Hotham my home mountain put on a great show for races #1 and #2 despite trying conditions. Training day had to be cancelled because of warm conditions and the resultant inability to groom the course, they also had to move the start down 20 meters to avoid a large hole that had developed in the snow cover!
On day one I qualified fastest and went on to have a comfortable win in the final, definitely making my presence felt & showing that my skills had improved by the way I gained distance on the one jump in the course and held an aggressive line. Stay tuned for a podium photo!
Day two was not quite as successful, when in the final I managed to get a bit too keen coming VERY hot into the first burm trying to put a pass on Belle Brockoff and managed to end up switch for the next roller section. Whoops! I still got third and should at least be please that I was 'going for it'.
On Thursday the 11th I made the trek to Wanaka to spend a few days training with Rachel Newton of HPC Cardrona and Red Mountain Resort & staying at the wonderful Purple Cow Hostel. I picked up 'Sunny' the rental car and drove to Wanaka and promptly decided I never wanted to leave!
And up at Sunny Cardrona. The weather got significantly nastier during the middle of my stay and I only got home Tuesday night because Rachel managed to coax me down vverrry slowly down on Tuesday after a 270 degree spin (with chains on!!!).
This was a valuable time to reestablish good habits and learn some new things, especially in the way of Positive Self Talk, something I had struggled with in the past. Rachel is a fantastic coach and at the end of 5 days training (and some powder riding thanks to the ridiculous storm that hit NZ) I felt like I was riding the best I had in a long time. I have really started to channel good riding memories to let me breathe pre-race. If anyone out there has a way to contact Fishing/Snowboarding Adam in Telluride I would love him to know that there was one day that we were bombing or straight lining a powder day up at Revelation Bowl (an over hyped lift but great this day early season) and did about 10 laps in 30 minutes with only maybe two or three turns between us is the memory that makes me feel good about going fast. Adam, you are the basis of my positive self talk when I'm freaking out!
Official Training Day on the Thursday went fantastically well despite a massive crash that put some lovely fluid in my ankle over a roller section. So I was pumped-up come Friday.
On race morning in my classic state of excitement I managed to forget my boots, luckily I hadn't left town when I remembered so went back for them... that could have been ugly! The day was gorgeous...
 |
| Rachel, Joss McAlpin and I sitting at the course - all smiles! |
 |
| 100% Pure New Zealand... and loving it! |
Unfortunately my start was not great come finals time and Belle had the jump on me. Despite riding the lower half of the course well (and according to Rachel my biased coach fastest) I couldn't make a pass and finished second by a couple of meters. All part of the game I guess but I am definitely inspired to improve my starts!
Here's a podium shot pre-party time out in Wanaka...
After getting a little bit caught up on Uni work this week and putting my 'Corporate' face on for a Law Interview next week I'm off to Hotham for a Rider Cross fun event and then Thredbo for Australian University Championships which shall be a great time. I'm excited about wearing my brand new Outerwear, thanks to my sponsor Anakie Outerwear, though it might be t-shirt weather given the trend in Oz at the moment!
Thank you to all those that made my stay in New Zealand fantastic, I'm looking forward to living there at some point in the future!
Smiling at you through my epic goggle tan!
