Hello listeners and welcome to this special edition of the The Whiteout Ski Podcast on Race weekend. Rob in gurgle, what do you think? It's exciting stuff, isn't it? Oh, really exciting. I mean, what a race, what, what conditions they've got out there as well in gurgle at the moment. It's absolutely incredible. So nice to see It was belting down with.

Yeah, we sent Ben out there and it, he said this morning he was raw porting back. It was minus 12 this morning. Super cold, but it belted with snow yesterday, which was absolutely fantastic. Obviously different conditions for them from Levi from last week for sure. Yeah, very different. And, and that's what they were saying.

Basically the conditions, the snow conditions in gurgle were completely different, uh, to, they were in Finland last week and uh, it really threw some of the races out actually. But of course, before the race. Ben managed to catch up, uh, with Dave and had a really, really long chat with him. Uh, so interesting and I think, uh, I think I'm looking forward to hearing it again.

Yeah, let's have a listen to that now. And to get your thoughts on the season, final season before you retire, uh, and what you're looking forward to this year. How are you feeling ahead of tomorrow? Yeah. Well, tomorrow in, in particular, obviously that added pressure, you know, coming home from home with my sponsor resort for, for nine years.

You never wanna let people down. But yeah, first and foremost, have to take care of business, take care of myself, and make sure that I'm in the right frame of mind. Make sure the body's good for tomorrow, and then, and then see, you never know what the other 60 people are gonna do. So. Focus on myself like I always do.

And then, uh, give it my off down the down the piece. Sounds good to us. We're gonna be enjoying watching. Yeah. Hope so. How, how you feeling off the back of last week? Levy an impressive result. Le Levy was a, a really strong start, strong start for the whole team and, um. Probably, I didn't really know what to expect.

Um, I, I don't really know what to expect more and more these days because, you know, age becomes a factor, but I proved it once again that I'm still there or thereabouts. And, um, yeah, it was a, it was a real confidence building start and I know that I have to do it again to even be close to that result, but.

We'll see. It's, uh, it was definitely a step forward and, uh, a good start to the season. Much easier said than done, eh? Yeah. Uh, so you touched on being with Gurgle for, for nine years now. Yeah. What makes it so special for you? You know, after coming here for nine years, it really becomes like a familiar place in the Alps.

Yeah. Um, obviously I, I'm from the UK so I'm, I'm never really in one place, but when I come back here, it, the familiar familiarity of the place and the energy of the place, I really feel like it feels like home for me. Um, and I love skiing here, so yeah, it's, uh. I just feel a good vibe as soon as I arrive and I know everyone here has my back and is supporting me through thick and thin.

So yeah, hopefully I can do one more result for them. Fingers crossed. And it's a really nice feeling to know people have got your back. Yeah. Um, so we, we've obviously got the Winter Olympics coming up this year. For, for people that are really into their skiing and, and might be thinking about racing. Yeah.

Do, do you prepare yourself differently for a normal World Cup season compared to a, a world champs or a, an Olympic cheer? No. I, I, I like to perform every week in, week out and, uh, the start list for the Olympics is based on the World Cup anyway, so. Yeah, the World Cup for me is as important, and tomorrow I will be, prepare, preparing exactly the same as the Olympics.

It's, it's the same process. I believe if I affect my process throughout the winter, I have a better chance by the time the Olympics comes anyway. So yeah, it's just about going into my routine, my routine from tonight already having a sleeping, et cetera. It's a, it's a polished. A routine now. So I really just click into that and, and then we go, so, so is it really regimented?

You have dinner at a set time, no matter which resort you're in, and you're a little bit, you're a little bit susceptible to the hotel, but uh, yeah, big draw after this. Yeah, dinner, get as good a sleep as I can, and then really click into that morning routine for the race. Are you, uh, superstitious at all?

Do you have a lucky BIB number or anything like that? No, not really. I've had a lot of podiums with BIB eight. Yeah. But, uh, I won with BIB 15, so that broke that, that, uh, sort of superstition. So yeah, not, not really anything. Put my right boot on first, like Daniel Yu and that's about it. Very, very good. Um, well, you, you've announced that, that you're retiring at the end of this year.

Um, you're obviously in fantastic form. Um, and hopefully that will continue. If you get to the end of the season, you've had the best season of your life. Is there a a chance we might be seeing you in g This to be the most common question I've known, I would really, I really doubt it. I mean, right now there's more whys not to, not to do another year than there is to carry on.

Um, I've got a young family, I want to be a dad and a husband, and I'm 39 in two weeks. So I know my body now doesn't feel like it did five to 10 years ago, but um, yeah, as long as I can keep working hard this year and bang in the good results, then I'll finish in a very happy and, uh, positive way. That's what nice to hear.

