roads
were paved again, and there was a small ski area and a couple of
hotels. We had a delicious and inexpensive dinner with incredible
views of the Alps in a rustic hotel where they didn't speak English,
didn't take credit cards (Swiss Francs only), and used an old
mechanical cash register to produce the check.

On Wednesday there was more practice, with everyone picking up more
speed. I decided that on my 6 wheel skates I could take the chicanes
between turns 2 and 3 without braking, having gone close to full speed
on a previous run. It turned out that I was correct about that, but
what I hadn't accounted for was completing the turn and getting
started braking in time for the next hairpin. As I exited the turn
later and faster than before I started thinking things were not quite
according to plan. Then as I slammed on the brakes it was clear that I
was starting too late and wouldn't get enough speed off. So I braked
as long as I could, and attempted the hairpin with the extra 5mph. I
almost made it, but since we weren't doing horseshoes, I clipped the
mattresses towards the end of the turn, which spun me around, twisted
my ankle, and spit me out on the pavement. I finished the run, and
decided my hip and ankle were just a little sore, and took a final
buttboard run. When we got out of the car at the hotel, I realized the
ankle was more than a little sore, I could hardly walk at all. The
evening was spent with the foot elevated and iced and the
anti-inflammatories flowing, which got the healing moving along enough
for me to get through the rest of the racing (somewhat off pace but
not too bad).

Thursday morning was more practice, and in the afternoon were
qualifying runs for inline and dirtsurfer. They were having problems
with timing, and the qualifying got later and later. I had decided to
go ahead and do one inline qualifying run in spite of my sore ankle,
or possibly because of it, to make sure that no matter what happened
later I would at least have a race result. There were to be 2 runs,
but I left after the first, which turned out to be a good idea,
because Yvon waited for over another hour to get his second shot at
it, and they lost that time. In the end, inline qualifying was:
1. Yvon Labarthe (France)
2. Lionel Lefevre (France)
3. Scott Peer (US)
Jean Yves Blondeau (buggy roller) was not listed, I think because he
may have not paid race fees.

In the evening there was one of the installments of the Gravix film
festival after dark. The films were gravity related events, mostly
skating but also some others like base jumping. Most were short, on
the order of 5-10 minutes, and most included some goofy parts and lots
of awesome footage of racing, skating bobruns, jumps, and all kinds of
athletic feats. On the last day judges (riders and organizers) voted
for the award, which was given to Yvon Labarthe for his film. The film
festival was a great addition to the race, and I hope it is repeated
at future events.

Friday was qualifying day for all that hadn't finished Thursday.
Buttboard qualifying was in the morning (and into the afternoon).
After that Lynn and I went sightseeing to the deep gorge at Viamala,
and then on to the ski area of Lenzerheide. Qualifying ran smoother as
the day progressed and in the end everyone got all their runs in. That
was a handful of inline, dirtsurfer, skeleton, and gravity bike, plus
the big classes of classic luge/buttboard (35), street luge (over 40),
and skateboard (over 80).

Saturday was race day for all but inline. It turned out that Yvon
Labarthe was racing almost every event, and the organizers were racing
the small classes mixed with the big ones. But Yvon was in all
classes, and so we decided to race inline whenever he got knocked out
of a big class. In the end he made the final or consolation of every
big class, and at the last run of skateboard at the end of the day the
crew was beat, as were the riders, and we went with qualifying times
as final results. Earlier Lionel and I had done a run race (which was
as close as we got to having a real race). I had problems with my
brakepad rubber which wore through the good layer on turn 1, and was
watching Lionel getting further and further ahead, until turn 4 when
he crashed and I got past to win the beer. In the buttboard race, I
was paired up with one of the fastest French riders, plus Riley
Meechan and I as the middle seeds, and one slower qualifier. Off the
line I was in last place as I often am. Unfortunately, the fourth
rider was fast off the line but slow in the turns, and I worried as
the other two pulled away after turn 1. Wasting no time I passed in
turn 2 and pulled up on Riley. In turn 4 it was time to pass, but in
the exit of the turn I was concerned that if I went too wide I might
tangle with Riley and leave no American advancing from the heat. So I
made a quick line adjustment that caused me to scrub hard and watched
Riley zoom back past me. At least I held on to third to the finish
line, but that was the end of racing for me. In the evening was the
awards party, with lots of beer, speeches, live music, and partying
until dawn.

Sunday we headed off to Scotland to see relatives and sightsee. I
didn't even put on the skates, everywhere we went was awful for
skating; either rough, narrow, potholed, or cobblestone.