PB&J at Snoqualmie - 2010

Volcom's peanut butter and jelly rail jam was being held at Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington on the 13th. With anticipation of the competition, I decided to head to Washington a bit early to so some repping for Cilla and gather my 2011 products from sponsors...Ride, Pow, and Spacecraft. The first day I was there I had the chance to ride Steven's Pass. Stevens is probably my favorite resort in Washington. Great terrain and a well maintained park make this resort a really well rounded place to shred. The second day of my trip was one of the best highlights of the trip. Zumiez had taken the time meet with myself, Priscilla Levac, and Alexis Waite to check out the 2011 Cilla line. Kate Craig, buyer for Zumiez, and some of the marketing team members hosted us for dinner that evening. Two bottles of Saki later and some delicious sushi we were well into an enjoyable evening. The third day of the trip brought about more snowboarding at Stevens Pass followed by a day of rest prior to the PB&J. The competition was held on Saturday evening under the lights. There were three features, two of which were dance floor oriented. So naturally there was a lot of dancing going on. There was a good female turn out. About 12 - 15 girls were there to take a stab at the top five spots that advance to the finals. Raelynd Tarnove and Megan Middleton were two familiar faces. Both girls are local northwest shredders that kill it. With so many contestants in each category the night was long, but in the end I took second place with a tail 270 out on one feature and a switch 180 to frontboard 270 out on another. All three of us made the top five so it looks like we will be road tripping together to the finals in Mammoth Lakes, California in April.

SIA /X-games 2010

Sia 2010 was a much different experience in Denver this year than in past years in Las Vegas. All of the booths were about half the size, except Burton. Burton's booth had the intentions of bringing Las Vegas to Denver. There booth included real gambling, except with chips only...no real money. The Nidecker booth also drew an extensive crowd by brining in Pamela Anderson. However, I was there to take on the role of being the Northwest Cilla rep. Getting to know Pricilla Levac and Alexis Waite was one of the highlights of the trip. Both women are amazing and down to earth. Molly from Evo gear was there to add a wonderful familiar face and to support Cilla. All of my sponsors were there. Pow, Spacecraft, Cilla, Ride, and Smith had booths. Catching up with everyone was great. Shredbetties.com was also there doing coverage on next years products. Thankfully, they were nice enough to get me involved in the coverage. Connections were made and I was meeting new people with potential leads for other sponsorships.

Reed Silberman of Ink Monstr was nice enough to host myself and my Partner in Crime (PIC), Ellie Huffman. Granted the couches were already taken by Moss and Katiah so Ellie and I slept on the stage. Stage you ask? Yes the stage. The Ink Monstr warehouse was the location of the Deltron party friday night that was hosted by my sponsors, POW and Spacecraft. The warehouse had two levels. Thankfully since I was staying at the house, we were permitted to go to the second floor where the view of the show was awesome.

The night prior, Burton hosted an extensively large party. However, the Bonfire party sounded more fun because there was a skate ramp available there for shredding. Of course when I rolled in there, all the boys were having fun skating and I didn't see a single girl. We can't let all the boys have the fun, right? I had to jump in there for some turns and I am glad that I did. Mark Frank Montoya was there shredding with us for most of the night until he went to the DJ booth and starting laying down some killer beats that kick started my dancing shoes.

Saturday I ventured my way to Aspen to get a chance to see my good friend Megan Ginter in the X-games. Luke of South America Snow Sessions was kind enough to give me a ride after being arranged by Scotty Conerly, TM for Dakine Gloves. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Megan compete. Saturday was the qualifying round and she missed finals by less than two points. They take the top six and she got seventh place. Although, Megan is a solid rider with a killer competition record this season, so I am confident that she will kill it in the x-games next year. She was kind enough to let me stay with her in Snowmass where many of our other friends were staying as well. The house was amazing and the company was fantastic. Megan's mom and dad, Stephanie and Cal are always a good time. Having the opportunity to be there with all of my friends, Megan, and her family was really nice.

Monday Megan and I ventured towards Denver to catch our flights. I was heading back to Oregon while Megan was heading to Vermont for the third stop of the Dew Tour where she took 4th place. Overall the weekend was a huge success with hopefully more success to come out of it soon.

Come Back

It has been a while since I've posted anything. I've been slaving away as a student teacher to complete my Master's degree so I haven't had much excitement in my life recently. However, I have been working hard to collect all of my shots from last season. I wanted to be able show how well I came back from a broken neck. I hope you enjoy the short edit.

California and Super Girl 3

On September 3rd I embarked on an awesome journey with a good friend of mine. Luke Miller and I grew up together through school and he was kind enough to join me on a road trip through California so I could attend a competition in Los Angeles.    We made our way down to the Red Woods where we explored the forest and camped there to spend the night.  The next day we started driving on route 101 and route 1 that runs along the entire coast of California.  I couldn't help but stop a million times to enjoy the beautiful views and take in the ocean air. After a full day of driving we arrived at San Francisco late in the evening just in time to join some friends at the bar.  However, instead of hanging out in the bar we were swigging a bottle of vodka on the street with some of the bums of San Fran. Our friends were kind enough to host us for the evening.  The next day was another full day of driving through many twists and turns until we finally arrived in Venice Beach, Los Angeles.  I had to keep saturday night mellow considering the next day was a competition day for me, but I have to say the next day was amazing.  I got up and met up with Diana Distrolla, team manager for shredbetties.com and a few other team members.  The set up looked fun, it was a single rail that came down some stairs with two sticky wooden boxes on each side.  The caliber of girls that were there was amazing. It was an honor to ride with all of the girls and it was so motivating for me.  Fellow shredbetties riders were killing it, Madison and Erika really impressed me and I am stoked to see their careers take off.  I didn't place in the competition, but I still had a blast and left with an experience of a life time.  There was an after party on top of the roof at the hotel right there on the beach.  I got to meet the producer of our up coming documentary for shredbetties.  Eventually the night was full of shenanigans and I was stoked to get to spend more time with my team mates to get to know them better.  The next day Luke and I made our way down to Laguna Beach.  Erika's mom has a house down there and Michelle Shea and Diana joined.  We got to enjoy the beach for the day and Erika's mom made some killer burritos for dinner.  Our final destination for the evening was a friend of Luke's in San Diego.  The next two days were filled with surfing and doing absolutely nothing but sitting on the beaches.  However, the fun had to come to an end as I needed to make my way back to Whistler for business.  On our way back north we stayed at my time share in Clear Lake which is in Sanoma County.  Luke was sweet enough to take me on some wine tours and we had an awesome dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was right on the water.  Overall, the trip will always be imprinted in my heart.  

