This last Friday my roommate and I drove up to Tahoe for a little
snowboarding. Saturday was his birthday (Happy 34th Keith!) and so
it was a pretty good way to spend it. I had been snowboarding just
a couple of times before in New York and since my move out here I
was of the ”I hate snow, I’m not going near it” camp. Keith gave
me some pretty compelling arm twisting and convinced me to go with
him, Coco, and her friend Lori. On Saturday we showed up at
Sierra-At-Tahoe to meet a group (that
was late, but that’s a whole other story). Keith, Coco, and Lori
all got lift tickets while I got a lesson/rental/ticket combo. My
lesson started at 10am and I have to say that this was a way better
lesson than I ever had in New York. I feel that I now totally
understand why it is you are supposed to do things the way you do
them on your snowboard. The lesson lasted two hours. There was much
falling and I got pretty tired. At one point after the sun came out
I was burning up so I took off my jacket and proceeded to be a
steam column generator for about 20 minutes (the Human Torch
extinguished is the best description I’ve come up with). After my
lesson and a long break at lunch I went back out and walked up the
smallest hill they have and then came back down a few times. There
was still much falling and I was worn out from having to get myself
back up over and over. Towards the end I was feeling like I hadn’t
really learned what I needed too but I then realized I was so tired
that I was just making mistakes. Another run down the hill and a
little practice in the flat ski/ride school area and I turned in my
equipment and waited for the others to finish for the day. All in
all it was a great day. I can’t wait to go back and take another
lesson and see if I remember how to ride. I now see what all my
friends see in snowboarding. The right equipment and a good
instructor make all the difference when you’re getting started. I’m
also really glad that I work out as much as I do. I had a few
little sore spots on Sunday but today I’m totally okay. The
physical fitness (although I’m still overweight) helps a lot. The
photo here is from the restroom of a pizza brew pub. It is one of
the holders of the paper seat cover dispensers. I thought it was
hilarious that it was stamped ‘PROTECTO’ so I took a picture (with
Lori’s camera because I was a tard and left mine in the hotel.
Thanks Lori!)