That's a Wrap!

It's hard to believe that this crazy ride we've been on for the last 10 years is over. Whitney has decided to hang up the racing bib, USASA Nationals was her last official competitive race. It has been so much fun to watch her grow, both her snowboarding skills and her confidence as she's raced. Bob and I have been proud to watch her as she's chased her dreams.

Coming from a small mountain in Virginia, racing at the grass roots level to racing in the North America Cup races, she chased her dream that started with the 2010 Olympic Games. Her goal was to make the Olympic team and while she didn't make that she did race Olympians (and won) and she planted the seeds for the next dream. She took her racing a lot further than we could have imagined all those years ago!

Whitney, your dad and I are so proud of what you've accomplished! It has been our pleasure to support you, travel with you, be your cheering squad, and do all those other things that come with being race parents. I have loved the places we've been, our spontaneous adventures while traveling, the people we've met, standing on top of mountains in the cold and snow as well as the sun and warm (yes, there were those kind of days in Virginia) to watch you race. I will miss it but it's time for you to move on to the next dream, chase it as hard as you have this one!

Race Day

Whitney was up and out early to catch the chair lift at 7:30 this morning. After that I was on my own, trying to stay informed on what was going on. Fortunately they put out a schedule so I knew when they were inspecting the course, doing practice, and time trials. Whitney did really well on her second run, faster than her first and she ended up seeded 5th. I met up with her and Jacob briefly when they came down to warm up his feet and so he could grab a bite then they were off again. Heats started at 12:30 and now she's done. I saw the results online and just talked to her. She was in the small final, took a chance that would either push her into 5th or leave her in 7th and she finished in 7th. She said that it was probably her best race ever and she was happy with how she finished. So the season and racing career are a wrap. I'm not sure how I feel about it, not sure how she feels about it but she leaves on a high note, on her terms.

Back to Colorado!

 Whitney and I flew back to Colorado on Thursday. So thankful for Southwest! This was the second flight we were on that got in about 30 minutes early. When we landed I had a call from our shuttle service asking if we wanted to get on the earlier shuttle since we landed early. It was a bit stressful waiting on Whitney's snowboard bag but we got the 5:00 shuttle which meant getting to Copper at 7 instead of 9pm. We got checked into our room then met up with some friends from Massanutten who were here, one racer and his dad and a couple of coaches plus Whitney's boyfriend who juggled things to come out to support her. 

Friday was registration and practice day, which went well from what I heard. They hadn't changed the course too much since the NorAm races, just mellowed it a bit. She worked the start quite a bit to get that down. After practice she met up with her friends to go free ride, ride in the trees. 

The nice thing about Friday morning was that we woke up to 2-3" of fresh snow and there were still snow flurries coming down. A brief jaunt back to winter. The skies cleared and the sun was out later.

Today is another practice day, the sun is out, and it's probably going to be the warmest day here.