A week off in sleepy Canmore

After the hurly burly of the trip in the US it was a bit of a rude shock to return to the house in the woods, just out of Canmore. Luckily I was eased into the week off with the pleasant treat that Ollie, Mikey and Paul, 3 Australian friends were staying in Banff after a month in Steamboat. So on Monday morning after lifting weights for the first time in a month, Nate drove me over to Banff for a sleep-over.

Here are some photos of us loving life up at Sunshine on the Tuesday. There was a fair bit of snow and lots of smiles to go around!

Paul and Ollie getting REALLY excited in the Gondola

The children (Mike and I) playing in the Gondola

We can just fit in the frame with Jackets/Helmets/goggles etc!

Mikey and I enjoying a beer at Trappers on the hill, much needed at this point!

Once I had run out of fresh clothes, uch to the boys amusement, I hitched back home. It was time to settle into a routine of gym-time, walking to and from the house, and reading a recently delivered text-book on Patents. Oh the joys of getting back into athlete-life and uni!

Mikey and Ollie had a hotel-less night so they came to the Spray to stay! I showed Mikey the sights, that is the frozen waterfalls which are invariably covered in ice-climbers and the mountains and woods around the house. Then we settled into a night of pizza and a few drinks. It was lots of fun to share my little piece of the world with friends from home, so thanks for coming to stay boys!

This week we have begun training again. There is a little course at Lake Louise to work on a few things and lots of fun (and big) jumps in the park. My body is starting to feel good again, though lifting weights is really a rude shock after all that time on the road and all those chicken nuggets!! It is great to have a few more weeks of training before one last race and heading home.

The big news today is my feet are frozen and struggling to defrost, they don't seem to like this Canadian cold very much...

Sending frozen smiles from Canmore.

Getting it done at the US Grand Prix - The Canyons, UT

Our final race on the tour was the big one - the US National Championships incorporated into the US Grand Prix at The Canyons in Utah. This race had a real World Cup feel with hospitality for the riders (eg free food!) and lots of media. The course was bigger than anything I had ever seen: even bigger and scarier than Steamboat. However, I had a feeling that I was going to be able to deal with this one a little better, I was sure that I could stay relaxed and focussed with my new found zen! Training and competing was a little later here, with the girls going after the boys, so each morning I spent some time having fun riding in the park. This certainly helped me loosen up for the course.

With two training days Adam and I decided to break down the course into the 'top' to the big sweeping burm 4. This included 2 nicely built wu-tangs, 3 winding burms into a decent step up and then a funky rhythm section of 5 rollers shaped like a camel that were spaced so that the boys could double into it and out of it but for us ladies it meant some seriously loose legs!

Looking back to the start from the top of the second wu-tang

See that big sweeping burm way down there?! This is the 'top' section.

I totally conquered my goals for Day 1, managing to get more aggressive and balanced through the start. Adam filmed us and some of the better riders which was great for comparisons sake. Although I may have achieved my goals, comparing myself to Lindsay Jacoellis riding the burms made me realsed there is a long way to go!

Day 2 of training, the official training day was all about getting the middle section sorted. This was a long and rather flat roller section with a couple of larger step up jumps which I struggled to clear for the entire competition. However, I was hitting things, and I also started rolling through most of the lower jumps section of the course. I was pleased that I started riding the burms better, it is trickier than you would think to carry your speed through them!

Day 3 was for qualifications. Adam was not completely happy with me racing as I hadn't ridden off the step down until my final training run. However, I managed to convince him that I was up to it and did compete which I was pleased with. I was not the worst and fell pretty neatly into the cluster of Nor-Am riders - though there was a large gap to the world cup ladies that were competing. It was a pleasing day, however, I was disappointed that as so many girls pulled out my 12th place wouldn't let me progress to finals, only 8 being taken.

Here is the lower section of the course...

The start is way up above were you can just see the top of the red fencing!

And here are some photos from the bottom on finals day... it was pretty fun just being there, eating lots of food and drinking a couple of beers!

Nate struggles at life...

Justin chatting to two brothers who managed to take each other out in the quaterfinals, they were in the lead at the time. Bummer!

