It was an eventful weekend to say the least! I've made some really awesome racing friends this year (Olivia, Meredith, Kim, Amanda, Charles, Joe, Denise, Alex, Stephen, Cameron, etc.) and I've had the chance to reconnect with some old friends (Tim, Wade, Autumn, etc.) as well :)
Going to WP for the race brought back fond memories from when I was on the CU Snowboard Team...we practiced at WP the first year I was on the team, that's the park where I hit my first line of bigger jumps and where I learned how to hit the half pipe. College wouldn't have been what it was for me without CUST friends, CUST trips, or without Pat A -- my coach during college.
Friday was training day but I wasn't able to make it because of lack of funds and because I had to work at the Beav. Autumn said the course was awesome, but I was too worn out from my week to stay awake and ask any questions about the course so I went to sleep (before 10 as I tend to do quite often these days) so I was rested for the next day.
Earlier in the week, Stephen had offered to come along as Autumn's and my wax tech. As I soon found out, Stephen would be tripling as our coach and photographer!!
Saturday morning seemed to come quite quickly....I saw 5.30 on my alarm clock and decided to snooze it until 6am. Stephen was at my place before 6.30 and we were out the door around that time. We got to Winter Park around 7.45am and were at the course no later than 9.15.
I went on the course for inspection with Olivia (who had been at training the day before) and checked it out. The course had an old-school downhill start, had a tiny jump at the top and then went into a good roller section before the first turn which slowed you down a lot because it was on such a flat area! After the first turn there was a good sized roller that brought you over the next one quite quickly (and abruptly!) and then the course went downhill and turned left into an area of some more rollers and then took a sharp U-Turn to the right where you could either hit this really intense hip or stay high and go around it. After the sharp U-Turn there was a step-down and then the course curved to the left and went down hill. Olivia and I pulled over here and moved to the side of the course to talk about the hip. Denise rolled up and the three of us sat and watched a few people -- including a guy (who was one of many) that was flung from the hip and into the orange netting on the side!! The three of us and Autumn decided to go around the hip for safety reasons. Moving on, after the course curved to the left and went down hill, there was another sharp (~90 degree) left turn that went into a section of four rollers and then there was an even sharper right turn, a slight downhill, two large rollers, a fast but flat section, and then a big roller and two smaller rollers and then the finish line!! This is definitely an absorption course. Stephen told me that I needed to absorb pretty much every feature and that I needed to pump my arms in the newly coined (thanks to Autumn) "monkey summer" way to get all I could from each roller. I took a practice run (or two?) through the course, and then it was time for time trials.
There was a lot of waiting around as there always is on race day, but WP did a good job of organizing things and trying to keep things moving. Unfortunately one of the course holds was because of my friend Cameron's crash which kept him from racing this weekend...but the good news is that his wrist isn't broken, just some torn ligaments. The bad news...his board broke in the crash.
Meredith wasn't able to race this weekend because of a knee injury (~2 or so weeks ago) but the good news is that she just had sprained ligaments and she said she'd be back in the gym this week :)
My race with Denise was a very intense and close race with a lot of lead changes (at least 4) throughout the race. We're quite a good match on the race course!! I ended up taking 1st but it was a close race for sure!! Other firsts for Saturday include Olivia, Kim, & Autumn :)
Saturday night we stayed at the Pinnacle Lodge in Fraser (just past WP) and we had a crew (Dave, Autumn, Charles, Joe, Stephen, Denise, & myself) at Azteca (great Mexican restaurant in Fraser) and celebrated the evening with awesome food, margs, and then took a dip in the hot tub!! All before I passed out at 9pm...
As the next morning arrived all too soon I found out that Autumn's knee and lower leg were in immense pain. We all had waffles for breakfast (and yours truly of course made a huge mess and ruckus -- though I didn't burn my waffles!!) and then left for the mountain.
This is going to have to be continued though (with pics and details on Sunday) as I need to get Herman ready to go to Taos, New Mexico for the Salomon Extreme Freeride Championships!! Autumn and I need to be at a rider meeting tonight at 6pm!!
xoxox Summer
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