Fixpert

A couple years ago I spent a week in Vancouver at the Whistler/Blackcomb Resort, snowboarding every day for 5 or 6 days and I still was all falling leaf down the mountian.

Falling Leaf

Falling leaf is when you ride your heel edge all the way down and cut across the mountain, floating across side to side like a falling leaf. Let me tell you something about doing the “falling leaf” down a 7,400 ft mountain — don’t do it, ever. It takes hours and hours and hours. Whistler has runs that are as long as 7 miles, these mountains are huge! In fact, Ski Patrol was doing the nightly sweep and I was the very last person on the mountain. I had a Whistler Ski Patrol dude shadowing me the rest of the way down. Yes, it was kind of humiliating, but also comforting because I had started to worry about the sun going down and being stuck on the mountain in the dark all night long, just little me falling leaf…falling leaf.

A Skater, Yet Still Terrible

Flash forward three years and here I am, still a simple falling leaf. I can get to the toe edge, but there is still something critical that I am clearly missing. Moving from heel to toe edge is just fine, but moving from toe to heel edge always feels wrong and often lands me on my back. It’s pretty surprising, because I skateboarded practically every day from about age 14 - 20 and you’d think that would have provided a solid foundation for snowboarding. Unfortunately, the physics seem to be completely different.

Starting to Think “Getting Older” Thoughts

The sad part of this story was when I started to wonder if I have become risk averse?? This is a shocking realization for me — an ex-NYC bike messenger. I used to dodge traffic with 30 lbs of documents on my back, with no brakes and no helmet. Could it be that I am afraid of taking the risks necessary to move beyond the falling leaf?

Blame the Back

After retiring from messengerdome, I had some major troubles with my back. It took about two years of trying different doctors and therapies before fixing the problem, two years of crippling pain that comes with a pinched sciatic nerve (holler if you hear me, I know sciatica is really common). Luckily, my injury seems to be resolved now, as long as I go running a couple times a week I’m 100% fine. But, now I think I have this deep-rooted fear of serious long-term injury.

More than anything, my back injury had a crushing pyschological impact. I consider myself an active person, I love cycling, running, skating, etc. Not being able to do these things really affected my sense of self. My injury even got bad enough where I was missing work and could no longer make any sort of plans because I wasn’t sure what my back would be doing at any given moment. I think I would do anything to avoid a similar injury in the future, and I’m realizing now that whether I’m aware of it or not, I think this unconscious motivation is always affecting physical things that I do like snowboarding. Unfortunately, I think that hesitation often results in falls and injuries.

Some Might Hit the Bar

My friend Jason, who is ironically straight-edge, calls beer “liquid courage”. I think it’s a funny name, and I’m aware that many of the non-falling leaves that are blowing by me at 45 mph on the slopes are probably, technically, legally drunk, but I don’t think drinking is a good way for me to overcome my fear of the toe edge. I would prefer to save the beer for the post-successful-snowboarding-mission-celebration.

Or Maybe Just Take a Lesson

Oh yeah, good idea. You know, I’ve never had anyone show me what I’m suppossed to be doing! Next time I go snowboarding, I am going to start the day with an official snowboarding lesson. Look for me among the 5 and 6 year olds, I’ll be the one that’s just a little bit taller than everyone else, ha ha!

Any advice for me from you seasoned snowboarding vets? Ben and Barf, if you’re reading, I did have an awesome time riding with you guys this weekend, thanks for being patient with me!