Blue Mountain, PA

We were at Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania this past weekend for competition. These competitions (one Saturday, one Sunday) were part of the Mid-Atlantic Series. Although it was kind of far, it was worth it to go and get some points towards her national ranking.

Although there wasn't much competition in her age group, the race officials grouped her plus the other girl in her age group with the only girl in the next younger group on Saturday and with three other girls on Sunday who were the only ones in their age groups. This was really good for Whitney; even though they weren't competing against each other, they could race together and push themselves to be better.

All the races went well. Whitney had a pretty good fall during practice on Saturday and hurt her shoulder a bit. She really felt it in the starts and didn't get as good a start as she would have liked in any of the races. She loved the races on Saturday, she and the girl from Blue Mountain in the lower age group really pushed each other and had fun racing. Sunday was also fun, although she was in a different grouping. She ended up coming home with two more blue ribbon snowflake medals. With the points she earned this weekend, she's now ranked 12th in her age group nationally.

So what exactly is "boarder cross?"

You may have been wondering what exactly is this snowboard cross thing that my daughter does. There are no high flying tricks, no flipping upside down, no jumping on rails or walls or pipes. She does get off the ground a bit going over jumps, but not too high. Mainly she just races down the mountain. Really, it's this simple - first one to the bottom wins. They do have a course to follow that includes things like rollers and tables, hip turns, spines, and other things with crazy names that I don't always understand.

The Washington Post Kid's Post on Sunday was all about the new winter Olympic sports and some not so new ones. They had.a great description of boarder cross.

"Only daredevils are allowed in this sport. Four snowboarders race down a winding, hilly course at breakneck speed. Every race has spills, thrills and plenty of excitement.

What I like best is that it's a real race. The snowboarders compete against one another, not just the clock. The winners move on; the losers go home."

Yep, that about sums it up. In the Olympics, you'll see four or maybe six racers start and race to the bottom. The top two move on, the rest are done and go home. Then there will be eight in the semi-finals (two heats), top two finishers from each race move on to the finals. Then it's a race to the bottom for the gold medal.

It's not too often Whitney gets to actually race against someone; there's very few girls her age that compete. One race last season, it was her, a guy that was in the age group above her's, his sister in one of the older groups and her husband. They were racing together but not against each other. In most of her races last season, it was either just her or her and one other racer until she got to Nationals.

I'm not sure when it's actually going to air on tv, but the women's BX is Feb. 16 and the men's is the 17th. Looks like the prelim races are in the afternoon and the finals are in prime time. There's plenty of other exciting snowboarding Olympic events to watch, plenty that Whitney's mom is just happy that she's not interested in.

A Long, Beautiful Drive

While I have a snowboarding loving daughter we have the unfortunate circumstance to live two hours from the closest ski areas. The first year she was on the snowboard team, it really didn't seem like a big deal to do all the driving we had to do to get there. This year, the two hour drive sure seems a lot longer. I guess it's because we've done it so often, the trip just seems longer now.

On the other hand, it can be a very pretty drive. There's two ways that we can go to get there, along the highway which is slightly longer or the back roads. During the winter, everything is brown and can be boring, but some days things just stand out. Yesterday was one of those. There was an ice storm overnight and as we were driving out the highway yesterday afternoon, the clouds were lifting, the fog was settling in the mountain tops, and the sun came out to make the ice glisten. It was very pretty, while the sun lasted. We also saw a field that was actually very green and spring looking. We've enjoyed looking at the snow in the mountains, the fields covered in snow, the cows, and the occasional llama or goat.

We haven't taken the back roads in a while. We've had enough snow/ice that I'm not sure how the road over the mountains will be, whether it's clear or slightly more treacherous. Since it's twisty and windy, I'd rather take the highways. I'd love to go the back way and see how the mountains and field are doing there. Maybe this afternoon.