# Sneakys 1st SBX Event



## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Well as the title says, sneaky is taking part in his 1st SBX event this weekend, practice was held on the course with some really good coaches for the kids including Stian Sivertzen and Helena Olaffsen.

They started with a lesson in basics for the SBX course, with tutorials on the way down, then it was back up for practice...!!!

Now, sneaky is well motivated, and sensible, but always worries a little about speed. So it was a little surprising to me that he started attacking the whoops the way he did, unfortunately there was 3 of them, starting big, getting smaller and getting some air on the last one was always gonna happen, but it was faster than he was comfortable with, and with a jump shortly after, the inevitable happened... He tried to slow, with no chance of doing so...!!!

As you can see in the video, he took a tumble, it shook him up a little, nothing but a banged head and a bruised ego, with confidence knocked for good measure...!!!

He is however, ready to try again tomorrow, i thought he might want to give it a miss, but he is determined to get back up and at least do the practice and timing, even if he chooses not to compete after that, all i can say is that i am proud of him for getting back out there...!

For anyone that doesn't already follow and would like to, please feel free to like his page, and for those that already do, so good you are still following him and supporting his love for our sport...

https://www.facebook.com/sneakysnowboarder


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Kevin, very glad to hear he wasn't seriously hurts and seems to be ok! 

It's sort of hard to tell in this clip, but the lip (peak?) of that last roller, jump, whatever it was,..? It looked like hell to me! Cut up with big chunks chopped out of it. It looked to me like that's what he may have caught his edge on! If that observation is accurate? I'm kind of surprised they were conducting lessons with the course in that condition. :eyetwitch2: :dunno:


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## Motogp990 (Mar 10, 2013)

Good to see he's willing to get back on the horse.

The grom can take some damage. If that was me, I'd be done for weeks haha


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Yes chomps it was, a big lump that froze, everything around it was slushy... It was certainly not like that earlier, but the lip got worn away very quickly so it could of been that it happened to get like that very quickly...

If it was me it would of been season over for sure...!!!

I am quite surprised though that he is still wanting to compete... But glad he has chosen to push on if he does indeed take part...


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Kevin137 said:


> ….If it was me it would of been season over for sure...!!!
> 
> I am quite surprised though that he is still wanting to compete... But glad he has chosen to push on if he does indeed take part...


Yeah,.. would've put me in traction too for sure!! Gravity begins treat you differently after 40! :laugh: 

I'm happy to hear that he wasn't so shaken up by it that it kept him from jumping back on the horse!! :jumping1: 

I'm still freaked out after _accidentally_ getting airborne a few season's ago,..! I cratered in soft spring slush and even tho I didn't get the slightest bit hurt,..? Not even a little bruised? I was _totally_ Psyched out by it! (…and it's been screwing with me every time I've tried to deliberately get some air since!)

So,.. lotsa props for the "grom!" :cheer:


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## larrytbull (Oct 30, 2013)

kevin,

small setback, but luckily they bounce right back at that age . good that he is ok. He was really looking good till that chunk of slush took him out. Cheers for him competing!


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## cav0011 (Jan 4, 2009)

The number one rule of going off jumps, at least for me, if you cant stop before you reach it then dont try to. 

The good news is he will keep getting better and he didnt let that bring him down.


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## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

Glad his doing ok and not willing to give up on it. that course looks fun except that last roller could need some fixing. Keep on riding Sneaky!:jumping1:


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

1st glad his ok
2nd I feel his reservations on a first ever attempt at SBX 
3rd always scope the entire course first ( from the sound of it he did just mentioning for all to absorb )

Show him this ole gummer (me) doing the same thing first time ever. That'll keep him motivated to ride better than old guys 

Hope he still competes, gun shy is sometimes hard to shake. 

Pretty cool and a great time. 
Keep us updated and tell him "I wish him luck in the race"


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Well the day ended well, he surprised me, he was a little nervous but registered, did a course inspection with an instructor, then had a practice with me following him...!!!

That was when he was let loose...! Up on the lift on his own to the course on his own, and practice completely alone...

I don't know who was more nervous, he has always ridden with me, never up there alone... Hehe

Well 2 runs pass and he stops to see me at the BBQ area where i am preparing food for 100 people. And he tells me he can't stop he wants to go back up again...!!! Really, i'm not needed anymore...??? Independence of your kids sucks... Haha

Anyway, he got through practice, had lunch, was ready for timing, got that done, he class ranged from 7 to 11 year olds, so a very big difference in age, and of course time, the kids didn't have to hit all the jumps, but where encouraged to hit as many as they where comfortable with, and he did more than i thought he would...! Including the one he fell on yesterday, they cut out a section to one side for the kids to just ride through, but most did still hit it, Sneaky included...!!!

