I saw my physical therapist on the 21st of this month and she said snowboarding wasn't a good idea because I was still "at high risk" for reinjury. However, she also said I'm still gonna be at high risk until June, and I've done everything I can personally do to prepare myself to ride so if I want to ride it's my personal choice (but she and my surgeon would prefer it if I waited longer.) So I took that to mean I was cleared.
Couldn't be Happier
I rode by myself for my first two days. Honestly, I was terrified before going up the magic carpet for my first run. Since I wasn't exactly given the green light, I wasn't sure what to expect from my knee. What if my ACL ripped out the second I made my first turn? The one thing I really shouldn't do right now is fall, and I did that twice during my first run. Luckily I was moving slow enough that my falls were basically me just sitting down. I definitely looked like I was just learning to ride because I had beginner stance my first couple runs- you know, all weight on the back leg with knee super bent, and front leg completely straight out. It was bad. I kept in on the magic carpet and The Big Easy for those first two days, and only got like 5 runs in each day before my knee started feeling sore.
Me, my Mom, and my Dad at the top of Zephyr
Then my parents came up on Christmas eve. After spending two hours getting their rentals in the village, we got on the chair to mid-mountain. My first chair to an actual run! Taking real runs instead of just the bunny hill was kind of scary. I ventured up to the summit with them, and took it real slow the whole way down. I think I got seven chairs in on that day, but my knee was definitely sore right away. It only actually felt ok when I was riding switch, which really surprised me. I was also surprised to find out I don't know how to carve switch. Maybe I just couldn't turn because I was babying my knee. Who knows. Once my knee was really feeling done, I told my parents to ski some more without me and I went and chilled by a fire.
I took Christmas day off to rest my knee and my parents headed back home. Once they left Tahoe I realized I left my knee brace in my dad's car, so now I can't ride until that gets back up here in the mail. It should come in tomorrow and then I can go make some turns at Boreal while my Northstar pass is blacked out.
Making turns like a BOSS.
My surgeon had worried that I'd try sending it as soon as I got back on my board and get reinjured, but that won't happen. I'm so happy to just make turns that I don't feel the need to even go into the park yet. My main priority is still strengthening my knee and not pushing it too soon. I have my first competitions coming up in mid-January but I'm gonna wait it out on "training." If those contests come up and I still don't feel ready to get in the pipe or jump, I'll drop out. I have big plans for next season and I'm not going to throw away a huge opportunity for a Rev Tour stop or USCSA event.
For now, just strapping in is enough to be thankful for.
Last month when I went back to Redwood City to see my Physical Therapist, Brandy, I didn't get good news. I might have been slacking on working out a little bit and Brandy pretty much said "If you want me to clear you to ride this season, you need to get on it." Read that again. "This Season." Meaning, I wasn't just at risk of having an extra month without riding, but a whole season.
That woke me up and I starting hitting the gym every day and really putting energy into strengthening my knee and leg again. It got even more real for me when it started snowing and all my friends were out having fun. Over the course of the month I felt like my knee was improving by leaps and bounds.
This past week I went home to see Brandy. She agreed I was doing ridiculously better since the last time she saw me. I'm back on the road to riding in December now. The one thing she said she was concerned about is that if she clears me, it's only to make turns. No going into the park. No going fast. Just baby runs, going slow, and keeping my board on the snow. I swore to her that that's all I would do. I don't care if I can't go to the park yet. I don't want to reinjure my knee. All I want to do is be on my board and be happy again.
I'll find out December 7th if I get to ride again. Fingers crossed. Friday will mark 6 months since surgery. Busting my ass in the gym now to get cleared for December.
It started with a simple suggestion from a guy on my school's ski team but it got me thinking. And thinking. And now I'm pursuing. And it's quite possible that in a year from now my life is going to be very very different.
It's almost a shame that I have a bunch of readers on here because I feel like it can't quite be my diary like it used to be. Back when I thought I was the only one that read this I was comfortable saying just about anything but now I need to hold back a little bit.
