2013 Season Recap #4: COLORADO

As the PA snow started to melt during March, I directed my focus towards preparing for Nationals. This meant wrapping things up at work, making time for gym conditioning and proper nutrition, and nursing the shoulder.

Gearing up for a ride at Breckenridge. (Thanks to Dave Calfo for
adding the Daybreak Carve logo to my Legacy!)

In planning for my third time at Nationals, I decided to arrive a week before race day in order to have time for some on-snow training, and to acclimate to the high altitude. The journey started with a cross-country road trip that included visiting friends, battling a snowstorm, and setting sights on the Rockies.

2013 Season Recap #3: Amazing fantastic surprises, and races!

February was a very exciting month, full of racing and riding and training and snow. A couple of very exciting things happened:

1) Qualified for Nationals through the Appalachian Series.

2) Trained with SBX pro Nick Langkamp at Seven Springs.

Ale riding through the Alley with racer Nick. 

2013 Season Recap #2: Gimme gimme snow (and data)!

View of snow from hotel room in Denver
April 2013

I developed temporary amnesia about the early-season east coast winter conditions, as all of the snow that hit Colorado during April and the amazing season-end riding conditions at Copper provided strong distractions. The limited early-season snow and mild temperatures delayed the first Appalachian Series races, which originally were scheduled for the weekend of January 12-13 at Wisp. Since the races were canceled, and the weekend weather turned into springtime-shred warm, I ended up taking laps through the Alley jump line at Springs and in the process made some new friends from the Pittsburgh Intercollegiate Snowboard Team.