March 30th ..... Ajigasawa 1st Annual Slopestyle Jam

Rise and shine! After a few hours of shut eye, we woke up and got ready for a day at Ajigasawa ski resort. Toshi came over and picked us up and we headed off for the mountain. I was definitely looking forward to today because it was the first ever Ajigasawa Slopestyle Jam 2008 and all the park riders from near and far came out to play. Of course, I would be there...camera in hand taking pictures.

The event layout was very chill. People riding what ever they wanted with a judge at each position recording score and in the end, the riders with the highest total score would enter the final. Last 4 men and women standing would rock out in the grand finale in classic slopestyle fashion....one complete run to decide it all. No 2nd heat, no redos......winner takes all. Exciting!!

It was nice to see a high level of competitors throwing down at slopestyle in Aomori. Thanks to the NaturaRhythm crew for holding such a well organized event and keeping the park in top form. You guys rock!

March 9th, 2008: Moya Hills SBX Competition

The next weekend after Hyakuzawa was the Moya Hills SBX Championship. Back to back race weekends this year and all my friends from Hakkoda entered the race so it was so much fun. This included riders like Brian Y., Mitsuru, Eiko, Kazuo, Ichiko, Takachan, Hiishi, and myself.

Again thanks goes out to Abe-san for putting in hard work and creating a course that was fun and chill. There were two sets of waves.... right at the beginning and right at the end. It seemed that the last 8 wave set took a lot of people out. Fortunately for me, I didn't have any problems with the course. I had problems with my wax. Yah story of my life. In a previous race I won race wax as a raffle prize and thought I would just save money this year and not spend $40 on the proper temp wax for just 1 race (it was +8C that day). I used -4C to 0C wax and figured I could brush it up really well and get by. Hell its just wax right? Wrong..... I learned that no matter how fast of a rider you are, if you're on a slow board you're not going to win...PERIOD! So I ended up Top16 or better known as the quarter finals. Brian did awesome and made the Top8. Mitsuru did the best out of all of us and he was all drunk! He made the finals but slipped up in the beginning and never could catch the pack... 4th place. I really thought he was going to win. Kazuo and Hiishi were eliminated before the quarter finals which shocked me. Kazuo is soooo quick and so talented.

For the ladies, 1st place was Mika Sensei, 2nd was Ichiko!, 3rd was Takachan, and 4th was Eiko. In the end, the Hakkoda riders all did very well but none of us were able to win it! Hehe, but winning isn't everything and since this will be my last boarder X race...definitely good times and good memories.

March 2nd, 2008: SBX Hyakuzawa Championship

This year, the Hyakuzawa SBX Championships fell on March 2nd of 2008. I was looking forward to this event because last year I tied for 1st place because of some photo finish b.s. Really it wasn't a photo finish because the guy crashed out and never crossed the finish line. I was less than a meter away and saw it with my own eyes (great view of the crash!). Yah, that's another tainted story I'd like to wash out of my memory and just remember that I did well that race. Sorry, whining over.

The course this year was fun. Very tight and very challenging. Abe san, the course creator, made a wave section that consisted of 11 whoops in a row amidst a mild turn. It was kinda fly or die. You either went through it conservatively or go ballz out and risk ejecting yourself off course. Definitely a leg workout.

Eiko and Takachan did very well this year. I thought Eiko had it in the bag but ended up taking 2nd place. She's soooooo fast. Takachan took 3rd. She is just as fast and its a good thing they are best friends otherwise it would be an intense rivalry. As for me, I made it to the semi-finals which is basically the top 8. Last year's course suited me better I think but oh well...not a big deal. Wax was not the right temperature and I had no start wax.....but still a lot of fun.

The car ride home with Eiko and Takachan was hilarious. We didn't talk about the race at all, but about trimmed muffs and pubez. Yah..hilarious.