Noel Baxter - British Ski Racer

Racing days are over.

2012-10-03T08:24:00.001-07:00

Last week I made the decision to retire from racing. In effect I didn't have much option as it's got to the point where I can no longer afford to make it through the season. I perhaps could carry on in a kind of part time way but I know how much time and commitment it has taken me to get into top shape and compete at World cup in the past, I just can't do that now. Injuries have also made my situation very hard to manage without much of a support team. Tristan works tirelessly but there is only so much one guy can do.

I have been lucky over my 15 years as a full time racer on the GBR team to have some excellent coaches and teammates who inspired and helped me to get further than I ever would have imagined when I started to take racing seriously. I believe I got close to my potential although I would've loved to be better and bash out a few top 10's when they were well within my grasp.

Thank you so much to all of my sponsors over the years. I want to say a massive thank you to the people of my hometown, Aviemore and the surrounding area, who's unwavering support and belief in me throughout my career has been incredible!! Especially when I had the toughest times. It's been a privilege to represent Great Britain and the Highlands of Scotland.

I would like to stay involved with ski racing in some way, at the moment I have got some coaching weeks lined up, hopefully I can land a more permanent role somewhere in the future.

I would've written this post earlier but I broke my thumb last week in a bike crash, typing is a bit of a challenge and I was avoiding it.

Cheers
Noelie

Cardrona time lapse at night

2012-09-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Pretty awesome vid of Cardrona where I've been training the last few weeks. Conditions have been great the past few days and should stay like this till the weekend when I'm heading home.

Overhead Squat from June Test

2012-09-18T19:36:00.002-07:00

2012-09-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Thought I should start getting on top of things with my blog. It's been left for way too long. I've had quite a turbulent 6 months or so, in which I had a brief return to racing which was great but things didn't really work out for a number of reasons and as it was so close to the end of the season I put things on hold for the 2012 season. After an enjoyable spell of coaching the Scottish team and resting my knee for a while. I got stuck into my fitness programme for the summer at the end of April. It was a tough first month or so but I could feel I was making great improvements all round in my fitness. The improvements showed in my June tests also where I did a PB for Overhead squat and my Back Squat was good too, on the bike I was showing good efficiency at the low end and had a great base to develop as the sessions would become harder over the summer. However......... much to my disappointment my knee started to play up. I made an appointment with the physio, seen the doctor and both referred me to the orthopaedic surgeon. All were convinced I had damaged meniscus and I was taken in for surgery the next day. The surgery showed in fact I had not torn any meniscus (bonus) but I did have a lot of debris floating around and also a build up of scar tissue around where the ACL graft is attached to my Tibia. So in the end he tidied it all up and the surgery wasn't too invasive. My recovery period was 6 weeks, just enough time for me to squeeze in my sisters wedding and catch the end of the season in New Zealand. Since arriving in NZ I have gradually built up the intensity of my skiing but also put a fair amount of time into building up strength and fitness as I lost a lot after the surgery, the weather wasn't really playing along with me though and I had to ski in all sorts of weather which was not helping me to build confidence. After 2 & 1/2 weeks here I was beginning to think the whole camp was gonna be a nightmare but the last 3 days have more than made up for it with 3 days of perfect weather and snow conditions for training and I am quite amazed how I improved in the last few days. All the technical work in the terrible weather seems to be paying off, my knee is feeling good again but I have a lot of hard work to get back into top shape. It's a tight timeframe to get ready by the end of November for my first race but I am well on track.

Cheers for now.

Some disco moves from last week.......

2012-02-17T10:39:00.001-08:00

Stop, Start.....

2012-02-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

I was meant to be back into racing today at a Europa cup race in Oberjoch, however it was cancelled yesterday due to too much snow. My next race was scheduled for 3 days later in Mt Pora, that's has now been cancelled due to lack of snow..... crazy eh!?

So my master plan for a return to racing needs a re-think. I was fine with the races being cancelled, actually it gives me more time to work with Jimmy our physio at making the final push to being 100% ready and able to charge, he has picked up on a few things on my left leg which I have been working hard on, the hard work unfortunately took its toll on my skiing performance which really frustrated me this week after having a good couple of weeks prior, but I know that I need to go through that to be firing on all cylinders again.

Had a great day powder skiing yesterday which was a bonus of the "too much snow" :-)

Here are a few runs from the past few weeks.

Catch up

2012-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

Been a busy 6 weeks or so since getting back on snow. I spent alot of time up in Norway coaching the Scottish team and gradually getting into a bit of training alongside them when there wasn't too much going on. I really enjoyed coaching the youngsters and trying to get them skiing better.

