Snowboarder Supercross
I had a pretty good weekend. But mostly, it was that one SSX moment. I aim to make my life as much like a game of SSX as possible, so when it happens I'm particularly stoked.
Lower Dry Creek is a fun little hidden canyon at Mammoth. Carved into the mountain by millennia of erosion, what we riders are gifted with after a good snow fall is a long, fast, winding, natural half-pipe with walls well over 20 feet high. On uncrowded days when ski traffic hasn't moguled out the path, it is one of the mountain's true gems.
Early Saturday morning, 8 of us took this run in unison. Keeping a speed of about 35-40mph at a maximum distance of 2 meters away from each other at most, we tore through. Up and down. Tight lines. Smooth tracks. Carving hard and high S patterns. Cutting around and across each other. Without taking anyone of ourselves out. We had a talented playful group having some of the most fun I've seen in a long time.
I've had moments almost like that on the mountain before. Super fast group rides with very tight lines in uber narrow spaces. But that's been with just a handful of really aggressive guys. Saturday morning we had a pretty mixed group of veterans, beginners, and riders in between including two females. Most of them I've ridden with since their first time on a snowboard. Today, we're all skilled enough that the group played really well together.
And though that one epic run happened spontaneously, I couldn't help but to look around at the group and realize: that one moment had been about seven years in the making.
It's the little things I live for.
Lower Dry Creek is a fun little hidden canyon at Mammoth. Carved into the mountain by millennia of erosion, what we riders are gifted with after a good snow fall is a long, fast, winding, natural half-pipe with walls well over 20 feet high. On uncrowded days when ski traffic hasn't moguled out the path, it is one of the mountain's true gems.
Early Saturday morning, 8 of us took this run in unison. Keeping a speed of about 35-40mph at a maximum distance of 2 meters away from each other at most, we tore through. Up and down. Tight lines. Smooth tracks. Carving hard and high S patterns. Cutting around and across each other. Without taking anyone of ourselves out. We had a talented playful group having some of the most fun I've seen in a long time.
I've had moments almost like that on the mountain before. Super fast group rides with very tight lines in uber narrow spaces. But that's been with just a handful of really aggressive guys. Saturday morning we had a pretty mixed group of veterans, beginners, and riders in between including two females. Most of them I've ridden with since their first time on a snowboard. Today, we're all skilled enough that the group played really well together.
And though that one epic run happened spontaneously, I couldn't help but to look around at the group and realize: that one moment had been about seven years in the making.
It's the little things I live for.