Race Season is *Just* Around the Corner

It's almost December and that means that race season is just around the corner. Season passes (yes, plural) are bought and the ski resorts up north are open. Whitney has been on the slopes once already. A friend of hers from Virginia was at Sunday River for a camp with the Gould Academy and Whitney went over to meet him for a day of riding and dinner. The team hasn't started on slope practices yet and I'm not sure they will before the end of the semester. They don't have snow yet at Titcomb, where they practice during the week and there's only a week and a half of classes left before finals.

Sunday River fun

She's got season passes for both Sugarloaf (which is also good at Sunday River) and Massanutten. She'll need the Sugarloaf one for practice and some races. She'll be home long enough over Christmas to get good use out of her Massanutten one and she's also racing down here twice. All the schedules are out and she's working on her plans but she's going to race GS at Massanutten in early January while she's home, then she'll fly home in February to race BX. She hasn't let me know her other race dates yet so I haven't made any travel plans but I'm hoping to get up to see her race a couple of times as well as going to both Nationals races.

The best news, so far, is that her new snowboard came in just in time for her birthday. She was super excited about it and it looks awesome. The board is so her - her favorite color is represented well, her home state prominent in the design and her home mountain and summer home are marked. Now she just needs that new pair of bindings and she'll be good to ride. Her board was sent home and she left it here when she went back to school; she said she wasn't going to have much time to ride plus she's got two boards at school. She's going to run out of room soon in her dorm room!

her new board

It's Getting to Be That Time of Year Again

It may still be 80* in Virginia but the leaves are changing and falling, Copper Mountain got 24" of snow recently, Sugarloaf had a dusting. Winter, snow, and snowboard season will be here before we know it.

Things are slowly starting to fall into place. Whitney is captain of the women's snowboard/freeski team. We talked about getting a private coach again this winter but UMF has a new snowboard coach so it was decided to see how that goes first. She's started dryland practice and has spent a lot of time in the gym already. She's also back to the trainers at school to help keep her body working.

One of her big purchases this fall will be a new race board. She's working with a friend to design a custom graphic for it and hopefully will have it ordered soon. That also means new bindings. At least she got the boots last winter.

Schedules are starting to come out. Maine Mountain Series has theirs done and I'm sure the rest of the USASA series are working on it. The Hole Shot Tour races are also posted so it's almost time to start making travel plans. I know I'll be at Lake Placid for USCSA Nationals in March and at Copper Mountain for USASA Nationals/Hole Shot Tour in April. Hopefully I'll be able to get to a few more races this winter as well.

Here's to a snowy winter!

Another Season in the Books

Another snowboard season is in the books, or almost. I think Whitney is going to head to the slopes one or two more times before calling it good. She really wants to snowboard as long as she can but she also wants to save the gas money of the drive to Sugarloaf. We'll see. She's got school projects to work on and tests to study for as well as needing to think about packing up for the summer. She'll be leaving some things at her aunt's house again over the summer, including all her snowboard gear. It'll take some planning to figure out what gets packed up to stay in New England and what comes home.

Overall, from my perspective, it was a good snowboard season if we're talking about how it went competitively. Whitney tried new things and was successful at them and she also did well in her boardercross races. The new things she tried this year were giant slalom and racing NorAm/FIS. The giant slalom races went really well. She made her first attempt at it in NH and felt good after the race. Her second outing was at USCSA Nationals where she came in fourth. A good showing! The two NorAm/FIS races she entered overall went well. The one at Sunday River was a bit of a challenge to get to with the blizzard in Maine and the one at Copper (USASA Nationals) was a physical challenge with her twisted ribs. She improved her finish between the two races and I'm sure she'll do better next season.

Other aspects of her season were very challenging. The coaching from CVA didn't work out as well as we thought it would. There were issues, mainly communication but other things as well, although I think the coaching she did receive was good. There were a lot of issues with the UMF snowboard coach. Nothing good came from that situation. We're not sure what will happen next season with either but there will be change, just not sure what the change will be at the moment. We have all summer to figure things out, try to find a good coaching situation for Whitney, and figure out what will be best for her snowboarding career.

Enjoy the summer! See you on the slopes next winter.

USASA Nationals 2017, Wrap Up

Overall we had a really good trip to Colorado. Whitney loves snowboarding out there and really enjoyed hanging with the team from Massanutten. She got to network some, although not as much as she thought since everyone, including her, was busy. I enjoyed the bit of skiing I did. Hopefully next winter will be better here in the East and I'll get to Massanutten more so I'll feel more confident in my legs when we go to Copper next year.

We had to get up super early to catch our shuttle to the airport. We had the chattiest driver! I was actually pretty impressed with what she's done in life, including being in the military and driving massive construction trucks (the kind you have to climb a ladder to get into). I don't know how anyone could be that talkative that early in the morning. Anyway, we got to the airport in time to get some bagels and coffee and wait. While we were waiting (for bagels, I think, or maybe working our way through security) I got a text that our flight was late. Again. It was coming in from San Diego and had mechanical issues. We ended up leaving just over an hour late. We got to Dulles ok where Bob picked us up. Things were pretty efficient there, he was able to get our bags, including skis/snowboard, and was waiting for us by the time we got off the train to the main terminal. He got us home (one time I appreciate the toll road), we moved Whitney's snowboard to my car and she packed up the rest of her stuff then we went through the Chick-fil-a drive through and went to Baltimore so she could catch her flight to Maine. Super long day for Whitney since she didn't get back to her dorm until 2:30am.

