Andrew Matthews - BoardTheWorld Blog: November 2011

Monday, November 28, 2011

And It Begins...

November 18, 2011 - Whistler Mountain officially opened for the winter season.

This is such an exciting time of year... where you are limited only by your own imagination as to the possibilities that await in your future. Will this be my breakthrough year? Will I land double corks? Podium at a huge contest? Get sick photos? Magazine coverage? Film an awesome video part? Shred epic powder days?

At the moment I'm having a great time riding again - dialing in my new gear and old tricks. I'm packing my bags for an epic training camp in Colorado. We're heading up (vertically) to go ride perfect snowboard parks for 3 weeks. I'm stoked to have the chance to push my riding before the competition season really gets under way in the new year.

I like to think this season will be my banger season but only time will tell my friends. Stay tuned to find out!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Adventure Season - Off-land Training

This fall I put a little extra flavour into my dry-land training program... you could even call it 'off-land' training. I went surfing! My girlfriend Frida and I went to Costa Rica and Nicaragua to seek out waves, adventure and an experience of a lifetime before the snow started falling in Canada. Surfing is one of my new favourite sports! It’s seriously challenging but a ton of fun when you catch a wave right. Plus you get free chiropractic sessions when the waves crunch down on you!

For the first time in my life I was paddling out in the ocean free from the rubbery constrains of a thick wetsuit. The liberating feeling of being out in the ocean with only you and your board is fantastic... until a school of fish swarm around you that is! I wanted to progress as much as possible in surfing while I was there but I realized that you need to be patient with surfing. The conditions have to be It takes a lot of time paddling, duck diving, paddling more, ducking diving more, paddling until your arms feel like jello, and then trying to stand up before get the hang of it. Its that one great wave you catch that keeps you coming back.

Throughout our trip we saw some beautiful places and met lots of awesome people. It was a great experience to see other cultures, try new things and practice spanish. Even though the places we saw were amazing, the trip really made me appreciate Canada. You don’t realize how safe you feel here until you’ve been somewhere outside of your comfort zone. And lets be honest, Canada is beautiful too!