I, I think there's a lot of best that would be, uh, looking forward to an extra season if we could, uh, eat one out. But speak to my wife on that. My goodness. It's right. We'll, uh, we'll, we'll, we'll see. But I, I think that really brings us onto the, the up and coming stars, uh, in GB at the moment. Um, how, how do you see them panning out in the next five years?

Really impressive result last weekend from Lori. Great. Exactly that. I mean, I've seen it now for two or three years in training. Um, it takes a bit longer to get it into the race. There's a lot of experience needed and there's also a lot of good skiers. So it's not just like you can waltz up and. And get top tens.

But Laurie's fourth, Billy finished the last season with a ninth, I believe. So it really, it's really, uh, I think the next generation is taken care of. And then the generation after them who's like 21 years younger than me doing their first World Cups, you don't need, say, you don't need, say they're winning youth Olympic.

The podium at World Juniors, things that I never dreamed of, and I was never even that, a world junior so far and above what I was ever capable of doing. And, um, it just shows that the, the future is really bright for British skiing for sure. I think we're all looking forward to seeing it. And hopefully there's, uh, there's a few of you in the top 10, maybe in the podium this weekend as well.

Yeah. Let's see, let's see. Um, so. Assuming you do retire at there, the end of the year, which we'll, we'll go with. Yeah. Um, what does post retirement look for look like for you? How skis instead of, uh, race skis time. Yeah, sure. Enjoy that a bit more. Um, there's a few things that I wanna do. I think one thing I've learned is I know a lot about ski racing, particularly slalom.

Yeah. So if I can pass that on in some kind of mentorship kind of way and coaching kind of way, I've gotta, I've gotta try and balance it first with my family because I can't do this lifestyle forever. Because obviously right now I'm away for four weeks. And then I go home for five days and then I'm away for another four weeks.

So I can't do that outta respect for my family. Yeah. Um, but I am looking to launch something actually already this year. Um, brilliant. Some kind of mentorship, uh, coaching platform where I could remotely as well as physically, um, take care and like, uh, advise the next generation. So that's a big thing. And then, yeah, who knows, maybe a bit of like on the Hill commentary or, we'll see.

There's a, there's a lot of things that are being floated around. I wanna, I wanna try a few things before I commit to one thing because I don't wanna, like in one year time be hating what I'm doing. Yeah. So I want to really try a few things, make sure that I wake up in the morning wanting to get to work and do something.

Yeah. And, uh, continue with the passion I've got now for, for what I do now. That's, uh, that sounds like a pretty good, uh, retirement plan last week. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see if it pans out. And then, um, may, maybe just finally, um, we, it's my first time in, in, uh, Ober Gole this weekend. Uh, so really looking forward to it.

But for everyone else that's not been hit. Yeah. Outside of the World Cup slope, what, what are your sort of top slopes there that you'd recommend people see? Or, or maybe a top restaurant or, or a top tip. Yeah. I mean, I was meant to get married here in 2020. Wow. But COVID came and I had to get married outside of Blackpool instead, which, which was a nice venue.

Obviously it's my best man's venue. Yep. But, um, it was, it was obviously different, so yeah. The top of the hole in a barn. Yeah. Um, the view up there is like a viewer won't really see many places. Okay. Um, and that's probably my favorite place to go. Well if you go to the top anywhere because it's so high, um, you'll see some fantastic views and it's really, really spectacular.

At the top of either Hot Go or Ergo, I think you'll uh, I would go to both. Okay. And, uh, sample both. It's gonna be a nice weekend, so definitely try and get up there. Yeah, we definitely will. I mean, we'll have one, one Eye on you maybe, but I'll hopefully take care of some, uh, APRE Ski, ap ap pray my career, and, uh, we'll see about that then.

Well, that sounds good. Yeah. Um, well thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Um, really appreciate it. No worries, and uh, good luck with the weekend. Cheers. Thank you. I mean, absolutely great for Ben. Very jealous of him having that one-to-one time there. It was really interesting hearing Dave talking about his whole rituals beforehand.

Albeit he's not superstitious, but talking about putting his right boot on first and all that sort of stuff. He's clearly up for it, isn't he? He is ready for today. Yeah, he's definitely ready and. And, you know, it's just really interesting hearing about what Dave's thinking about his future as well. You know, saying things like, he's a, he's a family man, obviously he needs to spend some time being a dad.

Um, you know, he, he got, he, he wants to probably go back to gurgle with his, with his family because they were supposed to get married there and they ended up getting married, uh, just outside of Blackpoll, which sounded lovely. But you know, it wasn't quite going to plan. And, and really interesting what he said about, you know, he wants to give back a something.

