In case you missed it which it sounds like most of you did due to the ratings, we got third on Skating w the Stars. I knew I would have a hard time with Rebecca even though we were starting to beat her, but I was surprised when i got taken out by Bethenny. I knew to expect some surprises because 50% of the score is at home voting but I still thought in the end justice would be served! I did not think that people would really want to see a final between Rebecca and Bethenny considering the disparity in skill. Congratulations to Rebecca who was great.
Also, I give Bethenny the credit she deserves. It is difficult to build a loyal following and she has done that very well. After all I think my wife may have voted for her.

After solid wrap party complete with a posture lesson from Dick button and some crumping with Laurieann I flew straight to Squaw and skied for 10 days straight. I did a bunch “Ski with Jonny” days with some great Apres ski. I enjoyed skiing and meeting everyone. If you missed it we will do it again next year. Meet me at Gold Coast at 2pm.
I spent roughly 3 weeks in Squaw doing some great dawn patrol missions and shooting some Warren Miller stuff for the movie next year. We also had a bunch of Christmas too. Jack and I skied a bunch and my brother Rick got Jack an awesome remote control helicopter which they flew around the house all Xmas long.

Jack is really starting to ski. I use a long bamboo pole which he can hold onto. i make lots of turns so he does not learn to just go straight and snow plow. The shooting stars coach taught me that. He loves it which is the most important thing. I have to beg him to go in for cocoa. He is tough.

During those three weeks i took a quick trip to SF to MC the press announcement for the Americas Cup which is coming to SF in 2013. Awesome. I was nervous. I have done a lot of speaking but this was odd because usually I talk about myself. This time I had to intro people like the mayor and Larry Ellison. I had to get facts and names and titles correct and talk about sailing. It went well though and was a great experience.

I spent a day in Palmdale driving the the new Ford focus and doing little video bits for the upcoming Ford Focus Rally that i am hosting.

http://www.focusrally.com/

It was gorgeous up there. Looked like Joshua Tree.

I just got home from Lake Placid. Man, it is gorgeous there. They had great snow and the scenery was ridiculous. I stayed at the Mirror Lake Inn which is quaint and cozy. Owned by the parents of Andrew Wiebrecht 2010 Olympic Super G bronze. They have a great hot tub area. I was there to do the commentary for the NBC Freestyle World Cup but I managed to do a bunch of skiing and ice hockey on the Lussi’s pond rink. I loved it.

Headed to White Sands, NM for some sand skiing then on the road for the Ford focus Rally. Should be fun. Later.

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Brooke and I managed to perform the routine last week really well even though our practice rehearsal before the show had us pretty stressed out. I slipped and fell while lifting Brooke over my head which shook our confidence pretty bad. In some ways it was better that it did happen because it made me realize quickly what I had been doing wrong. I have tendency to think when I am practicing that if something works then maybe more of that something will make it work even better. When I am learning something new I tend to keep tweaking it to the extreme until I go too far then I come back. It is not a terrible thing except in this format not only could I hurt Brooke but we don’t have time to play around. In this case I had noticed our lifting coach just slightly turning his head to the side as he lifted Brooke. So I started doing that as well which made it easy to get underneath Brooke and use my legs. As we continued I started getting Brooke way over my right shoulder before i lifted her until I was almost lifting her completely with my right arm and right leg. When it finally came crashing down I remember really pushing off my right leg and having brooke too far over the right side and being totally off balance as I exploded through my legs. Of course on skates unlike shoes there is no friction and I just remember trying to reach over my head and save Brooke as I was going down. Luckily we were both ok but it scared us both pretty good. To top it of we lost our double sow throw which had been working pretty well in the previous days. Needless to say we were freaking out before we competed. We managed to get a quick warm up before we hit the stage where things felt pretty good and that carried through into the final skate. When Brooke landed the double sow I got so excited that I could barley finish the routine and almost fell down.
That was very exciting night and I was fired up to be a point ahead of Rebecca who skated flawlessly.
Now we are working hard to get our routine together for this Monday. It is a free skate where we pick the music and choreograph the run ourselves. I really will miss the time here but my body is starting to beg a little for mercy. I was trying to do some axels the other day and unfortunately I don’t think it is going to happen. They are harder than I thought plus I fell hard on a silly little knee slide and my left wrist is pretty much worthless right now. When I crash and have to put my hands down it is extremely painful. This translates to it being kind of hard to try axels when I know i will take some spills. I don’t want break my wrist before Monday. My right shoulder which I blew up doing aerials and had fixed years back is not loving these overhead lifts or the crashes either. Back soreness standard, ankle is hanging in there, fitness is good, attitude is even better. Show is on Monday and Tuesday.

