Sometimes I'm disciplined, but I like to be a total slacker, too. I party hard, but I train hard.

I had to think about ankle torsion, where the screws are on the ski, how that affects the forces going into the ski and how the ski bends, your leverage points. It was a challenge. I was having the greatest time, making the mistakes, crashing.

I couldn't be happier with where my life's at right now. I have great partners, I have great stimulating relationships on the business side of things, I've been really busy and productive.

There's been times when I've been in really tough shape at the top of the course. Talk about a hard challenge right there. I mean, if you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy. Try and ski a slalom when … you hit a gate less than every one a second, so it's risky, you know. You're putting your life at risk there. It's like driving drunk only there's no rules about it in ski racing.

I've been myself my whole life.

Obviously, you always want to win, but you want to win by skiing a race that you're proud of and you feel like you really challenged yourself and left it all out there.

The best way to protect your own freedom is to watch everybody else's back. That's the essence of community.