Before we left Colorado Whitney had sent an email to the trainer at school that she's been working with and he told her to come in on Tuesday. She managed to get up in time for her 8:00 class on Tuesday then went to the trainers after they opened. She told me later that they used a tool to determine if she had broken or cracked her ribs and it felt really weird. It was determined that it was unlikely a crack/break but more likely a contortion of her ribs. All I could think of was that it sounded painful and how the heck was she still snowboarding?? The trainer made her an appointment with the local chiropractor and she went to see them on Thursday. They said she had rib dysfunction (twisted ribs) and after a painful adjustment she was fixed. Well, her ribs were back how they should be but she was still in pain. She was told not to sleep on that side and to be careful of hugs and twisting her torso for a few days. Because of her experience she was told to take this weekend off from snowboarding but she could hit the slopes again next weekend. She was just glad not to be told that she was done for the season. She's really hoping to be able to keep snowboarding until she has finals in May. We'll see if Sugarloaf is open that long.

Now it's time for me to put my ski gear away, figure out how to return my rental skis (the ski shop is closed for April), and look forward to next season. Whitney has plenty of time, or at least a few weeks, left to snowboard and enjoy herself. I'm glad she's got a longer season up there so she has time for some fun riding. She doesn't get to do that much during the season; she's too focused on training.

USASA Nationals 2017, Day 3

Today was a pretty good day although the results weren't what Whitney was hoping for. She was up early and off to the course with Chad. Things were run a bit different than she was used to, although it's how NorAm races are run. They ran two time trial runs; for the women they took the top eight directly into the brackets after the first run. The rest of the field did a second time trial and they took the top eight from that into the brackets, the rest were done. Whitney had a decent time in her first run and finished 16th. Her second run was faster but so were some of the other girls and she unfortunately ended the day in 17th and didn't make the cut. It's unfortunate since her strength is racing not time trials. She was really upset but there's something to learn from every race. I think that although she didn't make the cut she still had a good day racing.

She's off riding with Chad and some of the other guys from Massanutten who aren't racing today. She's also going to stop by the Donek tent and see about taking some boards for a test ride. She's been riding on a borrowed Donek board for this season and wants to look at one that would fit her better.

Later...I caught up with her and the Massanutten guys by the NeverSummer tent at the vendor village. They got a bunch of stickers and had a good talk with the NS reps that were there. Whitney is sponsored by NS and riding one of their boards, mainly for her fun trips to the mountains these days as they doesn't make race boards. She loved the Donek board that she tried, and it has nothing to do with the fact that it was a yellow board although that didn't hurt. The board that she tried was a much better size for her and she loved the way that it rode. Time to save up the money to buy a new board or talk to them to see if they'll sponsor her, which would be awesome.

Dinner and hanging out with the Massanutten guys tonight, packing, then up early for our shuttle to the airport.

USASA Nationals 2017, Day 2

Yesterday was another practice day. Whitney hung out with the coaches and a couple of the boys from the Massanutten team in the morning then she and Chad were on the BX course for her practice. She is feeling better although her ribs hurt. The good news is that with two EMTs here neither think her ribs are broken. She'll just soldier on and do what she has to do then rest after her race. Her practice went well then she rode for a while before coming into take it easy.

We didn't get nearly as much snow as they were calling for but we did get an inch or two overnight. It's probably good, the amount they were calling for would have changed how the course was riding. We got some snow flurries during the day yesterday and heavier snow during the opening ceremonies that was really pretty although it was cold.

Somehow the Appalachian Series found their way to the front of the parade and the Maine Mountain Series wasn't far behind. I watched them go by then moved over to a spot by the announcers and watched for a while. It was just getting cold and snowy so Kelly and I went inside to her condo. I met Whitney after at the App Series party and talked with Mark and Ellen, the series directors for a while.

Then it was pizza and wings at the Young's condo and watching video that Chad took of the riders on the BX course. Mostly he got the start and was going over their ride and how they could improve. It sounds like this race is mostly in the start. If you get a good start, get the hole shot and down to the lower part of the course you have a good chance. The top of the course is a bit technical then it's just fast, stupid fast from what I've heard.

Time to get ready for race day!

USASA Nationals 2017, Day 1

Whitney and I flew out yesterday to Colorado. Our flight was an hour late leaving DC (mechanical issues in Orlando made the flight late getting to DC, then we had more issues in DC) but we still had plenty of time in Denver to get our bags before our shuttle came. We got to Copper about 7:30 last night, checked in, then went for pizza. Our condo is nice, although it's on the edge of Center Village and a longer walk than we would like to the middle of things. It's not too bad though.

This morning Whitney went to registration and got her practice bib for today and her race bib. She met up with the guys from Massanutten and Chad, took a few fun runs then she went over to the BX course for practice. She thought the course was pretty good and definitely fast. She took a hard tumble and hurt her ribs but seems to be fine. We met for lunch then she was going to go back out riding with Chad for a while but it's been snowing off and on all day and then there was thunder. She called to let me know she was headed back to the condo and said that most of the lifts were closed. We're guessing they're on wind hold. I have to say though that it's coming down pretty good right now (they're calling for 8-16") and I'm sure the visibility on the slopes is pretty low. Hopefully the snow will come down tonight/tomorrow and stop so they can get the course in good shape for Sunday's races.

Tonight we're meeting up with the Massanutten gang, the parents, riders, coaches who are here for dinner. Tomorrow she's got practice and the opening ceremonies are late tomorrow afternoon.

We're Packing and Heading Out!

I think we've got all our winter gear backed - skis, snowboards, boots, warm clothes, snow boots. It's hard to think about what you need for skiing/snowboarding when it's 70* outside. Of course we're heading to Colorado where it's 54* out and they're expecting snow over the next few days. I can't wait to get out there, have some fun, and watch Whitney race!

The 'In Between' Time

We've settled into the 'in between' time. The college season is over but there's still one big race left.The hard work of the season is over and we're in between Nationals competitions. USCSA Nationals are over after a successful outing for Whitney and USASA Nationals are coming up April 1.