So I can't say exactly what it is I'm working on right now, but I can say I'm making big life changes as of tonight. Being as fit as possible is now my number 1 priority. An hour minimum of gym time every day. All organic, good foods- no processed junk. No alcohol or substances. And a big effort to make my mental game as strong as possible.
What I knew I was marching towards is apparently a lot closer than I could have imagined. I don't believe in living with regrets so here's my 100% commitment to achieving my goals and never quitting.
Hopefully I'll be posting again next fall with good news regarding this.
Thrive Snowboards has just launched a blog on the community part of their website and I've been asked to be a featured blogger. Every so often I'll be posting some exclusive content over there so stop by and check it out. ThriveBlog
Also, if you decide you want to buy anything from them, shoot me a message on my contact form. I've got a special code just for my readers for up to 40% off on all Thrive products.
Check out the message boards at Thrive too to chat with other riders about basically everything. ThriveForum
This past weekend was Mammoth's Opening Weekend, and because I've been into torturing myself by going to the openings of all the mountains around Tahoe, even though I can't ride yet, I made the send to Mammoth.
On Thursday it started snowing while I was in school so I left as soon as class got out, unsure of how bad the storm might get. I arrived in the Mammoth Village a little after 7pm and realized I had no idea of what I was doing for the night. My phone was stolen a couple weeks ago so communication is basically impossible. The only way I can find my friends is by just guessing where they'll be and going there. My first stop was Sushi Rei for the Volcom VIP Reception. I ran into friends there so I hung out a drank for a while. I ended up meeting a ton more people too and we eventually all made our way over to Lakanuki to party more. Sometime around two our little gang rolled up to our friend's condo up the street and crashed there.
Friday morning started off slow but eventually everyone got their stuff together and went out to ride. Lucky me got to stay inside the condo all day and watch Real Housewives of Atlanta/attempt to do homework. When everyone came back from riding we hot tubed and then went down to the village. I watched a couple minutes of the Horgasm: A Love Story premiere but Lakanuki was too crowded for my taste so I left to find something else to do. I ended up running into some of the Yobeat guys outside Gomez's and hung out with them. Together we ventured over to Corey Smith's Spring Break Snowboards art show. There were some amazing photographs there, as well as the craziest boards I've ever seen. After the show we went up to this amazing huge suite (I think it was Transworld's) and did some party preparation. Then it was back to Lakanuki for some madness. Back in the spring when I blew my knee out I had emailed Cale Zima, who was about 3 months ahead of me in recovery, and chatted with him about knee stuff. I met him for the first time in real life at Lakanuki and did some more knee talk/shot drinking. Super cool guy. At the end up the night I somehow was convinced by a couple friends to drive up to their spot at the mountain. There we got into some shenanigans (asbestos was definitely involved) and then passed out.
On Saturday all the guys in the house went out pretty early to ride and because I was already at the mountain I figured I'd go out and take some pictures. I spent the day chugging Monsters and hiking the park in my jeans and tennis shoes. Meanwhile, Matty Mo kept the tunes fresh in the lodge all day. After quitting my photog endeavor I went back to the Mammoth Inn where I had spent the previous night. The rest of the evening involved watching Skeleton Crew's new video Media Offline, playing a multi-story game of Hot Lava with Ethan Deiss, discussing how wonderful riding pipe long and hard is, and drinking Monster-Vodkas. Eventually our gang made it out to Sushi Rei for dinner and stuffed ourselves with the good stuff. I felt kind of bad that Monster payed the tab and I probably shouldn't have been covered, but my one roll and a Soppora probably won't dent the company's financials. We were at the restaraunt for a while because different friends kept sitting down and kicking it, but at some point we got out of there and went up to the 32 condo. There was a girl there- it was so exciting. haha I finally got to hang out with another female for the first time that weekend. Our huge group loaded up a bus and ventured up to the lodge for the RZA concert. I managed to walk into the Vestal VIP lounge with the rest of the group, despite being non-very-important, and enjoyed the free vodka drinks and foam-glow-stick battles for the two hours we had until the show started. RZA was ok, but I couldn't understand a word he was saying so I just talked to friends for most of the show. The last stop on Saturday night was to Mason Aguirre's house for his birthday party. That was pretty fun and low key. Really awesome way to end the night- surrounded by friends, good energy, stale McDonald's french fries, and more vodka.
