A turn for the better

So, having a boy around who loves to board is definately a bonus. Especially when you’ve been wanting to learn since high school and you haven’t quite mastered a few skills on your own.

Last Sunday evening, M, his friend Ben and I drove up to Blue Mountain to take advantage of one of the last nice days of the winter to board! It was gorgeous weather – you barely need to double layer your gloves, and the snow was pretty good too! It was here on that day, with a little help, I had a major triumph – I learned how to turn uphill (and not faceplant in the snow). It was amazing! I did it! WOOT!

Next thing I knew, I was heading down the hill faster, getting up some more speed on my turns and I was stepping into becoming a real boarding betty. Yess! I have missed that feeling ever since I left Labrador. Now I’m hooked!

I guess this means I’d better save up some cash for a board of my own.

(See the one I want above)

And the other best part was getting to share it with M and all his friends. That’s just an added bonus. Hugs to you all!

"Hard core" boarding

I haven’t written much here in about a week – once again I had a week filled with good and bad. Luckily it was mostly good, unfortunately the really bad at the end of the week is making me feel awful…but I won’t go into that here. Anyway.

Today I decided to hit the slopes with a few pals – and of course attempt to snowboard, something I’ve only done once before in my life over a year ago! So I borrowed some sweet sweet equipment from my friend Alison and I went.

The day was good overall – we got there in really good time, and we managed to get on the hill just before 3 pm. Of course, our first run of the day was down a much bigger hill than I was on last year and to my surprise I didn’t fall down getting off the lift. Challenge number one conquered! Woo! That definately boosted my confidence. I couldn’t believe it! I could actually keep myself standing and concentrate on working my toe edge. That was the first run!
Now, part of this I generally attribute to having much better equipment than the crappy rental I used last year, but obviously I learned something!

For most of the day I kept a good just above newbie pace with my friend Paulo and my new friend Sam. We pushed ourselves to go on the bigger hill and to work on the right technique. Sam was super impressive – she’d never been on a board before and was keeping up to everything going on! Wow. Paulo was working it really well too. It was good to feel like I was doing to right kinda steps (yes, not too much but still babysteps). But of course, we did end up with a few bumps and bruises. My crowning moment was when I was just getting the hand of a toe edge uphill turn around a snow bank – I was doing really well then overcompensated by putting too much pressure on the edge. I slammed foward into the snow bank, smacking my eye and leaving a mark. (See picture – and yes, that is a real scratch!) I definately looked more hard core after that!

So, yes, I had a really good day! Nearer to the end when my friends KJC and Adam finally met up with us, I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty tired and my legs were starting to rebel, but we pushed on! I got in a few more runs before we had to leave to get Sam back to Toronto to catch a bus at 10:30. Ha! We left at 8:30 and didn’t think we were gonna make it – but we did, with literally 30 seconds to spare – she got the bus and it was a good end to the day.

Now I’m here, blogging, nursing/counting my bruises and I’m ready to go to bed with just enough good memories to get me through tomorrow.

It’s snow bunny’s business (ugh…AWFUL, I know)

This past weekend I did it! Yep, I finally attempted the one thing that I have been wanting to do since high school! I tried snowboarding for the very first time! Wahoo!

For any of you out there who know and love this sport, you know that it is not an easy sport to learn – you have to be prepared to basically get creamed in the process. I definately learned that! I tell you, I landed on my butt so many times, not to mention landing on my wrists and knees. I’ve got a few bruises that are still black! But it’s definately worth it. Really.

It was really fun to go – myself and my friend Roshan got to learn together, so it was a bit of emotional support and it was someone to laugh with despite the aches. On top of which, two of my good friends were very patiently teaching us – I really felt like they were proud of us for trying as hard as we did. Thanks guys!

It’s looks as if I’ll be going again soon. Hopefully this time I’ll improve!