Cab 540 tail grab, B Ma photo
The last couple of weeks have been pretty intense. I competed in my first ever World Cup in slopestyle followed just after by the Burton Open Global Series stop in Canada where I competed in both halfpipe and slopestyle. The level of riding at these competitions was the highest I've ever competed against. At this stage in my season and career, I'm focusing my efforts on improving my riding and skills, rather than trying to win at contests. I need more practice with bigger, more difficult tricks before I can step up to this level of riding. I feel good about the progress I've made so far this year; I'm excited to get back to Whistler to keep at it and have a great time while pushing myself to new limits.
Gap 270, B Ma photo
These contests served as a huge wake up call for me to really start to giver with my riding. It was pretty humbling not making it to finals in any event over the last couple of weeks but it was also very motivating; I'm now focused on improving as much as I can before my next big competition. It sucks not making finals. That being said, I was happy with my riding in the competitions. I was riding better in my competition runs than I was in practice; Nothing like a little pressure to get the adrenaline pumping! I landed some new tricks and figured out how to improve on some others. I also learned a lot from watching some of the worlds top riders killing it, double corks!
Switch Backside 540, B Ma photo
My brother (B Ma) happened to be in Calgary running a training camp for some Arctic Winter Games hopeful kids from the NWT during the World Cup. I was able to do a few laps with them and reconnect with where I started, pretty similar to them. They were really excited to have a chairlift and some nice jumps to ride. Good luck to those boys and all the NWT riders in the upcoming Games! Brendan took some cool photos of me competing in the World Cup (above). Thanks bro!
My friend and Westbeach team rider Robby Balharry placed third at the Burton Open Slopestyle, beating out sick pros like (Air and Style Winner) Marko Grilic. It's pretty huge for an amateur rider to podium at a prestigious event like the Open. Way to rip Robby!
- A M