Whitney got back to Maine last Monday afternoon and between the seasonal time change (spring forward!) and the time change from Oregon to Maine she slept through her alarm clock and was late to her 8:00 class on Tuesday. Not a big deal, it's a class with one of her favorite professors and somehow she was able to sneak in the back. It took a few days but she managed to get back on track to the right time zone.

She's been busy with classes, visiting the trainers, and taking care of other college related things so she hasn't had too much time for snowboarding. It's probably ok though; she could use the rest time. By the time you get to mid-March it's been a long season and the body is feeling pretty beat up. She'll have enough time to practice when we get out to Colorado next week. We fly out on Thursday and she'll have practice time on the BX course on Friday and Saturday. The best part will be hanging out with her coaches from Massanutten, finally hanging with riders who will explore the mountain with her. She didn't get much of a chance to do that in Oregon and was disappointed. It was partly due to scheduling (no one was free when she was) and the weather (she didn't want to go off by herself in the kind of weather they were having).

I'm excited, she comes home for her second spring break on Friday. She'll have several days at home before we head to Colorado. I'm really looking forward to our time together.

GS Race Day

As nice as yesterday was, it was back in the snow then rain today. At least from what I saw online it was pretty decent this morning when racing was going on, then the snow started to fall which later changed to rain. But on to the race...

Today they had yesterday's technical problems fixed and we could watch the race live. I think Whitney's first run was during a commercial since I didn't see her. I talked to her after the run and she said that she felt fast. I wasn't able to get to the right spot on the live timing web page but Bob said that she was in 5th after her first run. That was pretty exciting! I did catch her second run. For a girl where this was only the second time she's run giant slalom, she did really well. She looked really good, like she knew what she was doing. Her second run was faster than her first, which seemed to be true for many of the top riders. Her first run was 55.18 and her second was 52.61. Her combined time put her in 4th place, .03 seconds behind 3rd. An awesome job! Since she was 4th, she was also 1st Team All American again. At some point this week she also received a 2nd Team Scholars All American award.

We are so proud of the hard work she's put in this season and her accomplishments at USCSA Nationals. I hope she had a good trip to Mt. Batchelor. She's certainly got the awards to show for a good week. It's almost time for her to head back to Maine, just ahead of another huge snowstorm. She's got two weeks in Maine for school and practice, then it's home for spring break and we head off to Copper (Colorado) for USASA Nationals. A busy month of travel for her, then it'll be back to Maine and time to focus on classes.

BX Race Day

It seems like it took a while but she finally made it to race day. The weather all week has been snowy, then rainy. Finally today from the pictures I saw the weather cleared and they saw blue skies and sun. It was a day to get up early and head to the mountain, get geared up, and mentally prepared to race. I find it hard to not be there for the big races. While I miss not watching her race in the "regular" USASA races it's not as bad as missing the big ones. I really wish I could have been there for her but I'm already planning on Lake Placid next year.

Because of the rain yesterday they had problems today with the live feed so I couldn't watch her race. They did say they were going to have it posted later today or tomorrow so I'll watch it then. Whitney said it was a great race and she felt really good about finishing 4th. She had the 5th best time during the time trials and felt really good about that since that is her current weak spot. In one of her heats she managed to get the hole shot and was able to block one of the other racers from passing her, which made the other girl really mad. There was also a crash in one heat.

They showed the awards live on facebook tonight so I got to see Whitney get her certificate for being 1st Team All American with her fourth place finish. She also got one later for being 2nd Team Scholar All American. As a "team" UMF women's bx finished tied for 6th. Pretty good since she was the only one.

Tomorrow is her GS race. She's looking to have fun, finish without being disqualified. It's only her second GS race so I can't wait to see how it goes but if I had to guess she'll likely finish middle of the pack, maybe higher.

USCSA Nationals 2017, Bend, OR

Hopefully Whitney will pop in here and give us an update on how it's all going out west. I know they had a crazy start when they left Farmington on Saturday - one of the kids forgot their ski boots (really?!? You're going to a ski competition and you forget your ski boots.). They took a school van and one of the coaches drove his truck to take the gear in. They made a stop in Augusta on the way to Boston and when someone shut the backdoor of the van the window broke. Like they needed that, which meant a detour to Home Depot to get cardboard and lots of duct tape. They made it to Boston ok after that, a bit late but in plenty of time.

From what I heard their flight to JFK then the other Portland were fine. They stayed in a hotel in Portland then went to Bend in the morning. They are staying in two houses, one coach and all the guys in one; Whitney, the other girl, and the other two coaches in the other house. She said they're about 40 minutes from Mt. Batchelor, so not too far but when they go, it's for the day.

How's the weather out there, you ask? Snowy, very snowy. Whitney has sent a few pictures and they're getting lots of snow. I was talking to her today and she said that she was getting buried. Oh, and the fog was rolling in. I watched some of the video that USCSA posted of the women's slalom (ski) and it looked crazy; inches of snow on the course and definitely not ideal racing conditions.

Whitney had a bit of fun exploring today but didn't go too far off the beaten track. On a huge mountain, by herself, in the weather they're having she stuck to open spaces and also to the BX course. She didn't want to get lost or hurt somewhere off by herself. Maybe tomorrow the weather will be better for her to explore or she'll have someone to ride with her.

She sounds really excited about riding in the deep powder, riding on a volcano, and she's just having a good time. For now she can ignore race days and enjoy the scenery.

her view from the chair lift today

The Student-Athlete, A Mom's Perspective

Whitney, on the one hand loves being a student (she loves to learn) and also loves being an athlete, but as she said the other day it's very stressful at times being a student-athlete in college. While she does a winter sport her season is very long especially now that she's in Maine. Her dry land training starts in mid-October in the gym and outside. Being in Maine the snow season is long but thankfully the competitive season isn't quite the same length. Snow starts falling in late October and lasts until late April or May but on-slope practices don't start until late November. The competitive season runs from January through early April so that makes for a long season. She's working for her sport from mid-October until April, all the while trying to go to class, study, and keep up her grades. I think she'll be happy in mid-April just to hit the slopes and have some fun on them, not trying to perfect her landing or find the right line.

