His favourite book is "Winter's Heart". What more can you say about up-and-coming Canadian skier Erik Guay? How about:
It was 30 degrees below zero in Tremblant in January 1986 and the Guays were sledging in the field behind the house. "I was four at the time - it's my earliest childhood memory," says Erik.
And a very formative one, when you consider that the now 25-year-old only ever gets as big an adrenalin rush in connection with snow and ice. The only thing that's changed since then is the equipment: "There’s nothing like skiing in the world," he raves, "When you’re doing a downhill and you’re going 165 kilometres an hour, and you lean in as far as you can and you just can’t go in far enough with all the g-force. Then you accelerate out of the turn and you’re trying to get everything you can out of it. It’s such an amazing feeling, like you’re floating and in complete control."
Like father, like son
Erik was five when he competed in his first ski race, and when he was twelve his father, himself a ski team coach, took him for professional coaching.
Even today, they still sit together to study the video footage of Erik's runs, puzzling over the decisive fractions of a second: "Dad's my hero," says Erik. "He taught me everything I know." Determination, for example, being hard on yourself and making sure you don't leave anything to chance: in order to work out the best aerodynamic position for downhill runs, he even spent a day in GM's wind tunnel - the very same wind tunnel used for NASCAR stock cars.
The reward: four podium finishes to date, most recently a second place in the downhill at Val d'Isere.
Goal: an Olympic medal in his homeland
Even though it's the high-speed courses that he finds most fun, Erik will be competing in all disciplines: "Essentially the slalom and downhill are the same, only in the latter the gates come at you at breakneck speed."
Which is why Erik, who also enjoys freeskiing during the off-season, has set his sights on winning the Overall World Cup title, on becoming "the next Stephan Eberharter," he says.
He is currently in action in the World Championships in Are, Sweden, but his big dream are the forthcoming Olympic Games, which will be hosted by his native Canada in 2010: "To win an Olympic gold medal would be the highlight of my career. And I'd be just the right age to do it at 28."
Tough nut
Travelling around for months on end is "the only downside to my dream job," he says. Fear of flying? Home sickness? No mention: "We have the most beautiful girls at home in Canada."
Back home in Quebec he also has a GSXR 500 Movie Star Edition ("There are only five or ten in Canada"), his hip hop CD collection and his DVD library, a recent addition to which is every series of "24".
Is there anything left to dream of? "A Ferrari Enzo, a castle in Whistler and a date with Jessica Simpson," he lists.
So is Erik a golden boy? More of a tough nut who tops off his willingness to do anything for success with casual sound bites. An example?
When a serious injury put him out for an entire season in 2003, the doctor at the hospital promised him that after the operation his smashed leg would be even stronger than before. Erik replied: "Why didn't you do the other leg at the same time?"