Zaskoda

Before I get into my day, let me say that I’ve got about half a bottle of wine in me. So, today wasn’t such a good day. To be completely honest, nothing happened today that will have significant negative repercussions on the future (that I know of). Still it was a rather taxing and not a significantly rewarding day.

It started off good. On the way up to the mountain, I happened to pass through the George Town area as they were having their ice races. When the lake freezes over, a group congregates with 4×4 vehicles and they race on the ice. I snapped a quick picture on the way by. I got a message from Julie, a new member of Dallas Snowboarders. She and her friend Abe were up at Breckenridge – so I decided to join them for the day. That’s when things started to grind.

Mostly, it was traffic. I thought I was never going to make it to Breck. I didn’t make it to town until after noon. I got a run in before meeting up with Julie and Abe. A couple of runs later I realized I was ill prepared for the temperature. I was literally shivering on the lift. I’ve never shivered on a lift! I was SO cold. I left them to head back to my truck to put on an extra layer of clothing. That’s when I realized what time it was. The mountain closes at either 4 or 4:30 (not sure which) and it was almost 3. I’d only been riding for just over 2 hours, but I knew that traffic would be bad considering it is a holiday weekend. I decided to go ahead and head back home.

On top of holiday traffic, a storm set in. To make a long (very long) story short, it took me nearly 5 hours to get home. Traffic was insane and I-70 sucks! (had to say it) It was so bad, they shut down ALL west bound traffic and made everyone return to Denver – which meant even more delays for my direction. It was a miserable drive.

And that, for the most part, was my entire day. I had a lot of things I wanted to get done this evening. I guess those things will have to wait. I did get the apartment straightened up a little bit. I even ran the vacuum in the living room. However, clothes need to be washed, dishes need to be put away, paperwork needs to be sorted, and so much more. Being a bachelor is tough, lemme tell ya! On top of all that, I was hoping to pick up some items for my New Years Eve party costume. Hrmph…

Still, it was a day that included snowboarding, so how can I really complain? The snow was really good and Julie & Abe are really fun to ride with. I look forward to meeting up with them again on new years day. Tomorrow being new years eve, it looks like the count for the 07 part of the season will rest at 22. I’m pleased enough. 100 days still seems so very far away, but much of the season still remains.

78 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

Few things have taught me the value and strength of faith more than snowboarding. I believe that the lesson can be applied to just about any part of life. Please, indulge me for just a moment.

First, I’m not talking about religious faith. I’m not talking about blind faith. The faith I’m talking about could also be called confidence; I’m talking about faith in yourself and faith in the moment.

Rarely do I ever go snowboarding and not feel fear. Maybe that’s what makes any given sport “extreme”? When I’m challenging myself as a snowboarder, I’m constantly putting myself into situations where a mistake can mean pain. In some cases, a mistake could also mean death. Being aware of this risk and remembering the pain of all my past mistakes feeds my fear.

Many of my mistakes happen because I did not know what to do in a new situation. These mistakes can not be helped. More often, my mistakes happen because I let fear control me. Fear of leaning down the mountain causes me to lean too far back and then I catch an edge and fall. Fear of going too fast causes me to cut too hard into the mountain and then I hit a bump and lose my balance. Fear of falling causes me to imagine myself falling – and then I fall.

Snowboarding, like so many other things in life, is about owning one’s fear. Every day I go ride, I grow. My greatest joy comes when I overcome my fear and have faith in my own ability to ride through the moment. I find that this becomes a series of moments, one after another, where I’m not concerned about past or future – only the now. Furthermore, I find that when I have removed all doubt and fear from my awareness and am left with only faith and confidence, I also find myself at peace. It’s at these times when I ride my best.

Snowboarding also taught me that fear is always on the move. What scared me before, once conquered, likely won’t scared me again. However, as I continue to explore, I find that fear is never far away. The process of growing and improving as a rider means finding and conquering fear over and over.

I’ve observed this paradigm directly in other extreme sports such as slacklining, mountain biking, surfing, rock climbing, and even scuba diving. Sometimes the paradigm shifts, but the fundamentals are there. The fear may be of falling, drowning, or any possible kind of failure. The true risk may not even exist. Still, the fear feels just as real and the quest is to conquer that fear.

Tell me that much of life is not exactly this paradigm! Tonight, as I reflect on other things, I find that these experiences help me to remember the value of faith. If I let my mind imagine my failure – I’m more likely to fail. However, if I have faith in myself and this very moment, then I am far more likely to succeed.

Granted, I won’t always know what to do in a new situation; I might fall. That is, after all, how we learn. However, so long as I can keep finding and conquering my fears in life, I will continue to grow and improve. If I lose faith and let my fear control my actions, I will only stumble and fall again.

One final note. It comes with practice… It comes with doing and not with thinking. There is a time for thinking. However, you can not conquer fear until you face it.

Just thought I’d share…

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I hit A-Basin today. It was cold. It’s been cold all week, but today it was windy too. Right now, according to weather.com, it’s 1 degree F and it ‘feels like’ -20. It was cold enough that I was comfortable wearing my helmet today. I even shut the vents on it. I hit some black mogul runs that I’d previously been avoiding. All in all, it was a good day. I would have stayed longer, but freezing wind just isn’t my thing. It’s supposed to warm up tomorrow – hooray!