Her dad and I are so proud of all she's accomplished, both in the classroom and on the slopes. She's working so hard to learn and good grades are the benefit of all her hard work. She's also working really hard on her sport, to better herself, to be a top competitor. There is a downside to all of this - lots of stress. In some ways I'm glad I'm far away; she's had to figure out how to balance school, snowboarding, her meager social life on her own which has been a great growing experience. It would be nice to be closer to be able to give her a hug when everything gets overwhelming but she knows we're here and she can call anytime to dump on us about the stresses of life.

One thing I really appreciate about UMF is the professors. She is very proactive in talking with them at the beginning of the semester and letting them know when she'll be gone for snowboarding events and they all have been more than willing to work with her. I realize that since she's in a school sponsored sport they kind of have to work with her but I think they're happy to because they see she's a dedicated student and is trying to work with them. Not all students will tell the professor on day 2 of class when they'll be gone later in the semester. The other good thing about this particular semester is that she's got three professors that she's had before so they know her and know she'll get the work done, either while she's gone or as soon as she's back.

It's hard to balance classes, studying, projects and papers, friends, practice, competitions some of which are far away, but she's finding her way. Stress, unfortunately, is a college student's best friend and adding a sport into the mix of the usual college stressors just ups the anxiety and stress. The wins and support of your family and teammates make it worth it. Rising in the ranks of the competition world make it worth it. Figuring out balance in your life is a great learning experience especially for those reaching for the stars.

For us, as parents, it's great to see her pushing herself in her academics and her sport. It makes it even better to see her succeeding in both. It's also pretty great to see other people supporting her and acknowledging her hard work. Her coaches at Massanutten have told us how proud they are of her and what she's doing in snowboarding. In a "crazy how small the world is" situation I heard from my sister from some of her connections that Whitney is highly spoken of at school for how well she's doing in academics and snowboarding. It's always nice to hear that kind of stuff.

Here's to her continued success in everything she does!

She's Packing

It's getting close to departure time for USCSA Nationals at Mt. Batchelor in Bend, Oregon. Whitney has been busy today - packing, going to the trainers, packing and repacking some more, oh and going to class. I've gotten a couple of calls from her trying to figure out how to pack and what to pack. The good thing is that Whitney is a pretty efficient packer and doesn't pack a bunch of extra stuff or "just in case" stuff. She packs what she needs and that's it. Of course when you're going to be gone for 10 days and will be snowboarding almost all of those you have to pack a lot.

She's got two snowboards, two pairs of bindings, I think two pairs of boots, all her waxing stuff, helmet, base layers, two pairs of board pants, lots of socks, regular clothes, her snow boots, beanies, sweatshirt, school books, and laptop. And yet she can fit it all into her snowboard bag, her duffel bag, and her backpack.

She's looking forward to the trip. She'll get to check another state visited off her list (she'll be up to 45) and see how snowboarding is out west. She's looking forward to a few days of relaxing snowboarding then she has her boardercross race on Friday and giant slalom on Saturday. They take a red-eye back on Sunday night and get back Monday afternoon to Maine.

While she's gone she's going to be writing several blog posts for me since I can't be there first hand this year. Hopefully she'll write about traveling with a college group, what she things of Oregon and the snow out there, how the races are going, and how they go specifically for her. I hope she has an awesome week!

The Truth About Life as a Student Athlete

From the student-athlete herself. This was mostly written last semester but then she got busy with school and snowboarding and just now was able to finish it. Life from her perspective - 

It’s always something that’s talked about - the challenges of being a student athlete. Phrases are tossed around like “it’ll be hard but it’s so worth it”  and “finding a balance can be hard but it’s great once you do!” There are so many more rosy colored sayings talking about being an athlete in college. They all share in saying it’ll be so worth it and that sports and academics are an incredibly rewarding thing in college. Honestly those are just ideals, glossing over what it’s actually like; at least from one athlete’s perspective.

Let me explain. Colleges, even those that bring you in for a sport, STRESS that academics come first. Bad grades = no sport, end of story. So athletes who are there for the sport over classes tend to take the easiest ones, sliding by to enjoy their time on a collegiate team. Others work hard to do well in challenging classes while being on the team. Not trying to bash any athlete here. It’s a personal choice how you pursue your education. Colleges like to boast about their athletic accomplishments and how great their sports programs are, when students have to work diligently with professors to get the time off from class and the extensions on papers to make games and practices. This inconsistency from an academic standpoint only serves to add to a student’s already stressful life.

Sure, sounds frustrating but nothing too big to handle right? Not for me. As a sophomore I am taking challenging classes that interest me and sadly finals and end of semester projects aligned just perfectly with when my sport’s season begins to take off. Coming home from practice one Sunday (an hour drive away) I realized how unglamorous this life is. Food is eaten quickly to not waste precious time, if it happens at all. Lounging around is not something that happens, no hours wasted watching Netflix or YouTube. My room over weekends often looks as though a bomb has gone off. Time can’t be spared to clean so things are left where they are dropped. Bed unmade, church clothes tossed on the pile of sheets and blankets, equipment bag open and things spilling out on the floor, board leaning against the wall drying, boots tossed aside open to air out, iron off but still plugged in and wax sitting on the floor forgotten in the rush earlier, on top of it all various textbooks and notebooks over the dresser, bed, and desk. 