I had never decided what day I would leave Mammoth on, but when I woke up Sunday morning I felt like it was time to go. It had been a full weekend and I was ready to get home, sleep in my bed and do a major party detox. I'm glad I went to Mammoth because it definitely motivated me to kick some physical therapy butt so I can get on the snow again. I'm pumped for the season and I can't wait for more good times with friends.
Here's a couple photos I took, before I got lazy and stopped pretending to be a photographer.
I love getting stuff in the mail. Especially when it's something I'm really stoked on, like this new drink Chia\Vie.
Three flavors of awesomeness
A couple weeks ago I met the owners of Chia\Vie, Mark and Camille at the Women's Expo in San Mateo. They were both super cool and smart, and we chatted for a while about the role of energy drinks in sports. Mark and Camille are both athletes and understand what it takes to lead a healthy, energized life. The good thing is that it looks like most athletes are beginning to understand the importance of what they put into their bodies. Products with 12-letter ingredients that boast a couple hour energy spike are looked at with more caution. People are instead turning to drinks that promote natural ingredients with natural sustaining energy that doesn't wreck havoc on their organs. Chia\Vie is one of those good-for-you drinks and it's coming out at the right time. It isn't even distributed in Tahoe yet, so Mark was awesome and sent me a box to enjoy and share with my friends.
The main difference between Chia\Vie and other health/energy smoothies is it's use of Chia seeds. Chia seeds have been used as food since 3500 BC and were a main staple of the Aztec and Mayan diets.
Chia seeds have:
8x more Omega-3s than salmon
25% more dietary fiber than flax seed
30% more antioxidants than blueberries
15x more magnesium than broccoli
5x more calcium than whole milk
3x more iron then spinach
50% more folate content than asparagus
Chia\Vie mixes these amazing seeds with fruit to make a super-good-for-you naturally energizing drink. Seriously, there's nothing else in it. This it the ingredients list of the one I'm drinking right now: Purified water, orange juice concentrate, mango puree, apple juice concentrate, ground chia seeds, banana puree, natural flavor, gellan. That's it.
Anyways, this drink does a lot of awesome things for your brain power, metabolism, energy, and all around health. Check out more info at their website here.
Excuse the dark make-up. I'm done up for Halloween.
Last night my some of my girl friends in Truckee had a Boreal-opening-eve soiree at their place. There was awesome energy in the air because everyone was stoked to ride in the morning. Everyone called it a night around one and I curled up in my sleeping bag to pass out.
What followed next was one of the coolest dreams I ever had.
That could be me...
Basically, it was decided that the government was totally fucking up and the only way to fix things was to have a snowboard company run the nation. A committee was put together to decide how things would be set up, what company would be running stuff- all that. I was part of this group along with Terje, Gigi, and a handful of other legendy dudes and chicks. And of course, Lil Wayne was part of the committee because Weezy is so involved with the snowboarding community (and when you roll with the illuminati you do what you want.)
During one of the discussion sessions we took a break and Weezy and I went to this stream out back. He caught a salmon with his hands. I was like "Yeah man let's cut it up and eat it." and he goes "I know right?" I go "Weez you like raw fish? What type?" and he says "I usually go with Tuna or Salmon. But when I'm in Brooklyn I go with the Pink Temple." Apparently Lil Wayne has access to some secret fish called Pink Temple and it's the greatest thing ever. We totally bonded over our love for sashimi. Right when he was about to ask me if I wanted to go out and get sushi with him sometime-
The alarm clock rang.
7:20. Time to get up and go to Boreal. I am so so so bummed that's where the dream ended. I'll never get that sushi date and I won't get to see how awesome the country would be if it was run by snowboarders.
