HOMEY'S CORNER
by Eric Holmer
Head Coach
Jamaica Ski Team
Comments on this page are written by Eric Holmer
January 2010
Hey all. Errol and I are hanging out at a Jamaica Ski Team supporter's house right at the base of Blue Mt. Ontario, the site for our next World Cup.
The last month has been pretty crazy with a lot of ups and downs. We went over to Europe in the middle of December for 2 World Cups at San Candido, Italy. These races did not go well at all. The course was really short with only 10 terrain features and none of the jumps had any landings, only take-offs. It wasn't good and the results were even worse. The only good thing about that trip was Errol and I both got upgraded on our flights over the Atlantic. That's always a nice perk especially when the trip was really bad. We were able to come home for 8 days over Christmas and get some rest before our January grind that has us on the road for 32 days and stopping by 7 countries.
The trip started great with Errol and I both getting upgraded again on our way to St. Injection, Austria. Its actually St. Johann, but I think the nickname describes what we think of that course. The hill is really short, steep and injected. Not a great combo for the fun factor or safety of the athletes. Unfortunately Errol had a sizable mistake in the qualifying run and just missed out on getting into the finals on the 5th. Instead that day we drove just down the road and had lunch at the base of the Kitzbeuhel and the famous Hahnenkamm Downhill course. We followed that up by watching the carnage that was the finals that night. Congrats to Rahlves for showing off the skills that made him famous in the Alpine world.
We headed out of St. Johann on Jan 6th to drive to Les Contamines, France. The venue at Les Contamines is way better for the gliders and jumpers of the SX world. This course is a lot closer to what SX really should be. Errol was feeling really comfortable in training so we were pumped for qualifying day to finally get the "monkey" off our backs. Errol had a good qualifying run, but still only ended up 28th because I had a very uncharacteristic mistake with the wax call for that day. I don't want to give details because there might be a secret I give away, but lets just say I won't make that mistake again. In the 1st round of the finals Errol got stuck behind a huge German, Martin Fiala and couldn't get around him. Then I think he lost a little focus and stacked in a compression near the bottom of the course. Bummer day, but at least we were back to qualifying. Now onto Alpe d' Huez, France.
For those of you who don't know about Alpe d' Huez, IT'S AWESOME!!! The drive up is great. You can still see chalk on the road cheering on Lance in the Tour de France. Once you are up at the area, it is amazing. I think there are 86 chairs, gondolas and people movers. We were staying a great hotel with the Swedes and the Finns. To top it off, the course was great -- the first one we've seen all year that had rollers, doubles and table tops. Both Errol and I were licking our chops for this course and it didn't fail us. Errol was so pumped and comfortable in training that we knew we were finally in for a good result. When it came to the qualifying run, he pulled through and had a great one, aside from one little mistake at the bottom. Still, we'll take an 11th in qualifying, which ended up being the final result because of heavy snowfall over the night that cancelled the finals.
We flew back to North America on Thursday the 14th and got a ride from Toronto to Blue Mt with one of our biggest supporters, Cliff Johnson. We have a couple days off and will fire back up on Monday at Blue Mountain. It should be 2 weeks of great SX at 3 venues. Keep checking results and looking for Errol to put up some great results going into the Olympics.
HOMEY
November 2009 update
Hello all! It's been quite a while since I've written anything about the progress of Errol and our team so I figured just before the season started would be a great time for some updates. The summer and fall have been good and fairly mellow which is just fine with the schedule we are going to jump into in early December. Errol has been in Truckee riding his road bike, going to the gym and spending his free time riding moto or thinking of new ways to use his welding skills to enhance his training. He has made some great improvements in his strength and fitness levels. He has also been on a bit of whirlwind of travel and promotion for the past couple of weeks. He has been to the Bay area a couple of times, Colorado twice and most recently NYC to promote Tahoe and Warren Miller's Dynasty.
