Saturday
So we finally got to the house... 40 people in a 1.75 bedroom house is rough. There was not 1 inch of floor space left uncovered by a body. I slept between Paul and a stranger on a sofa bed. Beer was everywhere, Andy and Will slept on the kitchen floor. In a way, it was great! In other ways, it was awful! Particularly on my back.
So we woke up bright and early, got dressed and hungoverly got moving to the mountain. We had a safety class to attend in order to get our park passes. Once that was underway, Eric showed up and we gave him his passes and we headed up into the hills.
I grabbed a Sierra Stunt to demo, set it up, and was eager to get to the hill!
Choosing the hardest runs as a warm up on a hung over day aren't always the best. It was hot, sunny, and thick. We tired out quick and needed to head to the lodge to shed many layers. Round 2 was just as hard. Headed to the back we ran into Mike (Sierra owner) and Johan (Capita VP) and were off doing gnarly terrain again. I'm just happy I could hang. I'm happy I wasn't last. I'm happy I didn't break anything. I'm happy I'm progressing.
I eventually left Paul and Andy in need of breathing room. Yes Paul gets on my nerves. Yes sometimes I need a break. Yes when he hurts me and doesn't apologize it pisses me off. I needed to change my goggle lenses anyway. With Preston's keys in hand I ran to his car (more like walked), changed my lenses to my sunny lenses and headed back out. Some groomer laps, mogul laps, and park laps (where I went past every feature without hitting 1) we found Johan, beer and food!
Paul and Andy ended up with Mike and Johan for an out of bounds back country hike... they rode in some crazy stuff... I'm glad I wasn't there. It was too hot, too thick, too steep and too tight for me to handle with any sort of finesse. No matter ... with 20 more people to find to ride with... I wasn't going to be alone.
And that's when it began to rain. After my cup of coffee ... Paul and Andy came back safely, we found Eric, and another Sierra dude. We decided we werent calling it a day and headed back out... we did a bunch more runs having a crazy good time... and when our legs were tired and the snow was turning hard... we headed back to the house... but not without checking into a roomier hotel with hot water and room to dry our gear for Sunday shredding.
We were off to Levenworth, WA... a Bavarian town filled with worst and beer. YUM! We ate, we drank, we drank, we laughed, we drank, we went back to the house where we drank and goofed off and drank ;) Then off to bed by 11:30 ... what??! Only 11:30... yep
Sunday
So after a nice sleep ... in a bed, we woke up, packed our gear, got dressed, and headed to the hill. No one was there yet so we started our day shredding wherever we felt like it. We checked out some new lines, rode on some old, spent much time on the back side having tons of fun. People started to slowly trickle in but we basically rode together... the 4 of us. We strategically took breaks to watch the US vs Can. gold medal game... US lost =( and we rode till 4 when the mountain closed.
Mike and Jenn let me keep the Sierra Stunt which Andy rode on Sunday... he loved it... and maybe needed it more than me so I let him keep it. Yeah I'm kinda sad he ended up with it, but at the same time he can press it better than me, it was more his size, and I'm really hoping for Rome 390s and a Sierra Reverse Crew... I can dream.
We packed tight into the car, drove to Seattle where Eric's friend generously let us shower at his house, got dressed, went to the airport... I had a holding back tears good bye with Paul, Andy and Eric got hugs and I was NY bound on my Sunday night red eye.
It was the worst flight ever... the people next to me sucked so bad... but I don't even feel like venting about it. Lets just say, they stole my seat, tricked me, smelled like fry oil, moved a lot, were not skinny, and in general sucked!
The sleeping arrangements from above... yes thats us'
Paul and I getting ready to head out for round 2
Yes, that's how many people we were... just in the hallway
Unileg! Jenn was nice enough to make me and E matching fleece PJ pants
Sometimes I pick my nose
2 comments:
Life is short and it should be enjoyed EXACTLY like this. Glad you had a great time! More to come, I hope!
You are completely right! It's one of the reasons I decided to say... screw it! I'm going.
I figure... the wedding... we'll figure it out, financially and logistically ... I'll find a dress eventually! I want to ride, I want to meet people, I want to have no agenda except that I be on snow as much as possible.
More to come: VT and Tahoe are the last 2 remaining stops on the tour I'm attending.
=) I can't wait
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