In case you're wondering, the committee decided to elect Burton as the new US Government. Congrats. Sorry Program, you guys weren't included.
I'm not saying you all need to thank me, but four days ago I did post this letter to Winter asking for snow and now it's here. I feel personally responsible for our change in weather.
So you're welcome.
Go out and enjoy some early season shred like these guys. I'll be stuck inside doing physical therapy for a bit longer. See you all in December.
Dear Winter,
Have you forgotten about us? I don't mean to use "us" to collectively refer to all snowboarders. No, you haven't forgotten about them. Those snowboarders in Oregon, Colorado, the East Coast, Minnesota, and even Bro-Cal have received your white gift. All I see on Facebook these days is kids from everywhere besides Tahoe talking about how stoked they are to be riding. Meanwhile, all my friends here can say is:
We aren't upset with you, just sad that you seem to have forgotten us. Maybe it's just because you spoiled us the past two years with snow in early October. Heck, last year "opening day" was October 5th. We haven't been taking you for granted either, Winter. The second you left us with an inch and a half, we had rails and jumps set up and cameras out. Some of the best powder riding I got all of last season was in October. What have we done for you to ignore us like this now?
Maybe you know best, Winter. So many kids have moved out to Tahoe in the last two years to take advantage of the love you have for us here in our little alpine world. Maybe you're doing this so people move away from here and when it snows those who stayed will have more to themselves. Whatever your reason is, I understand. Just please, send us a little white gift, because kids are going crazy and I'm hearing talks of people switching to rollerblading if we don't get snow soon.
This past the month I've had the opportunity to attend a couple of the premieres of Standard Film's 2112.
The first time I saw the movie was at the North American premiere in Reno. It was at this place down town called ComRow. I went with Diva, who was taking photos for Standard, and a couple other kids from school. The movie was really good, especially considering what last year's snow situation was. After the movie I had the chance to meet Kimmy Fasani and go out with her and our crews of friends to this little karaoke bar. That was rad. Kimmy is an amazing snowboarder and an inspiration to women riders everywhere. The amazing thing, is that she's incredibly humble about it all. She was just so down-to-earth. Proof that nice girls can finish first. Also, three of the girls and I did Spice Girls karaoke and we totally killed it.
The next time I saw the movie was at this action sport film festival in San Francisco the next week. That premiere was inside a yoga studio at a rock climbing gym which was a different experience. The movie was projected on a wall and I'm pretty sure at least 70% of the audience weren't snowboarders. I was stoked to see the movie again because I really did like it.
Here's the riders (in order of part) and their highlights: I took like 3 word notes for each rider so I'll attempt to remember what I meant by them.
1. Frederik Kalbermatten- "Mtn" I think this means his part was all big mountain stuff. And because I remember liking the video from the very beginning I'm gonna venture out and say his part was pretty solid.
2. Ethan Morgan- "street siiick method" So Ethan's part was almost all street and he slayed it. One shot in his part was this mega mega slow mo of a method on this sweet jump in... BC? Idk where really, but it was a beautiful method. Really.
3. Gulli Gudmundsson- "lots of hard falls" Gulli ate shit. A lot. I mean like, a four course shit eating dinner. I don't know how he took so many ridiculous falls and didn't get hurt. I guess it was worth it though because he got some amazing shots in his part as well.
4. Mathieu Crepel- "sick pow" I'd guess this meant he had a sick pow part?
5. Kimmy Fasani- "huge cornice. Double" At one point Kimmy drops this pretty big cornice. And then she does a double on a park jump. No big.
6. Tim Humphreys- "humpppppy" Huh. Well. I think this note means Tim was Tim. You can tell in his riding how much he loves what he's doing and that's awesome. Tim's a good kid.
7. Chas Guldemond- "bangers on secret nstar" Last season Northstar build some secret jumps on the backside. Chas was there to throw down on them.
