The End of Another Season

The end of another season has come around and it's been a really good one. There were some pretty awesome race days, like the snowy day at Massanutten followed by the beautiful sunny day after.

in the start gate at Massanutten

the snowy race

the beautiful day after

There were some ok race days, like at Blue Mountain which took forever. Even though it lasted way longer than we thought it would, the racing was really good; Whitney beat the boys!

the neon orange really helps her stand out

Whitney's skills improved this year, she was stronger, racing faster, and had a better grasp on the technical side of racing this season.

Of course, Nationals was the cap to an awesome season. Heading out there, confident but not overly so, having her coach out there again as well as a couple of teammates really helped. The weather was beautiful, the course was good, and the racing was even better. To finish the season as National Champion was a major goal reached and exceeded.

Whitney and Chad, a relaxed moment in the start gate

the National Champion

It's the end of the season, but it's also the end of our time with the Massanutten Snowboard team. She'll be heading to college in the fall and will join the University of Maine, Farmington ski and snowboard team. It's been a really good experience at Massanutten, although it had it's frustrations. I'll miss going to all of Whitney's races next year as it's a long drive to Maine, but I'll try to get to some. Hopefully there will be a race at Massanutten again next year and if the timing is right, she'll be home on break and can race there again. Huge thanks go out to Chad, Target, and all the other coaches at Massanutten that have worked with Whitney over the last four years. Thanks also to Ellen and Mark, directors of the USASA Appalachian Series for their help and friendship the last couple of years and the hard work they've put in getting races set up for the kids (and adults). One chapter ends and a new one begins.

Race day, Part 2

What an exciting day! The way things went, I'm not sure she's stopped smiling yet!

Whitney went out to meet Chad early to get her board and put it back together (he had waxed it and sharpened the edges but she had the bindings), then the two of them headed up to the race course. Bob, Sarah, and I went out later, took a few runs on the easier slopes then went to the bx course. We got there in the middle of time trials which was good timing. The way they ran things for Whitney's group was practice runs, time trials, then they set up the brackets. There were only 10 girls in Whitney's age group so the seven fastest moved on to the semi-finals, then there was one bracket of the other three. The top one from that race moved on to the semis. They ran four girls at a time in the semi's (two brackets) and the top two from each moved on to the finals and the bottom two went to the consolation bracket.

Whitney was the top ranked girl there in her age group so she got to go first in the time trials. That's not always a good thing, but here it was. They had waited a long time already so going first meant not having to wait any longer and having the nerves build up more. Whitney had the fastest time of her group, not as fast as she would have liked but it was a good time. This meant she was the top seed and had first lane choice. That can be key to winning or losing a bx race and it seemed to be on Wednesday.

In her semi-final race she picked the far right gate. I'm assuming a consultation with Chad went into the decision and while it didn't look like a good choice at the start it turned out to be a very good one. Chad and I were standing just below and to the left of the start gate so had a good view of the first elements and most of the course. When they were off it didn't look good for Whitney; she was the third over the first element but because of her gate choice she was able to ride high on the turn, stay out of the fray, pass the other girls and get ahead. A bit further down they spread out more and Whitney was in charge and the first over the last jump and across the finish line.

She had a short break while the other races were going on, long enough to let a few nerves build again, then it was time for the finals. Since she had been first in her semi race she had first gate choice again and again it was the far right. I wasn't sure this was good but she knew what she was doing. Again, she was second or third going over the first element but went high. By this time it had warmed up some (although not as much as earlier in the week) and the other girls weren't used to the soft snow and two wiped out pretty quick. Whitney took advantage, passed them, lengthened her lead, and went on to win the race. It was amazing watching her race! She said later that early she could hear the clatter of the other boards behind her then as she got further ahead it got quiet, eerily quiet. The girls actually ended up spaced pretty far apart by the time they crossed the finish line.

It was SO exciting! All her hard work this season (and seasons past) came to fruition. Her goal at the beginning of the season was to make the podium. As one of her coaches said "you have certainly done that and MORE!!...You are literally the best!" We went to get her USASA Nationals sweatshirt and her original thought was to get the first place logo on it but they told her that they had "national champion" she could get and that's what she went with because she is the National Champion!

Race Day, Part 1

Race day is finally here. I think the longest wait has been this week. We got here Friday afternoon, she had her practice on Saturday afternoon, so she's had a lot of time to think and wait. She was up early, meet Chad to get her board (he waxed her board and sharpened the edges), put her bindings back on, and now they're off to the course. Race day is a lot of hurry and wait.

The last few days I've had the chance to watch the half pipe which was fun. I enjoyed watching the little kids, most of them had a hard time getting very far up the sides of the pipe. They also generally didn't do much in the way of tricks.

Super pipe

Yesterday was the group with the teen/older guys. Some of them were really good! A few had great runs, then fell at the bottom.

Whitney and I went out Monday together. It was the first time I'd been skiing in Colorado. Lots of fun! The lift to ski ratio here is great. They have high speed lifts which is good since they are long, then it's a long way back down. It's been warm here so the conditions have been icy in the morning and slushy (mashed potatoes) by mid-morning. It's just what Whitney and other East Coast riders are used to riding on so is no big deal for them but other riders are complaining. We'll see how it plays out today.

Copper

Last night was the official opening of the USASA Nationals. It started with the parade of the different series, the national anthem (sung by one of the girls from the Appalachian Series), and a few awards.

