The Okanagan, especially Summerland, will be going bobsled crazy in less than three weeks.
Chris Le Bihan, 32, who was raised in Kelowna, and Justin Kripps, 23, of Summerland will be in the two Canadian bobsleds flying down the 1,450-metre track at the Whistler Sliding Centre in search of Olympic gold.
With almost three years of training on what is arguably the fastest track in the world, they could also be setting new world records Feb. 26 and 27.
Last year, during the Canadian nationals, Le Bihan‘s team was clocked at 151 km/h, just off the record 153 km/h set by the Latvians during a World Cup last year.
“When you‘re going that fast, it‘s. . . .” said Le Bihan, whistling his breath through his lips.
“It‘s a pretty sweet feeling. When you nail it, it just feels like you‘re floating. Every corner is sweet and every straightaway is sweet. It‘s a pretty eerie feeling, actually. As brakemen, we can tell when we‘re cooking, but it gets a little bit hairy when you‘re going that quick.”
“It‘s crazy – a different feeling, for sure,” agreed Kripps. “It‘s not really like anything else. You know you‘re in control and you‘re flying, but, at the same time, you know you‘re just skimming along, just barely even touching the ice at that speed.
“After I‘d been in the sport for a couple of years and I hadn‘t sledded Whistler yet, I thought ’Yah, yah, it‘s no big deal anymore.‘ But then I went down Whistler for the first time. All of a sudden, it was a rush again because you‘re going way faster than anywhere else.
“Not only are you going faster, but Whistler has a lot of quick turns at the bottom whereas the other fast tracks around the world are long and straight down at the bottom, where you are going fast. Not here; it‘s pretty crazy down at the bottom.”
The sprint start is crucial since the four team members have to push the sled from a dead stop up to 40 km/h in 50 metres.
“My big job is under five seconds,” said Le Bihan. “If you don‘t have a top start, you can‘t win – no chance. It‘s a bigger part than people think. You can have the best pilot and the best equipment, and it doesn‘t matter.”
Once the sled is underway, one key focus is the aerodynamics, said Le Bihan.
“Our heads play a big role. If one guy is to one side and the other guy is to the other side, if you are bobbing all over the place and you don‘t know where you are while going down the track, then you‘re creating a bit of resistance. We‘re talking hundredths of a second here. Since this is a super-fast track, it‘s a bigger difference,” he said.
“None of us can see except for Lyndon (Rush, the driver), so we have to know the track really well and where we are.
“Riding in the sled is not all about just hanging on as tight as you can. You want the sled to be able to move and flex as it‘s going through corners. Having a veteran crew makes quite a bit of difference.”
“We call it riding the flood as the sled flexes,” said Kripps. “You get up to almost six g‘s in a couple of the corners down near the bottom when you‘re going 150 km/h. You have to really hold yourself steady in the flood and just go with it, keep your position and make sure you maximize the speed out of the corner.”
Le Bihan is in the second seat behind Rush.
“We call it the Cadillac spot,” Le Bihan said. “The farther up on the sled, the less pressure you feel in the forearms. The guy in the back sitting right behind the axle takes most of the punishment (and) feels most of the pressure when you come into the corners. I‘ve ridden back there, and it‘s way different – night and day.”
The Canadian sledders have been “pumping out as many runs as we feel comfortable doing” at the Whistler Sliding Centre, said Le Bihan, so “we‘re pretty sure we have a pretty solid home team advantage here.”
Le Bihan joined the Canadian development team in 2004 while finishing his engineering degree at the University of Calgary. He raced on the America‘s Cup circuit before joining the national team in the World Cup series in 2005, and his team just missed competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
So far this season, his four-man team (Rush, David Bissett and Lascelles Brown) won a gold medal in Park City, Utah, and a bronze medal in Cesana, Italy.
“We‘ve been consistently placing in the top 10 in World Cup. We had a couple of off-races, but that‘s to be expected, especially when you‘re competing in an Olympic year against the best in the world. If you make a little bit of a slip-up, it will come back and bite you. The amount of time isn‘t far from first to 10th.”
The team is peaking at the right time, just before the Olympics, he said.
“We feel great. We have a solid team going in.”
A typical day for the team is strength training in a gym for two or three hours, then hitting the track, he said.
“By the time we set up our equipment and do a couple of runs, it‘s at least three hours before we get home. It‘s crazy because each run is less than a minute. There‘s so much prep time that goes into it.”
Complicating their preparations are the pregnancies of two wives, who are due this month. Le Bihan and his wife, Naomi, are expecting their first child on Feb. 24, only two days before his first race.
“It‘s a big month – lots to be excited about – but we‘ve talked about it, and I‘ll be good to go,” he said with a laugh.
Bissett‘s wife is due on Feb. 10.
Kripps was a track sprinter while growing up in Summerland and was awarded a track scholarship to Simon Fraser University. During his second year, a bobsled crew showed up at a track meet where he was competing and recruited him.
He joined the national development team in 2006. After only a half-season, his team moved up to World Cup. Kripps and Le Bihan were on the same team for the world championships that year. However, their team (in 18th place) gave their sled‘s steering mechanism to Pierre Lueders‘ team (which was in sixth) after his broke. Lueders then won the silver medal.
Lueders‘ team hasn‘t had its best year as it tests different equipment and crew members in preparation for the Olympics. Kripps has been on Lueders‘ team since 2007, joined by Olympic rookies Neville Wright and CFL star running back Jesse Lumsden.
“The excitement is definitely building. It just seemed like a regular World Cup season, but then we had the big public team announcement in Calgary. The media was all over that, so it‘s starting to ramp up. We‘re out in Whistler now and the place looks great,” said Kripps.
“I feel great. I‘ve been looking forward to this for a couple of years now since I realized that it was a possibility and set it as a goal for myself. Physically, I‘ve never felt better. I‘m in the best shape of my life. I just can‘t wait to go there and put on a show for all the Canadians. A bunch of my family from Australia is coming over, so it‘s going to be pretty awesome,” he said.
“I‘m going to enjoy the experience, but, at the same time, (I‘m) focusing on the process and making sure that I do everything I can to get our team up on the podium.”
