Shredding

I am so stoked about 2009! Today was the very anticipated inauguration of our new president, Barack Obama!!! YAY!! I'm so glad its official, and he can get down to business. Les. Do. This. Very exciting. I am also very excited because I climbed up Berthoud Pass yesterday on a solo mission and snowboarded down! YOU DON'T NEED A RESORT TO RIDE! Ha ha. Loved it, really. It took a long time (an hour and a half), and I didn't have snowshoes (note to self), but i was genuinely smiling the whole time! I took my phone so I could take pictures and prove I accomplished this feat.

A little about me is that I have never done this before, and while I'm pretty independent, I tend to wait for group activities. It's usually just more fun. But I was determined to go riding, if only for one run. And that's what I did. It was glorious. Seriously. I was so mother effing happy, gliding down a real non-commercial mountain that only a handful of people make the effort to ride down. Highly exclusive. I felt like I was being a true Coloradoan. I am very proud of my ambition that day, and it re-proves to me that I do have a lot of motivation. Sometimes I just need to act on it.

It felt really great to walk up that mountain. I didn't go all the way to the tippy top, there was no snow up there. It was west-facing and most had been burnt off by the sun. So I went up to a respectable place below that point, where the snow was okay still. I had stopped half-way up and decided that it wasn't really worth it to ride down from there. So I drag my board to the center of this open space that I had stared up at from my car. The car looked small. That was good.

I went past the Continental Divide Trail marker and plopped down with my board. It was a magnificent day to hike up there. You could see for probably 100 miles if there weren't gigantic peaks everywhere. So clear and blue, I sat for a few minutes and caught my breath. I was kind of sad that all my work was going to be hastily forgotten in a joyous five minute ride down. Of course, aside from the million dollar view, the ride down was my reward. So I took a deep breath and strapped in.

I stood up and I was off. I was riding down a real mountain. As in, not a corporation. It felt fucking fantastic. Excuse my french... I know that sounds kind of hippie chic, but I was more than happy to use my own power to get up the hill. We were made for walking, and that's just what I did. It was awesome. I tried to be graceful, but it wasn't that easy at first. It was my first time all season, so I was a little wobbly, but I was so HAPPY I couldn't even concentrate! Ha ha! By about the halfway point that I stopped at originally in the hike, I was getting my glide on. All I could think for some reason was Champagne Powder and how I was really on it. Like really, really. It was so brief, but so sweet. I got to the bottom and could only stare at the beast. (Ha ha ha ha. So funny.)

It looks pretty wussy in the terrible photos, and perhaps I would have fared better time-wise not taking the trail up. I loved every sweaty/cold minute of it. When I got to the bottom, unbeknown to me there was a family sledding. I didn't realize it until the guy started talking to me. He said, "Ya, I know, there's no sledding here." I looked at him and said "Oh, I didn't know." He then said, "I know its for skiers and snowboarders. Even though I don't understand why someone would do that. I guess its more for the hike than the ride." I replied, "That's what I just did." That felt very good. Very good indeed.