Before I spent 2 full seasons at Hakkoda, I cruised around Aomori and Iwate prefecture hitting up the parks and groomers and that was fun for me. It was challenging to hit boxes, rails, hand rails, kickers, rainbows, halfpipes.....anything that had to do with freestyle snowboarding. This season, I haven't had the drive to practice this anymore and I just thought it was because riding Hakkoda every weekend was wearing me out. I didn't have enough energy to hit nighters and on top of that photography was started to eat away my free time.I found myself again at Ajigasawa on Sunday, the 6th of April....but I was really in the mood for all out park riding. I took it easy and played spectator for the most part. Everyone had their own style and looked really happy doing whatever they were practicing, but for me something was lacking. Drive, motivation, interest....call it what you will but I was basically a zombie with a board stuck to my feet. Maybe I was having an off day...maybe I've grown out of it? Hah! Brian would say that I'm just getting old.
What it really comes down to is that freestyle snowboarding is risky and potentially dangerous. You could hurt yourself far more easily doing a simple freestyle trick then freeriding. Being injured before, I learned my lesson and I want to protect what I hold most dear to me at this time of the season. Surfing!! Right now, the snow is crap, the snow season is about over and surfing is on the horizon. If I got hurt now, that would scrap my last surf season in Japan. I wasn't about to take that kind of risk just for spring park riding...which doesn't really mean that much to me.So instead of practicing hard in the park, I was looking forward to the drive home. It's not often I'm over in Hirosaki to capture the beautiful mountain sunset. Beautiful Iwaki San!