EMV Launch in Canada

July 25th was the launch for Monavie's energy drink EMV in Canada.  We got local club in Whistler called Moe Joe's involved.  They were also nice enough to host the event for us.  Marco stepped up and Dj'd the event and we all had a great time dancing.  Monavie bombs was the highlight of the event......shots of vodka dropped into half a glass of EMV.  My beautiful lady friends (Ilana, Tamara, and Eryka) and I have been working on promoting a health and wellness movement and I'm stoked to see that Canada is so open minded to embracing the movement.  

Emv and 4th of July weekend

Monavie just released an all-natural energy drink to accompany the already amazing products that Monavie has to offer.  The new energy drink is called Emv, which stands for “Energy to the power of Monavie.”   The energy drink is all-natural and is made of 80% juice, including the coveted Acai berry, Acerola, Camu Camu, Capuacu, Apple, Grape, and Pear. The caffeine comes from natural forms such as Yerbe Mate and Green Tea extract.  There is no added sugar, artificial sweetener, colorings, or preservatives.   

Mark Frank Montoya has been a huge advocate of Emv.  He recently left Monster to promote a new movement of health and awareness.  With his help I was able to host a few events over 4^th of July weekend to be able to start spreading the word and educating people about their health.  

July 2^nd is not a day most people would associate with a snowboard rail jam in Portland, Oregon; but on this day it was.  The temperature was well above 90 degrees and the 2 tons of snow was melting fast, but that didn’t stop the 40 snowboarders that contended in the event.  The event turned out to be an epic party at Epic Snowboard Shop on NW 23^rd and Vaughn.  

The event started with an introduction from Mark Frank Montoya.  He brought his party bus and entourage of professional snowboarders to hype the new energy drink.  

Once the event began there was plenty of action.  The riders were getting creative on the two features that were built by Axiomatic apparel.  There were two rail setups in the middle of the parking lot. The guys were throwing down some heavy tricks, including a transfer gap from one feature to another.  The girls were also throwing down and giving the guys a run for their money.  

Spectators and sponsors surrounded the parking lot.  Rome SDS brought with them, Team Terror.  Other sponsors include Smith Optics, DC, Axiomatic, Grenade, Cilla, Drop, Spacecraft, Frequency magazine, Neff, MHSS, Monavie, and Pyramid.  The rail jam also benefited the S.O.S. outreach program.  

The spectators were taking advantage of the 3 free kegs of beer provided by Pyramid Brewery along with the many other attractions to keep people entertained.  Three different Dj’s were keeping the music lively and Sharpening Markers played a set that kept everyone wanting more.  We also had artist, Andrew Dvoracek, contributed paintings that fit the health and wellness theme.  

July 3^rd was an art event at Evo Gear, an amazing shop in the heart of Seattle.  Evo is a shop that really reaches to the community and interacts with the  industry on many different levels.   On this particular night Evo was hosting an art show in their gallery to show case all of the art work from their own employees.  The event was called “helping hands.”  Evo was nice enough to let us participate in the event.  

MFM spent most of his time having plenty of one-on-one interaction with people to spread the word of Monavie.  People were enjoying themselves with free beer donated by Pyramid brewery and the music provided by Tronix.  

Evo did a really good job of putting together a video about the event. You can check it out at http://vimeo.com/5470246.

July 4th was a blast.  We went to the lake and swam for a while.  There was this great little island that you could swim to with a diving board.  That made things a little interesting.  From there we went to the waterfront to watch the fireworks and grabbed some drinks afterwards.  We ran into John Kaiser and his girlfriend Nicole and then ended up having a dance party on the bus.  Molly, Sara, Chris, and Ang stumbled upon the party and added to the good times.  

The last event was on July 5^th at Stevens Pass Snowboard Shop in Gold Bar, Wa.  The rail jam was held on a double barrel rail that had stairs on each side with scaffolding to get your speed from.  The owners of the shop, Tony and D, really wanted to make the event a success.  They shoveled away on their Fourth of July to make sure there was enough snow the next day.  Everyone that showed up had a great time and the top riders walked away with cash and prizes.  

Monavie - The start of a healthy life

The Monavie Convention on 20th in Salt Lake City, Ut marks the start of my Monavie career.  Jeff was nice enough to let me take his vehicle to Utah with Rachel and Robis. We hit the road on the 17th.  Marco was nice enough to host our entire group and let us crash at his place.  The convention was the launch of the new energy drink Emv.  The whole experience was really what I needed to be motivated in this company.  I got to meet the owners of the company.  I really appreciated that because I got to see their morals and they truly are good people and I support their cause.  Checking out the private jet and all of the other incentives was also motivating.  Educating people about their health and wellness is something I am not ashamed of and I look forward to helping people change their lives to a healthier lifestyle.