Thursday, March 27, 2014

Spring Shredding

Though it was nice being in my home grounds on the east side, I was definately stoked to be back to the western part of the country.  My next race was in Mt. Hood, Oregon, by far one of my favorite mountains.  On top of being able to compete at my favorite place, the weather was also beautiful! 50 degrees and sunny every day, heck I was rockin' a tank top and sun glasses at the top of the course! Though this course is just about the same every year, I still had a blast.  Day one, I had a lot of mental issues and put a lot of pressure on myself (once again), so unfortunately I had to settle with another 15th place.  Day two I focused more on my mind than my snowboarding, and it finally worked! I qualified 11th, putting me in a pretty good place in heats.  I made it past the first round of heats, but unfortunately got taken out in semis, leaving me to settle with the small finals. Finals or not, I was so increadibly stoked to have made it this far! In small finals, I made two awesome passes, and I ended up placing 6th! My best result so far, and I couldn't remove the smile off my face.  I can finally see that all my hard work is paying off.  Baby steps... but don't worry, I'll be on top sooner than later!



Thanks dad for getting my small finals pass on film!

Oh Canada!

Continuing my journey on the east coast of the country, I headed up to Toronto, Canada for two more races at Beaver Valley.  This was by far the most technical, feature filled, most fun coarse of the season to date. I had a great time training it; learning so much and developing my boardercross skills further.  On day one, I finished 11th, and day two, I finished 10th.  With not as many girls as there usually are at races, I had much better chances of placing higher in the rankings.  I wish I was able to do better, but everything is a learning lesson, and I believe I learned an extreme amount at this race about how to handle boardercross specific features. Placing in top ten isn't so bad either! :-)

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Venture to the East Coast

I can finally write a post with a big smile on my face.  A few days ago, I competed in two more events, held at Sugarloaf, Maine, and they were finally successful! Both races, I qualified top 16, therefore was able to compete in heats! March 6, I qualified 14th out of 32 girls, and ended up 15th that day in heats.  Unfortunately in turn 2 there was carnage between three riders, one including myself.  Because of this, I ended up 4th in that heat.  The following day, I ran the best time trial I've ever had! My run felt amazing, leaving me with nothing but smiles at the bottom of the course; usually I'm left with an angry face. My mom sure loved this change of attitude! I ended up qualifying 11th, but am saddened to say, once again, ended 15th that day.  I tried making a very smart, yet risky pass in turn 3, and it just didn't end the way I would have hoped.  Overall, though, I am very satisfied with my racing.  My head was finally in a happy, stress-free place, which I believe was a major reason I finally did well enough to race in heats! I'm extremely excited for these final competitions, and hope I can bring the same attitude I had in Sugarloaf, to end my season with some awesome results!

Day #1, I'm far riders left, in red


Form is everything