I really need to blog about the sports psychology books I’ve been reading,  I went on a bit of a mission after the Big Air comp where I got into a negative spiral of self doubt and rode way worse than I should have done.  Long story short though I’ve been feeling a lot more positive and I’m starting to settle into my riding a lot quicker and I’m feeling more confident about hitting gas pipes (probably my most hated park feature) from the side.

Jools got some nice shots of me, and it’s good to see that I’m keeping my arms lower and generally looking more relaxed (although I do still have my “rail-face” which makes me look like I’m not enjoying myself – I am, I just don’t tend to smile when I ride).  I think my favourite of the set is this one, I love the way he’s caught the snow spray and I’m pleased to have some proof that I don’t always have my arms flayling above my head.

and here are the rest

You can also see some of the other shots Jools took that night here.

I admit to totally wussing out of riding on the day we got there, both Katie Summerhayes and I decided to leave the guys to it, 44 hours with hardly any sleep screamed “accident waiting to happen to me” so I just walked around the slope watching and just chatting to the people who had come up to either watch their friends or just see what was going on at this new slope. The slope is amazing and currently consists of 3 kickers (a knuckle, a 3 foot and a 6 foot kicker) all of which can give you massive air. It was great to see that the locals were already getting the hang of it, with a young lad (the size that Jamie Nicholls used to be) of 9 year old giving 360s a try off the knuckle. There are also 2 boxes, a straight box & a down flat down kink which are placed on the intermediate slope. The slope is also going to be expanded as part of Phase 2 and so the riding area is going to pretty much double and they’re bound to add more jibs to the collection over time. There’s also a nursery slope for beginners to make their first turns on or to tube on.

After a late start on the Thursday we spent the afternoon playing ball and sunning ourselves in the uni pool (after a drive around town to find the outdoor pool with waterslides was closed as school had started) before heading to the slope to ride. I picked up my 150 Humanity Plastictastic, got my bindings screwed in and hit the slopes. After a couple of runs down the main slope to get the feel of the Snowflex and the new snowboard I was ready to start pushing it.

My first reaction to the new snowboard was that it perfect, it’s got plenty of spring and pop for ollies and is a lot flexier than I’m used to but without feeling soggy. I headed up to the kicker drop in and had a chat with Wayne Taylor about drop in speeds for the big kicker. I’d decided to go all out and hit the big one first off because I knew if I hit the 3 footer I’d be too scared to step it up, especially if I stacked it.   So after a couple of ride -throughs over the knuckle to get the hang f the drop in and feel the gradient of the run out I went for it. Dropped in, quick speed check and straightened up for the main 6 footer….up the kicker, in the air and I landed! I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised that the 150 handled the landing without any problem at all, and even more importantly there wasn’t any chatter on the run in either. I spent the rest of the evening working on various grabs and just trying to go bigger each time.

Friday saw us riding again and I was even brave enough to give a FS180 a try on the 6 foot kicker. I landed cleanly, but girly legs took over half way down the landing and I sat down. That was my only spin off the big kicker of the trip (it just felt a little on the large side for me to keep spinning on it) but I did get some good spins off the 3 footer while I was there.

Saturday was the big opening ceremony and it was seriously hot out there! So hot in fact that I put my riding shirt in the bucket of ice with the water in it to cool it down before we hit the slopes in the early afternoon sun. After the sky-diver had landed on the slopes and skiied down the hill I was the first over the kicker….it seemed like a good idea to volunteer to go first initially as it meant that when we started doing named tricks I’d be at the front to do a straight air (rather than being at the back and getting stuck with a 1080!), but as I was waiting to drop in it dawned on me that I was going to be the first person that the waiting crowds (of around 3,200 people) would see. All went well though and although I had a hand down on landing I managed to stay upright and not stack in front of everyone watching or get squashed by the riders who were following me in in quick succession.

After some “Trickology” to show the various tricks possible on skis and snowboards we had a quick team comp. I was part of UK 2, consisting of myself, Will Smith, Matt Macwhirter and Wayne Taylor. Unfortunately UK1 (Jamie Nicholls, Andy Nudds, Woodsy & Katie Summerhayes beat us in the crowd vote and went through to the final against on of the US teams. UK 1 were amazing and won the crowd vote overall. Their run can be seen in this video shown on the local news (in which I also feature!).  It was also great to have Dragon Goggles Team Manager, Sam Nelson, acting as half of the MC crew, it meant that there was someone there who knew our names and what we were doing and made sure we got plenty of shout outs and support from the crowd.  Russ Shea from Dopeshots was also on hand with his trusty camera so hopefully there’ll be some shots from him of us doing our thing.

We rode again on Sunday and as it was after the opening I think everyone was pushing it a little bit more, the pressure was off and people were less worried about hurting themselves. I used the time to keep working on big hits and grab variations and I had a great time. Katie stepped it up to throw down some massive 720s on skis and all the guys were putting in some huge spins. Everyone who hit it agreed that it’s the best kicker we’ve all hit and certainly the best kicker on Snowflex.

