Summer o' Shred

Funny how quickly time goes by. I had planned on writing throughout the summer, but now I find myself at it's tail end without a single post.

It's been a pretty good adventure, and I don't really know where to start. Maybe I'll just jump around the highlights?

This night takes the cake for the best of the summer.

I spent the first six weeks of the summer living in my car. It wasn't too bad, and it was nice having my home go wherever I went. I spent most of my time off the hill just hanging out in town and being social, which was definitely a positive. I also went out almost every night during that time period so I could spend as much time not in my car as possible. My party-animal ways changed once I got a house. My amateur-hour mistake was not bringing a pillow. Sleeping on something hard and not having neck support for that long really messed with my back and neck.

While other people were soaking up the sun and sand, I was hanging out on top of the clouds.

I rode every single day in June, which might be a personal best. I don't know if I've ever done every single day of a month before. I maxed out at 32 days before taking a break to go celebrate 4th of July in Bend. For the beginning of the summer I lapped public park all day. Then I started riding Mt. Hood Summer Ski Camp. When High Cascade sessions started I jumped on the dig-to-ride program and rode there for the rest of the summer (I'll discuss my digging to ride experience in the next post). Annnd every once in a while I jumped over to Windells and played there.

Beer. Flag. Roof-top. 'Murica. 

4th of July in Bend. Wow. First excursion out of Government Camp for the summer. We started off by floating the river, and then hung out in the park with all the "freedom-riders." After that we went to a party at a kid who works at Windells' house. It was crazy. At one point probably around 100 people were posted up on his roof to watch the fireworks show. It seemed like everyone from Hood relocated to Bend for those couple days. I'd say a good majority of the High Cascade and Windells work force joined together for the party.

Me and Mom outside Bellagio. I stole her hat. Sorry.

For one of the in-betweens I dipped out to Vegas for two nights. I blew it when I partied at the Ark the night before my flight and missed my 6am departure. I was supposed to leave for the airport at 4am so I tried to stay awake until then, but crashed around 3. I had to spend an extra $250 for another ticket, but it was worth it to see my mom. I met up with my mom at the Vegas airport and then we went out to the strip. We had a pretty good time seeing Cirque du Soleil, eating awesome food, and checking out all the themed hotels. It was nice to get completely away from snowboarding and the same old crowd for a little bit.

You wouldn't believe how many people squeezed into the van.

Speaking of Ark parties, yeah that happened. I mean an Ark party is basically just standing outside the buildings drinking, but it's nice to be around a different crowd for a bit. Seeing old friends, and making new ones. The night/morning I missed my flight was probably the sweetest Ark party I went to this summer. We canoed out to an island behind the Ark, made a giant bonfire, and then raged inside a van. Yeah, Michael Wick has the coolest rape-van ever. Carpet on the walls and ceiling, strobe/colored lights, intense sound system. Add 15 people into the mix and you have an out of control van rager.

The Drink Water Rat Race went down at Hood mid-July. It was 90% invite, so I didn't think I'd win, but I figured I'd give it a shot and have fun since the $35 entry fee went to a really good cause. It ended up being a really fun day, and I surpassed what I thought I was capable of. I'm glad I entered. Afterwards was a BBQ at Clear Lake where lots of food was consumed, and the awards were given. I ended up not doing so badly- I placed 6th behind some pro chicks, so I'm pretty satisfied with that. Leanne Pelosi's pro model Dakine gloves were one of the first pairs of gloves I owned, so I'm not bummed about her having a faster time than me at all.

I pipe jocked out for most of the summer. I spent all but 2 of my High Cascade days just riding the super pipe all day. I spent the first couple of sessions just getting as comfortable as I could with airing. Then after talking with one of the Canadian coaches, and former Olympian, Crispin Lipscomb, I decided to commit to "training." I worked with him and a girl he coaches, Katie, for the last eight days and had crazy progression. I got so much more comfortable moving in the pipe, tried back 5s for the first time (and locked them in- my new best and favorite trick), worked on getting my front 5s consistent again, and started trying cab 5s (land them every time, but they aren't very pretty or clean just yet.) He also helped me sort through the madness which I first alluded to in this post. I still can't say exactly what it's about, but hopefully I can reveal that soon. I'm really excited about whats going on with that whole situation and I can't wait until things are confirmed and I can officially announce what I'm up to.

Annnd now we're caught up to today- last day on hill for High Cascade. There's one more session but I'm cutting my summer early to head back home and see my physical therapist/doctor. I need to get some things checked out before I possibly travel to New Zealand for the World Cup/Winter Games. I'm really happy with this summer. Even though I still couldn't get a job at camp, I was basically part of it. I was on hill for every day of every session, and helped with some of the off-hill activities at camp. I'm stoked that I was fortunate enough to be able to snowboard all summer, but I'm also stoked to get back home and hang up the ol' shred stick for a week and then two months.

Hope everyone out there in the webosphere had an awesome summer. Take it easy this fall. Get pumped for the winter. :D

Till the Bowling balls,
CKOS.