Today the competitions started. One of the boys from Massanutten competed in slope style, did well and finished in the middle of the pack. Since it's his first year out here it's a good learning experience. Tomorrow he competes in bx, along with another guy from Massanutten.

I've spent time the last couple of days walking around, sitting outside people watching in the sun, and relaxing. They are having warmer than usual temperatures here, the sun is out, and it's great as long as you're not racing. The snow is very much East Coast type snow. Must remember the sunscreen!

The big thing that happened today is Whitney was fan-girl-ing! Amy Purdy was here during awards and spoke about being in USASA, losing her legs, getting back into snowboarding, and the adaptive snowboarding organization she's started which is based here at Copper. Then, even more exciting for Whitney, Alex Deibold was helping hand out medals tonight. We walked right past him as he was leaving. I didn't realize it soon enough and she didn't say anything, like ask for a picture. If she gets lucky, he'll be back another night like maybe the one she races.

Left - Appalachian Series at the parade
Top right - all the series gathering for opening
Bottom right - Alex Deibold in the white shirt

We're off!

We hit the road to the airport early yesterday to head west to Colorado. I was going to post a nice "sunrise at the airport" picture because we were up that early but there was no sun. It was a rainy morning when we left, but here's one anyway.

After clearing the clouds in Washington, it was a good flight to Denver. We got there and Whitney was not feeling good. It seems to be a combination of not enough sleep the night before, dehydration, needing food, and probably the altitude. Thankfully she's fine now.

We got our bags, some food, and meet the shuttle which took is to Copper. Checked in, got Whitney registered, and we're good to go.

Our room is in Center Village, overlooking Burning Stones Plaza, the heart of things. Today Whitney is off trying out the new board on good snow, she has her practice time after lunch, her first and only time to see the boardercross course before race day. Tonight is the parade and opening ceremonies, our series is having a get together, then racing starts tomorrow. Should be a fun week!

Rankings

What do the national rankings mean? This is something I've been thinking about the last few days. The regional/series rankings make sense - for each age group it ranks the snowboarders based on how they do against the others in their series. Each series holds 3-5 races for each discipline and they earn points based on how they finish. The riders are then ranked based on their points. This makes sense, they race against each other then are ranked.

What doesn't make as much sense, or at least doesn't provide much useful information, is the national rankings. Based on the points earned at each race, the riders are ranked nationally. The problem is that you don't know how good the other riders really are (or aren't) since you're not riding against them, it's strictly based on the points earned. What that means is that if you're the only one in a race, you earn 1010 points (1000 for first plus 10 for each racer, so if there were three racers first place would earn 1030 points). Surprisingly, at least in Whitney's age group, there wasn't a bunch up towards the top. There were several girls who were the only ones in their series, the only series that had more than one girl racing was the Western New York series, the Great Lakes series and maybe one out west. I'm a bit surprised that there weren't a bunch of girls with 3030 points, Whitney was only tied with one other girl at the last rankings.

So, while on the one hand I was super excited that Whitney was ranked 1st for a week earlier in the season and finished tied for 3rd, what does that really mean? There's no way to really compare her to the other racers until they get to Nationals. The other downside is that not all the racers go to Nationals. Whitney will be the top ranked girl in her age group there and to fill out the numbers, they eventually ended up inviting all the girls and only 12 accepted.

We do have a pretty good idea of how good she is though. At several of her races this year she  had the opportunity to race against guys who were in her age group or older. She was able to either beat them or keep pace with them. These were guys who were competitive, not slackers, so for her to keep up with them was really good; she can also keep up with her coaches. She's a strong rider and should do really well at Nationals, no matter her ranking.

Nearing the End of Another Season

The end of the season is getting closer and closer. We were down at the mountain on Wednesday and it was definitely spring skiing. If you can ski in Virginia, you can ski pretty much anywhere. We had decent man-made snow conditions for a lot of the winter, but we also had some awesome powder, not so awesome ice, and then the spring slush. I think we'll only make it down there once more, over the weekend. The resort is planning on Sunday being the last day of the season so this week/weekend will be it. Whitney and I had talked about going up to NH again so she could get in some more time on the slopes before Nationals, but neither of us was looking forward to the 9-hour trip. She'll just make do with what's here in Virginia while it lasts and also spend some time focused on school.

We're looking forward to our trip to Colorado in a couple of weeks. As of now, Whitney is the top ranked girl in her age group going and there's only 12 registered. There's still some invites out so we're not sure of the final numbers yet. It looks like she could reach her goal of making the podium this year. And she'll have a couple of the crazy boys from the Massanutten team to hang out with, cheer on, and board with while we're out there.

Although this season isn't quite finished yet, she's already looking towards next year. She's decided to go to college at the University of Maine at Farmington and has been talking with the ski and snowboard team coach there. When we were up for a visit, she had a chance to talk with a couple of guys on the ski team; they could tell her general details about conditioning, practices, and things like that but not much about snowboarding. She emailed the coach and has also been in contact with another snowboarder who is already there and is looking to build the snowboard team. I think this will be a good fit for her, she's already had experience building a team up and is excited about going there. The team competes in both USASA and the USCSA so she'll be able to keep working towards her snowboarding goals.

I can't wait to see how things go at Nationals this year and where she goes with snowboarding next season.