Another miracle - I can carve! on my snowboard! Here's what happened: got back into the game late last season, doing some lessons on the Endless Slope and then snow time in March and April. This season I got out in early January (so late!) and started up on the Bunny Slope. Well, why not - let's get it right from the start. Life has plenty of steep cliffs to offer, I'll take this one gradually, thank you. So Mr. Bunny gave me the opportunity to connect turns and even do some tight heel-to-toe transitions.
Then we go Blue. Blue is all good - well, mostly good. The top is quite steep, and I need to get to the good parts. One time my toe-side mojo just died and I reverted to a brief falling leaf episode. Another time I had faltering confidence about getting off the lift; always seemed to get lucky and barely miss flying into somebody. But gradually, things got more solid. I found myself pulling off heel-side turns on steep parts my brain didn't think would be possible - but the feet just did it anyway. (That's what I call muscle memory, thanks to a direct injection from the Endless Slope).
Then there was the weekend with my friend Sabra. Husbands, boyfriends and kids were left behind. I slid by her house at 8:15pm on Friday, threw her bag in the back, carefully loaded the wine, and headed up. Three hours later we pull into the driveway of our cabin. I remember to adjust the water valve, turn the pump on and, of course, turn the heat up. We chat for a minute on the couch and then plan to hit the hay. We chat longer. Wine is suggested. 2 hours later we head to bed - oops.
Up at the crack of freakin' dawn and head out to Kirkwood. At 9am. Like we could last the whole day anyway. Kirkwood is delighted to have us and, as a special treat, has reduced their usual lift lines of 8 people down to 2. Sabra is stunned. I love my Kirkwood. We cruise the blues and I actually have enough confidence to carve hard and get a good workout. (Are you supposed to carve hard? No, you're supposed to have the skill to finesse the hill and *not* have to work so hard.) I'm getting there. But in the meantime I can still burn a few extra calories. Besides, I look really cool. In my head at least - and that's my favorite movie.
Lunch is weird. We go into the "better" restaurant and are told there is a 25 minute wait "and then the food will take about 45 minutes; we have a very small kitchen." What??? Been there bunches - never has it taken more than 10 minutes. (Who designed your kitchen anyway?) We feel unwanted, unloved. I hate Kirkwood. We went somewhere else I can't remember; I've blacked it out to rid myself of the searing pain of lunch rejection.
An Irish coffee soothes my lunch terrors and we hit the backside. My mojo is back and I am really a Blue Person. Loving my quick-release bindings that I can usually click just after sliding from the lift. At the end of the day, I'm surprised how tired I am. My legs and feet can do things my body doesn't really have the stamina for, but that's good inspiration for the running thing again.
