Roads and Babies

I imagine most of you who read this already know that Katie and I are preggers. I have a tendancy to keep things to myself. Katie, on the other hand, likes to let loose to whoever might have a set of ears. While I might have kept my mouth shut for a little while, Katie deemed it open season for communicating our good fortune to our world. This is very good fortune for the two of us, no doubt. So I have been wondering why I have been relatively closed lipped about this. Fear that the pregnancy could go wrong is a factor, but I don't dwell on that. Katie and I agree that being pregnant is something to celebrate and really living our lives is important for the development of the baby. Our families and friends know. Our community is informed. And I'm still pretty quiet about it. I hope it doesn't seem like a lack of excitement. I am going to be a father. Katie and I are going to be parents. The fact that this is a process in motion is settling into me more every day. Maybe that is the root of my comminication process. I am still accepting the reality and it has not fully engulfed me.

I had a great phone conversation with Nathan Anderson the other evening. We were totally nerding out on the computers while we spoke, he in New York and me in Colorado, checking out his blog (babysilas.blogspot.com) and Fish's (whiskerfish.livejournal.com) while listening to new music we have been rocking out to. Nathan has been my friend since I was 14. Now he is a married man with a baby. We used to sit and talk on the phone for hours when we were in school. I still love to sit and talk on the phone with Nathan. During our conversation Nathan told me that Brian Perry and his wife, Heidi, are also pregnant. Brian is a colorful and charismatic character who lives in Minnesota and does a bunch of web site stuff. On his hardflip.com site, a page that promotes the twin cities skate scene, he talks about his desire to party and get nuts for this particular event, but advocates he will not because his wife and fetus require him to be responsible. Fetus. He just calls it. I am trying to wrap my head around this phenominon and he is just breaking it down to its basic elements. Sometimes I wish things came easier to me, but I am grateful to share things the way that occur naturally to me. I'm grateful to know that everyone handles it differently, and Brian is as engaging as ever.

So Nathan had to hang up to put Silas to sleep. I sat around thinking about the paths that my closest friends have taken. Fish sent me a very nice e-mail. He has a poetry reading coming up and in preparing for this he ended up digging out some of his early books of poetry. In the process he was dragged through memory lane to a time when he was prolific and the subject had largely to do with our friendships. Our brotherhood. He sent me a poem he had written probably in 1992 or so called "Brotherhood." It was really nice to read these words. I have his books in my bookshelf, but it had been a long time since I had read any of his stuff. We exchanged a couple e-mails. Our worlds are so different now, but there is still a lot of love between us and it always feels nice to know that it exists in a space all its own. I am grateful that Fish was writing as much as he did and there are many freezeframes of an amazing time in all our lives captured in his script. He wrote about how his life had been affected by so many friends getting sick and dying of HIV/AIDS, and how nice it was to hear that Katie and I were bringing a new life into the world. Different paths, common roots.

The skies have been clear and blue this week. Cold mornings and mild afternoons have made for great conditions on the mountain. My world of teenagers, snowboarding, school, and winter keeps moving. Katie had her "first real bout of morning sickness" today. Our path is winding like a mountain pass always opening up to new and amazing adventure.

Lindsey's Method

I do not like how the mainstream press is handling Lindsey Jacobellis' bail in the Snowboardercross finals. She rules. She ended up with a silver medal dispite slamming on the final jump. Eight years ago all snowboarders were stoners, four years ago we were all slackers. Now we are all show offs. Nobody knows her error more than she does, but why do all the mainstream press folks need to keep pressing her misfortune rather than her success.

Here is a quote from Todd Richards off www.nbcolympics.com:

"What happens in someone's head when they are leading down the home stretch in the Olympics, few of us will ever know. Most competitive snowboarders dream of the big victory, Lindsey Jacobellis seems to be no different.

"Why Lindsey did the method air is the subject of so much speculation already. Some say she was showboating, some say she was caught up in the moment. I say that if I were in the lead and I had the chance to do one of the most stylish moves in snowboarding and blaze through the finish line to a gold medal, I would have probably done the same thing.

"Snowboarding is all about style, and many have said the best looking trick in snowboarding is the method air. It's one of the most photogenic of all the tricks, and a gauge of an individual's personal style. We saw Ross Powers do the same trick in the halfpipe in Salt Lake, and it grabbed him the gold. Lindsey did one in Torino, and it cost her gold.

"She will have to live with the aftermath of that trick for the rest of her life. That is hard enough to bear without the rest of the world calling her out."

