Apr
14
Canada 2007
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So I’ve been back to work now for only 4 days and yet it feels like I’ve never been away. The reality is that this time last week I was in Canada and it was amazing.
So where do I start with this epic adventure, obviously somewhere near the beginning. Well on Saturday 24th March myself and Phil departed sunny Darlington for Glasgow where we were to catch a plane the following day. The journey was rather uneventful and we arrived in due course. It turns out that the directions from the AA website weren’t that good since we arrived at the Holiday Inn rather than the Holiday Inn Express. It turns out that we weren’t the only ones to do this, it is however an easy mistake since the Express is hidden round the corner. Eventually we arrived, checked in and hit the bar for a few beers with Adrian (Phil’s bro), I somehow even managed to score a free round of beers from the bar staff.
Sunday
The next day we got up and went down for breakfast where I met the rest of the group, who were a splendid bunch of people. The next bit of the story is mainly a lot of waiting, some sitting and some travelling, I will therefore fast forward a little…..
….Upon arriving at the hotel we checked in a rushed off to our rooms. There had however been a huge mistake since it appeared as though we had been assigned a double room. Yes Phil is my friend, but we had no intention of being THAT friendly. I went back to reception to speak to the hugely attractive Aussie girl and triumphantly returned with keys to a new room. This room however was equipped to 2 large Queen sized beds.
Even though I’d been awake for a very long time it was still quite early, I can’t quite remember how we passed the time, but I believe we went to the liquor store to purchase some ale and then convened in one of the rooms for some Dominos pizza action. It was a great night. An early night was had because we were catching the first bus to Sunshine Village.
Oct
29
Castleford?
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Right so its all nearly sorted, we’re off to Castleford on Sunday for some shopping, some boarding and some food. If you want to come then sign up here.
Oct
17
Coming Soon!
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So the nights are drawing in and soon the clocks will need to be adjusted Its soon going to be winter, and that means only one thing, it will be time to get my board out from it protective wrapping and time to hit the slopes. So far this winter I’ll be going to Bulgaria for a week in January and to Canada for two weeks in March. I say “so far” but lets face it I don’t think I can justify anymore time away boarding (but here’s hoping).
So what is the point of this post, well if your into your boarding and are getting the urge to hit the slopes, well why not take a look at this to get you in the mood.
Feb
12
Adopt the right stance
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Since I needed to take my bindings off when I was waxing my board I’ve decided to change my snowboard stance from duck to a more traditional forward stance, I’ve decided to settle for +21°/+6° for the time being and see how it works out. Hopefully it will feal more natural and I’ll be able to travel faster. If you want to know about snowboard stance why not check this out.
Feb
12
Waxing
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Today I’ve finally got round to waxing my snowboard in preperation for my next trip to Castleford, I think I’ve done a good job but can’t be sure until I get chance to test it out. I took some photos which can be found here.
Snowboards need to be regularly waxed to keep the base running nice and fast. Applying a fresh coat of hot wax every few times you ride is ideal. Or if you notice that your board’s base looks especially dry or seems to be running slow, now is a good time for a hot wax.
Jan
20
Stephen has the hump!
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Not much has been happen here in the past two days since I last checked in, other than Shutty getting the hump. It seems as though I cut him up while on the slope, although this I refute. (At this point I was going to explain what happened, but can’t since it turns out that this occasion was so memerable that I don’t remember it.) Anyway he got the hump and rather than waiting at the bottom of the slope like he usually does he got his knickers in a twist and went off back to the hotel, leaving me waiting for him at the bottom of the slope for 45 minutes. I was thinking that maybe he’d hurt himself, so this was perhaps was a reckless thing to do, if he ever does hurt himself I won’t be waiting at the bottom. Anyway he’s been a bit arsey ever since so I can see this being a fun night. Its fair to say that I’m quite looking forward to coming home now.
Jan
18
The next two days
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Well I’ve had two more full days of snowboarding action, and what more can I say, other that absoloutly amazing, If I were a Canadian I believe I would describe it as awsome. Yesterday was a bit of a strange day really because as much as I wanted to be on the slopes, we had to stop early as both mine and Stephens legs hurt in places I didn’t even know existed.
But today I don’t know what to say, I got off to my usual slow start, being a bit nurvious of turning at high speeds, but after lunch I made some adjustements to my board and things seemed much better. We’ve been hitting mainly red runs which at the moment is more that enough although I think by the end of the week we’ll be hitting a few black runs.
The weather has been pretty inclement as its been snowing all day and at one point there was a huge cloud half way up the slope which reduced visibility a lot, but its all good as I recon there will be a load of new poweder for us to play on.
Anyway thats the build up here comes the mail event, because today believe it or not I managed to beat Mr Stephen “I’m a bit psycho with a death wish” Shutt to the bottom of the slope and you’ll never guess how I did it. It was made possible by a 1 litre glass of beer, it was amazing. We went straight back on the slopes after I’d drank it and boy did it work. I got off to my usual start but Stephen had a unusually bad one, I wasn’t paying much attention and was just minding my own business until at the half way point when I realised that I was still in front of him, so obviously I decided to try my best to stay that way. I took a deep breath and went for it. No longer was I afraid, because I had to beat Stephen. And I did, not by much, but enough. I was fast where I was usually slow, I was turning where I would usually have stayed on my edges. So from now on I shall be snowboarding while under the influance.
Tomorrow we hit the black runs!
Bye for now I’m off for a beer.
Jan
16
The first two days
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So the past two days have been a bit of a blur really. They started at 1AM on Sunday 15th when I picked Stephen up for our snowboarding adventure. It involved a quite dull journey to Manchester airport, I was quite tired due to not having much sleep, but the journey was uneventful. When we got there we dropped the car off and checked in. I hadn’t eaten much so we grabbed a bite to eat then proceeded to the checkin lounge, which was rubbish. I so badley wanted to sleep, but couldn’t. To cut a long storey short, we waited ages, boarded our plane and then landed.
Upon landing we had to wait ages for our luggage and my board bag, we then had another 4 hour journey on a bus to the resort. I did miss out on the journey as I did keep nodding off for the odd five minute period now and again. Here are the highlights for the rest of the day, checked in, took a look round town, went to wecome meeting, had meal and then went to bed.
Today has been much more exciting, today we hit the slopes, and it has been good, its much much better than the slopes back in the UK. I ache a bit now, but hopefully should be back in working order tomorrow.
We’ve been mainly sticking to the blue runs today which is fine by me while I build up my confidence. We did do a red run on our third time down the mountain, which was a mistake, I did take my revenge on Shutty by wiping him out as my ‘heel egde to toe edge turn’ went ever so slightly wrong.
Anyway I’m gonna go now because this silly french keyboard is confusing me, you can read more about our holiday on Shuttys site, but frankly I wouldn’t bother cos he makes me sound like a girl.
Jan
7
Canada 2007
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Holidays are great aren’t they. Well in a weeks time I’ll be in Andorra on my first snowboarding holiday. Hopefully it will be good cos I’ve just booked two weeks in Canada for next year.
Oct
28
Snowboards are cool
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I’ve recently been learning to snowboard, and its got to be said that its very cool. So much so in fact that I’m actually going on holiday for a week in Andorra to make the use of my new found skills. So far I’ve been going to Xscape in Castleford and am currently in the process of buying my own equipment. On Sunday I plan to buy an Icon Wallpaper to go with my bindings (Burton Mission) and Boots (Thirty-Two Exus).