Friday, April 11, 2014

Foolish Quest - Click here to begin

I had a lot of fun skiing this winter.  Our family managed to get out lots, and capped it off with a week at Mt Ste Anne skiing some great terrain.  My girls progressed so much this year, and Tina did absolutely fantastic and now looks like a pro.  I'm so proud of them all.

Finishing the season at a mountain like that is kind of a tease.  I quite literally had the best skiing of my life that week, and it only left me wanting more.  I fell in love with my skis (which I've had for 4 years), as I pushed them to the brink - and quickly learned that is what they love best: to be pushed to the absolute brink.  I carved this year instead of skidded, I pushed the boundaries and had a hell of a time doing it.  Skied the most difficult Mt Ste Anne had to offer and it was nothing.

Another neat thing happened just before that trip - the 2014 winter Olympics.  My girls watched the women's moguls and fell in love.  They wanted to do the booty shaking skiing, and I ended up taking them on moguls later in the season.  They wanted to be just like the mogul skiers, except for one little thing.

They didn't want to do the jumps...that would be far too scary.

My girls ski and love skiing because WE ski and love skiing.  They get family time with us, and they do what we do - often more.  Thus, therein lies the obvious solution:  I must learn to jump.

Now you get the title.

If I jump, they'll follow me wherever I go and jump too...and most likely do it better than me.  The things Dad's do for their girls...well, at least this Dad does.  I wanted to be scientific about this, so I sat down and thought this all through, and boiled it down to three major elements:

  1. Fitness
  2. Equipment
  3. Ability
For the fitness piece, I play hockey, but really need to ramp it up in other areas.  I've figured I need to run more, play more outside, and just be more active overall.  Really, when you think about it, a man with the same muscle mass but 40-50 pounds lighter, can not only jump higher, but be far more nimble and absorb more impact on landing.  It's just logical.  Plus the muscle tone and core strength is going to be key....I added in a little something else as a treat :)...wait for it.

For equipment, I'd been looking at Volkl Wall's for a while.  I set myself a goal that I'd save my change and extra cash through the year, and only get money for my birthday and such so that I could buy the skis I wanted.  Well, I ended up getting wicked season ending deals and picked up 2014 Volkl Walls, and Rossignol FKS 140 L's to put on them (they arrive in the mail on Monday).  My rule stands though that until I save enough, I can't touch them....every cent goes to them now...I love them.

That brings us to Ability.  Well, I want to learn to jump, spin, and flip.  I did what any logical 38 year old overweight (BMI-wise actually obese) guy would do.  I joined Gymnastics.  What?  Yeah, gymnastics - deal with it.  I go every Monday night - it's a blast.  First week I learned front flips out of the trampoline - nailed it.  Last week I learned back handsprings...I still need a spotter, but for 38 years old and over 200 lbs...I'm claiming victory.  I advised them of my goal, they said they can help. I'm in.

So the elements are coming together.  I'll have to stick with it, or I'll be a disaster next year.

Here's to being overly ambitious.

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