Bottom line, for me. I love snowboarding, in part, because it still has a rawness to it. Lindsey is human, and a snowboarder, so she still has my respect.

White Gold

My wedding ring is made out of white gold, but what I really feel excited about right now is that Shaun White just won an Olympic gold medal. Now, I am not this huge commercialization of snowboarding fan, even though I've been working for the Winter X Games for seven years, but I like to see snowboarding at its highest level going off. Now all the mainstream media is hyping the hell out of the "Flying Tomato," which I've never heard anyone other than media actually call him. Danny Kass, Mason Aguirre, and Andy Finch all did so well. Finch riding in a damaged state and still rallying to the finals, Kass just rolling along sort of not giving a fuck - but stoked on everything just the same - and Mason Aguirre, who will be making his name known throughout the world in the years to come. As a snowboarder I am grateful that we were represented by a cross section of dudes who speak so well of snowboarding.

The ladies will step to it tomorrow. I am a big fan of our ladies as well. I really like Kelly Clark because she is not the darling that the other girls are, but she is pushing snowboarding and women's athletics. I started watching her ride when the X Games were in Mt. Snow, VT in 2000. I think she was 16. Anyhow, its nice that a New Englander without the hype and glamour (kind of like Ross Powers) is quietly charging her way towards her second olympic medal. Gretchen Bleiler is a honey and her "A" game will put her on the podium without a doubt. I would like to see these two take the one - two positions on the podium and I really don't care who gets first. Elana will be around for years to come and I bet she is going to start pushing the level as well. Same for Hannah Teter. We have a stacked team and the rest of the world is going to have to pull out some big guns (like Dick Cheney) if they want to shoot our ladies down.

Jibbin'

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

This is a new jib the kids set up in the courtyard. Great to see how much fun these guys can have with a couple old tires and a bunch of snow. Bart Sherwood getting after it. Click on the pic to see a couple more shots on my flickr site.

Breckenfridge

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Friendship is the greatest. Katie and I drove from CB to Breckenridge to join our friends Ben and Alli Lawrence, Brooks Townsend, and one of Alli's dear friends, Pilar for a day of shredding and quality time. We took the Sweeteheart Suite at the Fireside Inn B&B in downtown Breck, a lucky score at the same spot the rest of the crew were staying. We ate dinner with the drunken remainder of the Super Bowl crowd at Eric's on Sunday night. A fine shouting match over dinner. Being together with Ben, who has been my friend for more than 20 years, and the rest of the crew always brings contentedness. Sleepiness overtook us all as we lounged together at the Fireside. There is no finer ending to the day than with friends and my wife. Our bedding was so soft and pleasantly fragrant - the makings of a sound night of sleep.

The next day started out clear and cold (0 degrees F). We took the Blue bus line to Peak 8 after breakfast with a cool Scottish couple visiting from Houston (Texas, not Scotland). Katie was able to secure us a couple of discounted lift passes ($60 - yikes). We had a tight posse. Alli is the least experienced rider, but she did really well. We poked around the mellow terrain of Peak 8 for a couple runs before heading up the T-Bar. Above tree line the wind was blowing a gale. It was a lot of work for Ben and I to stay on track. Pilar lost her edge 30 feet from the top of the lift but didn't give up and hung on, being dragged, until she made the top! The wind loading had done nice things for the bowls and we ended up getting some great turns. We hit the Imperial Lift as well. Ben Katie and I hiked Imperial Peak (12,998 feet) for some bonus turns and a chance to warm up after the blustry ride up the chair. To end the day we made the push over to Peak 7 for some fun runs on the mellow rollers. We rode until 3:30, when Katie was about to freeze solid.

Riding with friends, with no work obligations, strictly to enjoy being outdoors and have fun felt so good. I love what I do for a living, but snowboarding for the simplist, purist reasons is the best. Weaving lines in and out of the group, sharing laughs, and bitter cold temps all made for such a nice, albeit short, getaway. Ben, Alli, and Pilar are all staying for the week. Brooks will stay for a couple days, but Katie and I drove home last night. Looks like we will have blue skies all week, perfect for a crew from New York to enjoy the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Lofting in the rain

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Jason has been coming to CB since he was a grom. Now he is a man and he just destroys the place. This lighting was so cool. It took a few tries for him to land it, but he got it right as the rain started to fall. Autumn '05.

forboding sky

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Bart floating a backside 180 over the barrier. Fall '05.

Shifty

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

Jason has so much board control its nuts. CB Fall '05.