Happy Australians Amanda and Jarryd

Cam not sure if he is happy after leading Graham Watanabe and crashing in his heat

So that's a wrap of our time in Utah learning more about Mormons and the entire trip around the US. We celebrated on the last night with a stupid dare (mostly my own fault) that I couldn't eat 50 Chicken Nuggets - they are only $9.99!! God Bless America. For the record I managed to do it in 16 minutes, and was left feel fairly sick and sorry for myself - and $20 richer!! But I guess as always... when in Rome...

I'm back in sleepy Canmore now for a few weeks of training before a couple of local races and heading home!

Sending exhausted smiles from Canmore.

Being a not so steezy park rat in PARK (rat) CITY

With a few days to kill before our on course training begins on Wednesday I knew I couldn't sit about in the apartment without getting way too stir crazy, so today I headed out to Park City Resort for a day in the Park. This place was no joke, there is a serious park here!

With two lines of medium jumps and one larger set in the park, hundreds of rails, boxes and other jibs and a fairly decent pipe I was happy with my reduced price ticket which only gave access to the park chair. Aside from feeling fairly inept in my park riding abilities and my outfit was definitely not up to current fashion standards (tight pants, tall t's, tucked in pants to ski boots, it was all the norm) I had a great day getting more confident hitting larger lines of jumps and riding a few rails too.

Here is a view of the 'Kings Crown' Park on the ridge. The afternoons mission? I think not, these jumps are massive, 80+ft!!

Park City itself is a fairly ritzy resort town, though the urban sprawl around it is certainly not that classy. We are staying almost in the parking lot of a large outlet shopping centre, ahh the serenity.

The competition here is set up a little differently to the other Nor-Am's as it is a US Grand Prix race. The course is likely to be fairly challenging. We will have two training days and then qualifications and finals are on separate days. Finals day will include concerts, lots of media (this is televised on NBC in a week or so) and lots more noise than we are used to. With a World Cup standard field I will be very much focussed on how I ride the course rather than expecting any results.

Check out my new helmet/goggle combo post steamboat!

Sending smiles and steezy park rat vibes from Park City, wish me luck!

Playing the game

After my epic crashes is Steamboat my body was pretty sore. I had some fairly well bruised ribs, nose, hips, ankles, and knees. Good fun really! So, as mentioned in my last blog I stayed in Steamboat a little longer than expected, which was great for family time and recuperation. I also met a new friend who really made me realise how lucky I am, how perfect life is and how happy I should be - those sort of people are few and far between, thanks Kevin.

Moving on to Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe I thought my body was on the up, I thought my ribs were healing fine and the scabs were nothing but minor. However, standing at the course on Tuesday I realised I was carrying more than physical injuries from the crashes in Steamboat. Only those who have tried will know what it feels like to pull into a boardercross course. You know that it could be great fun, but you also kind of recognise that there is some serious danger that could result from this silly decision to pull in. Unfortunately for me those latter thoughts were dominating in Tahoe, and lacking confidence is not the way to start training or a race in this sport. So after some tears, some angry and disappointed words and some reflection I decided to take the first day off racing. I just wasn't there yet.

Thus, Thursday was a day of fun filled action in the park and the sun. How lucky am I, this is the bad alternative!? I was hitting big jumps and having fun doing it, I was attacking some pretty killer groomers and loving them and was just happy. Jess Kay came up to shred the gnar for the afternoon which made me very happy, as only hanging with a friend from birth can do. I therefore asked Adam to get my bib so I could see how I felt in the start gate on the second day.

I did it. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't smooth, but I raced! Friday was a great day for conquering demons!! However, I was pretty annoyed that some 'gaper'/punter/incompetent person riding Flow bindings managed to qualify in front of me by not trying to hit the big jump, perhaps I should have taken that lame road. However, I didn't and I didn't qualify being the bubble girl at 9th place by a tenth of a second. With two crashes and a narrow miss at qualifying I realised that this sport is not so scary and I should man up and enjoy it. I'm one of the lucky ones - I have so much going for me outside of this boardercross caper that I really can just enjoy it. If it doesn't work out I'll be turning to the corporate law world in no time!!! (Maybe not, but I'm sure I can find something I enjoy!)

So after a few margaritas, a bit of a gamble in Nevada (I broke even) and a bit of fun with some new friends on the way home I'm feeling good about the big, scary, grand prix in Utah coming up next week. Travel tomorrow so I should probably get to bed.

