PA Sport is following Great Britain downhill skier Roger Cruickshank throughout his build-up to next February's Winter Olympics in Turin.
In his own weekly column RAF flying officer Cruickshank will reveal the highs and lows of life on the World Cup circuit as he seeks to fulfil one of his lifetime ambitions.
Things are beginning to look up at last and I am nearing the point where I
will be able to get some good, solid race training in.
The improvement is largely down to a new knee brace which I had fitted in
London last week by one of my sponsors, Technology In Motion. It even has a
Union Jack painted into it.
The brace completely stops hyper-extension and keeps lateral movement to a
minimum and the result is that I have been able to enjoy two pain-free days on
skis this week.
It's really made a big difference and made me feel a lot more positive. The
next stage is to really attack a course the way I would as if I was in a race.
If things still feel good I will race, starting at the fifth level and then
hopefully building up through the Europa Cup to the World Cup.
My coach Gunther Puringer has taken a lot of pressure off me by assuring me
that even if I don't manage to race until a week before the Olympics, as long as
I put in a good result I will go to Turin.
It was putting so much pressure on me when I was setting targets of racing
before Christmas or before the new year. Now not having a deadline as such I can
go with the flow and really listen to my knee.
My British team-mates are giving me plenty of encouragement, they have all
been in similar positions battling to get back to racing so they know how I
feel.
Finlay (Mickel) texted me from America to ask how I was doing and things like
that really help and keep me going.
Currently here at the British camp at Lofer we have members of the development
squad and the junior British team as well as guys from a few other sports.
It's always interesting talking to the different people and you tend to find
similarities in the unlikeliest of places. For instance you would not think
curling is a sport skiers can relate to but you discover the mental and
team-work ethics are much the same.
I've also been chatting to some of the skeleton luge guys. Going down a
bobsleigh run is something I have always wanted to do and I was offered the
chance. But my coach thought that in the circumstances, it was probably best if
I didn't!
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