Nov 27 2020 - A Walk In The Park

Today was park day, the most terrifying day of the week. It is here that I am really pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and it usually results in many many falls... Last season I tried rails for the first time, which is surprisingly less nerve-racking than boxes. It only took a couple tries before I got my first 50-50

Shortly afterwards, I got it switch (stance), which made the park crew watching go nuts... they had given me some pointers for a first timer, but since I'm so late to the game, my switch game is on point (or so I'd like to think). Shortly afterwards, I was at Stevens Pass and rode a down rail (not flat, but angled with the slope) that was much longer and scarier, giving me some increased confidence that I can progress safely in the park.

This season, in order to keep the momentum going, I want to train in the park more regularly. The park at Keystone only has a few features right now and most of them are outside of my entry level status... lol... so I thought I would try learning a backside boardslide because that should be simple enough 0_0 ... which might have been the case if I had a plan and maybe even prepped with some YouTube videos but I decided I wanted to just figure it out this time.

I went right for it and slipped out falling backwards; thankfully I had on crash pants making it quite manageable. Then I tried just simply doing a 50-50 on the next couple boxes which helped me focus better on keeping my base flat.

Next time around I practiced a bit on the flat tube, which apparently is a good place to start when learning to ride on rails... I'm doing everything out of order #_# oh well...

To steady my nerves a bit, I rode back down to the lift, rather than hiking up to keep attempting the box... and got a couple 180s in to settle my legs. But I was also messing around with sliding my board on the snow toe-side, which led to another crash... maybe in part from the fatigue of riding goofy yesterday. Either way, it's pretty wicked to catch an edge like this.

Ok, back to the box... I continued to fall but each time holding out the slide a little longer, so I tried just lightly shuffling back and forth, which gave me a better feel for how to keep my board flat... this box was angled with the slope and I think that's where I kept misreading the surface, so the shuffle really emphasized the angle as I rotated. I got a couple jumps on to the flat tube just for an extra confidence boost, whenever I could.

And then... finally... I almost got it!!!

...hiking up and down this slope was pretty tiring so I took a lap down to the lift... managing to pull off a 180 in every direction... which is working towards one of my goals for this season: to comfortably 180 any which way at any time.... fronstide 180, switch frontside 180, backside 180, switch backside 180, and a little hop to celebrate ^-^

one...last...try

and I stuck it! sure, the style could have been better, but at this point I was happy to end on that note... well not exactly, I needed to see what it was like to mount that flat tube switch... X_X what a bad idea...

the fall is kinda comical, so don't feel bad if you laughed out loud just now... I keep watching it over and over and find it quite humorous. thankfully I left with a sore shoulder and no serious injury. after this tumble I decided to call it quits at the park and work on something safer and slower. still trying to get a workout in, I slowed down and did anything I could to make balancing harder... occasionally having to stop and catch my breath. spinning, squatting, sliding, buttering, trying to jump back and forth between butters... and of course dipping into the woods whenever possible...

then I had a little fun on the way to the bottom. it was a pretty enjoyable ride....