First up I have to say a big thank you to everyone who after my whinging has wished for sunshine, especially Cityrat59 who today sent me sunshine from Sweden. Yes, there was a hint of sun today, not at first admittedly but it did make an appearance now and again from mid-morning.
The day started off with a call from Marc, my instructor, to say he was struggling to get the to the top as the lift from where he lives was closed, but that I should get up and start hitting the kickers. The Boyf and I headed up but the lift to the top was closed so we lapped the bubble run until it opened. On arriving at the top we faced poor visibility & high winds, so after a couple of runs through the rail park we headed into the No Name Cafe for a hot chocolate meeting Marc on the way. After a quick warm through Marc and I headed out and did a warm up line on the kickers, as we took the Poma lift back up the wind picked up and it was like being in a blizzard, you couldn’t see anything, so back to the No Name we went.
After about 5 minutes the wind dropped and there was a hint of sun, and by that I mean a tiny sparkle in the cloud, certainly not enough to mean that I could actually see the kickers…so we were back to feeling the way with Jedi legs! I must be building in confidence because this didn’t freak me out quite as much as yesterday, and in fact I think the fact that I couldn’t see the second kicker meant that I actually kept my nerve (actually just thought to hell with it!) and managed to straight line in from my landing of the first kicker and sailed over without a speed check, something that Marc has been trying to get me to do for days now. I’m really pleased because I managed to keep this up through out the day and was straight lining the first 2 kickers without the fear being to great.
As the morning progressed the cloud cleared and periodically the sun came out so that for probably 50% of my runs today I could actually see where I was going. I worked hard not to let the vision freak me out and make me slow down and for the most part I managed to override the little switch in my head that says “Brake” when I get a bit scared.
Overall it was a really good day, and although I still can’t quite get the hang of nose grabs I’m certainly getting closer to holding the board rather than just flailing my arm in the direction of the front of my board than I’ve ever done. I’m hoping my arms grow over night and I manage it tomorrow!
No photos today because I was to busy riding, I’m not sure what tomorrow will be like, it’s started snowing again but I’m hoping it’ll snow tonight and clear up for about 10am….who knows though, whatever happens I’m sure we’ll make the best of it.