"Yes, and 8 jackass snowboards make it unbearably long," I thought when I glanced up at the Irish proverb on a sign at a restaurant we ate at near Denver airport, after the chaos of the trip.
Two delayed and re-routed checked bags, one misplaced snowboard bag, one lost (or stolen) snowboard bag with about $2,000 of equipment, two arguments with coaches, 10 squished and uncomfortable car rides, 2 frenzied drives to the races and course inspections, and much bickering over trivial things (like where to watch practice video) later, I come home from Revolution Tour stop #2, Copper Mountain, Colorado.
This was the most uncomfortable and irritating trip I have been on with the team. It was the twilight zone of snowboard bags, things lost and misplaced and still not found. Bummer to lose equipment. I didn't lose anything, except the race.
As for that, 42 girls did a time trial each. The top 16 go to finals to get a chance to compete with one another, and win a spot at the Grand Prix in Idaho next month. But, you guessed it, I got 17th. Yuck. I ran a 52.12 second race, the girl in 16th was at 51.55. Jeeez. Okay, I'm riding better, I love these courses, my knee feels great, and a two year hiatus from boardercross is long, but I won't be at peace until I place well. I was so frustrated I didn't watch much of the finals, snowboarded off to ride pipe at the mountain, and didn't really say much to the rest of the team.
I cruised back to watch our fruitcake coaches place 3rd and 4th. I stood about halfway down the course with 5 other people, riders and officials. Riders crashed and flew off course here and there, and after each race the officials had to confirm their section of the course was ready. I listened to the walkie-talkies "Finish: Clear," "Section 5: Clear," all the way to section 1 and "Start: Clear." Then a woman's voice with an Australian accent would announce, "Riders on course." 4 riders would sail over the first jump 5 seconds later, then through the 8 or 9 bank turns that snaked down to the finish.
I thought of
the conversation the night before, about the fact that the best racers have been around for a long time, and have miles of race courses under their belt. Even younger kids who are 17 and killing it, have been racing since they were 10 years old. Boardercross is a style of riding that takes some time to learn, like pipe and slopestyle. To me it's beautiful because it's fluid, exciting, and unpredictable. I listened to one rider who stood next to me after he was knocked out call it "lotto-cross." The best rider might be clipped by another guy and someone else advances.
At this point I was okay with not making finals, but of course not satisfied. It might take a little more time, more races, but I've improved a lot since I began. I want to be back where I was, and go further than before.
Back to Copper Mt. on Monday for two races for the SBX NorAm:
http://www.ussa.org/magnoliaPublic/ussa/en/events/snowboarding/competitions/sbxnoram.htmlHappy and excited for that one.
Meanwhile the USASA series begins at Alpine on Saturday. It's good to be home for the moment.
This year I've suffered a few more injuries than I'm used to, but today, I realized it's okay. I also realized that last night. I have a bruised rib from a boardercross race yesterday (1st place points for USASA Nationals in Colorado in April - auh yeah), and I still have this shoulder problem. My coach cracked two ribs at the Jeep King of the Mountain, and Rob, my teammate, hurt his ribecage as well. Let's all take a moment to breathe now.
. . . is making me climb up the walls. I hate missing events. Man I wish I could race in this one. The course looks absolutely too fun and I'm getting my boards dialed in. Next year, next year, next year. I want me some Jeep.
Dashing in a picture of Shawn Palmer, because . . . um, well, he exists. Standing next to him makes me feel fast, and young.
Snow banks are high, this one about 12 ft. maybe, in Truckee.
On this most recent and tricky little course, one feature schnagled our whole team. It was about 1/3 of the way down the course, a "Clam Bank Turn", as Rob liked to call it, because it resembled a clam shell. Two rollers on top of a bank turn, then a small curb/drop-off to flat, and a kicker/roller all smashed into about 15 curved yards. The problem was, if you lost any control, were just a hair slow, or your timing was off, you ended up bouncing off the rollers/clam grooves, or didn't clear the jump and knuckled. I knuckled, as did most of the girls, 2nd run, 1st day. Something is wrong with my rotator cuff on my right shoulder now, but I'm not worried. I didn't have enough speed when I thought I did, bounced right off the knuckle before the transition, and landed on my right shoulder. Two days later Lauren would fracture/bruise her hip on the same spot. Rob fell on it too, and the Yac Yam http://onemountain.blogspot.com/2008/02/patricia-sacrificial-lamb.html lost a first place spot in a fumble there.
the conversation the night before, about the fact that the best racers have been around for a long time, and have miles of race courses under their belt. Even younger kids who are 17 and killing it, have been racing since they were 10 years old. Boardercross is a style of riding that takes some time to learn, like pipe and slopestyle. To me it's beautiful because it's fluid, exciting, and unpredictable. I listened to one rider who stood next to me after he was knocked out call it "lotto-cross." The best rider might be clipped by another guy and someone else advances.
SFO is funny. I mean, c'mon. This was the last bag. We saw it as we waited for our "oversized luggage" snowboards to arrive. We were the only ones left though.
Team loaded and headed to Minnesota. This is what the general picture looks like. We haul our snowboards, waxing kits, helmets, luggage through airports, car rentals, escalators - I'm looking at another 3.2 months of this. Greeaate.
Snowy and Disel on the street in 3' or 4' of fresh snow. Yes, that is my street. Deep man. Deeeep.