8. Anne-Flore Marxer- "pretty inspiring" If I remember correctly, Anne's part was all big mountain lines that were pretty out there. I had never really taken notice of her riding before, but I guess her part was pretty inspiring.
9. Nils Ardivsin- "toes fs9 Triple!!" Well, Nils dropped the triple. Clean. He also did a notable off the toes front nine. Or that was part of the triple note. I'm not sure.
10. Victor de la Rue- "go pro of big Mtn :O " Victor got some helmet cam shots of dropping into this big line and it made me go "whoaaah." It looked absolutely terrifying from the first person perspective. The French are crazy.
11. Xavier de la Rue- "chute in dark. Ice walls. Endless field of dreams. Powder over stars." There's a shot of Xavier going into a dark chute and I was like "bro, you can't see anything. you cray." And then there were shots of him ice riding because apparently Xavier doesn't need snow to snowboard anymore and I was like "bro, that's a wall of ice. you cray." And then he got to ride these mountains that just stretched out forever like a dreamland. And then there was this cool shot of powder being sprayed that was overlayed with a beautiful shot of the stars. And then the movie ended.
I really strongly highly recommend buying this movie. There's a little bit of everything in it. The music is great. The cinematography is beautiful. Just do it. Buy it now.
The world premiere of Jeremy Jones' Further was at Squaw last night outside KT-22. I headed out there with Rebecca, Diva, Madison and Bryan. We had two hours to kill before the movie started so we did some drinking and mingling. It was good to see everyone who came out to the movie. Lots of familiar faces wandering the village.
Me in the middle of a Rebecca sandwich before the movie
The movie started around 9 I think and we got a little spot on the grass with a bunch of friends to watch it. As expected, there were plenty of shots in crazy locations that made you shit your pants thinking about riding them. Following suit with Deeper, Further turned out to be more of a documentary than a traditional snowboard movie. At this point I had enough alcohol in my system that following a storyline and listening to a lot of talking was challenging. Honestly, I just wanted to see some sick lines but there was only one riding shot every minute or two. The shots they used were awesome though. After what seemed like a really long time, the movie ended. I should probably try watching it again sometime because everyone was stoked on it. So if you're sober and want a good story I'd recommend Further.
After the movie we headed over to the after party at Rocker. It was a closed event and they weren't selling tickets so resourcefulness had to be used. Luckily my good friend Ramone was DJing the event so he came out to get me, Rebecca, Madison, and Diva. We had an awesome time inside; the alcohol was flowing, the music was bumping, and old friends were all around. I don't remember what went on towards the end of the night, but from the pictures that were taken it looked like I had a great time. Here's what Hondo at Transworld had to say about the night.
Tuesdays and Thursdays have been my favorite days this semester because I don't have class until 2:30 so I'm able to sleep in until 1 on those days.
Not anymore.
Dry land training with the school team started today and that meant the alarm was set for 7am and I had to be on campus by 8am. No more Womp Womp Wednesdays at the Grid for me.
My Physical Therapist has to get really
specific with my instructions
Anyways, I made it to school a little before 8 but because I'm not cleared for running yet and that's what the team was doing, I was sent off to the rec center to bike. So I pretty much woke up way too early for no reason because I could've gone to the gym on my own later. But whatever. I biked for like 15 minutes but my knee kept clicking almost every rotation so I stopped. I moved to the elliptical for another like 20 minutes. That's my favorite machine right now because I get to imagine I'm running even though I'm not. I seriously can't wait until I can run again. I always hated running but when not being allowed to do it has made me crave it so badly. Then I did some yoga/stretch stuff and some core. I guess it was a pretty good work out. I would have preferred training with the team though. :/
Hopefully I can start doing stuff with them soon. Until then I'm lone wolfing it in the gym.
The time has come! It's been real in the city, but I'm back in my lakeside paradise in the mountains.
Yesterday I moved all my stuff into my new apartment in Kings Beach. I'm living with three guys, Micah, Stavie, and Ian. So far it seems like we've got a solid little group. Ian works at Squaw, Micah works at Northstar, and Stavie works at Safeway. We pretty much have eating and riding on lock within our house. Micah studied kinesiology for a couple years so we're going to do a bunch of working out together in house and get super fit.
