Tuesday, December 9, 2008

My New Ride and a brief moment of clarity...



I GOT A SNOWBOARD!!!

I finally got my own board to shred with.  I'm so super excited about it.  I've wanted one for a while now.  

Some Background
Ever since my freshman year in college when my friends took me to Mammoth Mountain for a week, and taught me how to snowboard.  Ever since then I've been a fan.  My friends in college always laughed at me during spring break because I went home while they went to warmer climates.  Yes, California is a warmer climate, but I didn't go to the beach.  I headed for the snow capped Sierra Nevadas.  Yes 3 of the 4 spring breaks I had while I was in college I went snowboarding.  I try to go every year since then, bringing more of my friends into the sport, and enhancing my skills.  I was able to get my two roommates into it (one actually skis instead), and the other broke his arm snowboarding last year in NY.  This past year I got to experience snowboarding on the East coast where I went to Wisp for a couple days with my boss and coworkers who all ski.  Still I had the most fun being the only one boarding and I held it down.  On that trip I almost bought a snowboard at the resort shop, but I told myself to hold out.  That was the only time I went that year.  I told myself this year I was going to go multiple times since I am pretty much permanent..

The Deal Breaker
Making my last rounds in the mall on the Saturday after Black Friday, I stopped by one of my favorite skate stores Zumiez to see what they had.  Walking around the store, I made my way to their selection of snowboards.  They had package deals for $299-$399, which I feel was a pretty good deal.  So I inquired, and was lucky enough to meet the store manager, Big Joe.  Big Joe reminded me of Big Z the character from Surf's Up.  He was full of energy and ready to school me on the basics of purchasing a snowboard from their store.  He took me through their selection of boards, bindings, and books, ephasising what I needed to look for in each and how their were important.  Big Joe gave me the best customer service experience in the history of shopping.  I told him I was coming back soon to get one.  That week at work, one of my coworkers recommended we go snowboarding, and it was on like Donkey Kong.  So the day before our trip I swung by Zumiez on my way home from work to make my selection.


I ended getting the Burton Blunt Wide.  I was told the board was slightly advanced and would last me a while.  The board has a bunch of features I don't really understand yet, but boy its it ride smooth.   Its 159 cm long, so its about as tall as a few of my smaller friends.  Paired with it I got the Burton Custom bindings.  I wanted the green bindings so I could stand out a little, but since the board I wanted wasn't in my size, I was slucky enough to get a matching board.   I got the Burton Poacher Boots to complete the deal.  Its a sweet setup and I hope to slay many mountains with it.  The Zumiez staff are some of the coolest, most down to earth people to ever sell me something.  They helped me set up the board, make sure I got something that worked best for me, and we all had a good learning experience putting it together.  Burton boards and bindings are no joke.  Big ups to Jenn and Matt at Zumiez!

Right off the back the board feels 1000x better than the rentals I was used to.  The boots and the bindings are snug and comfortable.  I still have much breaking in of the boots to do, but the binding held me down quite nice.  The board was very responsive, and even gave me a little extra pop when I went off a jump.  I did mostly freeriding, trying to gain a good feel for the board.  So far I love it.   

I plan on going back often, and even trying out some photography while up there.  The best way to learn is by doing, and I think I see a way for me to grow in two areas at the same time.  The more I think about it, the more I wonder if this was the correct purchase, or even if this was a good idea.  I enjoy snowboarding, but sadly life contains more that just large mountains and fresh powder.  Every day I am reminded of this.  Every day I also think about how much more fun it would be to take a month off and snowboard non-stop all over the world.  We all have responsibilities in life to take care of.  We all have priorities to handle.  The hard part is deciding which responsibilities/priorities are most important to us, and not what those around us would like us to pursue.  

A Brief Moment of Clarity

Snowboarding is like art, poetry in motion, and natural beauty all rolled into one.  When one is
going down the mountain it so easy to enter into a state of flow, focusing only on your turns and hearing nothing but the sound of the board sliding over the snow.  Snowboarding is like skateboarding, where people create poetry in motion in nature.  Its about freedom, expression, and style.  

Snowboarding is about being yourself, and is a lot like life:
  • We are all on a mountain together, but taking different paths to different places. 
  • Not only are we taking different paths how we traverse those paths is completely up to us.
  • Also our goals for the paths are different, some want to just get down, others try not to fall, and some want to do it fast.  
  • The more difficult the obstacle, the better we feel when we take it down.  
  • Everyone is afraid to try new things(jumps, more difficult runs, new experiences) at first, but you can't grow until you've tried them
  • Few mountains(challenges/skillsets) are similar, and all present different challenges than before.  The more mountains you visit and conquer the better ride you become...
  • Most importantly snowboarding, like life, is best when being experienced...
Snowboarding brings me a kind of freedom that I long for off the moutain.  Not only did I invest in a snowboard, I invested in myself, and in the belief that I can and will conquer my fears and challenge myself to find that freedom I long for...


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Great Post.

Nothing much else to say...

Although I do feel a strong urge to jump back on my BlackLabel.

Da Lova Lova said...

Dude... you are so channeling your inner Kant right now... This my friend, is impressive!