Now he wants to, uh, mentor some of those ski racers that are coming up. And also referencing the point that some of these guys he was talking about that are, you know, 20 years younger than him now, and he's, he's talking about the Kerick Smith boys, for example, and, and, and the likes of Molly Butler. And, and, and you know, sort of saying that.

They're so much further down the line than he ever was at his age. So what are the possibilities? Yeah. And that's really, really exciting. And you can feel the passion in his voice for that. He also talked about, you know, possibly, uh, doing something on the commentary side, you know, which obviously I'm sure everyone would love to hear from Dave.

And, and I know, uh, myself, my first goal, uh, when Dave's retired is to make sure he goes skiing with us Dom. That's, that's basically, and he should have said that. Yeah, it was really interesting when, when Ben asked, are you gonna switch your, uh, race skis for B skis? And he said, he actually said, I think it's gonna be a lot more, a lot more fun.

Yeah. It just goes to show it is a punishing regime, isn't it? That they go through it is serious. You know, I guess every athlete's the same, but I mean, it's, it is serious hard work. You know, I spent a little bit of time a couple, two or three years ago, uh, with the team and Dave when they were training in Crum, Montana.

And, um, it was very, very intense, you know, incredibly intense. They were skiing a piece that, honestly, it's very steep. The slalom piece in Remont. I could not turn on it, you know, I was side slipping down that piece. Mm-hmm. Um, they are hammering it down. In fact, they were training with Clemen Noel at the time, who was, I mean, it was just amazing.

I was right there, right next to them when they were smashing into those gates. You know, I, I went down to the bottom afterwards and I said, hi Dave. Good training session. He just went, yep. I said, do you want do fancy, a quick run now we'll just have, do a quick run off. And he just looked at me as if I was mad and he took his ski boots off there and then on the piece, chucked them down on the floor, put his trainers on and went, I'm going to the gym mate.

You can come with me if you like. And I was like, okay. You know, that was it. There was no, no fun in no fun. No involved in that session. Yeah. Whatsoever. That was, there was no, yeah, they were there. For one reason and one reason only. Yeah. And that was to get better at ski racing, which is obviously, you know, that's what a professional athlete has to do.

Absolutely. And, and super interesting hearing him say, um, and I, I guess this is always gonna be the case, but he talked about the fact, obviously, that gurgle have sponsored him for the last nine years and saying, I just don't wanna let anyone down. And that's, I don't know. Feels harsh, doesn't it? Like when you hear that, you sort of think, wow, you've done such an incredible job and yet you're still feeling like that.

It almost hurts a little bit when you hear someone say, I just don't wanna let anyone down that they feel under that sort of pressure, let alone every other pressure that's on. Yeah, that's it. It's a really interesting point and, and you know, the race is done now and, uh, what's, I think Dave's emotions were reflected in his result.

Right. You know, he was ultra conservative in that second run, which is quite unusual for Dave, and he ended up coming 25th. In 25th place today, which, you know, it's a top 30 result. He's gonna get points, uh, for that. You know, don't knock it. It's a, it's a brilliant World Cup result, uh, in a way, but it's just nowhere near what he would want to be.

Um, what, where he'd want to be. Right. Um, Billy Major had a, had a great, you know, a great result today coming in, um, in, uh, 17th place, which is I think his fourth best ever World Cup result. So that's fantastic for him. Hmm. Lori Taylor after coming fourth last week and, and, and Levy, you know, ended up, um. Not being, getting through to the top 30 in, in, uh, you know, to do the second run, which obviously he must have been really disappointed with, and that that could happen sometimes as well.

Yeah, yeah. Can't it? You know, it's kind of like Absolutely. Yeah. He has, has to go and look at that. You know, we know he'll come back. We, we know that r is more than capable of podium, podium, getting a podium place, uh, or, or better, you know, or winning a race, uh, after that fall. Yeah, absolutely. Well, we, we were super lucky that Ben got to chat with, um, with Dave riding at the end of the race.

Mm. Let's have a little listen to exactly how they felt the minute they took those boots off and threw them on. Threw them on the snow. Yeah. Let's have a listen to what they, what they said directly after their races. Key takeaway from Dave. How, how you feeling wasn't, I didn't, I don't know. I didn't feel good all day and I didn't feel confident on my season.

Yeah. Just way too many mistakes, which normally means that something wasn't right. So yeah, I live to fight another day. Let's see how, how much analysis is gonna go into the next round? Are you comfortable with your technique at the moment? And it says turn up next time and it's another day. I think, uh, just a bit more training before bow, this winter snow will really help.

Yeah. Levy was quite a lot different to today, so, okay. In what Snow? Coming back to Europe and the winter snow again, it was just so different to what I'd expected. So I need to, uh, just probably get some days on it again and, and dial it in. Have you got a training camp planned somewhere specific or, yeah.

