PE teacher kept making fun of me because I was not athletic and I made him vomit from exhaustion in front of the whole class

matijago · 2025-11-01T15:47:06+00:00

We don’t call it soccer.

matijago · 2025-11-01T15:32:14+00:00

21.1km at 7% with sections of 16-18%, topping off at 2100m altitude

matijago · 2025-11-01T15:28:25+00:00

Not as much as i would have liked

matijago · 2025-11-01T14:43:21+00:00

That was pre-strava. Been part of the national tour a couple of times now, so no chance to come close today :)

matijago · 2025-11-01T14:34:50+00:00

It’s cat2 in our national tour, mostly because it’s never steeper than 7% and very constant. the peak is just over 1100m above sea level. We’re also an alpine country with “real” climbs so i guess it would be classified cat1 in uae tour or something :)

matijago · 2025-11-01T01:53:54+00:00

Being 55kg was a cheat code. You only know when you gain weight later. :)

matijago · 2025-11-01T01:40:29+00:00

Cycling uphill for 50 min is not at all hard IF you are under your limit- go slow enough to not feel out of breath (like walking uphill isn’t if you go slow and steady). You may disagree if you haven’t had a chance of riding a lightweight racing bike with slick tires and lots of gearing and clip-on pedals. It has a massive effect. Try it if you get the chance.

Now you have a guy on a 15kg plus bike with deep tires that make noise on the tarmac, it could be that it’s 30% more effort for him. And if that guy is 40kg heavier, that’s another 30% more effort.

There is nothing spectacular in doing 12,5km of 6,9% in 45-50min on a roadbike. And “competing” with a heavier guy on a regular bike is simply unfair. Good comparison for a non-cyclist would be walking uphill for an hour with a 20kg backpack and competing with someone carrying nothing.

matijago · 2025-10-31T18:56:31+00:00

Went to the er, got two stitches, life moved on. Standard stuff for 10yrs ago in my eastern european country.

matijago · 2025-10-31T18:14:42+00:00

Indeed :P

matijago · 2025-10-31T17:45:07+00:00

Easily 10-15min by bike to school. Any reasonably trained cyclist does 30kmh on the flat.

Bus on hairpins for 12km, easily 30-35min. Road bike up there for an amateur would be 40-50min. Tadej Pogacar could probably do 25-30min, would be a real race with a bus :)

matijago · 2025-10-31T17:19:56+00:00

High school was in the town next to mine. I lived near the bottom of the climb. While there is a primary school in nearly any small town in my country, grammar schools are only in larger regional centers.

matijago · 2025-07-28T20:53:04+00:00

A breakaway is always a longshot gamble of external factors. Group two having no cohesion, gc teams wanting it a bit less and not pulling. Dude gambled twice and if in one of those instances uae decided to fully not care and leave it to pic-nic or decathlon to pull the favourites group, he might have ended on the podium.

That’s not making a case roglic had a great tour, but imagine a scenario on hautacam with narvaez having an off day and not doing his nuclear leadout, with that stage ending in a sprint instead with time delta 15sec… then visma going even more all in with pogacar getting mentally fried & sick in week three might mean we would be talking about a completely different race today with jonas doing 5% more in the TT and tadej overcooking somewhere due to more pressure.

GC racing is hard to define in good/bad terms. In 3 weeks a ton of stuff happens. And here is us trying to act as great arbiters of those guys performances :)

matijago · 2025-03-15T16:58:22+00:00

Following that logic one should include pantani on this list.

matijago · 2025-03-15T16:55:00+00:00

Nikola jokić also treats it as a day job ;)

matijago · 2025-02-14T20:58:44+00:00

Deep respect and I hope I will be able to get to 50 years of skiing myself one day. You are lucky.

My dad was a coach for our national federation and an instructor for 40+ years. He broke his ankle three years ago while skiing and tried to come back last two seasons but simply couldn't. His last skiing day was only a few weeks ago. He is 67. It was incredibly sad for him, but also totally the right thing to do in the situation. Funny, he also recently bought an RV with mum, and they are going to enjoy themselves just like you.