How on earth do they expect anyone to remain sane? That’s right, they don’t. They care about results in the classroom and their sport - even at the cost of their students. Balance is something you can hope for and work towards but it’s not something that will last very long in your life as an athlete in college. Early morning workouts then dashing to class sweaty and gross is a requirement of progressing in your sport. Late nights working on papers because you were at practice and didn’t have time to do it earlier is a way of life. Never ending questions from others who will never know the battle about if you need a break, if you need to give up your sport, grate on the remaining nerves. Sleep is treasured yet is never acquired in large enough amounts and naps are only reserved for when you have nothing left.

That’s just the school side, taking care of your equipment is a whole other story. Living in a dorm room as it is isn’t the greatest thing in the world. But throw in the challenge of sporting equipment - in this case four snowboards, two sets of bindings, two pairs of boots, a gear bag, waxing equipment, and base and outer layers. The already cramped room becomes the perfect space to practice living in a human sized game of tetris. Not to mention trying to prep equipment; vices are mounted on desks to wax boards or various bins, boxes, or chairs are used to hold boards so they can be waxed. I have a friend who flipped their mattress up and leaned it against the wall and used their bed frame to hold their board while they waxed it. Windows have to be opened as a precaution against the fire alarm going off. Scraping the wax off, that’s just a mess. Trying to sweep up all the flakes of wax and find every little space they fluttered into while brushing the boards is a challenge.

At the end of the day it is hard. It’s not pleasant most of the time. It’s exhausting, draining, puts a strain on relationships and social life (ha, that’s funny, what social life). To many it’s worth it. But please, don’t say it’s the best time of your life or that it’ll be the greatest decision you make. It may very well be a good one, but it’s not one that should be done lightly. The worth only comes from hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, and well, puke because lactic acid is a thing when you’re an athlete. Is it worth it to me? Depends what day and time you ask me. And that’s the reality of being a ‘student athlete.’
 

What the Heck, Winter?

Winter, wherefore art thou? Why have you foresaken us?

This has been the winter that really wasn't. It took forever to get cold, we didn't get much snow, and it's already looking like mid-April. The trees are budding, some are in full bloom. Massanutten was never fully open and probably won't be open much longer. I saw today that because of the weather (70s tomorrow after rain tonight) that they're closing for the next two days although they hope to make some snow after that and reopen for the weekend. Wisp, in Western Maryland, has closed for the season. Ski areas in the Mid-Atlantic area are really hurting this year. In New England they're doing fine; they've had plenty of snow although they've had warmer than usual weather recently as well. It's the resorts in the West that hit the jackpot this year. More snow than they know what to do with, unfortunately they can't ship it east.

Winter is basically done. I only got skiing once this year and it looks like that's it until I go to Colorado. I've already decided that I'll probably get lift tickets two days we're out there but we'll see. On the one hand it's on towards spring and summer fun. On the other Whitney still has a lot of snowboarding left.

Sugarloaf BX Weekend

It's been hard the last couple of seasons not being there to watch Whitney race. Granted, at some mountains without getting a lift ticket I still don't get to actually watch her but at least I'm there to support her and hear in the moment how things went. These days if I'm not there, which is for most races, I get a phone call after that gives me the low down on how the race went.

This past weekend were the last two USASA races Whitney was going to make. Maine Mountain has one last bx race, the Rumble at the River, but she'll be in Oregon. Overall, she felt the weekend went really well. On Saturday she came in second but it was a good race day. She got some good coaching to help with a couple spots on the course she was having problems with. Her starts were better and overall she felt good about the day.

Sunday was a fun day for her. The weather was moving into the iffy range, the winds were blowing, and they were trying to get the races in before things got worse. The directors decided to seed based off Saturday's time trials so they could move things along. There were fewer racers on Sunday so that helped as well. When they looked at the brackets, they had enough girls to put most everyone in a group of four, except Whitney unless she wanted to race the little girls. Not a challenge for her and just really not a good idea. So they asked if she was ok racing against the men's jams group which only had two racers. Of course she said yes, she loves racing guys. She may not always beat them but it pushes her to keep up and improve.

They ended up running three races. In the first one Whitney almost false started; the wind started blowing and rattled her gate. She thought the gate was dropping and was ready to go so when the starter said "go" she was just a hair behind. The good news is that she caught up and was only half a snowboard length behind at the finish. A very respectable third place. The second race had a different result. She had a good start, passed one of the guys on course, and finished in second. A bit of excitement there! Even better was the final race. I'm not sure why they ran a third race since the racers were in two different groups (Whitney in women's open class, the two guys were both in men's jams) and the guys finished in the same order. Maybe they just ignored that fact and treated it as if they were all in the same group.

The third race sounded like a "typical" boardercross race. Whitney had a great start and was right up with the guys. One of them slid out and into a fence; Whitney wasn't fazed a bit and just kept going. She adjusted her line a bit and moved into the lead, which she kept until the finish. It's always a great day racing when you can beat the guys!

Another visit or two to the trainers, a few days of practice in Maine, then on Saturday she and the other athletes from UMF going to USCSA Nationals will head to Boston to fly to the other Portland for a week of racing in Oregon. Whitney is racing boardercross on Friday, March 10 and giant slalom on Saturday, March 11.

Dealing with Injuries

One thing every athlete has to deal with at some point is injuries. For better or worse when you're pushing your body hard for months on end, something is going to break down. It may be from wear and tear or it could be a collision. You never know what will happen, especially when you're a boardercross racer.

So far Whitney has been generally healthy. She hasn't had any major collisions with other competitors or the snow but she's still had wear and tear. When you're in Maine the season gets long by the end of February and there's still all of March to go. While there still may be snow around in April the competition season is over.

The good thing is that we have a great chiropractor here. It doesn't do Whitney much good in Maine but she always gets adjustments when she's home. Right now Whitney is getting very familiar with the trainers at college. Her knee has been hurting for a while and a trainer is treating her several times a week. She needs to be feeling better for USCSA Nationals next week, then USASA Nationals at the end of March.

