Mammoth Grand Prix — Blog

When I awoke on Saturday morning I could see the sun was cresting over the peak of the mountains, there was no wind, and I just had a feeling it was going to be a great day. I made my breakfast as usual, eggs, toast, avocado, tomatoes and a superfood smoothe, visualized some and stretched. I was ready for game time.

The pipe looked great, dressed with all its fences, banners and blue dye lines, with a perfect shape to it. I was really in the ‘zone’ dropping in for practice. I only needed three runs to get comfortable and ready to be judged. I had two smooth runs which landed me in eighth place. Roberto didn’t say anything to me, but I was relieved when I heard “Katie Tsuyuki made it to finals” after my last run. I was pumped but I knew there was more to come.

A couple of the other Canadians, Harrison Gray and Sarah Conrad

The whole day passed before the women went, and although in final’s practice my board was fast, when we finally dropped in for our one practice run after men’s finals, I could feel my board sticking to the right wall. The sun had been baking that wall all day! I had a feeling this wasn’t good.

No matter how much brushing I did to my board there was just no wax left in the base and white patches were showing though. Oh no!! I had no choice but to roll with it. I threw my run as best as I could, but it just looked off balanced, with one side of the pipe having more amplitude than the other. I was unable to better my placing. Still at the end of my runs I pulled up my goggles, smiled for the camera, and waved to the crowed. Can’t let them know about my disappointment…I wanted to be the best sports woman I could be!

As soon as I could leave the bottom of the pipe I had to make a break to where I was staying to get things in order before leaving. It was already three-thirty and my flight out of Reno, a three hour drive away, was at eight-twenty. I had to take a very quick shower, pack, and gas up and I was on the road an hour later. I was traveling to the US Open.

I just made it into Renowith enough time to check my bags; it was going to be a long night ahead of me. I flew from Reno to San Francisco then a red eye to Newarkon to Albanyand finally a two hour drive to Stratton. Twenty hours of travel…it’s almost less to

New Zealand

! Not to mention when I got off the flight to Newark it was by birthday! For the day I did have a great Thai lunch with my friends and a celebratory martini.

When I arrived in Stratton, still my Birthday, I spent the day and night sending Birthday wish thank yous to everyone who sent me a message. I thought it was a good time to ask for them to ‘like’ my fresh Athlete Page on Facebook, it took me hours to send a hundred and thirty messages, and then some, to everyone, but I felt great after. By the way, thanks to everyone who liked my page <3

Today was the only day of practice for the US Open and I was so tired from all the travel and work the day before. When I arrived at practice I felt as thought I was in another world. I decided, after I couldn’t do my run, that I would go home and nap during the break. This was a great idea because I came back charging with half full batteries instead of empty! I landed my run a bunch of times then headed home to get some rest and more work done. Tomorrow I have qualifiers and have to perform. So lots of rest tonight, good food, and then it’s back to wearing my game face. This in one of my favourite contests, so I am excited for it!

When I turned up at practice on Monday morning I was ready for anything; thank goodness because of the 80km wind gusts and sometimes white squall conditions were unfavourable. Practice started late because the pipe maintenance people had to deal with the six inches of snow in the bottom and when the course did open we had to ride in the gusty cross winds.

Many athletes left training with only a few runs under them but our crew, Lauren Shanahan, Coach Roberto Marfia, and myself, stayed until the end. I had heard a storm was coming in and I wanted to get a good feel for the pipe. The pipe its self had a beautiful shape…it was just the stubborn weather that was adverse.

I awoke Tuesday morning to sun out my window but still there was that pesky wind. I had a bad feeling about practice. Sure enough the message came down the line that practice was cancelled for both snowboarders and skiers. This was going to be the last day of practice before qualifiers. A bit annoying but I was okay with this, I had Bob Palmer that evening, so I was going to ride in my mind anyway.

This extra time gave me the opportunity to get some much needed work done. I started my athlete page on Facebook and sent the word out to my FB friends. I updated my website with news and some pictures. In addition to all of that I set up a meeting with the Make-A-Wish foundation to see if I could be a part of their Rope for Hope event. In this event 90 participants who raise the most money repel from a 30 storey building in the heart of downtown Toronto.

When Roberto came back from the riders meeting that night it was said that if the skier qualifiers were cancelled on Wednesday then the formatting would be changed to a one run qualifier including both skiers and snowboards, opposed to the separate days for skiers and snowboarders who get two runs each. Again this was all good because I have Palmer in my corner.

My meeting with Bob Palmer was great. We went through some preparation exercises that will give me the edge on my competitors. To me I had a great day in the pipe, working my passes and running through new tricks I want to land. I ended the meeting in a state of readiness.

That night I went to bed listening to the howling of the wind outside my window and even was woken up by it in the middle of the night. I had a feeling that the skier qualifiers would be pushed back and the alternative format would be implied.

Sure enough today, the now 160km winds cancelled the skier qualifiers and there was no practice for anyone. Here is a picture taken with my Sony NEX-5 with a fisheye lens.

Once again I am left to snowboarding in my head where it is always sunny and with a perfect pipe. To me, I have already performed my run about twenty times and practiced a bunch of drills.

Tomorrow it should be sunny out, go figure. I might only have one run, but I am ready for that run and will make it count!

Mammoth to Stratton

No Matter the Weather