AST Athlete Journal: Luc Decelles
Hey everyone, it’s Luc! It’s now been almost three months since my last athlete journal, and there is a lot to update you guys on. We’ve been busy with lots of travelling and racing since the season has gotten going. During these blocks of racing the team has had to adapt to extremely varying weather conditions. From icy Norquay to snowy Bromont and rainy Camp Fortune, the weather has been anything but consistent. This has made us recognize how grateful we are for our awesome Karbons team kits. They have been keeping us warm, dry, and stylish on the hill.
The team arrived in Montreal last week, after a few flight delays, and quickly realized how much more snow Quebec has than Alberta. This led to some challenging racing conditions out in Bromont and Owl’s head. However, there was still some good skiing from lots of the team, including a slalom win from Polly at Owl’s head. The team headed back to Alberta after these series, and I’m currently tagging along with the Dino’s for the next week. I have 4 more days of racing out east here at Camp Fortune and Mont Ste-Marie before heading back to Alberta. I’ve been taking advantage of the great poutine and practicing my French while out east!
I’m super proud and happy for my teammates, Gered and Zoe, who are both at World Juniors right now in Tarvisio, Italy. It is an exciting and well-deserved experience for both of them. With them being gone, the team seems to keep getting smaller. I’ve definitely been missing Caleb, Aidan, and Jamie, who are all out due to injuries right now. The team isn’t the same without them.
After this current series, I’ll be back at home to catch up on sleep and training with the team for a week. Then, Gered, Zoe and I will be coming back out east for the speed Norams in Sugarloaf before being reunited with the rest of the team for the tech series. I’ve never been to Sugarloaf so I’m super excited to race a new mountain. We’ll finish off our skiing out east for the season at Mont Tremblant. Next, we have a bit of training back home before ending our season with spring series in Panorama and Nakiska. I’m really looking forward to racing and training back at Nakiska.
This season has been pretty challenging. I’ve struggled with having confidence and changing technical habits in my skiing. It’s definitely a work in progress. While it’s hard to change habits while racing, I’ve learned the value of every turn. Warmup runs and finding good feelings in your skiing have been extremely beneficial to overall changes in my skiing.
To end this athlete journal, I’d like to thank our amazing sponsors: GMC dealers of Alberta, Karbon, Mountain Fire Foods, Genstar, and Gearup Mountain Sports. We appreciate your support!