One of the best ways to prevent injuries is proper protection. Will it stop every injury? Nope, but it will help lessen them. Most important is a helmet. If you're racing in USASA it's required. No helmet, you can't compete, no exceptions. I don't know what the USCSA or USSA rules are but it's just foolish to compete, or even just ride, without a helmet. It's too easy to slip on the snow and hit your head. It doesn't take a hard hit to get a concussion and be out of competing for a while.

Another piece of protection is body armor. Whitney has just decided, now that she's moving up to a more competitive level, that it's time to get some body armor. She's got some upper body protection on order and should have it later this week. I'll be interested to see what she thinks of it when it comes in and she can ride with it. She's going to see how what she's getting works and decide if she's going to need to get more. I honestly don't know what "more" is but I'm sure she does.

It's getting near the end of the season, her body is starting to hurt, but it's time to push through what she can, rest what she needs to and make it to the end of the season. She'll have plenty of time to rest up after April 3 before she starts working at camp.

First NorAm Race

Last Wednesday was a big step for Whitney, as Chad, her Massanutten coach, said her first "big girl" race. This season she registered not only with USASA but also with USSA, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and FIS, the international ski federation. USSA holds the next level of racing for boardercross and she was ready to take that step. The race she was in last week was part of the Hole Shot Tour which has races in Maine and Colorado this year. There were two days of races at Sunday River but she only registered for the first day.

It was very stressful for her with timing of the blizzard. She really wanted to get back to Maine to get to the practice day on Tuesday and be more mentally settled for the race on Wednesday especially since it was her first time racing at this level. We were able to get her car from the airport and get to Sunday River in plenty of time for her to relax a bit before the practice started. Her practice day went ok, not great. She didn't get in as many runs as she would have liked but there was a hold on the course for a while. They did extend the practice time but only by 10 minutes and she wasn't able to get through the line again. Overall, she felt ok and her complaints about the course were the same as other riders.

She did feel a bit intimidated by the level of the competition. I had to remind her that this was a mid-level race between USASA and World Cup races; that there were others like her who were just moving up to this level and there were some that were ready to move up to World Cup races. My point was proven when she told me that Seth Wescott was there racing. I think it was actually really good for her to see him there. He came in 9th, I think, on Wednesday and I asked her about it. She said that he made a few mistakes on course and his age/injuries are catching up to him. But it was good for her to see that even someone at his level can make a mistake and have an off day.

After she was done her practice we went our separate ways. She was heading back to school for some clean clothes and sleep while I went to my sister-in-law's for the night. Since they were expecting a lot more snow I didn't want to get stuck in Maine. As much as I wanted to watch Whitney race I don't have the right kind of vehicle to navigate really snowy roads.

Wednesday was race day. From what she told me she was happy with her performance. She always sets goals, for the season, for the bigger races, and she had some for this race. The two I remember her mentioning were to not finish last and to have good starts. I think another one had to do with the jumps. She said the races went pretty well for her. I think after a good night's sleep, while she was still nervous racing at this level, she felt much better about it. She got some help from the CVA coaches and also from Chad via text. She finished 19 out of 20 and said she felt really strong in her starts. She also said that the jumps went well, better than they had at practice.

It was a first good race at the next level. Her next one will actually be at USASA Nationals. The last several years they've held the Open Class race and the NorAm race together. The nice thing about this one will be that she's got one at this level under her belt and she's raced at Copper several times so it should just be regular race nerves, not "I'm doing something new and it's a really big deal" type nerves. If we can get the coaching situation figured out she'll do really well the next few seasons.

Massanutten BX, Part 2/Blizzard in Maine

Sunday was another good race day. Whitney tried to get in a group with the men but it didn't work out. She had a bit more competition but still won her races by a lot. The weather was interesting - a couple of light passing showers, sun which made it very warm, but mostly it was cloudy. A too warm day so the conditions were not the best. Still it was a fun day.

A total of four gold medals for the weekend. It was really nice to catch up with her old coaches and she had fun with the Massanutten kids. Probably the best part of the weekend for her was getting actual coaching. That has been such a struggle for her this year. A good race weekend.

The interesting twist to the weekend was the blizzard that was gearing up in Maine. Whitney flew from Portland to Baltimore and was planning on returning the same way. Didn't happen. She got an email Saturday night that her Sunday night flight was cancelled. We called and rescheduled it for Monday afternoon. She got an email Sunday late morning that THAT flight was cancelled. I called from the top of the race course (I'm glad there's good cell service at Massanutten, even on the ski slopes) and rescheduled her for Monday night. We figured that would be good. The snow was supposed to stop by 5pm so the late night flight should be able to get out. How wrong we were! I went about my day, helped Sarah with school then went to the chiropractor. Whitney called me while I was on my way home to say that her flight was cancelled again.

On to plan B. I did call to see if we could rebook her but there were only two flights going to Portland today (Tuesday) and both were full so I just got our money back for the flight. We packed up her stuff, I threw some things together, took care of a few things at home and we hit the road. Since we didn't leave Virginia until almost 3pm, we were only planning on getting to Portsmouth, NH. The drive wasn't bad, a bit of traffic here and there and in Hartford they were working on snow removal from the highway. We found a hotel in Portsmouth, got some sleep and hit the road by 8am to head to Portland. We stopped at the airport to pick up her car then went to Sunday River.

I had hoped to stay and watch her race tomorrow but they're supposed to get another foot of snow, possibly more tomorrow/tomorrow night so I'm getting out while I can. Hopefully the snow will hold off for a while so they can get the race in.

