Every Journey ...
There are two main parts to a skeleton race. The first is the push start, the second is the slide. Doing both in as little time as possible is the aim of the game.
The push start is pretty damn important, it's your chance to put as much speed into the sled as possible before gravity takes over. Imagine doing two runs down a track. On both slides you drive exactly the same, take exactly the same lines, the ice is in exactly the same condition. The only difference is that on the first slide you push off a tenth of a second quicker. All else being equal, that slide can be about three tenths of a second quicker by the time you get to the bottom. When a race can be won by thousandths of a second that's a pretty big difference.
Here's how it works:
At the top of the track there is a wide, wooden block set into the ice. There are two parallel grooves cut into the ice about a meter apart. The grooves are about the width and depth of your thumb and run from in front of the block for about 30 meters.
There are a series of timing eyes at various locations down the track, which are used to time your progress. The only ones that matter are the first one and the last one. Your time starts when you cross the first one and stops when you cross the last one.
The first eye is about ten meters away from the block so you have a bit of room to get into your stride. Once the track is cleared and the buzzer goes, you have 30 seconds to cross the first eye.
So, the buzzer goes, you clear your mind, think whatever you have to think, put the sled down on the ice with one runner in the groove and get it going.
There are a couple of ways of doing this. The traditional way is to stand to the left of the sled, put your left paw on the left saddle rail, your right paw on the right and away you go. I've put a few sequence photos below of my teammate Patrick doing a two-handed start in Lake Placid.
The newer and better way, incidentally the one I use, is a one-handed start. You stand to one side (doesn’t matter which), put your nearside hand on the nearest saddle rail and run like hell. That may not seem like a huge difference but remember we’re talking “hundredths matter” here. The reason one-handeds are better is purely a matter of biomechanics. You have one arm free to perform your normal running motion and, more importantly, you are free to run in a slightly more natural upright position.
The only reason not everyone is doing one-handed starts is because they’re harder to do. You only have one hand on the sled controlling it so you need relatively strong shoulders. You also need better core strength to control the sled while you’re running beside it. It’s also tricky when you go to load onto the sled.
It’s soooo easy to jump on with too much sideways motion. Do that hard enough and the sled will pop out of the groove, send you into the wall, skidding. It’s a horrible mess and you can pretty much forget getting a decent time after losing all that momentum.
The push start is pretty damn important, it's your chance to put as much speed into the sled as possible before gravity takes over. Imagine doing two runs down a track. On both slides you drive exactly the same, take exactly the same lines, the ice is in exactly the same condition. The only difference is that on the first slide you push off a tenth of a second quicker. All else being equal, that slide can be about three tenths of a second quicker by the time you get to the bottom. When a race can be won by thousandths of a second that's a pretty big difference.
Here's how it works:
At the top of the track there is a wide, wooden block set into the ice. There are two parallel grooves cut into the ice about a meter apart. The grooves are about the width and depth of your thumb and run from in front of the block for about 30 meters.
There are a series of timing eyes at various locations down the track, which are used to time your progress. The only ones that matter are the first one and the last one. Your time starts when you cross the first one and stops when you cross the last one.
The first eye is about ten meters away from the block so you have a bit of room to get into your stride. Once the track is cleared and the buzzer goes, you have 30 seconds to cross the first eye.
So, the buzzer goes, you clear your mind, think whatever you have to think, put the sled down on the ice with one runner in the groove and get it going.
There are a couple of ways of doing this. The traditional way is to stand to the left of the sled, put your left paw on the left saddle rail, your right paw on the right and away you go. I've put a few sequence photos below of my teammate Patrick doing a two-handed start in Lake Placid.
The newer and better way, incidentally the one I use, is a one-handed start. You stand to one side (doesn’t matter which), put your nearside hand on the nearest saddle rail and run like hell. That may not seem like a huge difference but remember we’re talking “hundredths matter” here. The reason one-handeds are better is purely a matter of biomechanics. You have one arm free to perform your normal running motion and, more importantly, you are free to run in a slightly more natural upright position.
The only reason not everyone is doing one-handed starts is because they’re harder to do. You only have one hand on the sled controlling it so you need relatively strong shoulders. You also need better core strength to control the sled while you’re running beside it. It’s also tricky when you go to load onto the sled.
It’s soooo easy to jump on with too much sideways motion. Do that hard enough and the sled will pop out of the groove, send you into the wall, skidding. It’s a horrible mess and you can pretty much forget getting a decent time after losing all that momentum.
posted by Davetron at 6:53 p.m.
2 Comments:
looks like a journey into the mouth of an ice monster... mind how you go xm
i see that brand new suit, now i know why you had a love-hate relationship with my cookies. There is no where to hide in that thing!
K x x
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