Over and over and over again. Yes I can. Yes I can. Yes I can. Ahhh… That deserves a burger and a beer.
I feel so freakin’ good right now. Thanks to Jon and Scott for calling me out. I repeatedly heard your sarcastic words of encouragement as I fought the urge to break. Miles 30-35 are an uphill struggle with your inner beast. Miles 35-40 are a downhill reward for your efforts at 40+ mph. You swear you need more than ten gears until you remind yourself what you’re capable of. Brockway Summit, it’s about time you feel defeat. Third time’s a charm. The first time I got off and walked for two minutes, about a hundred yards from the top. The second, I dismounted earlier and walked even longer. Not this time. Cuz I could hear my brother laughing when I told him I couldn’t do it.
Yea, I feel good about my ride today. Yesterday’s ride was also pretty tasty, but it was a ride of another flavor. I rode a new line at Squaw Valley on my snowboard, looker’s left of The Slot off the Headwall chairlift.
Most people take the main “slot” down from the summit, so my first three turns were epic and untouched – I gave a little hoot. The pitch was steep so I was fully committed from the get-go, and as I gained speed I got pulled into the fall-line (skier’s right). Immediately, I was above the rocks I initially planned to avoid. I gave a quick heel-check and jumped from my edge…over the obstacles. Whew! I landed on my heel-edge below the rocks (and just above another cluster) and charged hard to my left, firing out into the clear. Only it wasn’t so clear. It was skied-out and littered with moguls, so after a few fast, clumsy airs, I gave up and took to my butt. I didn’t care. I ripped what I’d set out for and it felt awesome to scare myself. I haven’t been doing that enough lately.
Yea, I just bragged for two long paragraphs. Sometimes when you feel really good about yourself you’ve gotta claim that s***.
