For the last week I’ve been a river rat. I mean that in the best of ways, because I love being a river rat. I traveled 110 miles through a deep, rugged canyon in my kayak on the Main Salmon in Idaho. We had three support rafts for tents, camping gear and food, but other than that it was just ten of us (my pops and sister were on the trip, so great to be with them!) and nothing but the deep canyons of rushing water ahead. There is nothing more mentally recharging for me, in my life, like being on the water. I find total peace and solitude beneath the waves of any wandering river. I guess the equivalent to rivers for me is skiing downhill.
They both take me away from any worries or problems I have and stick me right in the moment of what I’m doing. In both endeavors I find myself smiling for no reason at all, except maybe the realization that I just flew down a mountain at 70 mph or ripped down the center of a huge wave in my kayak that I didn’t think I could catch. The result: a huge smile and euphoric feeling.Cooking quesidillas in the evening
Log jumping workouts
Yoga on the beach

Father’s Day put in with Pops and his two girls

Wow, I just got really deep in thought there. This is quite the thoughtfelt blog! Needless to say, I had an amazing time and my mental training has  gladly been worked overtime. I’m feeling ready to get back in the gym.

-Keels on Waves- =)

P.S. “The river of no return,” is the nickname for the Salmon river.

For all you folks that ride along with Keels on Wheels you’ve probrably noticed that I’ve been off the radar for a little while. Well to be exact it’s been almost two months. Sorry! I needed some Keely time to rest, recover, and start up my wheels again for the summer training ahead. To fill you in quick I went to Hawaii with two teammates Hailey Duke and Megan Mcjames. In Maui we also ended up having some adventures with Julia Mancuso and Resi Stiegler. The training was anything but normal. Julia kept us on our toes every step of the way whether it be hill sprints up a sandy beach, lava tube hiking, cliff jumping, underwater rock running, and my personal favorite stand up paddling. Needless to say the trip was a blast and I feel like the “wear and tear” from the ski season was sufficently healed by the Maui sunshine.
Doing some posing after a great SUP session in Maui (Me, Hailey, Resi) photo by Kevin Prichard
Right now I am coaching a camp in Red Lodge, MT. I used to come here every summer when I was a little tyke. It hasn’t been open in a while and the Beartooth Pass finally got enough snow this winter! When I got the invite to come and coach I couldn’t say no. My cousin Alison Kelleher races for the Silver Run Ski Team here in Red Lodge, so I get to coach my cousin and hang with relatives. Great fun!
Me with the kids
The bus up the Beartooth Pass
Scenery from the top 10,000 ft up!
Little Cameron thinkin’ he’s lookin’ pretty sharp in my shades!
My days have been packed. I am going from 6am to 6pm. I will tell you seven year olds can wear a girl out! But the experience has been great and once again I am learning more from the kids than I thought. Every day they teach me more about being a ski racer. I learn more about how to ski fast by coaching than I thought imaginable. It turns out they are all working on the same things I am! Obviously at a different level, but still, it amazes me every day. Well I am off to bed, enjoy the pictures of Maui and Montana, two very different places that I love!

My life in a nutshell

*Keels on Wheels*

I just wanted to recognize my fan from Canada Olivia! I met Olivia last year while I was coaching in Mt. Hood, Oregon. I gave her my green POC helmet and I’ve never seen someone so excited. Recently Olivia wrote me an email telling me about her successful season and how she thinks my green POC helmet is her lucky charm. It’s really exciting for me to have an impact on the younger generation of ski racers. The real passion for skiing starts at such a young age and it’s these kids that show it. So thanks Olivia! And I hope my helmet brings you even more luck! Rip it girly!  This is Olivia ripping! She won this race without a pole. Maybe the helmet is lucky? But really I think she is just that fast!*Keely* 

It doesn’t stop snowing in the great white north. In the last week the Alyeska ski resort has accumulated 100 inches of snow! Great for powder skiing…not so good for racing. I didn’t mind not racing on account of chest deep powder, but when the fluffy white snow turned grey I was a little peturbed. As a ski racer you have to be ready for any condition thrown your way. I usually am pretty good at adapting to changing conditions but when ash from Mt. Redoubt’s  eruption blessed us with it’s presence I got a little nervous. Supposedly breathing in the ash is like smoking ten cigarettes. Not something I am ready to breathe in let alone race in. Nonetheless, it ended up being fine. There were a few ash scares during our racing in Alaska but it didn’t end up effecting us to much. It was a little strange though to hear that we might not be racing our second run in the gs due to incoming ash. It was defenitly a new experience for me and I will remeber the Nationals in Alaska forever.Thick fog cancelled our Super G

Other than the ash and endless amounts of snow I ended up having a respectable week. I finished fourth in the downhill and third in the giant slalom. I was really pumped to be on the podium in gs because it hasn’t been my strongest event this season. I put together two good runs and suprised myself a little. One thing I do have to say about Nationals this year is thank you course workers and volunteers
Alaskan fans came out despite the ash and frustrating conditons. Thanks for the support!
My dad came up and volunteered alongside around a hundred workers. The organizers had every possible condition thrown there way and they handled it amazingly. There were a few times I didn’t think the races were going to get off but somehow the workers pushed through and we go to race. So thanks everyone who helped!

