Feel Your Ride

I know I should get back to the details of writing and self publishing, but since I just had the kind of day that makes me grateful to be alive, there's no way I'm not going to blog about that.

I love snowboarding. I'm proud to call myself an addict. Today on Mt. Hood was the best powder day I've enjoyed in years. Everybody waxes eloquent over the bluebird days, but I think I prefer to ride while it's snowing and the wind is blowing. I have to get inside myself and not let the fear of nature's elements frighten me. It's pretty intimidating to be trying to make your way through winds so strong, sometimes I'm moving a bit backwards before going forwards. It's scary to go down a steep slope with wind and snow blowing in your face, making white out conditions, a strange kind of blindness. But that's when the magic begins. That's when I have to feel my ride and those are the moments I find out the snowboarder I really am. And the reward is a blissful ride, making fresh tracks all day long. Another benefit is that the beginners and the families and the fearful stay away on days like today.

"The wind keeps the pussies off the mountain."

So said a kid I rode up the lift with. He even fist bumped me to express fellowship and solidarity when I told him I liked riding during a storm. Doesn't matter whether you're male or female, snowboarding is a culture where everybody who can ride well enough is a bra. Besides he's right. It's easy to ride on a bluebird day.

I worked hard to earn those spurs, so I will enjoy this moment of hubris. And I had the kind of day that let me know I'm a rider. I was even keeping up with the teenagers and the twenty something dudes. I can ride deep powder and handle ice and moguls, I can make my way through "Portland concrete," when the snow gets like styrofoam and grabs your board. We had similar conditions in Juneau, AK where I learned to ride. I can ride black diamonds - both single and double. I even caught air and landed like I knew what I was doing yesterday. Maybe I will get confident enough to drop off a cliff - but I can't say I aspire to that.

The next time I go up I may ride like shit, but today I was out of my head and in my body - for me, that is always such a treat. It is so rare that I'm ever fully in the moment and full with the moment. But a good day of riding always takes me there. Today, my board was a part of me and making my way down those slopes was effortless. Where the powder was, it was deep and the turns were soft slices, almost silent. I was one with my board, the snow and the other riders and skiiers around me. It was bliss.

"You just feel your ride."

That advice came from a friend that I rode with every day in that season when I finally got over the hump of intermediate beginnerhood and really learned how to ride a snowboard. And today, I really did. Felt my ride.

Thanks for reading.