My introduction to it in 1998 was for the Junior World Championships. We were there for two weeks taking at least four runs a day. I made it down exactly five times...total. I went to bed every night lying flat on my back to avoid the pain of lying on my blackened arms and legs.

After many years of sliding, I have come to realize, or at least convince myself, that more speed actually makes it easier to get down. At faster speeds you have less time to make as many mistakes!

We left Altenberg in a stew of emotion. After a mixture of good, bad and average performances, moods on the team ranged accordingly. I mean, what's a normal amount of disappointment? How does one gauge when critical self reflection strays from helpful to hindrance?

Personally, I believe that the only way to become successful and then stay there is being able to distinguish the differences between what makes a race work and what doesn't. If an athlete doesn't understand why they performed well, it makes it substantially more difficult, if not utterly impossible, for them to continuously repeat it.

I am a feedback addict. I crave when a coach, teammate, even a competitor tell me that I am doing something wrong or how I could do something better or more efficiently. It tells me that I have room to get better, faster. To me, if I haven't finished first (which I never have), there are obviously things that I am doing wrong or not doing at all. Period. It's one component, the 'post mortem' critique, done as individuals AND as a team, that I think is sometimes missing. Especially when we are the youngest luge team in the world.

Training in Sigulda went well for the team which is why the race results are even more disappointing. It was Jorgen's first time there and he seemed to catch on with relative ease enduring an expected and normal amount of lashing's and bruises. Jeff and Sam slid well but, like the rest of the men, struggled with fast curve combinations up top. Because the men start higher up the track, they often deal with two to six curves more and up to 20 kilometers more speed.

I was most proud of Ian. Week after week of crashing is not only hard on your body, it's hard on your spirit. But he fought…till the bitter end and I would say he was won.

In doubles, Grant and Eric were pulling some of the fastest starts and were driving good lines the whole week. Sam and Gwyn had their best week ever making improvements every run. Last year they failed to compete when Sam broke his hand.

Madison was impressive with her lines and her position seemed substantially improved. Meaghan seemed to have no big problems, fighting only with the start curve. My biggest problem was also the start curve combination. The ladies and doubles always have to battle what's known as a 'start curve' because they join the track further down and the start ramp and curve usually don't line up.

In the Challenge Cup, I was paired against an American and an Austrian. I ended up moving on to the semi final where I was knocked out and finished fourth – a personal best. Albrecht/Pothier got knocked out in the first round after a tough pairing against an American and Italian team.

In the qualification round, the only sled to make it into the race was Madison. Sheer disappointment ensued. I mean, a bad run or bad day can happen…but the entire team? In a sport that's measured by increments that are faster than you blink and in a filed of the world's best athletes, mistakes are not tolerated and certainly not forgiven.

It felt like we got cheated. The team had slid well and I thought that everyone deserved to race the World Cup. Unfortunately, nobody cares how fast you go in training; it’s how fast you go in the race that counts.

On the bright side, there were definitely some highlights from the World Cup that are worth noting. Madison had an excellent first run, putting her temporarily in 13th but some mistakes on her second run pushed her back to 24th. I also made mistakes on the second run and ended up in 12th. Not where I want to be, but a personal best finish on that track. Grant and Eric had a great day with two solid runs and finished in 7th.

We packed up, excited to be heading home even if it was only for two days due to a week long break from competition before the next World Cup in Lake Placid, USA.

Placid is a tricky track whose technical difficulty depends almost entirely on the ice conditions and weather. The Adirondack Mountains in New York where the track sits has become known for some of the coldest sliding weather on the circuit (Calgary is up there too!). Originally built for the 1980 Olympic Games, the track was blown up and re-built for the 2000 Goodwill Games.

But no matter how bumpy the ice or cold the weather, there is one thing that remains one of our biggest and most gratifying advantages – the Europeans hate it!