Wheels =)

Chase, Budge and I
I’d have to say that coming home after a fun season of racing in Europe is the icing on the cake for me. I haven’t been home since Janurary fourth. The last time I skied in Big Sky or the Yellowstone Club I was shaking in my little ski boots. Yesterday I came home to weather warm enough to ski in shorts and a t-shirt. I ripped around all day at the Yellowstone Club and Big Sky with Chase Ryan and Bridget French, two local ski racers. I used ski around with them when they were little ankle biters. Now I have a hard time keeping up! Next on the ticket for me is U.S. Nationals up north in Alaska. I’m excited to go to Alyeska again. Last time I was there the organizers put on a great event.  But until then I am going to enjoy home sweet home.My sister Brenna and I enjoying the Y/C
Dan Lakatos and I (He rips!)

Spring is in the air!

~Wheels~

For the past two World Cup races, Tarvisio, Italy and Bansko, Bulgaria I’ve been racing with the name Shelley Glover on my helmet. Many of you in the ski racing world knew who Shelley was. For those of you who don’t she was a close teammate of mine who died in a training accident in May 2004. She was only seventeen. Shelley was an amazing person with an incredible spirit. I can not even begin to explain the impact Shelley had on my life and the people she knew. But I will say this, she could make anyone smile with her contagious laugh and personality.
I had an epiphany before the Tarvisio World Cup races about Shelley. I hadn’t really thought about her for a while and then one day I was freeskiing and it was such a beautiful sunny day. For some reason the whole time I couldn’t stop thinking about all the memories I had with Shelley. I felt like she was skiing with me and I wanted her there ripping up the slopes and having fun. Shelley knew how to have fun. So I decided that I want to race with her on my helmet and with me for the rest of the season. I got some duck tape and silver permanent marker and put Shelley on my helmet. My new head sponsor is Miss Shelley Glover.

I always want Shelley to be remembered. I want people who never knew Shelley to learn about her and the life that she led. To learn about Shelley go to: http://www.shelleygloverfoundation.com/
“Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Shelley will always be skiing with me! 

*Keely*

“Balkan Holidays is happy to have you on plane. Welcome ski World Cup teams. Next we are in line for takeoff destination Sofia. Please make it sure eating tables are locked and in upright position and seatbelts are fixed firmly.” The stewardess, clothed in a blue dress and multi-colored scarf, after announcing the protocol in broken English, eyes me. I haven’t “fixed firmly” my seatbelt yet and my red and white atomic ski boots are sticking out like a sore thumb in the aisle. I’ve been kind of distracted by the other people on the plane. I’m on a chartered jet with the World Cup speed tour. In the seat in front of me Maria Riesch, the German ski star, is playing with her headphones.  American and reigning World Champion twice over, Lindsey Vonn, is watching Law and Order on her mini ipod; and my teammate Chelsea Marshall is already passed out on my shoulder.  She better not start drooling.

It’s not too often that all the teams come together on the same plane, but this week we have two downhills and one super g race in Bansko, Bulgaria. This is by far the most adventurous trip I’ve been on in a while. Ski racing is a venture on its own, but throw in all the best women skiers on a plane headed to Bulgaria and it ups the level to borderline extreme. As we take off, the thought of us crashing into a mountain side briefly crosses my mind. The movie “Alive” about a Rugby Team that crashed in the Andes Mountains overtakes the thoughts in my brain.  The survivors, as a last resort, were forced into cannibalism. I ponder, “Who would I eat first?”  Okay Keely, get back on track! That is just wrong and our plane is not going to crash… hopefully. There will be no need to think of chewing on any of my teammates forearms to endure.  Before this trip I didn’t even know where Bulgaria was on a map. I had to Google Earth it to find out where I was going to be racing. It turns out Bulgaria borders five countries in south Eastern Europe: Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Macedonia, and Greece. As we descended safely into the capital of Bulgaria and largest city, Sofia, curiosity and excitement was building inside me. The enthusiasm only grew when we walked through customs and all I could see was flashing lights and yelling people. I felt like Britney Spears. There were twenty TV crews, journalists, and photographers all waiting for our arrival, shoving cameras in our faces. The “paparazzi” and cameramen velcroed themselves to Lindsey as soon as she emerged through the doorway. “Mrs. Vonn, Linsdsey,” they yelled, “How will you fare in the races? Are you excited to be in Bulgaria? Lindsey! Lindsey!” Ski racing is huge in Europe and supposedly even bigger in Bulgaria.