I have been at home in Bend spending a lot of time doing the "2 meter dance" aka waxing skis, and figuring out the logistics and improvements we can make this season. Something that is great for this year is some of the new sponsors we have acquired. In May Errol signed with Briko for his helmet and Goggles. They have been great to work with and have designed an Errol/Jamaica helmet that Errol will be using this year. Look for it in stores next October. The next new connection we have made is with DeFeet socks. They have also come out with an Errol/Jamaica ski sock, which is available now, and are planning on coming out with Jamaica workout socks. Its awesome that both Briko and DeFeet have come out with the Jamaican colors to go along with what Spyder has already produced. Errol will be using Leki poles and mittens. He has been using Leki poles for a couple of years because of the Trigger strap system which works great for Skier X starts. Also last, but not least, is World Cup Supply. They have loaned us Skier X and alpine gates for the season and silk screened the JST logo on all of our panels. We're gonna be very noticable when we are training at Alpine Meadows this winter. Speaking of Alpine Meadows, they are still the Official training area for the Jamaica Ski Team. They have been great to work with and are going to start building some terrain for us to take advantage of in early December.
This is about all I can think of for now. We are going to train for about 2 weeks at Alpine Meadows in early December and then head to Italy Dec 15th for the first 2 World Cups of the Olympic season. Once we get on snow I'm sure I'll have more interesting info and gossip to report.
Thanks for reading and supporting Errol.
HOMEY
Training at Mt Bachelor, Oregon - May, 2009
For anyone that reads Homey's Corner sorry I haven't written anything in awhile, it's been a busy season with all the travel, camps already happening and also my move from ski tech at the beginning of the year to head coach part way through. So here's an update of whats been going on.
We just got done with 6 days on snow at Mt. Bachelor and it was everything we could have asked for. I've gotta hand it to Mt. Bachelor and the grooming dept. for making awesome terrain and a great surface. We had 1 day of freeskiing and then 5 days of start and terrain work and also running full-length super-g over a ton of terrain. I think it was after the 3rd day Errol already stated that this was the best training he's ever had and it only got better. A couple things that worked really well about the camp was the snow surface, half the days were still winter snow and hard. The weather was great for the 6 days we skied and horrible for the 2 days we took off. I've gotta say thanks to Randy Pelkey for letting us join in with his group, there's no way we could've set this venue up on our own. On our days off on in the afternoons Errol would go road biking, golfing or ride moto at a track in Bend with my buddy Price.
Also this camp was a chance for Errol and I to really put our heads together about the fine tuning of Skier X details. I can't elaborate on any specifics because I don't want to give away any secrets, but we found a few tricks and changed a couple things with his skiing that will really pay off down the road. We also brought in another coach/tech named Mike Hay, who I've known for many years to help out with some different on-hill ideas and also in the tuning room. Mike was also down at Bachelor with me 2 weeks ago to help out with 3 days of ski/wax/overlay testing. It was 3 of the best days I've had testing and we figured out a ton of "secret info" that will be locked in a vault until race days. Having Mike down here was great and hopefully we can keep him around for awhile.
Now we've got a week off and then down the Jamaica for the related PR and also a well earned vacation for the team. During Jamaica we'll start focusing on dryland training and get the kid in a little better shape for the start gates next season.
- Eric Holmer
May, 2009
World Championships in Japan - March 2009
Japan World Champs was awesome. We were staying at a hotel with all the other competitors which would usually be a little too much, but Inawashiro had the facilities to accomodate the entire field. Errol and I both had a great time in the hotel and eating in the buffets. Now, onto the important info. Qualifying was great, as usual. Errol and I made the decision to put it all on the line in the 1st rd and use the best skis. The 93's were rolling in qualifying and then we used them in the first round. We had to throw all of our cards on the table to get out of the first round. It worked. Now we have that monkey off our backs, we finally advanced! So that was good, but then we got knocked out in the next round so it was a bummer. Both Errol and I really like qualifying fast, but it's in the heats where we have prove ourselves. It will come, and before we know it we'll be in the finals.
Home for a couple days and then off to Switzerland. Lets get a podium!
- by Eric Holmer, JST Coach and Technician (March 4, 2009)
Winter X Games 2009: All about waxing and Homey's comments
Need an advantage? Talk to waxy.
January 25, 2009, 2:25 PM -- This article was written at ESPN online.
By: Brian Kamenetzky
BKam
That doesn't mean that there aren't endless types of snow. Icy snow, dry snow, wet snow. Cold snow, warm snow. Big crystal snow, small crystal snow, in-between crystal snow. The stuff comes in all shapes and sizes, and each can change how a pair of skis will run down a cross course. Each fraction of a second is huge, especially on a run like the one at Buttermilk, long and filled with technical features.