I'm gonna go home for a week and a half. Do some physical training. Yeah. And then we're gonna come back here. So, so, um, yeah. It should be, it should be good raining. Yeah, just gotta try and find the, uh, passion again. Well, good luck and thank you very much for the time. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Cheers. Cheer. How's the race, Billy? Uh, yeah, some positives and, uh, it was, again, it was, uh, quite tough conditions. Um, first run, I just kind of survived it. Yeah, did what I could. Got in, just got into the second run. It was super tight. Um, and then, yeah, second run. I really tried to go a bit more. Didn't quite quite have it, but, uh, yeah, I'll take, take some positives from it and another step in the right direction.

What are the conditions like? Second run looks a bit harder than the first, well, it was nicer for me 'cause I was like, uh, third or fourth, third. So it's, it's definitely nicer. Um, but yeah, it's just, it's tricky to, you know, it's such high margins of getting the right. Set up and tune and it's, uh, it's a learning, yeah, it's a learning curve.

And, and what would your final takeaway be from today? Are you happy with your result? Obviously, still a few people to go, but looking quite positive. Uh, yeah. I, I'm not, I'm not. Super happy, but I'm, yeah, I'm, I'm happy. It's to step in the right direction. Well, you can really hear the pain, can't you? I mean, Dave's really not happy with himself, uh, or not happy with the conditions.

He, he felt he, he didn't feel great all day. He said he just never really felt like it went for him. So tough, isn't it? After all that work and, uh, and yet, you know, still impressive. We're all, we're all. Mightily impressed by the guy. And, um, it's just great to hear from them both how, what an exciting day it's been and how hard the work is.

And obviously if it doesn't, if the, if the cards don't fall your way that day, it's tough, isn't it? Yeah, it really is. And you know, he's got such a fan base over there, I always say. Dave riding is way more famous in the bars of Austria, uh, than he is in the bars of Yeah. The uk And, and you know, when you go to Austria and you speak to people about Dave, um, they, everybody knows who Dave is.

Right. And, and, you know, they have a, a lot of respect for him and, and they would've been going, wow. You know, that's, that's a tough result for Dave today. And, and I'm sure, I'm sure for him, you know, he'll move on. He needs to move on and focus. Um, like I said before, 25th result, a lot of people would take that in a World Cup.

Um, it's, it absolutely, it's nothing to be embarrassed about at all. And it was, it was obviously, obviously a tough race. I mean, I heard from Lucas, uh, braathen as well, talking about the conditions of the race and how challenging they were. And Lucas did really well today. I mean, Lucas was in, uh, 10th place, but obviously after last week.

Again, levy very different conditions and that just shows you. What sort of different ski, how different ski racers, um, adapt to different conditions. And then suddenly, um, Paco Ross at a, pretty much, not, not saying he's an unknown skier, but Paco Ross at comes out of nowhere, uh, pretty much and wins a well cut race.

He's had a couple of top tens I think in the past and nothing more than that. Um, a wins, uh, in gurgle. What a fantastic result for him. And, you know, um, Arno Marshall. Coming in second, uh, a podium place, uh, Belgian skier. The, uh, trains a lot with Dave, uh, certainly has done through the years. Dave and Marsha, um, arm Arma Marsha, uh, were training partners for a long time.

Uh, fantastic to see a result from him, uh, in, in Gurgle and at Lib McGraw coming in third, all on the podium. But I think he would've, he, you know, he was first, after the first run. I think he was hoping for a win there, and he, he looked disappointed. To be third. And that's just sport, isn't it? Yeah. You know, third place disappointment.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know, the likes of, uh, Dominic Rashna from Austria who also had a, a, an okay. First run ended up coming in sixth. Pretty, pretty interesting result for him. Um, but yeah, I mean, it was a real fun race to watch. Both runs were quite interesting, very different, quite technical. And, um, yeah, and they, they looked quite straightforward, but they caught a lot of skiers out, you know, both runs, caught a lot of skiers out, so, yeah.

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, there you go. You heard it here first on the White Hour Podcast. Rob our very own race pundit there with all the information. He's an absolute expert, Robert. It's been great, hasn't it? I mean, what a weekend. Um, there's sport going on everywhere this weekend, but the ski racing dominates for us.

Um, great to see Ben out ringside there watching right from the side of being able to get to Dave before and after the race. And Laurie, of course. Um, what a weekend. Let's hope we're out there at the next race. Yeah, definitely. I've, I've gotta make some of those races this season. Rob, thanks for joining us today.

It's been, uh, it's been emotional. Yeah. And, uh, listeners, don't forget, if you want to help us out, leave us a nice review, follow this podcast, tell you mates about the White Out podcast. And, uh, until next time, Rob, have a good one. Cheers Talkie. Uh, pretty sure it's called a Walkie Talkie Mate. Oh.