Showing posts with label Bataleon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bataleon. Show all posts

Jan 17, 2012

Need a new Bataleon board

EDIT 6-14-12: I am no longer searching for this board. Matt of Progression Boardshop in New Hampshire was super awesome and gave me an awesome hook up with the board. Kudos. Make sure to stop by and check them out if you're in the New England area. Remember, snowboarders support snowboarders. Buy from your local shop and not the internet whenever possible.


This sounds so lame, but I had a dream last night about getting a new Bataleon Disaster. It was like a series of journeys I went on to try getting this board. I never got one before I woke up. :/
Gapping, pressing, front 5 tailing. This board kills all
I started riding the Disaster back in November at Mammoth and have been loving it since then. At first I thought it'd just be a rail board, and it totally destroyed rails. Spinning on everything was so easy and catchless. But then I started jumping on it. And I realized how stable it was on jumps, and how good spinning in the air felt on it. "Cool," I thought "This will be a solid slopestyle board." But then I rode pipe in it, and was able to boost out and feel so good. "Holy crap. This is an all around killah."
And I fell in love.

I was at Boreal messing around gapping their stairs (because actually hitting rails is soo old school), and I came up a little short one time and cracked my edge clean in half. I kept riding the board and eventually the edge completely broke and started coming out from the board. I rode Rev Tour with a good five inches of edge sticking a couple centimeters out from the board. I'm so glad I never got caught up on it. That would have been a real disaster.

Bataleon Disaster, sans edge
Prison shank, or board edge? You decide
After the contest I pulled the edge out, so now I just have a gaping hole right on the contact point of my heel edge. It's terrifying to ride, but I still love the board and don't want to use anything else. I was even offered a Forum proform, but I don't want a Forum board. I want a Bataleon Disaster. It's my favorite board I've ever ridden I think.

I have another Slopestyle competition this weekend so I'm trying to not ride until the contest in hopes that my board will still be shreddable in the comp.

I've been searching for a way to get this board again, but I can't afford it full price. If anyone knows of a way to get a pro form on Bataleon boards, pleassse let me know. OR better yet, if you're reading this Bataleon, and want to send me a Disaster to write a review on, I'd be glad to do it. Heck, even if anyone has a 145 Disaster that they've already ridden and thrashed, I'll take a hand-me-down. That's what this last one was, anyways. Butit'dbecooltogettorideanewoneforthefirsttime.

If anyone can help me out, go to my contact page and shoot me a message. It'd be greatly appreciated.

Nov 27, 2011

Novembrrrrrr cont.

A couple posts ago I said "This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far." I'm following that statement up with "This month is still fucking awesome."

I just had another incredible weekend and its starting to seem like the month of November can do no wrong.

Jaegs Mckegs and I in dirty Reno
On Wednesday Mitch came up to Reno to pick up his car and brought Jaeger and Spiegel with him. I was riding Boreal that night but once they closed, I headed out to Reno to meet the guys. I first went into some random club inside the Circus Circus/El Dorado/Silver Legacy complex while I waited for the guys. Some random dudes in the bar bought me drinks, I gave out fake numbers and then left as soon as Jaeger called me. The rest of the night disappeared in a blur of alcohol and bright lights. A small portion of the night was preserved when Nicola started video messaging me and Jaeger and I sent videos back. I think around 2am we made it to the Nugget and split an Awful Awful. Soo good. I think from there we went back to the hotel, partied more, and went to sleep when the sun started coming back out.

Stocking up for the year.
I planned on stopping at Boreal the next morning on the way home to ride a bit but that didn't happen. I was physically incapable of getting out of bed so I didn't leave Reno until around noon. I headed straight to San Francisco and made it to my aunt's house in time for Thanksgiving Dinner. Dinner was awesome. I ate until I thought I was going to puke. Then I went to Walmart with my mom for their 10pm Black Friday event. That was ridiculous. I'm never going there for Black Friday again. The line went around the entire building in a maze pattern. My mom and I were just going to leave but apparently I'm Walmart VIP and one of the security guards asked me if I wanted to go into the store and then let me through the metal gates and in the store without having to wait in the line. Inside Walmart was frightening. There were people running, pushing, and climbing over each other. You know those end of the world movies were people are running around and raiding stores? It was like that. Oh and if there was a fire in that building EVERY SINGLE PERSON WOULD HAVE FUCKING DIED. We ended up leaving without buying anything because it was so ridiculous in there.

First face bleeding sesh of the season. Nice.
Friday morning my mom woke me up at 5:30 to go Black Friday shopping with her. I was so tired but I ended up getting a couple cute things. I left around 1 to drive back to Tahoe. I made it to Boreal around 5:15 and was about to ride when I lost my keys somewhere between my car and the lodge. I had to wait an hour for AAA to come open my car so I could get my stuff. While I waited some gapers parked next to me gave me beer and food so that was nice. I finally made it onto the hill at like 6:45 and was having a pretty good time riding. Then a skier snaked me a couple feet before a rail but I still wanted to hit it so I did. He was so close that I would have landed on his skis so I while I planned to just 50-50 (my only rail trick), I had to front board the rail. I held it for most of the rail until I fell off and landed on my face. That was a bummer. I bled a lot but kept riding. A couple hours later I was starting to feel nauseous so I called it a night.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday morning and drove down to Mammoth. I had the worst time ever trying to park. I ended up 2 miles away. When I finally got off the chair for my first run I found out that I was missing my toe strap and my binding was barely attached. So I did a pipe run with my back foot not really even secured to my board. That was cool. Not. I went and bought a new strap and went back out. I met up with Jaeger, Mitch, and a couple of the other Bataleon guys and rode with them for a while. They dipped and I stayed until like 3. Finally my body started hurting so I went back to town and picked Jaeger up. We found a hotel and the owner made us promise we weren't going to throw a party. We went over to some guy's house for dinner and then brought everyone back to the hotel to party. Duh. We played fun games, got drunk, and then got the owner of the hotel pissed. Party broken, I crashed.

