Epi'b'logue

The snow is melting, the mountain is showing muddy patches like an unpleasant rash and the downtown shops are focussing on sales of mountain bikes. I'm at the end of the season and the end of my career break. Like most people on the course I finish slightly disappointed, not so much because the season is at an end but because I didn't meet the unrealistic expectations I initially had about the ability I would attain by the end of the season.

I expected to be able to:

- comfortably land 360 spins off drop-ins and jumps (at best I land the occasional 180);

- drop in from 10 foot verticals (I may have once dropped in from about 5 foot);

- grab and shifty the board (I can often get an Indy grab, but not much else);

- fluidly ride tight trees (I still have to scrub my speed after two or three turns).

However, more optimistically, I can now ride most on-piste terrain (and can survive off-piste) and my freestyle riding is reasonable given that there is no park at Fernie to practise in. So despite slight disappointment at not being the Mr Miyagi of snow, I'm happy with the progress I've made and am confident that I can now get the most out of the resorts on future winter holidays. I'd like to think that this season is just the beginning and I can now start to work towards achieving those objectives over the coming years (as long as my dodgy knees and ankles can hold out!)

Thanks for reading!