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end, and  so we left Lynchburg on Monday morning and headed to the airport following a quick tourist stop off in Washington, where we saw the White House and the Washington Memorial. Arriving back in the UK yesterday it was great to log in to Facebook and Twitter and catch up on the buzz of the opening and the excitement of all our new friends. It was great to meet everyone from Liberty, the US Team and my boys from Humanity! We were all made to feel so welcome and I can’t wait to see how everyone progresses over the coming months.

Thanks again to Brian, Terry & Wayne for making this trip possible and for taking an old girl like me along with the kids. It meant a lot to be included and I hope I did you proud!

Here’s another movie from the team at Liberty University, great work from Hannah & Ena, I can’t wait to see what else you come up with.

And here’s my Flickr set of the trip

So here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Friday Night, Park & Ride from Kat Miller aka IAmKat on Vimeo.

Filmed on Friday 22-8-09 at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead

What a weekend, we left for Castleford at 6am on Friday morning and eventually made it to the hotel at lunchtime.  Torrential rain, a crash that closed the A1 and a project conference call (while I was parked in Asda car park) meant it took 6 hours rather than the normal 3 to get up there.

On the positive side I managed to get a couple of hours shredding in at CasVegas (Castleford SNO!zone) where I focused on their awesome 10m rail.  It really is the nicest rail I’ve ridden and I wish they had one like it at Milton Keynes.  I spent the evening working on some new tricks, including frontside nose presses and some switch stuff as well.  I still need to commit a bit more on the FS noses, I’m not quite pushing my foot out enough and tweaking the counter balance but I reckon with a bit more practice I’ll be looking as stylee as Sam Turnbull does here.

I wish I could say that Saturday dawned bright and sunny but when we arrived at Halifax just before 9am it was freezing cold, windy and looking like rain…..it didn’t get any better,

well I suppose it did, in that it didn’t pour with rain and it was actually warm enough to ditch my jacket for a shirt.  We were in Halifax for the first leg of the Westbeach Snowflex Freestyle Series and upon reflection it was my first comp as an officially sponsored rider (apologies for not letting Campbell at SNO!zone know how I got on!)  The first thing that became apparent was that for once the locals weren’t necessarily going to have the edge, the wind was making it difficult for everyone.  Halifax is quite a unique slope with what I refer to as the “drop in of doom” for the kicker, rather than dropping straight in you have a double bump to take into account between the teetering drop and the kicker itself.  It is one of the nicest kickers I’ve ever ridden but getting to it stresses me out, especially in gale force winds.  Standing at the top I got blown over before I’d even started but I soon settled into it and was hitting the kicker in a state of semi-fear….of course the kids were killing it, 9s and an attempted 10 (from Andy Nudds, Westbeach) were being thrown down and although a few stacks were had as the landing was a touch sticky there were plenty landed as well.

As ever I have to praise the format of the comp, Wayne (AKA SnowSkate) who organises it along with Sue (Westbeach) is really keen to get us as much riding as possible, so we had a 45 minute jam session, 30 minute rail jam for throw down prizes, a 45 minute final jam session and then a 2 run final as well, not forgetting the team event as well for those riders who hadn’t collapsed in an exhausted heat at the bottom of the slope!

It was a good turn out, with about 40 skiers and snowboarders all riding together, that’s another of the positive things about this comp series is that skiers and ‘boarders are together.  I know that historically there’s a bit of “hate” between the two factions but over the last few years I’ve got to know some of the freestyle skiers really well and it’s great to be able to shred with and support them the same as I do my fellow ‘boarders.  Plus all credit to them, when your legs go in different directions when you stack it you deserve some respect!  It’s just a shame that there weren’t more girls in the comp (with 1 skier & 5 snowboarders) but I was pleased that Leah Sill gave Snowflex a go and finished 3rd in her first dry slope comp.

The prizes as ever were excellent and I walked away with a pile of t-shirts, beanies, Skull Candy headphones and a pair of pants in exchange for my 2nd place!  Unfortunately my butt’s a touch on the large side for a women’s medium so if anyone wants to buy a pair of bright pink Westbeach pants let me know!

Slightly off course....it's the wind I tell you!

A mention also has to go to Jake Terry (11) for placing 3rd in the 16 & under male category, he’s been battling away for the last few years but on Saturday he laid down some nice 360s and gained a podium place.  In the men’s comp I felt quite sorry for the 17 & overs as both Jamie Nicholls (15) and Danny McCormick (16) stepped up an age group and finished first & second respectively, 3rd place was claimed by Andy Nudds.

Unfortunately I can’t make the second leg of the comp in Bearsden but rest assured I’ll be hitting Noeux Les Mines on October 10th for the final.

