Ready to charge…just like I was at 17.
Alright, so I’m going to do this right. This year is the year I decided to get back into the snow for real, so I might as well get all serious and write up a list of my goals…come spring I can look back and hopefully each one will have a check-mark sitting next to it. I’m not sure how I feel about this since its publicly proclaiming everything I suck at–but whatever–its just my pride. Here goes..
THE PARK
Boxes–I definitely want to get my confidence back in the park. Rail slides were killed for me when attempted to rail slide a log, the board slid out from under me and my tail bone landed right in the center of the log. I broke up with rail slides that day. But now, I’m back. But I want to do it right this time. So, I’m taking it slow at first.
Here’s my plan…find the least intimidating box in the park (hopefully one with too much of an audience) and start out with 50-50s. Hike. Repeat until its solid. Then I’ll move onto boardslides. If I can get these down for this season, I’ll be happy. But if I can nail them, I’ll want to add more to this list.
Jumps–Same story here too. Staying over my board while in the air has always been my issue. The nose of my board likes to shoot forward and my bum likes to fall back. The only way I can get decent control and keep from doing a back plant in the snow is by doing a grab. I want to start on smaller jumps, get some air, and stomp the landing.
Grabs makes everything better.
Another one of my biggest problems is doing way too many speed checks–this royally screwed me when I was attempting a gap over a cat track. I am going to focus on centering my weight over my board and maintaining speed.
Spins–I’m also going to work on 180s and 360s. First on flats and then off of jumps and boxes. Right now, I can’t get my body around enough and I catch edge. I think I need more speed, more height in my ollies, and more shoulder rotation. Three more things to add to the list.
THE POW
I’ve talked about everything I suck at, and I just want to say that I can rock it on the ice. Yeah, ice. One thing Minnesota snow can teach you is how to use your edges and weight so you don’t fall when the entire hill is one giant sheet of shiny ice. The stakes are high, falling on ice hurts. A lot. So you learn fast in the Midwest.
Riding on ice isn’t very cool. Besides, out west if its icy everyone is inside having a beer. But people are out on the slopes if there is fresh, fresh pow. Ahh. I’ve been able to stay upright in less than a foot of pow and caught a glimmer of that incredible floating feeling. But I want to ride deeper powder without doing lots and lots of cartwheels down the mountain.
I’ll need to learn to keep the nose of my board up higher and to navigate more with my back leg, than my front. I also want to try out a longer board. Right now I ride a 148 and am thinking I might want something bigger.
This season I’m ready to look dumb, fall a lot, and generally suck. Because its easy to do what I’m already good at. But its boring. And I’d rather be learning something new than doing the same old thing. Bring it!
If you have any tips, let me know. What are your goals for the season?