Mmmmm Sushi and sake bombs. <3
5am Sunday morning I'm up. I meant to leave Mammoth at 5:30 but couldn't get out of cuddle mode until 6:30. Give a girl a break. When I finally got out of the hotel, I pointed back to Incline. I made it back home at like 9:15 and then left for Northstar with Nicola. I had an awesome time riding there. I met up with Shannon and rode with her and a couple dudes for a little while. They had to leave around midday but I stayed to ride more. That evening Nicola and I went to sushi with a fun group for Dave's birthday. I think after 7 sake bombs we went back to his house and partied there. The night drowned in beer pong and celebration shots and at some point we went to sleep.

Nicola and I did the 7am wake up and dip-out maneuver, sent it back to Incline, and then went back to the real world. School for me, snowboarding for her. It was a solid weekend I think. Here's to next weekend!

Nov 15, 2011

Novembrrrr

Getting right to the point- This month has been pretty fucking awesome so far.

Nicola and I killing it in Truckee
1. Nicola Barry moved into my house. She's the best.  Nicola is so awesome to live with and its fun to not be alone in my house for the month. We make pretty awesome dinners and go snowboarding almost every day together. Which brings me to awesome point 2.

Classic "Girls on Chair lift" photo
Front 3. © 2011 Ben Birk, All Rights Reserved
2. Boreal is open 7 days a week now. I've gotten 6 days there so far (school is sooo in the way of me having fun). I've learned some cool tricks that I'm pretty stoked about and finally have a picture of myself, thanks to Mr. Ben Birk. I've also discovered I really like gaping boxes. And doing MJs. Another discovery is that I ride 8x better when I listen to Gucci Mane radio. It's funny riding Boreal right now because it makes me think back to this time last year when there were only like two features I'd hit in the whole park run. I'm so happy and grateful that I'm at the point now where I'm not scared of hitting any of the features they have. It makes snowboarding even more fun, if that is even possible.

3. I entered Rome's Magic Shred Contest and won myself a new board. My new Detail Rocker should be arriving any day now and I'm so stoked to get on that baby. You can see the contest here. I'm a little nervous about riding a rocker board but I'm down to try anything once I guess. It's coming just in time too because my Roxy is about to be no bueno. I got the edge drag going on and it's really harshing my mellow.


A little more snow please?
We're the three best friends that anyone could have.
4. Mammoth BWKO was the sickest fucking weekend ever. Ever. I headed down there after my thursday night soccer game (I scored my first goal!!!) and made it down to Mammoth just in time for some afterpartying at the Hyde Lounge. I met new people, saw some old friends, and drank a healthy amount of alcohol. I went with some guys to a party at someone's house and then crashed in some random hotel room. I made it out at 7am to go up to the mountain and get my ticket. I was told that the school was only going to buy me a one day ticket but it turned out to be a three day ticket, which made my weekend so much better. The weather on Friday was ridiculous, but I met some guys who taught me how to Miller Flip so the weather didn't even matter. I was so stoked to learn a new trick. Liz and Nicola came down with Armeen and two skier kids that night. We partied more at Lakanuki's and then went to Hyde Lounge where we were treated to even more free drinks. I met up with Jaeger at some point and gave him my wristband so he could get into Lakanuki's with us. We partied there until I don't know when, and then went up to the Bataleon condo right there in the village. I dipped out fairly early the next morning and rode with Nicola and Liz for the rest of the day. That night we met up with some guys we met while riding for drinks at Gomez's. Turns out our margaritas were paid for there as well, by Binky from Smokin (Thank you <3). We headed back to Lakanuki with the boys and Cody gave us free drink wristbands (Thanks to which ever company paid for our 50 red bull vodkas). Cha-ching. The rest of the night is a blur, with lots of details that I remember but would never share on the internet. Sorry ;]. Basically, we had a good time. Lots of drinking, lots of playing. I stayed in the Bataleon condo again that night and then next morning I set up my bindings up on Jaeger's old Disaster- luckily Jaeger rides the same size as me. We went out riding together and had an awesome time. I kept the board because I can't handle the edge drag I have on my Roxy right now. The Bataleon board rides super differently but it'll work out until my new Rome board shows up. Nicola, Liz, and I sent it back to Tahoe at 1:30, only making the mandatory In-N-Out stop. Liz had to go back home but Nicola and I went out to Boreal and rode there until the lifts stopped. Such a good weekend, with amazing memories, and amazing friends.

5. Northstar is opening in a couple days and I'll be there with Nicola, destroying the park like we always do. Haha. We locked our penguin slides in at Boreal on Sunday night so look out for our mad steeze. Jaeger is also going to come up and stay at my house for the weekend so that'll be fun.

This winter is already topping last years 100 fold. I can't wait for the rest of the season. So happy to be here. So happy to be snowboarding.