Sending tipsy and slightly sunburnt smiles from Tahoe.

I hurt...

I think I know what a rookie AFL footballer feels like after their first really bruising match, or a lightweight boxer who faced off against a heavyweight champion, it feels like I do right now. Everything hurts. Steamboat, CO, has definitely taught me a lot about what it will take for me to be competitive at this sport, it has taught my body that it can withstand all sorts of pain and still function and it has taught me that I need to be more confident in what I'm doing or it is time not to do this sport.

Racing in Steamboat started off with a fairly intimidating training day. I had had some fantastic days riding powder with my family and teammates and was feeling really great about my snowboarding. Spending time flying through trees, carving up moguls and slashing at powder stashes made me confident that I was in good shape to compete this week. However, inspection of the course showed that just competing would be a challenge, the course was long, very technical and had some massive jumps to contend with. The start section was completely different to anything I had seen before. It consisted of a steep drop in to an abrupt step down, then you rapidly approached a 20-30ft kicker that spat you high in the air. After that you had to make sure that you landed solidly so as to be prepared for 5 very deep rollers into the first burm. This start proved a challenge to almost all the riders, people were being spat out left, right and centre. Nevermind that you still had another 2 step downs, 4 kickers, 6 burms and 2 roller sections to contend with after getting through unscathed. This course was all about commitment, more speed made everything smoother but it also meant facing the prospect of fairly high speed crashes.

It took me a fair amount of time to build up the courage to drop in. I struggled to clear the first jump on my first few runs meaning that hitting any of the lower features was impossible, not having enough speed at all. I finally 'manned up' and followed Justin into the course at more appropriate and committed speed. I took the jump perfectly, landed with aplomb and barrelled into the rollers. Unfortunately I was carrying a lot of speed and was bounced in an epic fashion. Apparently, this was fairly spectacular from the top. I cracked my goggles, bruised my nose and put my teeth into my lower lip (note to self: don't forget your mouthguard next time). Ski Patrol asked me where I was, what I was doing and my favourite whether I remembered what happened - I epically face-planted into the uphill of a roller and smashed my head... is that what they wanted to know? Later on I also realised that my helmet was cracked and my ribs were pretty sore too. This was not how I had hoped to prepare for race day, the only thing to do was to go home and forget about it.

Wednesday I woke up feeling much better than expected and ready to race. I knew I could do this course. I did better in training, Adam was still unsure whether I should be competing. The agreement we came to was that I would drop in but if I didn't have enough speed to hit any jumps I would pull out and disqualify myself. Adam seemed reassured that self-preservation was high in my priorities. I wasn't the only girl not sure if they would compete after Tuesday training and Wednesday pre-race training the number of girls had gone down from 20 plus to 12 starters. No one was feeling that confident. I nailed my first run down the course, albeit very slowly, when I reached the bottom I swear I was the happiest person there despite being in 10th place. Actually riding off of all the features was no small achievement for me, I was very happy with myself for committing to riding the course. My second run was not so successful, I crashed on the first jump and thus did not have enough speed to complete the course, I had to pull off, thus ending my day.

Thursday, Race Day 2 was all about being aggressive in the course and not just making it down. My first training run was a winner, I hit everything at speed and was feeling great. Unfortunately my second training run, where I really tried to match the landing better off the first jump ended in a fairly decent crash. A little more gravel rash on my lower back just made me angry and ready to race. Time trials started with the skiers which gave me even more time to get anxious, not a good thing. I had a small crash into the b-netting off THAT (first) JUMP but got up and rode the rest of the course pretty well.

It was the second time trial where everything went really wrong with a huge crash off 'that jump'. As I took off I could feel that I was on my heel edge, I was flying through the air with little to do but relax and prepare for the impact. The worst part was knowing Mum was standing about 20 metres away watching this all go down. I landed solidly on my hip and was unsure that I could get up. Ski Patrol checked out my head again and got me moving but I needed a little sled ride down as I was way too battered and shaken up to snowboard. The application of iodine to gravel rash really hurts, don't let anyone do it to you unless you have something to squeeze ridiculously hard. Luckily my new helmet was not yet cracked!