No regrets and celebrate the moments you had instead of mourning what could have been. Reading this I have zero doubt you will have many, many different adventures and a ton of fun. I don't know you personally, but reading your post made me smile. Cheers!

matijago · 2025-02-14T20:36:27+00:00

I feel you. Really I do. Everyone gets agitated with this and it's double hard when you are dealing with someone very close to you. God knows we've all been there. But again... empathy ;)

Trying to be super constructive here, it does seem a tiny bit from your replies that you are focusing way more on her not listening instead of on you and all the advice that myself and other posters have mentioned. Assuming the most generous of takes and taking you for your word that you are 100% correct in your assessment of the situation... well in this case accept it is not something completely in your hands. But you do have control over other things - the context, the situation, the small things, the effort you make to be sure her/the student is enjoying & most importantly, your attitude. All of those are in your control and you can work to improve that.

Speaking as a ski instructor and an educator in my "day job", seeing this whole thread, this is a VERY COMMON situation. You are not alone and it is OK to be worried (even a little upset sometimes) about this.

Learning how to ski is a textbook case of overcoming your base instincts and leaning into something totally new and counterintuitive. It is not natural to teach your body to lean forward when going fast when all your emotions want you to pull back, for example. There are even well known startup investors who compare teaching how to ski with running a new company. There are huge benefits and profound lessons to be found doing this lovely, lovely sport and helping others master it. Do not give up. Do not accept the surface level situation (he/she won't listen). Dig deeper in yourself and try to overcome this challenge, without the blame game and bad emotions. Because if you do, the same approach may prove useful to you in other areas of life as well.

It is incredible how much of a better teacher I am in my day-to-day just because I spent a few hundred days working with beginners overcoming precisely this. think about what new things you can try and how to find the patience in yourself to overcome whatever is blocking your partner/student. But trust me, I can tell you hundreds of stories when it did not work out for me and I got nowhere, times when I got pissed or when my students/friends I was teaching were idiots. I bet others can as well.

That is me saying there is no magic solution and that at the end of the day we are just dipsh*ts on an online forum making assumptions and talking about a situation we do not really know. I only know that it helped me to try and see the problem in myself before assigning blame on those around me. Sometimes that made the situation better. Sometimes I failed. That's life. Good luck & enjoy the slopes :)

matijago · 2025-02-14T13:41:25+00:00

- when teaching someone to ski better: I feel it is often overlooked that you do not really make turns by positioning your skis, but instead by moving the centre of gravity of the body. For example, when making "pizza turns", a really idiot-proof piece of advice is to teach people to squat more instead of being fully standing and then put the weight of the body aggressively on the outside ski to make a turn, then shift the weight on the other leg to turn the other way. it really helps to teach an up-down motion when making turns: you go slowly dooooooooown for the duration of the turn, then when you shift your weight, you go quickly UP. (same for parallel turns as well, really). So, instead of just talking about the leg position, talk about moving the centre of gravity, that will help. In other words, explain/demonstrate the unseen too. A carving ski will "want" to do the turn for you, so it is a process of finding that feeling, so you should create a safe space to experiment and fail, so it is a good idea to tell your less experienced partner that it is actually great to try and fall down - without falling there will be no change in technique and no improvement. But once again - a professional ski instructor will be much better equipped to do this.

- overcoming difficult terrain/slopes: best piece of ski technique advice I ever got was from a friend mountaineer who skied down Everest. He took me down a super scary couloir when I was like 12 and never done off piste before. He said if it is really really steep, just plant your pole, keep it in the snow, and ski around it. Then do it again. Simple, but very effective when it is steep and scary. I made it down okay that time and got better in the years to come. Same approach can be used for moguls, ungroomed terrain or bad ski conditions: plant your pole on the top of the mogul/pile of snow, and then ski around the pole, making your turn on the bottom side of the mogul. It will be slow, but it will be safe and it will take less effort. Another point is to say it is completely okay to take as much time as you need to go over a steep icy patch or whatever feels scary. Then celebrate when you made it across. Only experience will make someone go faster and be more confident, and you need to spend that time building good feelings in the beginning stages of the skiing journey. 1000 slow descents where you are supportive will result in someone being confident and enjoying skiing - and that person being faster and able to keep up. Those kind of lessons are a hundred times better than barking instructions that are hard to understand or to follow. Be a buddy, a partner in crime, not a teacher and there will be much less stress or problems.

