The snow was nice but a little skied out and Ian was not dressed for the top of the mountain so we headed down. Dropping into Bear Belly was nice and soft with few tracks. Traversing away from the cliff to what looked like a nice fresh line to my left I failed to give a dead tree sticking out at an odd angle quite enough room and got side swiped. After taking the tree to my left side I swung around and ended up stuck in three trees that were just behind me. I was completely hidden from view, totally stuck in the trees and a little shocked from my blow to the side, so I did what all proud girls do, I had a little cry. Feeling better I picked myself up, forced myself out of the trees and went looking for my husband. One of the disadvantages of being fast is that people rarely expect you to be behind them, after waiting a moment and not hearing anything Ian had headed downhill looking for me.
Sore but able to ride we headed down and off to the boardercross track, it is always fun to give Ian a bit of a run and today I was close. Definitely feeling tender but also aware that my one chance at the airbag this year was now, I gingerly made my way over to the park. My biggest concern was my ability to get off the bag, due to the pain in my side thanks to the tree, JorDan promised he would fish me out so off we went.
So it was that I came to be sitting in front of a 20ft jump with a ‘kick’ to it. Logically I could understand the concept, keep your speed and you will land in a big bag of air - easy. I hesitated to move forward and watched astonished as my disabled husband shuffled confidently to the front, had a quick chat with the coach running the show and dropped in. The thing about having a disabled husband is that it eliminates all excuses, what can you do when a standing paraplegic does it - can I really use the ‘I’m a girl’ call - nope. So I dropped in; I tried not to speed check too many times and then was in the air looking down thinking ‘I hope I don’t come up short!!’. I didn’t, I landed on the airbag, no pain and went up to go again. This time I went a little faster and again found myself in the air. This time though I elbowed myself in the tender spot and felt the wind go out of me as I landed. All I could think was how I am going to get off this thing? I sadly slid down, cursed the dead tree and called it a day. It was a lot of fun and not nearly as scary as I had imagined. Sadly I was the only girl on Saturday and only one other gave it a go on Sunday. Next year ladies I encourage you to get out and fly!
Those of you not familiar with the the ‘Airbag’ you can see what it is all about in this video
Thanks to The Camp of Champions Oakley Airbag crew and Red Resort for making it possible. It was great to see the kids out having a blast, hopefully next year there will be more girls!!