To maximize speed, athletes need not only to work on their form on top of their skis, but make sure the setup underneath them is fast as well. Enter the wax man, responsible for wringing every ounce of speed from a pair of skis that the racer might not be able to on his own.
"This race is so dictated by the first hundred yards. If you're out in front, you have a huge advantage," says Eric Holmer, who handles the planks of Errol Kerr.
It's a process that begins long before guys arrive in Aspen. "I got all of Errol's skis in September and I could just start cycling layers of wax in all fall," Holmer says. "I've had four months with the skis and know them inside and out."
From there, it's a question of matching the best skis -- the "race rockets" if you will -- with the best potions for the circumstances. Wax men are jittery before race day, since any change in the weather can undo the previous day's strategy and force some adjustments on the fly. With wet conditions expected for Sunday's race, they'll be breaking out plenty of waxes infused with moisture repelling fluorocarbons, powders, sprays, and overlays that can prevent sticking and keep skis fast. Tiny bricks and little jars that can cost over $100 a pop.
"We're going to be using a lot of wax. Expensive wax," Holmer laughs. "Nobody holds anything back."
Because the stakes are so high, trade secrets are well protected. Wax techs will commonly throw off peers by placing dummy products on their table. Those techs who do well -- Curtis Bacca, who has won medals with the Crist brothers, Daron Rahlves, Nate Holland, and Lindsey Jacobellis among others, has achieved seemingly mythical status in the industry -- are in high demand.
There's no perfect formula for success, but that won't keep guys from trying to find it. Says Holmer with a smile, "There's a lot of science and there's a lot of art, and there's a lot of voodoo, and there's a lot of b.s. to ski teching."
-by Brian Kemenetsky, ESPN
Lake Placid, NY -- January 2009 (2nd in qualifier, 17th in the finals
Homey's Corner --JST technician's report on Lake Placid
Errol's training the first couple of days was great. By the 2nd run of the first day he felt comfortable enough to race. The qualifier was just awesome!!! The weather changed quite dramatically overnight before the qualifier so every tech had waxed too cold, not reason to panic because I knew all of us were in the same boat. That day I let him train on a good pair of skis with a close to race wax on and I'm glad I did because it was a huge difference in speed from the prior training days and he had to adapt to the increase of speed. He went out and skied a heck of a run and luckily I must not have missed the wax by too much. Unfortunately qualifying results are nice, but not what what's printed on the end results. In the first heat today he had a good start, but then tried to absorb the first bump instead of attempting to double it and missed the timing by little, enough to lose some speed and be 3rd into the first turn. He was playing catch up until the whoops section where we had talked about being the only passing zone on the course. From what he said he made a move to pass, but the guy he was trying to pass also made a move on the leader and they were running 3 wide at the end of that section. Errol didn't quite have enough steam and got forced to the outside and ended up in the "red room" (b-net) At least he walked away and it was an aggressive move which is what it takes to keep advancing. I think now after 2 qualifying runs of 2nd place some people are starting to take notice that we're players in the world of skier X. All we can do is regroup and try again the Aspen. -- Eric Holmer, JST Technician
On the race at Tignes, France
I'm sure you've heard the Tignes results by now. 14th place, still wasn't the result that we were hoping for, but the there was a ton of improvement. The course was better suited for Errol's natural skills, longer, more terrain and gliding. The qualifying went great. 2nd!!! I was just glad I did my job and didn't slow down the skis so Errol could go out and show the other guys how fast he can be. The first heat was a lesson in going from sheer excitement to total defeat in about 2 minutes. Errol had a really good initial pull out of the gate and was vying for the lead coming into the first roller, after that we learned a great lesson. At the first roller Errol dropped into his tuck figuring he'd reached speed where pushing anymore wasn't faster. Everyone else kept pushing on the backside of all 4 rollers and Errol came into the first turn in 5th. The coarse was just a little too narrow to make the necessary passes to move to the next round.
We learned a valuable lesson about the fine line between aerodynamics and extra pushing. I partially feel responsible for not seeing this beforehand and pointing it out to him. A fundamental mistake that won't happen again
