I was an emotional wreck trying to psych myself out, for the challenge of snowboarding that took place on Feb. 27 at Shirley Meadows with three tests to see who could come out on top.
Both my challenger and I had never snowboarded before.
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a board attached to your feet using special boots set into mounted bindings, and it is like skateboarding without wheels or like surfing without the water.
The first test was to attempt to complete a 180-degree turn on the snowboard, the second test was to stay on the snowboard as long as possible without falling, and the third test was to see if one could get up the next morning with little or no pain.
I could not wait to take on the challenges because I consider myself pretty athletic, but my heart was pounding, my palms were sweating, and yet I was so excited.
The morning of the challenge started with a lesson on the basics of snowboarding, like balance and maneuvering of the board.
I was not sure of what to wear while snowboarding, so I had a pair of thermals on, thin cotton pants, two shirts, a jacket, a beanie, mittens, and two pairs of socks. However, I got soaked anyway because I did fall on my butt a few times.
I was thrilled and nervous at the same time about taking on the challenge of snowboarding, but I figured that I could accomplish snowboarding because I consider myself pretty good at picking up on new things, so I was pretty confident enough to perform the art of snowboarding.
Yes, I think snowboarding is an art because I had to use my hand-eye coordination, my muscle strength and my brains.
After the lesson, I went down the slopes four times and refused to attempt the 180-degree turn because I was scared, yet I was mastering the “falling leaf” which is the movement of the board back and forth from side to side.
I think snowboarding is so much fun, and so every time I would go down the slope, I would shout, “Wahoo!”
I went down the slopes a few more times, and I met up with my challenger at the small lift to see which of us could go down the slope without falling.
It was an accomplishment. I lasted the longest down the slope without falling.
I was becoming more and more confident as the day went on, so I went up the lift to the biggest slope, and as I was getting off the lift, I lost my balance and fell. However, I got up and went down the slope. Later in the day I went down the slope again and did not fall off the lift.
I went down the slopes a whole bunch of times and used muscles that I hardly ever used, and so I imagined that I would feel pain the next day and I did. I had pain in my legs, knees and arms with bruises on my legs, so I feel I took a beating.
I felt the snowboarding challenge was a success, and I would definitely do it again and even take my family.