Sn(ow!)board(oof!)ing(eek!!!)

I spent this weekend in Lake Tahoe with friends learning to snowboard. Emphasis on "learning." My only regret is passing up the opportunity to wear a helmet, not because I ever hit my head, but because really, I should wear one anyway. I look cute in helmets (in a short schoolbus kind of way).

We were lucky with traffic on Friday night, leaving SF at 8:30pm and getting to the cabin in South Lake at 12:30pm. Kevin already had his uncle's place warmed up for us, and we quickly settled in and fell asleep under heated blankets until the alarm starting beeping at 7am (boo!). I got up quickly though, because I was so excited! But then realized that the coffee maker was missing a key ingredient - the funnel/filter holder (double boo!). I made do with tea and we were out the door slightly past 8.

We drove to Kirkwood (oh by the way, in a rented SUV, which was an awesome idea) and were all rented and ready for our 10:30 am first-timers lesson. After unsuccessfully trying the first skateboarding type move on fairly flat snow near the lifts, I was skeptical about how the day would go. But by the end of the 2 hour lesson (we only made it down the hill twice), I was able to board between the left and ride side of the bunny slope consistently without falling. I don't mean board back and forth - I'm talkin' one way. So, when I would get to the other side, I'd generally fall, pretty much because I couldn't turn.

By the end of Day 1, I was adept at "backing my ass up." Oh yes, you read that right. Basically I'd switch between riding "regular" (left foot forward) and riding "goofy" (right foot forward) as I made my way down the hill, the whole time more-or-less facing the hill. This allowed me to avoid turning, and instead, when I'd make it to one side or the other, I'd just pivot to go the other way. Fortunately with snowboards, you can ride "switch" like this, although I think the idea is to eventually face down the mountain (but that was scary!) so I was improvising. Actually, to give myself more credit, by the end of day one I was able to do a proper turn like, um, two or three times. But to get down the bunny slope without falling, I had to ride the ass way.

Saturday evening, 9 of us had dinner at the cabin (Yogesh cooked a wonderful meal for the lot of us), and we did some group stretches by the wood stove/heater. It was a fun and relaxing evening, all the better after a short nap and a hot shower. I was anxious about how sore I'd be the next day, because I had a bad experience last year when I tried to ski two days in a row.

This morning, I was, of course, VERY SORE, but not so sore that I couldn't work through it - although everything hurt and it was the common situation where I discovered muscles that I didn't know existed. It helped that we took a few hours to get out of the house. By the time I was on the slopes at 10:30am I was certainly more awake and flexible that I was at 8am.

The weather was much colder and windier on Sunday, which didn't make falling as pleasant. My first few rides were a bit rusty, BUT I was actually able to start turning!!! After my lunch of chili and gatorade (repeat from the day before - thought I'd stick with what was safe), I was ready for my 1:30pm lesson. The entire lesson we focused on turning, again and again. My muscles weren't happy with me, and I still fell a fair amount, but I got to the point where I had one successful ride down the mountain doing real turns without falling once! Then the next ride I fell all the time, so that's when I called it quits. I had achieved what I wanted to, and I was exhausted so I rewarded myself with hot chocolate.

We were off the mountain and on the road by 4:30pm, and again, were very lucky with traffic, getting home by 9:30pm (stopping at In-n-Out, of course, for dinner). I was still sick from my cold, which got worse from Sunday on, but I'm glad it didn't interfere with my attempt at snowboarding too much. I'm excited to go ahead (Feb 4-5) just two weeks later, so I can practice without too much time passing. Yay for trying something new!