School starts next Monday so until then I'm just chilling on the lake every day. Not a bad life. I'm stoked to see everyone again. Jess came by the house last night and catching up with her was awesome. A lot of my friends that I ride with are transferring in this year so school should be pretty fun.
Premier season is also coming up and that'll be a great time. I love going to parties, meeting new friends and hanging out with my old ones.
That's about it. Nothing too exciting happening just yet. I really am totally stoked to be back here. Living in Tahoe is like a breath of fresh air. So beautiful and relaxing. Ahhh.... Alright, I'm off for a float on the lake.
Somehow people found out about my little snowboarding diary and now I have readers in countries around the world- from Chile to China, and Latvia to Venezuela. Recently there's been a change in where my readers are from; outside of the US, the country who views my blog the most now is Russia. To thank my Russian readers for their support, I wanted to make a post that highlights Russian snowboarding. One of my friends I ride with, Nika, is from Russia and told me that snowboarding is growing in Russia and it's starting to be a big thing. Stoked for Russians! Keep sending it, and thanks for your support.
Here's a video from Olya Smeshlivaya, a rad snowboard chick from Moscow. I met her at Mt. Hood last summer and she's pretty cool. She rides for Dakine, Dragon, Gnu, Protec, Vans, and Betty Rides.
This one is from Denis Leontyev. He’s 19, and is sponsored by Academy, LRG, 32, Dakine, APO, Skullcandy, and Lil’ Kings. This video was filmed at some indoor arena in Russia. Wish we had one of those around here!
If you're anything like me, every morning when you wake up, the first thought that comes to your mind is "What am I going to do with all my old snowboard magazines?" While cleaning the house today I found some flat magnets and figured out the solution to my problem: make some action shot snowboarding magnets. I'll be moving into my new apartment in a couple weeks and what better to decorate the refrigerator with? I figured I'd share this project in case anyone else wants to get creative/kill some time.
Project Time: 10-20 minutes, depending on how many magnets you want to make Supplies: Snowboard magazine, magnets, scissors, glue stick, colored paper
Just a few supplies needed before starting!
Step 1: Flip through the magazine to find some good "action" shots you want to use for your magnets. Look for ones that have the rider's whole body unobstructed and are 1" to 3" wide. Cut these pictures out of the magazine.
A couple of the shots I chose out of the February '12 Transworld
Step 2: Cut out the bodies of the riders and glue them on to your pieces of colored paper. The main reason for doing this is to make the pictures a little more sturdy. I used oragami paper so I had to glue a couple layers, but if you use construction paper only one layer is needed. Once your glue dries cut out the rider again. If you leave a little space on the outside it will put a colored boarder around the rider.
Step 2 in progress
Step 3: Once your pictures with the layers of paper behind dry, use your glue stick again to glue the magnets on to the back of the snowboarders.
Make sure your magnets don't extend outside the riders, cut them down if they do.
Step 4: Wait for everything to dry. And you're all set. Stick magnets to the fridge to hold up your favorite pictures and mementos from the season.
Optional Step 5: Make magnets of rails/mountain/trees, using the same process and create a whole snowboarding scene on your fridge. You can also bedazzle the magnets with glitter and rhinestones if you really want to go crazy.
Well, that's it. Simple and quick! If you make this, I'd love you see your results!
Let me know what you think of this DIY too and I might try to include more like this in my blog. :D
My Surgeon called today to tell me that my MRI on my right knee looks good. He said the pain I have in that knee could be from some scar tissue that formed because of tweaking it out when I tore my left ACL. There's nothing that requires surgery though so yay! Now I have the peace of mind that once my left knee heals up I'm ready to shred again. Till then, it's just arts and crafts and lurking the corners of the internet.
