Hard Snow Life: Outdated News, Part 1: Conrad Pridy

As a few of you have pointed out in grouchy emails, there hasn't been a lot of blogging in my life lately. Life gets in the way, I suppose. It makes me grouchy too, so please know that you are not alone. Now then, enough crying, let's get down to business (again). We'll be posting some long overdue "news" under the banner of "Outdated Information."

Outdated Information 1: Conrad Pridy Tastes The Challenge of the World Cup

Conrad Pridy came basically out of nowhere and raced a few World Cup DH races. Alright, "nowhere" might be a little pejorative for the B.C. Provincial Team (sorry Dykster) but really, did anyone see this coming? As a non-Canadian, and therefore an ultra-outsider into the strange world that is their National Team (WTF is with the mustaches you guys?), I was shocked to see his name on the startlist at Wengen. Pridy went from barely inside the top-20 at the Panorama Nor-Ams in December (he finished 17th one day. Yehaw) to racing two of the biggest Downhills on the World Cup circuit: Wengen, and Kizbuehel. Wengen went sort of alright. He was 11 seconds out on the first training run, but by race day he was only 6 seconds out, and he only moved back one spot. Kitzbuehel went less good during training, as you can plainly see above, but he lived through it all to finish just over 3 seconds out on race day.

The snow tastes a little better in Germany, apparently, because one week later in Garmisch he actually moved up 25 spots and finished in 25th place (World Cup points!), right behind Mr. Beat "You're Saying It Wrong" Feuz, and just 1.16 seconds out of perennial ass-kicker Didier "Ich fahre diese Scheisse" Cuche (that track was shortened nearly in half on race day, but it's impressive nonetheless).

6-seconds out, 3-seconds out, 1.1-seconds out, scoring in the 20's and then the teens. A late surge to take second place in the Nor-Am DH standings by 20 points (World Cup spot!). That, ladies and gentleman, is how it's done.

PS - In case you missed it, the top-3 finishers at the US National Championships DH were Canadian. Oops.

Photo from Mitch Gunn/Action Plus Sports Images, without permission (double oops?). Find the original here.

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1 comment:

DyksterFebruary 21, 2012 at 10:08 PM
Conrad & Morgan are 'Pridy' sneaky little buggers! Watch out cause they are some of the hardest workers in the business. Not only do they train like Dolph Lundgren in Rocky IV but they make Ned Flanders look like a mean guy. They are both starting in Norway next week. Look for the back of the pack attack!