The downhill track in Bansko. It was the toughest hill I’ve ever been on.
 It was fun to experience so much recognition for our sport, but all I really wanted to do was race. The first day on the hill was a shock. It was hands down the hardest hill I have ever skied. The first training run I missed two gates and felt like I was riding a bull because it was so bumpy. The course had every hard element in skiing: incredibly steep, icy, bumpy, and turns that weren’t designed for downhill skis. The first training runs went horribly. I couldn’t finish and my body, especially the leg I broke years ago, was in a lot of pain. This kind of course will bring out any kind of pain you have. I would get to the finish and feel like I had nails in the bottom of my bad leg. I had to really dig deep this week. It was so tough and there were so many things I had to overcome with my skiing and my body. However, I made lemons into lemonade and my week ended with my first World Cup points in downhill and more World Cup points in super g. I ended the World Cup season on a great note and I felt even more accomplished that I did it on such a tough hill. Persistence and positivity got me down that slope along with a lot of Tylenol. My Bulgarian trip is unforgettable. Experiencing a new culture and feeling welcomed always makes the adventure better. Keely  

The World Cup women’s speed tour finally got some sunshine in Tarvisio, Italy this last week. What a treat! Especially after a winter of cancellations and waiting around to race. Every race went off without a hitch. The Italian fans were out enjoying the sunshine and cheering us on.
I had a week of results that any racer would find frustrating. In the super combi I finished 31st, just out of the points. The downhill I came down in 34th and the super g I was 33rd. Every race I missed the top thirty by no more than 3 tenths of a second and in the super combi it was two one-hundreths! Ahhhhh! I am not going to say that I am by any means happy with my performance in Tarvisio; however, I did have flashes of brilliance in my skiing that I will not ignore. Certain sections of the courses I would have fast splits and then I would lose time in others. It’s not easy to ignore the dissapointing result. There is obviously a missing spark in my skiing right now and I am determined to fix it for my upcoming races. It would be easy right now to let this string of races get to me. To focus on the negative, “That I didn’t get World Cup points, ” or “I wasn’t fast.” But focusing on the negative has never gotten anyone anywhere in life or ski racing. First off, I ask myself,   “Did you have fun? Did you go for it? What can you do better?” I had a blast. I gave it everything. As for what I can do better, ski clean, ski smooth, relax in the start, and enjoy the moment. Whenever I focus on exactly what I need to do to execute good skiing  I am always fast. I need to do this better. Sometimes I make this sport a lot harder than it needs to be. For example, I’ll go for it but I will grind the bottom of the turn losing speed the whole way down the course. When I am smooth and relaxed things work out. Easier said than done but ski racing really is a simple sport. Get to the bottom the fastest and the fastest way for me is skiing smooth and relaxed.

On another note Linsdey Vonn became the most successful women ski racer in American history yesterday. Just more motivation for me to step it up.

*Wheels*

Today was really a bummer. My close teammate Leanne Smith tore her ACL today in the downhill race. She was ripping this year and it was so sad to see her get injured. So send Leanne all your healing vibes so she can be back as fast as possible!Me, Kaylin Richardson, Georgia Simmerling (Canada), and Leanne in Cortina.

Keely

I’ve been watching the snow fall out of the sky in Cortina, Italy for the past two days now. The cars outside can’t even get out of the parking lot because they are completley blanketed. Jack Frost has decided to give us another hard time; we have already had two downhill training runs cancelled here. To be quite honest I’m pretty angry with Mr. Frost. I want to race downhill and he feels the need to follow us to every downhill race. The Women’s World Cup circuit has been most unlucky with downhill weather this season. It’s over half way through the season and we have only raced downhill twice. Frustration is a nice word that comes to mind. On the bright side the powder skiing is epic. It was waist deep yesterday and it kept snowing just as hard overnight so I think it will be just as good today. Altenmarkt didn’t go as good as I wanted it too. I went out in the Supercombi and was 44th in the downhill. However, it was my first time on that track and I had some nice mistakes in the races. It’s ok I am staying postitive and thats all you can do when things don’t go your way for one weekend. Hopefully we will race in Cortina and I can show’m what I got!

There is a car under there!

*Wheels*