one ski length

is all it takes.
last run of the night.
not exactly a stellar night,
on a ski I haven't been on
for a year & battling built up
fatigue, just. not. feeling. it.

wanted to work out
the kinks though, take
a handful of laps to loosen
the system, rev the motor
just a bit. did that, it was
great for about an hour.

then the last run of the
night. Nothing special,
hit The Leap, most fun
way back to the departe'.
give Bender a 4 bump gap,
drop in and find the rhythm
of the line. pop pop pop,
just like that, get the ski
working, man this is sweet,
then see Dave check up
and spot a bump traversing
grom cutting him off from
the left.

Shut it down?

Or roll with it?

Last run baby, roll with,
the extra lane is there
along the edge, no worries.
Re-allign the zipper, and
immediately find a nasty
looking trough between
the bumps.

Fuck. bail? or roll it?

Feeling oats, so square it
drop a knee and hit it.
Take the blow, unweight
the rear ski and roll that
edge...now!

Fuck! what? Why isn't that
rear edge releasing? wtf?
check trajectory....shit,

trees. real close. straight ahead.

ok breath, try to release again,
untangle that shit! what. the.
FUCK!. is wrong. with. my. skis?

still locked on edge, trees
even closer now. motherfucker,
this is gonna hurt. Into survival
mode, refocus on the unintended
trajectory. just don't go in headfirst.

skis still won't release, save the
post mortem for the drive
home and fucking throw it
into the back seat & loop it
out off of this bump.

better to lead with the big
muscles and bones than the
scrawny top end of a cyclist.
And, I like my skull intact.

impossible to split the trees,
try to get out a foot to deflect
off the first, no chance to clear
the second, so just go silent
and wait for the impact.




why hasn't it come yet?







OUCH! MotherFucker!!!!!!
Right on the hip, godDamn
that hurts. god. damn. that.
hurts. at least I'm alive, and
at least it wasn't my knee/back/
head..you stupid mother fucker!
how the fuck did that happen??!?!!!

can I move my leg? and why am
I shaking? stand up, stand up,
stretch and take inventory.

yeah that was scary as shit,
better hold onto this tree.
oh, ok, maybe sit back down.
ok, now stand back up...

'yeah Dave, I'm fine..took it in
the leg/hip, I'm good..need to
get off this damn hill...'


stretch, check ranges of motion,
feels ok enough, start with a bit
of side slip, then traverse across
to the light and try to stop shaking.

just breathe. breathe....yeah, it was
fucking scary, but it's over now,
you're here now, still here, so
breathe and get off this damn hill.
why am I still shaking???

couple of tentative parrallels to find
a balance then rip some fast GS styley
down Minuteman, just to get back on
that horse...


Lots of drive home debriefing.

It's apparent that I literally can't
make a tele turn to save my ass.

Cuz' I didn't.

And I need to work on that. But first,
I need to heal & rest up. Might even
turn some rehab style pedals with
this warm spell comin'. But first,
we'll see how ganked up I am by this
wknd..maybe this purple tennis ball
growing out of my leg won't be all
that bad....