Results:

Team Event

3rd Rub a dub
2nd Sheffield
1st Stoke Skiers

Endeavor Best unsponsored (trip to the final leg in Noeux Les Mines, France)

Joni Fountain

Whitelines Subscriptions (most consistent riding throughout the day)

Liz Osbourne
Pete Meadows

Fall-Line Ski Best Unsponsored (profile column in the magazine)

Sissy Herrant

Document Snowboard Best Unsponsored (profile column in the magazine)

Joni Fountain

Under 16 Girls Ski

1st Sissy Herrant

Under 16 Girls Snowboard

2nd Sophie Nicholls
1st Katie Ormerod

Womens Snowboard

3rd Leah Sill
2nd Kat Miller
1st Liz Osbourne

Under 16 Boys Ski

3rd Chris Wadsworth
2nd Josh Herrant
1st Tyler Harding

Under 16 Boys Snowboard

3rd Jake Terry
2nd Pete Meadows
1st Matt McCormick

Mens Ski

3rd Robert Machon
2nd Charlie Smith
1st James Machon

Mens Snowboard

3rd Andy Nudds
2nd Danny McCormick
1st Jamie Nicholls

I’m typing this post while exhausted and full of Chinese food, my reward for all the snowboarding I’ve done this weekend.  We spent last night at the new Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead, it opened a couple of months ago and yesterday was the first time we’d had the time (and money) to check it out. When it first opened the Friday night freestyle session was £50 for non members, thankfully they’ve dropped their prices so last night cost £31.50 with my SCUK membership.  I’d heard good things about Hemel, every-one’s been raving about the snow quality so as I was going to be at MK SNO!zone all day today we thought we’d do the Hemel session, stay in a hotel to save mileage on the car and then drive up to MK first thing this morning.

The first thing that hit me when we arrived in reception was the view of the slope, you can see it through a glass window behind them, it was shorter than MK but on the plus side shorter means more laps per session.  They had a rail and kicker line set up on half the main slope (with half being clear for non-freestylers) and then a bunch of toys on half the nursery slope as well.

The snow was definitely different to MK, finer and less granular and it was running well speed-wise, so well in fact that despite dropping in low on the kicker I almost over shot the landing!  I spent most of the night on the kicker, none of my friends were really hitting the rails on the main slope, so I figured I’d give the gap kicker a try.  It looked pretty whippy from the lift but it was a pretty smooth take off and once I’d got the feel from where to drop in from I had a really good session.  As ever, Jools was on hand to take some photos, so I set about doing some tail fishes (it’s the first opportunity I’ve really had to do them since I set up this new site) and then some shifty mutes.  I really did want to spin over it but the gap and the rutted run in meant i didn’t quite believe in my ability and the fact that I wasn’t going to catch my edge.  the park crew were doing their best to maintain the kicker but when you have 20 or so people hitting it solidly it’s always going to be tough to keep it perfect.  I did have a play on the rails and boxes on the nursery slope as well but 3 hours on the kicker had taken it’s toll and I wasn’t really feeling it by the time I made the switch.

It was a fun night and it was good to see friends (Doc & Street) I hadn’t ridden with for ages and I can see us heading over to Hemel once a month to see people who don’t make it up to MK as regularly as I do.

So after a rough night’s sleep in the hotel (smokey smelling bedroom leading to the invocation of Premier Inn’s good night guarantee) we hopped in the car and headed up to MK SNO!zone for another Maverix One Day camp.  This was my third full day with them and I was looking forward to it, on the drive up I planned out my “want list” for the day and during the pre-session briefing listed it as “all four 180s on the kicker and spins on and off rails and side ons”.  Once again we started on the kicker and after a couple of warm up runs I started spinning.  First up was the frontside 180 and although the spin itself was really smooth I had my arms in a perfect ballerina pose over my head….never a good look!  Thankfully as I settled in to it I became a bit more relaxed and managed to get my arms down and get a FS180 indy.  Next up backside, again I was a bit flayly initially but managed to get a BS180 mute.  I finished the morning session by stepping it up and riding switch, nailing Cab1s and switch BS1s, no grabs this time and I need to work on hitting the kicker a bit faster switch but that will come with practice.

The afternoon was a rail session, we started on the box and I managed to get FS180 on and Cab180 on, this was the first time I’d tried spinning switch on to a box.  It’s was Coach Phil’s suggestion and I was stoked to land it first try.  We then moved on to the long rail (switch frontside boardslide!) before heading up to the side on gas pipe.  After a few hits to 50:50 I managed to nail a couple of backslide lipslides.  Considering I’d been riding for about 5 hours by now I was pleased my legs held up and I didn’t clip the front of the pipe and I popped my back leg over the pipe before boardsliding away….after my second of these I called it a day, no point in riding too hard when your legs are getting shaky, that’s when accidents happen, and with the first leg of the Westbeach Snowflex Freestyle Series next Saturday I wanted to stay firmly in one piece.  I was especially keen not to repeat the run where I’d slide half the length of the corrugated gas pipe on my bum!

All in all it’s been a brilliant weekend, I managed to get about 8 hours riding into 24 hours and nail a load of new tricks into the bargain!

Here’s a slide show of my kicker shots from Hemel:

The full set, including Sam Cullum, Lon Canu, Jake Terry, Mikee Chen & Duncan Carr