19th August 2006, 11.24
On the sofa, desperately trying to rehydrate myself

Was supposed to go out last night, but was totally exhausted so went to bed instead. I’ve decided it’s because I’ve not been drinking enough water, so trying to make sure I drink plenty today.

Anyways, this week has been a great week for riding, a couple of little things have clicked into place and I feel much more confident about my riding. Neil’s been a great coach and helped me to stop thinking so much and just get into a flow and rhythm. I spent the whole of yesterday focusing on my breathing and timing – made a huge difference and has really helped me to relax into my riding more rather than get swamped by “am I twisting the board enough? am I flexed? have I broken at the waist? where am I looking? have I pulled the board through properly?”. Still got some things to work on, but getting there.

Also managed to exorcise my freestyle demons by riding through the park, getting some air off the rollers and nailing a box without trashing my knees! It was the smallest, lowest and easiest box (for those that don’t know what one it, check out the photos on the TC website), but totally stoked, cos I didn’t have a repeat performance of my last attempt (see ‘Big Crunch’).

Forgot to update on the board situation too – after trying a couple (and really loving the K2 Darkstar), I fell back in love with my Custom – now that we’ve learnt to really move the board and flex it, I’ve accepted that it’s me, not the board! Plus by bending it more, it’s starting to mellow out a bit and get easier.

As for the Stage 1 exam, it’s another 5 day jobby, starting on Wednesday:

• Wed AM – Rider improvement and review of 4 movements

• Wed PM – review levels 1 and 2, review Movement Analysis

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• Thu AM – Rider improvement – skidded turns (lots of switch riding here)

• Thu PM – Level 3 progression, movement analysis practice

• Thu NIGHT – Movement Anaylsis exam practice

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• Fri AM – Rider improvement – edged turns

• Fri PM – Level 4 progression – strong edge. Practice movement analysis

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• Sat AM – Level 4 progression – freestyle. Practice movement analysis

• Sat PM – Practice teach

• Sat NIGHT – Movement Analysis exam

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• Sun – Teaching exam – we’ll get a 30 minute slot to teach in.

Then it’s all over and we get a presentation at 5pm on Sunday where we find out if we’ve passed or not. We’re continually assessed on our riding, which is a bit of a stress, but just need to focus really. Jim and Dan will be our examiners, which is a mixed blessing, but at least it’ll be nice ot have familiar faces.

Another storm cycle is passing through, which is great for snow, but yesterday was pretty crappy. Lots of rain and wind, so we were wet through by 3 o’clock and called it a day early. Still pretty nasty now and looks to stay that way for a while – let’s hope it clears for the exam!