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Coaching with Ski Academy Switzerland

The last few weeks have been a very busy time for me, sourcing parts, taking others for repair and working on the car has meant that I’ve had little time for much else outside of my day job (I did manage to mow the lawn though!). Nonetheless it’s been a period of reflection and an opportunity to think about what went wrong, what I could have done differently, and areas where I could most benefit from some support.

Travelling on my own to and from races means that I have a lot of time to think, and inevitably a lot to think about without anyone to talk things through with. Sure I’ve already made some great friends but sometimes I reach the limits of my linguistic ability and find myself wishing I had someone to confide in and work out what’s the best way to approach a particular problem, whether that may be changing something on the car or just a quick pep talk to help me focus, simplify things and give you a final ‘good luck’ before a run.

So with this in mind I’m really pleased to introduce the latest sponsor to join the GoCharlie team – Ski Academy Switzerland who will be helping me directly with coaching. They have a wealth of experience training professional skiers to the highest levels including racers, using proven techniques and have all the qualifications you would expect to get the best performance out of you. As you can imagine there are lot of areas where the two disciplines cross over, and with courses in the CFM up to 6km long there is huge amount of concentration required (especially in my first year as I’m simultaneously learning the car) to focus on what you are about to do and highlight the areas where you want to improve without overloading the information. This could be remembering to take a different gear at a particular corner (there are 52 at Mont Dore…), or any combination of things in one instant as you compress a great deal into a very short space of time – there’s a lot of multi-tasking going on!
I’m very excited to be working with them, and their logo looks great on the car (engine cover & mirrors). We met up recently to talk about the last three races then focus on Beaujolais Villages next weekend, and I’m already feeling really positive about having them onboard – it should help my confidence too which took a bit of a knock after the crash.
Speaking of which I’m nearly there with the rebuild – I have the suspension back on, carbon parts ready to fit tonight and then just the setup to do. I managed to short out the electrics on the tail lift yesterday while plugging the cable in, but I think I’m becoming more used to dealing with a crisis though as it failed to panic me – it’s just a little hiccup!
So next Thursday I’ll be setting sail for the south of France for race number 4 – wish me luck! :D

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