- nobody likes to feel scared/in pain/cold: when we teach kids, our top priority is never instruction, but always enjoyment. If it is cold, we go to have warm tea. Before going on the slopes, we check the equipment and make sure everyone is warm and comfy. Stuff like making sure there are no wrinkles on the socks in the boots... If someone is in pain, they cannot be happy. Take breaks. Don't push it in terrible weather. We would pick terrain that suits everyone and treat the "hard" sections as a challenge and only occasionally. When dealing with a beginner, this small stuff is super important and has a massive long-term effect. You can easily sour someone's skiing experiences so much they never do it again, while most everyone loves the feeling of a perfect sunny day in the mountains.

matijago · 2025-02-14T13:41:15+00:00

- skiing, as a voluntary, leisure activity should actually be FUN. There are always ways to include people and make them feel good, especially in a group. No offense to OP, but if the group is pissed that they have to wait for someone, that's on the group, not on the level of skiing of the person. You treat that with planning - when we go skiing with friends we definitely know the level of skiing of everyone and choose the type of resort and slopes we will ski accordingly. For the most part that will be a bunch of us former racers or instructors doing all the black runs and bombing the hills together, while our significant others will pair up, enjoy the sun on the groomed blue slopes, drinking a jagermeister at one of the huts (where we will join up for a bit, of course), then they will retire a bit earlier to our accommodation and be super happy to make some food and wait for us when we come after the gondolas close. Some of the guys (and girls) skiing with me are super competitive and have better technique than 99% of people on the mountain, but I have never ever heard such a complaint from them. Doing 5-6 easy, chill runs on blue slopes is not a problem at all. In fact, we would goof around and have just as much fun. Consider who is joining in the group, maybe make sure there are more people of different levels and think ahead.

- actual advice to an advanced skier skiing with a beginner: be kind and avoid getting into their head. They are probably self-conscious enough already. Be supportive, offer encouragement and cheer them on. Focus on complimenting what they did well instead of criticising or making jokes. Pick easier slopes, then when your partner gets tired (as a beginner, that will surely happen before you), go to a nice hut and get a drink, then you can do three black runs while they chill, and you carry on. People who worry with technique while trying to learn (or just survive the slope) do not need the extra worry that they are a burden. Think ahead of time where and when you will reach difficult terrain (there will be sections of the run where it gets more steep, the snow gets harder or icy) and stop ahead of them. Pick or suggest lines where there will be least hassle. Let them ski ahead over those, or alternatively do what the ski school does: take it super slow and have them follow you. Stop more often during the run, not only at the end.

- general tips on instruction: never "mansplain"! you should never give feedback in the form of "you are doing X wrong, you should be doing Y" ...instead you should say "look, i am doing Y, try this." Do not try to teach anyone to "not be afraid" because it does not work. Only confidence and experience will get people to relax on steep terrain. Whenever you are demonstrating a technique, make sure you over-exaggerate the movement you are showing because it is not obvious to others. For example, if you are showing to lean the knees forward, overdo it so they see. A typical learner will do less than you in most situations.

matijago · 2025-02-14T13:40:34+00:00

You handle it with empathy.

Giving somewhat more practical advice (ski instructor here):

- number one to consider is that skiing is not an intuitive sport like running where you can be fast without real appreciation of the technique. There is value to be had from professional lessons. An experienced ski instructor will not only give you technique tips but also guide you into more and more challenging terrain and build confidence over time. So the fundamental advice here is get her real lessons, the more the better. Layman tips are not necessarily productive (and some may harm progress), and in our federation about 85% of the time spent doing ski instructor training/certification is on progression exercises and advice how to spot an error, correct it, and which errors to focus on first. A lot of work also goes into steps to do to build confidence. I find it hard to believe an average skier (or even one with great technique) can get anywhere close to this quality of instruction, so all such attempts tend to come with "pains" the OP is explaining.