Massanutten BX, Part 1

This is an exciting weekend; we get to watch Whitney race here in Virginia again. It's been a couple of years since that's happened. She decided when we were looking over the race schedule at the beginning of the season that she wanted to come home and race at Massanutten again. Since they do four races in one weekend it's worth the plane ticket home.

We knew ahead of time that it's racing in Virginia and you never know what you're going to get. What we got was 65 degrees and a mostly sunny day. One the one hand, awesome to have 65 in February; on the other, that's not good racing weather. At least she knew ahead of time that she only had to pack a couple of base layers and wouldn't need her heavy coat to race in. I have to admit it was nice to watch her race and not have my face freeze. I enjoyed watching the race with the dad of one of the boys on the Massanutten team that we're friends with.

I have to admit one of the best parts of the day was seeing Whitney welcomed back by both the coaches and kids on the Massanutten team that know her. The kids on the team were excited to see her and they all fell into their old roles - the boys were a bunch of goofballs and they nominated Whitney coach when theirs hadn't shown up yet. They look up to her so much. The three coaches that were helping with the race were also really excited to see her; they are so proud of what she's accomplished so far in her career. What I like best is that when she needs help she can still reach out to them even though it's been a couple of years since she's been on the team. They are all more than willing to do what they can to help her move forward and achieve her goals.

It was also good to see Mark and Ellen, the series directors. Since Whitney is racing mostly in Maine she's hanging out with the Maine Mountain series directors but we don't get to see Mark and Ellen often anymore. They do such a great job organizing races, it's nice going to a race they're organizing.

Yes, there was a race today. As usual Whitney was the only one racing open class so she got two more firsts today. The one disappointing thing was that she ran with a master's woman but there was no competition there. Whitney blew her out of the water. Hopefully tomorrow they'll put her with some guys. She enjoys racing them; even if she doesn't win she has someone to chase and that makes her a better racer when she goes against other women.

Off to the races again tomorrow then we see if she can get back to Maine where they're expecting a blizzard.

Mount Sunapee Giant Slalom

Today Whitney stepped out of her comfort zone and did awesome. Her coach told her she should compete in a slalom or GS race this winter so she could compete in one of them at USCSA Nationals. Makes sense that if he's going to send her all the way across the country to race that she compete in two events. We looked over the schedule and it worked out that she could do a bx race yesterday and GS today. The race was at Mount Sunapee, a mountain Whitney has been to many times and loves. She said it is probably one of her favorite mountains to ride. Today was a NH Series race, a new series to race in for her. The director was super nice, they ran things pretty efficiently, and it was a good day.

Whitney's main goal today was to not get disqualified. As it turns out that wasn't a problem. She was the only open class rider there today. Actually it was an interesting mix of riders. It was mostly kids from Sunapee, most seemed to be 12-17, then there was Whitney, then a handful of older riders. And by older, I mean older. I'll have to post some race day pictures but one of the guys racing was in his 60s, one was 82 (!), there was an older woman, and a few more older men as well. Most of them were racing on alpine boards and wearing hard boots. Surprising since they're not of the age to really be riders when snowboarding was getting big, especially alpine stuff. Rock on!

Since we hadn't been to a NH series race before we were early to the mountain. Whitney was shocked at the great parking spot she got, front row. We figured out where they were doing registration, she got organized, and when they were ready she checked in; then we had more time to wait. The really nice thing was that the course was at the bottom of the mountain so I just had to walk out the lodge, onto the snow, and there we were. You could see the whole course from the bottom, except maybe the very top/start gate. That was a nice change from watching bx races where you usually can only see a little bit of the course.

Whitney had several trips down the course as practice runs. She took her two timed runs and did really well for not having raced GS before. She said on the first run she was a bit late on the turns for a few of the gates but then was fine. At one gate she said she hit a small patch of ice that threw her off a bit. The second run was much better she said. She felt more comfortable the second run, didn't hit the ice and held her line better.

Although as always she was nervous for a race I think this one was better than most since she didn't have the pressure to win, it was to just stay up and finish. She had a good time, made some new friends, conquered the GS, all in all a good day.

Stratton, Again

I finally got to see my girl race today. I came up to NH yesterday for a quick weekend trip. Today she was at Stratton Mountain again for another boardercross race and tomorrow she's going to Mount Sunapee for a Giant Slalom race. I'm glad my sister-in-law lives in a good location so that Whitney can stay here when she wants to race in Vermont.

Today was a cold and windy day at Stratton. The races started mostly on time this morning. There were three racing in open class and surprisingly the largest group today was the 10-11 year old girls. Usually when we've been at races almost any of the boys groups are larger than the girls. It's not very often that I've seem them have to run heats for one of the girls groups.

One thing Whitney needs to work on, which she knows, is her racing during time trials. She doesn't do as well as she could. It's something she needs to work on since they use the time trails for seeding, which determines gate choice. Today she was third in time trials so had last gate choice.

After lunch they started the racing. The BX course is at Stratton is a short walk from the base of the mountain. That was nice so I didn't have to get a lift ticket for today. It's not really worth it to get a lift ticket, especially at a mountain that I don't know. Whitney is busy with race stuff that isn't exciting to watch until it's actual race time and I don't want to get a lift ticket to head down to watch one race. I don't like riding the mountain by myself if I've never been there before.

It was a nice walk up, although I could have done without the wind. I do love watching her races, the view from the mountain is always amazing. She was in heat 16 today so I had a chance to watch some of the other racers. There was a jump to a waterfall to the finish line. From where I was standing I couldn't see the finish line but I had a good view up the course so I was able to watch the racers coming and got some good video of Whitney as she came by.

She said she had the best start out of the gate but the other two girls had better lines. She was in third but around the second turn she was able to get ahead of one of the girls and they kept those positions until the finish. Whitney was happy with her finish, said it was a good race.