I have never felt quite as sore as I do at the moment. I delayed my flight to California for a few days to give me more time to recover more comfortably on the couch with Mum, Dad and Lizzie to nurse me. Also, I don't think I could carry my bags quite yet. I'm looking forward to making amends at Tahoe after a fairly shambolic event in Steamboat. Though, to be fair to myself I was one of the few girls who actually attempted to compete, and was pleased that I did get through the course a few times. My snowboarding was not pretty and it made me realise I need a lot more time practicing being in the air and committing to big jumps.

I have loved having friends and family in Steamboat and have had really relaxed time despite all the crashes, I have had fun eating good food, making lovely new friends and the occasional Margarita. Thanks to everyone here who has made such a good support crew including, Courtney, Rick, Mike, Paul, Ollie, Cat, the Jeremiah's, the Howsens, and especially Mum, Dad and the Lizard.

Sending smiles and the occasional grimace from Steamboat.

Wish me a speedy recovery!!

A little photo update

Here are some photos of the road thus far, keeping up to date is hard with all the travel!

Big White, and the big white-out we experienced there meant many a delay and lots of waiting.

Allie and Nate taking a nap in the lodge while we waited for the late start due to snow.

Moving on to Mt Hood, OR, despite the fact that it had been raining for 10 days prior and immediately started to rain the day we left, both of our race days were beautiful and sunny.

Adam and Rachel surveying the course before inspection.

Photo op, looking out from Mt Hood

Also, look at who I found from Australia in Oregon...

Amanda and I chilling on the wax bench

Courtney Date - who thought he would finally take himself a little seriously and try and race!

So there is a little catch up on photos. Steamboat, CO is proving a very enjoyable time with family here, lots of old friends and some new friends too. The course itself is pretty tricky. After a fairly epic goggle smashing, helmet cracking crash in training and not actually hitting the large majority of the course in training I was pretty pleased with making it down in the first day of racing. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. A full update will follow once I make it to California!

Sending smiles from a rather bruised face.

2 races down, second town and moving on

We have had our first races for the season. After arriving in Big White on Wednesday we were greeted by fog and sleet on the Thursday, with a little fresh snow! This meant that the afternoon free-riding was restricted to tree-riding - which was very fun but cold too. The course was still being built but we were the 'test-riders' for the starting wu-tangs. Lets just say they were bigger than anything I had ever seen and fairly tricky to get over!

Friday training day was foggy once again. Apparently Big White is called as such for a reason, it is often a "Big White"-out. The conditions were somewhat similar to a horrible day at interschools at Buller. I'm sure many of you can sympathise that we were, therefore, somewhat relieved when training was cancelled and replaced with only course inspections (that is slow side slipping). The course was big, fast and a little terrifying if I'm being perfectly honest. I had definitely never tried something like this before.

After not being able to train on Friday we were eager Saturday (foggy but not so bad) race morning to get to the course nice and early and get as many training runs as possible. Unfortunately for me I dropped in third out of everyone and managed to have a fairly large crash over the second feature. I still managed to qualify though did not snowboard as well as I could. I crashed out in my first heat giving me a final result of 14th - not too bad.

Sunday, was another foggy day; suprise, suprise! I had a better training session and was much more confident on the course so saw it as an improvement though my placing stayed the same coming 14th again.

We travelled from Big White to Mt Hood on Monday the 17th and I was pleased for the change in scenery. I just want to relax a bit more, as I think my snowboarding really suffers if I'm too stressed out. It has been a great treat to have a couple of Aussie friends, Courtney and Amanda, to hang out with here. Courtney and I have had some delicious milkshakes - great race preparation, who needs to carbo load? Training day was puking snow, the course is quite small in comparison to Big White but still fun. Our first race day, today, was gorgeous and sunny. I qualified in 14th - AGAIN! I was please with how I was snowboarding and had a great start in my heat. I was riding down in a close third into the last little stretch when a lovely girl from quebec decided to t-bone me into the last burm. She came off second best though and landed on the gate; that's what you get for trying to pass an Australian! This meant no hope of catching up to 2nd and my day was over, I think in about 12th place. I JUST WANT TO RACE AGAIN NOW - definitely have the fire in the belly!!

Stay posted for pictures, this place is beautiful!

Sending smiles from Oregon - fingers crossed for race two tomorrow!