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It not surprising that Todd Lodwick wasn't happy when the U.S. Nordic combined team decided to leave its Steamboat Springs headquarters for Park City, Utah, four years ago.

The team's top skier was born and raised in the mountains surrounding the Yampa Valley, and for nearly 10 years, he had trained, competed and lived in his hometown. But the need for the U.S. team to be based near the state-of-the art, year-round jumps in Park City forced the move, and Lodwick did his best to adjust.

"Steamboat is and always will be my home," Lodwick said. "Leaving was something that I never considered."

For several years, Lodwick made the trip back and forth to Utah to take part in camps and special training sessions. But it came as no surprise when he decided to set out on his own two years ago and return to his roots in Steamboat. It also wasn't a surprise that he looked to his former coach Tom Steitz for help.

"It was tough on Todd when the team decided to relocate," Steitz said.

Steitz, who coached the U.S. Nordic combined team from 1992 to 2002, has been working with Lodwick for the past two seasons. Lodwick trains in Steamboat but still takes part in U.S. Team camps, and is part of the team at World Cup competitions in Europe.

During the off-season and between events, Steitz works with U.S. coaches Bard Elden and Lasse Ottesen to make sure that Lodwick stays on the track to World Cup success and Olympic glory in February at Turin, Italy.

"It's nice having somebody looking over your shoulder, making sure I'm dong the work and helping me when I have problems," Lodwick said. "I don't think of him as my coach. ... This is more of a friendship."

It's also a way for Lodwick to stay in the town he loves while he remains a vital part of the U.S. Ski Team's Nordic Combined program,

"I don't think of myself as a coach," Steitz said. "I'm more like Todd's adviser."

Steitz doesn't travel with the team, but he stays in constant contact with Lodwick by phone and e-mail. He also contacts coaches and friends on the World Cup Tour to find out how Lodwick in performing and places where he needs to improve.

"I think this is the best system," Steitz said. "When I was with the team, my evaluation of how things were going was biased.

"I would watch Todd jump, but it was

hard for me to be honest about how where things were going. I was too close to him and to the competition.

"Now I just call all the coaches I know from other countries, or friends, and they will tell me how Todd looks. I always get a really honest assessment, because they are not the ones who are coaching him."

Steitz said, at this point in Lodwick's career, the Steamboat athlete doesn't really need a coach to tell him what he's doing right and wrong. Lodwick already knows.

"Todd probably knows more about Nordic combined than almost anyone in the world right now," Steitz said. "I can suggest things, but he already knows what to do."

During the past 13 years, Lodwick and his coach have developed a relationship that is built on good times and success, and bad times and failure. Through it all, the two have developed a sense of respect for each other that stretches past the snow-covered jumps and cross-country tracks of the World Cup.

"There's nobody else that knows me as well as Tom does," Lodwick said. "He loves the sport, and he wants to be a part of my success."

During the next 54 days, the skier and his coach will prepare for the biggest event of Lodwick's long and productive skiing career. After three previous Olympic appearances and more World Cup podiums than any other Nordic combined skier in U.S. history, it appears that this will be Lodwick's final shot at an Olympic medal.

Instead of competing on the World Cup in the second period, Lodwick will stay in Steamboat Springs to continue his training program. With the guidance of Steitz, Lodwick said he thinks he will be prepared for his fourth Olympic Games.

The move will allow Lodwick to be at home when his wife, Sunny, gives birth to the couple's first child. The Lodwicks are expecting the arrival any day.