Last week I made my way to Zell am See to join the British team again. Back into full on training now and working hard to get back to racing, my aim is to be racing again in mid February which feels within reach now. It's dumping snow like crazy at the moment here so perhaps I'll have to shred a few powder turns before its suitable for training, I'm hoping to forerun in the Eropa cup races this week which will give me a clear picture of where I'm at with regards to being fast.

Fully fit, back on snow.

2011-11-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

I'm back in shape!!! Finally something to write about. :-) I did a fitness test last week 6 months to the day since my surgery. I am really happy and surprised with how it went. My target I set myself when I was lying on the couch 6 months ago was to Squat 160kg by this week, which I did easily and to add to that I almost got a PB for my Overhead Squat. My bike test was just short of where I usually am when I'm in good shape however considering my injury and surgery 6 months ago it was good.

I'm currently out in Austria skiing at Kitzsteinhorn glacier. This week I have been gradually increasing the intensity of my free skiing to put my knee through its paces and see how it holds up to laying the turns over, so far everything has been positive and it's held up well. I am very cautious of gradually increasing the intensity of my sessions and will take plenty of time before I'm back hammering through the icy courses like I normally do.

Not much snow out here at the moment, up on the glacier it's excellent but its too warm for the resorts down low to seriously pump the snow guns on, although they have managed to blow some on the shaded slopes.

Here are the vids from my Overhead Squats this year and last year. I went for 120kg this year but was lacking in explosiveness from my legs so failed to get it up above my head.

October 2010 117.5kg

November 2011 115kg

I'll keep you updated on my progress back to top skiing shape.

Getting stronger.......

2011-08-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

Been working hard over the past couple of months back home in Aviemore. My leg is improving well and I've been able to push it alot more in the gym this week doing loads of individual leg stuff like Lunges and Step Ups to get the strength as evenly balanced as I can. My Dad got me a new frame on ebay a couple of weeks ago so I've had that out pounding the roads, it's also had a couple of runs up to Cairngorm which was a great feeling to be able to do that with my knee holding up fine. :)

Not much other news at the moment pretty much just grinding out the physio, it's looking good that I'll be back on snow for Oct-Nov time.......... Can't wait!!!! Especially now when I see all the races kicking off down in the Summer hemisphere I'm gonna be well up for it by the time the season comes around.

My new wheeels.....

Midgies after coming down from Cairngorm on my bike!!!!

Laggan dam after a wee trip to watch Newtonmore get to the Camanachd cup final.

There's a tiger in the bathroom.......... :)

Getting there......

2011-06-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

Just back from another physio sesh with Alison in Nethybridge and my knee is doing great, I pretty much don't need my crutches now but I'm gonna keep using them till I see the surgeon on monday. Got full range of movement, which is a big surprise for me I thought it would take alot longer to get that back, looks like all the work I did pre surgery was worth it. I have to remind myself that its not even 3 weeks since surgery and I still need to let the wounds heal before pushing it, I can go on my bike now though which is a big boost to get mobile again and not rely on getting lifts everywhere!!!

Physio excercises on the deck at my mums....... Cairngorms in the background

My nephew Jenson came to visit at the weekend, hanging out in my Dads back garden.

A reminder of what I'm working to get back to.

2011-06-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

Back home after surgery

2011-05-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

Back home from the hospital today in alot of pain but glad to be finally on the mend, not much I can do right now just keeping it elevated and letting it heal.

Plenty of time watching the telly and on my computer I guess, the Giro d Italia is hitting the big mountains now so that will be good to watch, Gross Glockner today and Zoncolan tomorrow. Looks like Contador will blow them away. Well into my biking at the moment after watching the ski team boys in the Etape Caledonia, also my new frame just arrived, pretty poor timing coz I wont be able to use it for a while ....... My dads building it up now though so I'll get round to check it out soon.

Date for surgery

2011-05-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

I have a date for surgery!!!!!! YES!!!!

It's been a bit of a wait but I will go under the knife on the 19th of May to reconstruct my ACL. Mr Finlayson initially wanted me to wait a while and work on my extension to get the quads firing well, which they are doing now but unfortunately he couldn't fit me in anywhere in the last couple of weeks so its been a frustrating wait. On the plus side I have really been able to build a good bit of a base fitness on the bike and I also started back in the gym with a few upper body and core exercises. I did get a bit of a scare last weekend when my mate Donald batted the softball towards me, when I stretched to catch it my knee gave way and I collapsed in a heap on the field, however it was a good wake up call to take it easy and not push my luck by trying to do to much.

Looking forward to getting this surgery out of the way so I can REALLY focus on the road back to full strength!!!!

A few nice pics from Scotland in Spring time

2011-05-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

Bridges over the river Findhorn at Tomatin

Cullen

Cullen beach

Loch Ness- Where's the monster