The weekend saw us head off into the mountains for the annual ASRA winter sports event. Having been a bit under the weather during the week, and still suffering from a dodgy knee, la bienheureuse decided not to ski, which was unfortunate because the snow was as perfect as the weather. The big race this year was delayed till the afternoon to allow the ESF organisers to attend a morning service in commemoration of a local guide killed in an avalanche earlier in the week. We thus enjoyed a fine barbecue banquet on the piste before attacking the slalom course.
And attack it, I did, determined to improve on last year's time. Emboldened by the good snow, off I went, enthusiasm obscuring the fact that 50 odd skiers before me had scoured and rutted the course. I hit the steep section, la mur, a little too fast, and my arse hit the snow. Managed to get back up fairly quickly, continued without missing a gate, and skied the rest of the course rather well, even if I do say so myself.
Time: faster than a couple of previous attempts but 7 seconds slower than last year's best. Ah well, there's always next time, and consolation was found in the football results later in the evening, even if an exhaustive search of the bars in Montalbert only turned up rugby. Did eventually get a barman to turn over for the last five minutes, and last two goals, once the egg-chasers had finished.
More glorious sunshine on Sunday dragged me onto the slopes early. While la bienheureuse wiled away the morning in cafés, I enjoyed a lovely morning's skiing, finishing at lunchtime so that we could get off early and make it back to Lyon in time to go and watch OL. We shouldn't have bothered. La série noire continues, fourth defeat in a row, a fairly abject one at that. The big crunch later in the evening ended with Marseille beating PSG, meaning that Lyon stay top of the table, but only by one point from both the other big two...