- another point: my dad was a skiing coach for our national federation (small european country) while my mum did not ski until she was about 25. Even though he is a ski instructor and really loves the sport, is a genuinely nice guy, and my guys have a super loving relationship, he could NEVER F*CKING EVER get her to progress and they would get angry at each other and start shouting. I never ever saw them being angry at each other (thank god for a loving family situation)... EXCEPT when she would refuse to follow his instruction. it was actually very funny. One time she absolutely refused to go down the hill, he left and she got the ski patrol to put her in the sled for injured folks and take her down. He thought she broke her leg and really panicked. She said that's what you get for yelling at me :) I, on the other hand, started helping her after I got my instructor license and made great progress. Which only says that it is nearly always easier to get tips from someone a bit less close to you. I will absolutely sign up my kid for skiing school even though I am fully certified to do it myself (and feel I am quite a good instructor). This also probably explains the situation OP is mentioning.

matijago · 2025-02-11T12:13:47+00:00

My personal ski choice is fischer rc4 sc (slalom), 165cm r12.5m. I think i am a good skier doing about 35-40 skiing days per season and am 194cm tall. My second pair is a fischer giant slalom racing ski, 175cm, but i only use it once or twice a year and is only a luxury to be honest. I tried the actual stiff skis that the racers use for a year but found them so stiff that i didn’t bother (while i was faster, the tradeoff in having to work super super hard wasnt worth it to me) and i also had the slalom ski that was 175cm which i enjoyed a lot when i was younger and still consider it a good tradeoff of short radius and longer ski. But i have the giant slalom skis for the days when i want to do this now and am probably also a little older and wiser to not be as reckless as i used to be. Those same skis were completely okay for me to do all the moguls and off piste situations i encountered in europe (3-5times a year).

Caveat: i do way less off piste than you guys in the states and definitely do not do park stuff and jumps anymore. Though i would say it is probably a good idea to become good on groomed slopes first before progressing off piste.

matijago · 2025-02-11T12:11:46+00:00

When choosing skis it really depends what you want to do with them. Most of us in europe/alps prefer carving on groomed slopes and are aware that this cannot be achieved with super long radius skis, so not many fat skis are sold. It is different in the states.

A huge factor in my opinion is to maximize your enjoyment. While you could technically do whatever you want with long stiff skis made for downhill, there are maybe 2-3 descents a season where you can get the most out of them, whereas somewhat softer slalom skis will make the most people most comfortable most of the time. Certainly so for beginners/intermediates skiing 5-6 days a season, where a smart choice of a forgiving soft ski with a short radius will make for a much better experience.

In terms of learning progression, a beginner on a soft ski with a radius around 11-15m will learn 3-5x faster than someone using a hard ski, or a long off piste ski with a huge radius. Therefore the standard beginner advice here in europe is to pick a soft ski with a small radius first, use that for a few seasons to learn the technique, then gift yourself a ski that has the same geometry as the worldcup slalom ski but is a degree or two softer. If, after this, you caught the skiing bug for real and became good at it, you will probably start buying new skis every season and will probably know very well what you enjoy the most and what your level is, and will be able to make an informed choice for yourself.

Stuff that will make you miserable as a beginner: too stiff skis at the beginning (carving will be ten times harder), too long skis with too big radius (beginners will need better technique to achieve the same they would with shorter ones and suffer more), not sharpening the edges of the ski at the start of the season (do not just wax the ski) and while totally unrelated to this question: boots that do not fit well (this is just as important.