His 1st race was his age and he finished 2nd, and then they put him up into a year older where he finished last, but his time was about 10 seconds faster as a result...

I will be posting the video of his 2nd place a bit later for you all to see if you want...


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

WoW!! Sounds like he not only got back on the horse, but tamed the freakin' stallion to boot!!! Awesome! Great news! So, he learned some respect for the risk, and overcame his nervousness while improving his skills n confidence in the process!

You can't ask for a much better result! (…gotta cut the cord sometime Kevin!) 

Ahhh, What I wouldn't give to be younger and no longer gravity impaired! Look forward to more video! :jumping1:

:hairy:


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

Kevin137 said:


> he tells me he can't stop he wants to go back up again...!!! Really, i'm not needed anymore...??? Independence of your kids sucks... Haha


I feel ya Kevin that is why I coined the phrase "Orphaned Dad" 
Your son is young enough you'll still be riding with him so enjoy that time.

To the race, awesome! Sounds like he had a blast. I would have liked to see him stay in his class and how well he would have done. 

Sorry if I missed his age, why did they bump him up and age bracket?


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

@Slyder

The issue was not that they bumped him up, in Norway you can't "compete" until you get to 12, so over here EVERYONE is a winner that takes part... You can only give prizes if everyone in that group gets the same prize... And i get why they do that... 

As for the upgrade in who he went against, they are aged from 7-11 so they time trial them, and then run races according to age and ability, he is not the fastest kid out there, but he is one of the most consistent with his speed, so it comes down to changing his grouping, to push him harder and see what he could do...

The end result, was his practises where in the region of 2:30 coming down to about 2 minutes, and he timed run for qualification was 1:53

In his race he ran a 1:44 and the next group up where running about 1:25, so the coach did it, to stretch him to the best of his ability, and in the race with kids a year older, he ran a 1:33, found another 11 seconds just by chasing harder...

He falls into one of the weird brackets for how they age kids here, he was the youngest in his group originally so the kids above him where from a year to 2 years older...

I hope that helps explain... 

I will still get the vid up, but Vimeo and there stupid upload limits stop me right now... 

The only other thing that i have noticed is while he has consistent speed, he doesn't carry the speed well into any up hill parts of the course, so some of the jumps when he tried them he just could not keep the speed he had which is why he went around a few of them as per there rules for the kids... In the practices, he was trying them all apart from 2 as there where pretty big for him...


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Managed to get his race up now...


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

makes perfect sense. Many times my kids played sport tournaments into an age bracket above their class. You don't get better unless you play someone better. 

Great vid, nice looking course. looks like he had a good time. Small wash out at the end and I think he may have passed that guy.


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

I don't know an awful lot about SBX, but i know, he is very aware of his surroundings, and has always been very considerate when it comes to space, which i don't think is a good thing in SBX, he needs to be more assertive when making a whole his, and be a little bit more hard with his opponents...!

I don't mean that in a bad way, cos i like that he is how he is, but riding a snowboard and racing are 2 different things, but he is definitely loving the SBX now, even after the bad start...!!!

I wish we had more events like that available to us over...  But such is life... We make the best of what we have... 

Thanks to all of you again for supporting him, he reads all the comments on threads that involve him...


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Kevin137 said:


> ….*he is very aware of his surroundings, and has always been very considerate when it comes to space, which i don't think is a good thing in SBX, he needs to be more assertive when making a whole his*, and be a little bit more hard with his opponents...!


lol I had to laugh when I read that! Watching the clip, when he was on the one jump and the other kid came up along side him,..? I was like Holy S%$#!! As I've already admitted to being a scaredy cat about jumps,..? That would have totally freaked me out! Good on him for not getting rattled! :cheer:

I was also surprised at how long the course actually was! That was no short n sweet kiddie course! Looked like a helluva good time!


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## Kevin137 (May 5, 2013)

Oh it was definitely not a course for the unsure, it is the pretty much the only purpose built border cross course in the country, and the Nationals are always held here, we normally host a European round as well, and we are capable of running a World Cup event also... The course is about 200-300 metres shorter than it normally, not sure why this year though...

This was the same hill last year, again about 200-300 meters shorter but again, no European leg either... Seems to be a pattern...

I am not so sure which was harder, last year or this year, there seems to be more jumps this year, and more turns, but they are not so big...!!! I am guessing this year was harder as the more jumps and turns the harder on your legs...!!!


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## Swede (Mar 23, 2013)

Looking Good!


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