Super Flea: Faster than the silver bullet PT.1

My first encounter with boarder cross snowboarding was when I was living in Whistler. One day, while taking a cruise through the park, I made a detour to a small trail opening. As I rode down the narrow path, I was then taken over roller after roller, followed by a beautifully transitioned table top. It was fast, and I loved it. It made me want to do it again and again.

The following year I saw a poster for a competition on Blackcomb. I was working for Whistler Blackcomb at the time and thought, hey, I'm on these mountains more than the average person, so why not? So, I registered to compete. I think I had been riding about 17 years at the time. 17 years of snowboarding is quite a lot (mind you, it wasn't year after year, as I stopped for a few years, as my youth got the better of me). After a certain amount of time, well, you can only progress so much, or go pro. And I wasn't about to go and pursue the latter.

As I arrived for inspection and the first qualifying round, I couldn't help but size up my competition. Which girls would I be competing against, and who should I look out for? I noticed one girl right away. She was hard to miss as she had football gear on under her suit. I decided that her name was "The Tank". As we each got called to do the first round, I quickly got butterflies in my stomach. Well, here goes nothing, I thought. And that was it, the gates went down and away we went, one girl flew by me so quickly I couldn't believe it. I was so taken by how fast she was going that I ended up riding right off the course, falling 10 ft down.

I wasn't off to a good start.

Once I finally got to the end of the run, I encountered the fast girl. She was a small girl wearing all black with silver goggles on. I decided I'd call her "The Bullet". The Bullet was laughing at me as I got to the end, asking if I was OK. And the only thing I could do was laugh at myself. I mean, how can I take myself so seriously? I then told her I was impressed with how fast she was. She told me she had been to many competitions in Japan.

Great. Good for her. I'm screwed.

Well, that didn't stop me from dusting my sorry shoulders off and going back up to the top for round two. Even though I felt quite disconcerted, I still made my best efforts to show my pearly whites. And off I went. First roller, second roller, third roller, BAM, I make it around the sharp corner, and all of a sudden the silver bullet eats shit right beside me! I quickly moved out of the way as she fell hard to the ground. THIS IS IT, I thought, I HAVE A CHANCE!!! Boy was I happy. As I looked behind I saw The Tank, but she was far enough away not to concern me.Here it was, my chance to make it to the final round. GREAT.

This was it. My last run. The Bullet was officially out. I can't say I wasn't sad she got hurt. I mean, come on, the bitch was laughing at me falling off the course. Even though I grinned and bared it - she still laughed. So here I am, neck to neck, with The Tank, some other girl and myself. I didn't see the other girl compete, because she was in different heats. But, as soon as we were off, I saw her, alright. I saw her back the entire time. That fucking girl was fast. I tried my best to catch up, but it wasn't happening. I managed to stay about 2 seconds behind her. In competition terms, that's an eternity. She whizzed by the finish line, as I followed behind.

And so, that was it - I came out 2nd.

Who would have thought? Certainly not me! I felt proud, relieved and spent. That experience was a fucking blast. And I wanted to do it again.