We drove home in the daylight, as opposed to this morning when it was still pretty dark, and the drive was quite lovely. Tomorrow it's off to Mount Sunapee and a new experience. She's ridden there quite a bit and knows the mountain but she's never raced in a New Hampshire series race and she's also never done GS before.

Northern Exposure

I'm heading north to watch my girl race this weekend. She's doing another boardercross race at Stratton on Saturday then a giant slalom race at Mount Sunapee on Sunday. We're going to hang out at my sister-in-law's to watch the Super Bowl Sunday night then we'll both head back out of town. I'm just hoping that the snow they're calling for on Sunday/Monday will amount to not much so I don't have problems getting home.

In the mean time, some pictures she's sent me/I've taken off of Snapchat of her recently at races.

A bit warmer this day!

Heading up the mountain.

This was actually a couple of years ago at Wintergreen. Love this picture.

My girls 💖

When to Step In...

I may delete this post after I write it, maybe even before I publish it but I need to "think out loud" and vent a bit. It hasn't been the easiest thing this winter being a parent. There's stuff going on with the school snowboard team, specifically the coach, that leaves me wondering when to let Whitney deal with things and when we should step in. At the moment we are letting her deal with things but if the bullying and disrespect continues we may need to step in. It's very disappointing what's going on. She went to UMF partly because of the snowboard team and to have a coach that doesn't coach, doesn't act like a coach, basically bullies my daughter and uses the team as his personal staff for events that are supposedly for their benefit but are promoted more for his personal team rather than the UMF team, it's all really rubbing us the wrong way. We are left to wonder why the school is wasting their money paying this person. There's a lot more going on but I'll leave it at that.

First Races Done

It's still weird not being at races. Two weeks ago were the first races of the new season. The first two races were at Sugarloaf, last weekend she was in Vermont at Stratton. It seems Sugarloaf is an interesting place. There are several resorts out west that were closed because they have too much snow. The lifts aren't going anywhere when the snow is almost up to the top of the pylon at the top of the lift. WAY too much snow. The problem at Sugarloaf is often too much wind. The Friday before the races was supposed to be a practice day but it was so windy they had to cancel that. Hard to get up the mountain when the lifts aren't running. Eventually Sugarloaf finally got one lift open but it wasn't near the race course. Whitney said that she got in several runs then called it a day. She was cold, she had sat around most of the morning, and was ready to go back to school to get a few things done.

The races at Sugarloaf were run in some serious cold. It was below zero when she got there in the morning and it didn't warm up too much during the day. She hadn't had too much training before those races and there were several girls in her class racing. She raced well and placed 5th on Saturday and 3rd on Sunday. With more practice under her belt and some good coaching she'll do better.

Stratton was last weekend. Another semi-frustrating weekend for her. The weather was really poor, very foggy and also rainy. It seemed like all the pictures I saw on social media last weekend it was the same story everywhere - a couple of USCSA and USASA races had bad fog, the BX races at Solitude were snowy with a bit of fog, and I think there was another race that had a lot of fog. It was kind of crazy, especially how bad the fog was in places and yet they still raced. That was Whitney's issue - the fog was really bad, almost unsafe especially with the rain and yet they raced. She, as well as a couple of the adults, said something to the race officials but they said they were already racing and it was ok. Not really. She had a poor start on Sunday due to the rain and wet gloves, slipped in the start gate and hit her head. Thankfully it's required that racers wear helmets and she's fine. But since she slipped she didn't get off well and ended up in second. She finished first in Saturday's race.

Right now she's ranked 2nd nationally in USASA. This year it doesn't matter too much how she's ranked. She'll be going to Copper in March but it will be for the USSA/FIS race, not USASA Nationals, so her ranking doesn't really matter (she doesn't need to rank high to qualify for Nationals since she's going for a different race).

She's got this weekend off from racing. Enjoying some training and fun time at Titcomb today, Sugarloaf tomorrow. Next weekend is a BX race at Stratton and a giant slalom race at Mount Sunapee. I'll be heading north to watch those. After that she'll be coming home for BX races at Massanutten as she enters the busiest part of the season.

Winter Break

It's been lovely having my snowboarder home for winter break but her time here is drawing to a close. She's been relaxing, recovering from a tough semester, hitting the slopes at Massanutten a few times. Now it's time to finish the things that need to be done while she's home, do laundry, start packing, and on Monday hit the road to NH/Maine.

While we were at Massanutten she was able to ride with her old team. She went to practice with them a few times and enjoyed hanging out with the team and her old coaches. They were excited to see her and she found out she's got a reputation on the mountain. They're all proud of what she's accomplished so far and she's happy to say that she's from a tiny mountain in Virginia.

We had a long snowboard to-do list, most of which we accomplished. She reached out to a couple of new sponsors, tried to fix her Hook-It account (no success there yet), we'll be booking her flights home for the Massanutten race before she leaves, paperwork is done for CVA so she can hit the slopes with them when she gets back, and we took care of a few other miscellaneous odds and ends. We went over the USASA race schedule again; put it on a calendar she can take back with her and I kept a copy so we know where she's racing. Her coach at UMF wants her to race GS once so he can send her to the USCSA Nationals for that as well as BX so we had to find a race that would work in her schedule since BX is her priority.

She leaves Monday morning and will drive to her aunt's house in NH then on Tuesday head back to Maine. On the way she's stopping at Sunday River to pick up her new snowboard. It's really time for a second pair of bindings; having one pair with three boards isn't a recipe for success. But higher on the "need" list is a new pair of boots and pants.

She's heading back to school a week early to get some time in on the slopes as well as get to the first Maine Mountain BX race at Sugarloaf. She should get some training with CVA next week before the race. It's time to get on the mountains and get serious about race training. I'm working on my travel schedule to see her race and plan to head north to get to at least one weekend of racing.

It's time to get this season underway...she's off and riding!