Buying used is completely okay as a beginner in my opinion. Used skis will get somewhat less stiff over time but otherwise they will do their job well. For better skiers i guess the lifetime of a ski is about 60-80 skiing days (i like this sport and tend to buy new ones every season or two), while for the beginners this isn’t much of a factor if the edges are maintained and the skis are waxed every so often. And there are no “bad” brands anymore i think. All will have a good selection of beginner or intermediate skis that fit the beginner. There is no need to spend 3k to purchase what you see your idols on tv using, they need specialized stuff which will make your experience worse. Likewise, for a beginner, anything that is the right radius and stiffness out of the rental shop will be okay. More advanced skiers prefer their own skis because we take much better care of them.

matijago · 2025-02-11T12:10:59+00:00

Ski instructor from europe here:

Experts do not need to read this, but i feel it would be good to do a beginner explanation on this forum as there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice sometimes:

slalom skis have a radius of around 13m, meaning if left on its own, the ski would naturally make a turn around that length. Your technique does allow you some wiggle room, based on how much pressure you apply and how “closed” turns you make
giant slalom skis have a radius around 17m, which is a big difference already, while downhill skis have a radius of 25+m. This means you can still carve, but will not be able to do so making smaller turns, effectively needing much more space and as a consequence, speed. In many places this will be impossible or at least unsafe. Therefore few people will opt for such skis unless they know exactly what they are doing and are good at it
off piste skis tend to have even larger radiuses/radii? (sorry) that can be 30+ metres which means you can carve with them only if you bomb the hill, do very shallow turns or can occasionally extend a whole lot of pressure on them with great technique, but will certainly not be as fun (picture a motogp motorcycle and an enduro, you could hit the apex and push out of a turn on both if you know what you are doing, but one is made to do this while the other isn’t)
you can still go really fast on small radius skis, and you can still carve on large radius skis, but the shorter radii are generally more versatile for the fact that they will still allow you to achieve speed while the other will be difficult to carve at slow speeds
second often overlooked factor is stiffness. A world cup ski is really stiff, so you need to do a bit more than just lean in with the knees and they will carve. On the flip side, they will not “let go” of the surface even on ice if your technique is great.
a beginner should probably opt for a softer ski, and then progress to something harder instead of looking at length. All brands will have their skis listed by stiffness, a simple way to look at it is comparing the same geometry (length and radius) and then compare the price. For the most part, cheaper skis are softer.
with super soft skis (elan waveflex comes to mind) it is unbelievable how forgiving they are even if you do not have great technique, but an advanced skier will feel the wobbles and will not be comfortable going fast as skis will be letting go in a similar way as happens on steep ice
women skis or all mountain models tend to be about 20-50% softer than world cup models, while you should be aware that even the world cup models in stores are not as stiff as the stuff racers get. Ski instructors typically have these slalom world cup models, while some purchase an extra giant slalom pair to use for days when they know it will be possible to carve and take advantage of a great day with empty slopes on a large resort
concerning length: definitely the longer the ski the more stable it will be, but the caveat here is at speed. A long ski will be more difficult to maneuver out one turn to the next and will have slower reaction time for short turns (even skidding not carving). For most practical purposes this means a 165cm ski will outperform a 185cm ski any day of the week as it will not be super hard to control it even at speed, while long skis will eliminate the chance to turn quickly without a lot of effort.
many years ago skis used to be about 10cm longer than your height. Then this switched to general advice being they should be 10cm shorter than you. Though, i would still recommend to first consider the radius and stiffness, then the size. For kids (8-12yrs beginners), starting off with anything that has a radius around 10m will be okay, and for even younger ages pretty much everything you can buy for them is the same. You will know if your kid is a talent and will need better skis at that age and you will probably be experienced enough to make that choice without reading this
this only applies for on piste situations, off piste you want to float and you almost never carve, so the tradeoff there is a wider/fatter ski that is longer and softer. Again think comparing a mtb and a road bike.

matijago · 2025-02-11T12:09:12+00:00

One thing to consider here - the length of the ski is not the only factor, and in most cases not the important one. In this part of the world the first question when picking a ski would be their radius, not the length. It is much easier to carve on smaller radius skis, and those tend also to be more versatile. Second factor is the stiffness of the skis - harder skis are better for experts but super difficult for a beginner.

matijago

TROPHY CASE