This morning I went to the hospital to get an X-ray on the screw in my knee and to meet with my surgeon. My surgeon said everything looked good and I was doing really good for only being five weeks out of surgery. Afterwards I met with my physical therapist who also said my knee was doing awesome. This means I'm definitely on track to be snowboarding again in December. All I can say is, hashtag-so-glad.
I also set up an appointment to get an MRI on my right knee. I've had this worry in my mind since April that I might have torn something in that knee too so I really want to know absolutely sure I know what's going on. My MRI is in a half hour so I should know in the next couple days what the situation is. Crossing my fingers that my right knee is a-ok.
Man. I just got my butt kicked. Well, not really. I just got back from physical therapy though. On the way to PT I'm always stoked like "This is gonna be awesome! I'm gonna move around and feel so good!" and then once I'm there it's like "Wait I still can't move. This hurts so bad. I want to cry. Why did I think this would be fun?" It happens every time. I know I need to commit to PT to get better, but it doesn't feel like I'm getting better, it just hurts. I can't wait until I finally have my range of motion back and I can actually work out and start looking forward to snowboarding again.
On a good note, my therapist measured my knee bending at 85°, which is up 20° from when I saw her 5 days ago. Hopefully this keeps going up until I reach full bending and I don't get stuck at any point.
Well, it's been two weeks since surgery and I'm healing up. I was posted up on my living room couch for a week but I finally made the move back to my bedroom and life is getting almost back to normal. I started walking again today, but I'm slow moving.
Surgery was interesting. I freaked out a bit when they put the IV in my arm because I'm terrified of needles, but then once they fed the anesthesia into my blood stream I was chilling. Last thing I remember was rambling on about random things to my surgeons in the surgery room and then I woke up in the recovery room.
Here's some pictures and stuff.
Hospital Chilling. 6:30am. (Rocking Out)
Anesthesia coming my way. Goodbye
Right out of surgery. Mind is still absent.
My couch living set-up
Dressing change 5 days after surgery. I thought they only made one incision, but I ended up with 4
Oh man. It's finally here. Exactly 2 months since I've blown out my ACL and I'm finally getting it fixed today. I've done everything I could to prepare for surgery: I've talked to other people who have gotten this surgery, I've done research online, and I've been working out with a personal trainer at the gym.
But for some reason, a case of the butterflies has set in. I haven't been nervous about surgery until today. I don't know what has gotten into me.
Well, my parents are calling me to come to the car. Here goes nothing.
Back in this post, I chronicled my experience at Billabong Flaunt It, that resulted in my getting sledded off in the worst pain I've ever felt.
Yesterday, I got a call from my doctor with my MRI results.
"So I have some good news and some bad news. Good news, you didn't tear your meniscus. Bad news, you blew out your ACL. You have no ACL. It's completely gone."
Great, I find this out 27 days after my injury. And if I hadn't lied to the doctor about being in a bunch of pain so I could get an MRI, I still wouldn't know. I probably would have gone to Hood the summer and still not know until something happened there and then I would lose the whole winter season. As it is right now, I probably won't ride until the end of December or January, because I was told it would take 9 months for recovery after surgery.
I'm kind of freaking out. I don't know what to expect- I've never had surgery. I don't know what to do in the nine months I can't ride. I don't know how I'm going to find meaning in life during all that time, because honestly, the only thing I think about all day, is riding. And I'm nineteen years old. This shouldn't be happening to me. I'm too young to already need a new ACL.
I'm working on getting out of school early so I can move back home and get the surgery done ASAP, but I'm still probably gonna have close to two weeks before going under the knife.
Has anyone had to get a new ACL? Advice? How was it getting back into riding? Freaking out. Anything would help. Thanks.
PS. Ask people about the speed on big jumps before sending it so you don't end up like me.
PSS. How did I blow out my ACL and not get best crash award at Flaunt It? I think I did the most bodily damage out of anyone in the contest...
I entered Roxy's Let the Sea Set You Free contest, and I'm reaching out everywhere I can.
The prize is incredible, and would truly be life changing. It includes $5k, $1k in merchandise, and travel around the world to Roxy contests being the face and voice of Roxy.