As a random side note, I sure am looking forward to next year!

79 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

I was dressed and ready for work this morning. Ironically, I was looking forward to going it. Then I got a phone call. I should have noticed that my balcony was covered in snow and it looked like a blizzard outside. My boss told me the office was closed for the day! So, I swapped out my clothing and headed up to the mountain.

I just happened to catch Julie from DallasSnowboarders.com and her friend Abe at Keystone near the end of the day. It was fun to meet some new folks and I hope to get to ride with them this weekend. With all the snow coming down in Denver, the conditions at Keystone weren’t worth writing home about. However, any day snowboarding is a good day. Best of all, today marks day number 20, bringing me to the 1/5 complete mark. Woo hoo!

80 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

I went back out to Santa Fe one last time for Christmas morning. I failed to post a “Merry Christmas” yesterday as I stayed busy with Christmas day events all day after riding. I took the old Burton Custom back up for the last day and I have to say – I’m reaching a point where I think I like riding the Mystic better. Now that I’m getting used to the edges, I find that the Custom is a little more work to carve with. Still, at high speeds, the Custom is a lot more stable feeling.

I did spend a good part of yesterday playing on the moguls again. I managed to carve through them much faster than I was comfortable with before. They do get easier to navigate if you’re willing to let go and slice through them. Trying to keep a slow speed will wear you out much faster. It was good fun!

I hope you (plural) had a fabulous holiday. Today I drive home. The next two days are work days. Then, it’s back to the slopes!

81 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

After getting a feel for the Santa Fe ski area yesterday, I decided to bring the Mystic up on the mountain. They have no park area (boo!) so I went back out on the moguls. I had an absolute blast! I also had a hell of a work out. The shorter board was much easier to navigate between bumps. The extra springy core and stiff nose and tail made quick turns a lot easier as well. I never thought I would have that much fun with a board on bumpy terrain. I explored several of the black runs on the mountain and never really found anything that was too technical to play on.

The weather was cold and windy this morning; but by the time I got too the mountain, it was calm, sunny, and warming up. I really couldn’t have asked for better conditions. The snow itself, as I’ve said, is kind of hard packed. However, folks tell me that this is some of the best snow the area has seen this early in the season. I suppose I should be grateful.

The biggest downer of the day was right at the beginning. After talking about the topic on the drive in, I jumped in the Xterra this morning to find my windshield cracked. I hear that, here in New Mexico, it’s so common to crack a windshield that insurance companies generally fully cover them with no questions asked. I wonder what MY insurance will do. What a bummer… Still, it was a great day.

82 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

I haven’t been to Santa Fe since I was about 11 years old. That was 20 years ago. Needless to say, I don’t remember it all that well. This trip pretty much feels like the first time I’ve been here. I’m staying at a Gil’s parent’s house just outside of Santa Fe. The attached photo is the view from the back patio. The photo doesn’t do it justice. The slightly snowy patch in the mountains in the background of the photo is where I went riding this afternoon. There’s a slightly better shot up on Gil’s flickr. Her photo was taken while I was actually up there.

The snow at the Santa Fe ski area was hard pack. There were lots of exposed tree tops and dirt patches. In general the conditions weren’t all that great. But, you know, snowboarding is a lot like sex… even when it’s bad, it’s good. Anyway, I took on a new adventure today. I took a black with lots of deep moguls. I remember hating moguls in the past. Recently, I’ve learned to cut my board harder by shifting most of my weight to the front of the board. This makes taking on moguls way more fun. The run was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed it. I wanted to take it a second time, but it was too late in the day and they were shutting the lifts down.

Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, we’re supposed to get a bit more snow. The mountain was crowded today, and I hear it will be worse on Christmas, but I’ll probably be out there anyway… even if we don’t get that fresh snow.

83 days left…

56 Days in 07/08

On March 19th, one of the last remaining ‘Ski’ only mountains, Taos, will open it’s doors to snowboarders. Coming from someone who skied and snowboarded both of the neighbor resorts (Angelfire & Red River), there’s really only one thing to say… Holy Crap Dude…

Honestly, I never thought this would happen and had come to terms with it a long time ago. Check out the Ride Taos link and, while you’re there, be sure to swim through the comments!!!

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Some of my friends are getting into the kiteboarding thing. It looks like fun. I almost got to try it in Chile, but we didn’t have enough wind. Here’s a rather snazzy vid that was recently posted to DallasSnowboarders.com.

Videos

Well, there will be no snowboarding this weekend. I’m about to catch a flight back to Texas to enjoy “Thanksmas”. Sometimes we call it “Christgiving” as well. Basically, my family got tired of the headache surrounding the holidays. There’s the whole issue of timing get-togethers among various parts of the family. Then, there’s the whole issue with the heavy traffic and difficult travel during the holidaze. So, we just pick a weekend in the middle each year and celebrate both holidays together on one day. It works out well. In addition to being able to travel cheap and easily, it also means I have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off – to go snowboarding!

Just a few more things to pack and I can head off to bed. *yawn*…

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