Problem with my new blog

For some reason if you follow the link to my new blog it doesn't work, however if you copy and paste the link into the address bar it works.

http://noelbaxter-britishskiracer.blogspot.com/

New Blog page

I have set up a new blog page at http://noelbaxter-britishskiracer.blogspot.com

That will be my new blog and I will get the link from www.noelbaxter.co.uk changed so it takes you to the new blog, where I will be able to add a few new features to keep it interesting because with the set up I have now I dont seem to be able to make any changes to the layout and content, probably because it was set up sooooooo long ago.

Knee update

Seen Mr Finlayson in Inverness today. Wans't the news I was hoping for to be honest. His opinion is that the knee is not going straight enough yet so he wants me to work on that for another couple of weeks to ensure the best situation for making a solid ACL reconstruction which will have the best possible range of movement in the long term. I fully understand his reasoning behind it, I am at the stage where I just want to get on with things though and get better but he is looking at the long term and I am sure I will be grateful of that in years to come.

So I'm back on the physio, I'm alot more mobile now though, I dont need the crutches, just need to be careful on un even ground and changing direction.

Here is a diagram I found on the internet of a knee structure, the Anterior Cruciate Ligament is clearly shown.

Season cut short by knee injury

I'm back home in Aviemore now and on my way to see Mr Finlayson in Inverness today to determine the extent of the knee injury I picked up racing at the Slovenian nationals GS on Friday. The first examination by the doctors in Slovenia indicated a torn lateral ligament and meniscus damage however I was in a lot of pain at the time, the meniscus checks were so painful that the doc in Slovenia couldn't carry them out normally but he said that can be because the injury was so recent. I guess Mr Finlayson will make a call on how to proceed today.

It was a strange way to pick up the injury, it was just a turn where I got a bit pushed out position, thrown up slightly and pitched forward with my upper body, I tried to lay over the turn but my ski kind of caught a bump as I was increasing the pressure and my knee went backwards and to the side, the noise and pain was horrible. I'm gutted to be honest and pretty down beat, injury is a part of ski racing unfortunately, however I've managed to go the last 3 years without picking up anything major. Once I see the doc today I'll have a better idea of how to move forward. I'm guessing I'll have to get an MRI scan to know the exact details of the damage and if I'll need surgery.

Here's a few pics from the days before I hurt my knee.

Spring racing...... A ski room with a view.

Kranjska Gora

Welcome to Slovenia

Wurzen Pass from Austria to Slovenia

Europa cup finals Formigal, Spain.

The forecast turned out to be right it was raining in Formigal but up on the race piste it was kinda snowing. First run was tough and bumpy but it held up surprisingly well or it might just have been that I skied well, I managed to put a good solid run together and I sat in 6th after the 1st run. On the second run because they had used so much salt to keep the track as hard as possible they just moved a few of the gates but essentially kept the same course, unfortunately for me I couldn't put down another great performance like my first run and after getting late in the the line and grinding it out to the finish line I dropped back to 13th. Disappointed, but it was a great breakthrough for me to ski into 6th on the 1st run because the guys in this race have skied alot of excellent results in the world cup this year and it confirmed to me that I can still ski well in the rough, rutted and softer conditions.

So I was only in Formigal for less than 24hrs before hitting the road again. Now I will be taking a break for a week or so because alot of races have been cancelled due to the warm wet weather. After that I'll hopefully get some more training in before racing the German and Austrian national champs at the end of March.

25th Win!!!!

There wasn't much for me to write about last week in Kranjska Gora unfortunately, I missed the top 30 in the world cup by around 0.95sec with and pretty big mistake and I straddled on the 2nd run of the Europa cup race after a mistake meant I missed the top 30 flip by 0.08sec. To be honest I was really down about the 2 races and felt things just weren't going my way and didnt want to write a negative whineing post about my hard luck.

Today I got back on track and won a FIS race in Chamonix!!! I stopped off for a few days on the monster drive to Spain for the European cup finals and caught up with the Scottish team who've based themselves there in the lead up to the British champs, a big thanks to Ross Gardner for letting me stay at the apartment it's always great to catch up with folk from home and get some Scottish banter......... and at least we could suffer together watching another of Scotland's glorious rugby defeats, we really were as good as the English in that match though!!!!!

The race went well for me and was encouraging to ski well in the soft snow conditions which I have been struggling to adapt to this year. I had a healthy 0.62 lead after the first run which I managed to hold onto and finish 0.72 ahead of 2nd. I scored 13.84 which is not quite a FIS result but I knew I'd have to win by alot to make a result so I'm happy!!

Stopped off at a hotel in Montpellier at the moment en route to Formigal in the Pyrenees, I really hope the forecast is wrong because right now it says heavy rain....... We'll see. Just checked the webcams at Cairngorm and seen the huge dump of snow they've had...... Awesome news which will give everyone back home a boost for the end of the season....... I hope there's some left when I get back in April!!!

PODIUM!!!

Scottish team lads, Euan Ryan, Cammy Gunn & Scott Mcwhirter

View of Mt Blanc from the apartment balcony......... No baaad!

Aiguille di Midi from Les Houches

Mt Blanc from Les Houches

On a random note....... 3 of my favorite things in France.

Orangina, Pain au Chocolat and Yop. Had them all today........... Good day!!!!

Training in Zell am See

Found a nice little mountain hut in the trees, good Apres ski spot.

Not a bad view from the office

Working on getting better!!!