Right now, to move on to the next round, I need to be within the Top 150 highest voted entries. I'd appreciate it if everyone could vote for my entry. You can vote logged in to facebook, and logged out of facebook once per day. If you want to share my entry with everyone you know, I'd appreciate that too.
The contest ends May 8.
At Gremlinz Games I met a couple of girls from Japan. They were super nice and adorable (as it seems like all Japanese people are), and they taught me a handful of super useful Japanese words:
Motto =more Tomodachi =friend Hai =yes Ea =no Akachan= baby
I'm ready to go to Japan!
The two girls I was hanging out with at the Gremlinz party that night, Miki and Maiko, showed me a video that they're in and I wanted to share it. So here it is!
Friday, March 30th: Billabong Flaunt It Finals practice day at Sierra at Tahoe. Conditions- Really really sticky. The speed from the first jump to the second is tuck and point. I barely land on the knuckle every time. They inform us that they're going to cut a couple feet off the jump for the contest so it's easier to clear. Rail set up is awesome though. Stoked for that more than slope.
Saturday, March 31th: Showed up at Sierra, only to find that the whole mountain was on wind-hold. There were talks of catting the competitors over to the course, but eventually the decision to postpone the contest was made. I ended up going to Reno with the Mattingley's for lunch, and then getting stuck in a snowstorm on the way back to South Lake. It dumped 18" overnight.
Sunday, April 1st: Dreamed about my runs all night. Felt so good on the way to Sierra. First run during practice, I slipped the first jump and then rode by the side of the second jump to look at it. Get back up for my second run and here's where my over-confidence comes in to fuck me up. I watch a couple people hit the second jump from the start of the course and it looked like they went deep. I don't ask anybody who's hit them about the speeds, and just decide to send it. I barely knuckle the first jump and the I cruise into the second, make two pretty big carves. Apparently the speed was still "point it". In the air I knew I wasn't even coming close to the knuckle. I completely cased, probably a whole board length short of the knuckle. And my front knee just crunched. So I'm laying in the landing screaming bloody murder, someone comes and unstraps me, and ski patrol is called. I try to move out of the landing but can't even stand. I spend the rest of the day in first aid, getting xrays, freaking out, etc. I was mostly just bummed about not being able to ride, even though I was int he worst pain I ever felt in my life. I knew my season was over and that was the worst thing in the world.
Next 7 days: Spent the next week on a straight oxycodone binge. Lost touch with reality because if I didn't take them I was in too much pain to function, but being high for a week straight made me think my knee was ok. Still couldn't walk though... Also got really bad nightmares (I think this is from the pain killers?)
And then the next two weeks were a blur of me trying to figure out insurance information so I could figure out whats going on with me knee. I've been to the Kaiser in Sacramento, physical therapy in Roseville, and physical therapy in Incline. No one tells me the same thing. All the clinic at Sierra told me was that I didn't have a bone problem that showed up on the xrays. Kaiser/PT told me that I bruised my knee really badly and it could be 6 weeks- 6 months for it to heal, and that if it still hurt in 5 weeks it might be a torn meniscus. Then PT in Incline told me I could have a fracture that didn't show up in the first xrays. So now I'm back to knowing absolutely nothing. I finally got an MRI set up for Thursday, so I'll be doing the 2 hour drive to Roseville again, and then hopefully I'll know what's wrong.
UGH. Injuries suck so much. Missing the last two weeks of the season sucked so much. Everything sucks. Fuck knees. I hope I can ride in the summer. Here's some pictures from my Flaunt It experience.
My teammate from SNC, Ashley Vandermeer, and I
Ashley, me, and Alexis checking out the rail set up
Soooo Fun! Wish I actually got to compete on it!
Making it over Mt. Rose highway in a Mustang with no 4W during a snow storm
Hailee and Taelor Mattingley and I at the bowling party
Taelor killing it
Hope this is the only time I ever have this sight
The most fun was the open-door ambulance ride at 9:30am