Looking forward to getting up to Squaw Valley Wednesday and skiing with everyone. See you there.

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Working on my eighth week of pairs figure skating for “Skating with the Stars“. Last week was amazing and very tough all at the same time. We started off with a great trip to Squaw Valley where we skated on top of the mountain and then I took Brooke skiing for her first time. I knew she would be good, but not that good. By her fourth run she skied Siberia which is an advanced run. A ski instructor would get fired for bringing her up there and it was stupid on my part because if she would have gotten hurt we would have been done with the skating show. My plan was to bring her down the ridge while our buddy skied the face, but when I showed Brooke the run from the top she wanted it. She is a tough chick. The snow was great but there were small moguls and it was variable which is hard for beginners, not to mention steep. I tried to make her follow right behind me and cut deeply across the hill but she did not like my instruction and wanted to do it her own way. She ended up executing three perfect “yard sales” losing all equipment and goggles each time. Each time she got right back up and continued laughing and wanting more. Her final crash was the most spectacular. After pointing em straight down towards the bottom of the pitch and making three nice GS turns she was too far forward when the slope flattened out and she got snagged in some soft snow and did a nice headplant/yard sale completely filling her pants with snow.

It made me realize that skiing is a bit like surfing. The actual motion of turning a ski which Brooke could do very easily from her skating experience is only a small part of skiing. Managing conditions, steepness and other element is the harder part. Like surfing, standing and turning on the board is not the hardest part, it’s everything else that kills you.

When we got back to LA we had a lot of work to do and we had an increased level of stress and intensity because we had not been getting good artistic scores. This made us both focused on getting the details of the routine right. The emotion and artistry specifically. Plus, we were exhausted from both the skiing trip and just being on for so many days in a row. In addition the difficulty level of the routine increased because we were now skating in lock step as a pair telling a romantic story of forbidden love. On Sunday the day before the show we had never completed a routine yet we had to perform on the studio ice for the director. On our first attempt I swung too wide on a lunge and snagged the edge of the ice sending me into the lights then whipping Brooke over my head into the seats. Luckily, we were only bruised. We got up and tried it again, this time I caught an edge taking out Brooke who came inches from launching herself off the ice to a 5ft drop to concrete. Scary stuff.

So that did nothing for my confidence and went to bed that night thinking of how to change the routine which can be even harder. On show day Brooke and I finally got through the routine once but the directors wanted to see it again which was good for us. On the second time around I made a misstep and tripped Brooke who slashed her finger on my skate as she fell and had to go tot he hospital for stitches. Her finger would not numb so she was there forever. She finally told them to put the stitches anyway and she showed up just in time for the dress rehearsal. We ended up nailing our routine with the exception of my shaky jumps and we ended up on top. Of Course, Brandon did not compete because he was in the hospital with as stomach virus, but I’ll take it anyway.

This week I feel better physically although today I am very sore again in my hammies. My groin is at least doing well. I think my hammies are sore from doing overhead lifts with Brooke. We have had a pro skater named John Zimmerman here teaching me how to lift and throw Brooke which are required elements for this week. Our routine is going to be awesome 80′s music. I hope you will check it out and vote at ABC.com.

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Did you see this about the North Korean’s and the world cup?
“Because so few North Koreans have the money or the permission to leave the country for the World Cup, the nation’s sports committee has recruited about 1,000 Chinese fans as surrogate cheerleaders, including actors and musicians, according to Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.” full article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/sports/soccer/02korea.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th

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Took a ride on Jeff Ecklund’s Melges 32 (STAR) today while they prepare for Big boat series and World Championships. I was not the only Olympic medallist on board. Check out this crew I sailed with.
Nathan Wilmont, Gold 2008 Olympics 470
Espen Stokkeland bronze 2000 Olympics, Soling
Harry Melges multiple world championships in multiple classes, CEO Melges Performance boats
Emma Creighton Shorthanded/singlehanded racer about to embark on 2011 Mini Transat Campaign.
Jeff Ecklund Melges 32 National Champ

It was totally awesome. That boat rules. It was nuking by the afternoon so it was quite a ride. Enjoyed hanging in the back and shooting some pics and vid. I will attach some soon.
Thanks for the ride guys.

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Had an awesome weekend opening up the new indoor trampoline park in the Presidio (House of Air). I was not going to bounce because I am coming off a badly sprained ankle but I could not resist. I bounced like a maniac. So much fun. Was sore in places I never knew. Been doing yoga nonstop ever since to get back in form. Here are pics of the place.

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