Season twelve concludes

Oh yeah, and in snowboarding news, the spring season officially ended this past weekend, June 3rd being the last day on Blackcomb.

Unofficially, it ended for me last friday the 1st, with pain. Somehow didn't get around to posting about that. I was having a good sunny day up there with friends, hitting the small features mountain staff had put up to placate the freestyle-inclined after the main parks shut down two weeks prior. There was a long flat platform rail - meaning, flat top surface like a narrow box, base like a rail. This is important to the way I hit it and how I hurt myself. The reasons I screwed up and hurt myself on the other hand, will reveal principles of progression I often already emphasize (read: I should have known better). Read on for the gory details and clues to a safe learning progression.

It went like this: I decided to try something I hadn't tried before (clue #1) on a feature I wasn't very comfortable with (clue #2) having not been able to visualize it well at all (clue #3). And rather than breaking it down into smaller building blocks - heck, it's end-of-season anyways right? - I just attempted it straight-up (clue #4). The nitty-gritty: I tried a backside 270-on, having never done one before. My speed and my approach were good, but I hesitated at the last moment - critical error, there's no time for that. I'd begun my rotation, but frozen with hesitation, didn't jump. I caught the front edge of the flatrail on the back of my left knee, brining me to an abrupt and unwelcome stop, with enough force to throw my goggles off. After about 15 seconds to gather my wits and my goggles, I got out of the way and found a place to sit. Swelling behind the knee and cramping of the calf began immediately. I sat for a few minutes, gently moving the joint and palpating the area to assess the damage. I was concerned about the damage, and my ability to get down the slope under my own power.

These are the times it's good to be an expert rider. I was able to get down, but only by virtue of riding switch, with 95% weight on my front (right) leg. By the time I reached the bottom (downloaded two lifts), my calf was in full spasm and I could barely walk.

All that drama aside, it wasn't nearly so bad as I expected. A week later and it aches, and stretching it, while necessary, feels... gross. But I've had virtually full functionality since two days after the injury. It was the immediate and intense muscle spasm - plus the violent experience of the impact - that made me concerned it was worse than that. Plenty of icing and deliberately mobilizing the joint from when it happened, plus a homeopathic salve ("Traumeel") and some self-massage helped a lot with recovery.

Lessons learned? Like I said, I should have known better. There are two fundamental principles I've distinguished for safe and effective progression in the sport (and in life):
1. Building blocks - breaking a complex skill into simpler, attainable skills, thereby building a foundation which encompasses the goal.
2. Scalability - Recognizing and managing the scope of the skill to be accomplished - size, speed, other considerations of technical difficulty.

If a skill-based goal is the apex of a pyramid, you could view #1 as encompassing the horizontal plane, while #2 lives on the vertical axis. In this particular instance, my understanding of scalability (really, my understanding of my own abilities and current limits) would have had me try the maneuver on a shorter, wider, less intimidating box. But the main error was neglecting principle #1 - I'd never attempted the backside 270-on. Not being able to visualize it was a key signal that I consciously ignored.

If you don't know the value of visualization in sport, learn it, know it, use it. It is essential. Actually, as my theory develops, that will hold a key position as well.

Long-winded, but there you have it. It's been an amazing season; I've ridden some beautiful snow, had some amazing times with friends, progressed heaps, and achieved many of my riding goals for the season. This is probably a good time to take inventory officially on that score.

1. Passed my CASI level three!! Yeah! (took three attempts!)
2. 360s with grabs, big and clean - plenty more to learn here, but this is a checkmark.
3. 540s, all four, comfortably - not quite, but I'm still very happy with my progress in my regular backside and frontside 540s. Got in a few switch-frontsides as well, no switch-backsides.
4. 720s, a few good ones - not achieved. Didn't throw any 720s this season. but with all I've progressed, I'll knock this off next season for sure.

Those were my written goals at the start of the season. But more than that, I also threw 360s and 540s on some of the jumps in the XL park, as well as straight-airing the largest (55'?) regular (non-pro) jump there - definitely the biggest air I've taken, flying a good 20' above the deck. What a feeling!

It's been a great season. And by the start of next season, I'll be (by a very big margin) in the best all-around fitness of my life. I'm on my way already. Look out :)