wynter

The boardercross was seriously the most fun I've had in a terribly long time. I danced, I bounced, I loved it.

And I did quite well: qualified for the "open" rather than the "novice" category, made it to the finals, and walked away with 2nd place.

But really, the joy was in the running of the course: the tangible, fear-pherimone intensity of loading into the start gate with the 3 other girls, arms outstretched taut and trembling with anticipation; the sudden drop of the gnarled starter plank and audible snap! of muscle, tendon and nerve as we pull hard from the gates, muscles straining forwards to gain the hole shot, the advantage, the lead.

The roughness of the rollers: legs working separately; body tight, tensed and low to absorb, adjust, compensate for the heaving and dropping of the bucking snow. Then tangling contact at the first gate, the scrape of edges and the crush of warm bodies and heated breath as we come swirling together in a pack of sharpened stainless steel and focused determination, vying for the lead: dancing, balancing, compensating...


And the C-box and S-rail Saturday night? Oh please, yes. More. Oooh baby.