Here's the second of our Our Camp diaries, and I'm getting progressively more jealous of the girls on the trip!
Helen is a Procurement Officer for Wakefield Council. She’s been riding for about four years, usually with her (now very envious) boyfriend and a group of male friends. Last year she rocked up to the Our Camp Castleford event, and felt like she learnt more in four hours than she’d ever managed on holiday. She travelled to Les Deux Alpes via train, plane and bus, a twelve hour trip that involved numerous delays and no end of curious stares. Lugging a hefty boardbag onto a train? In the middle of summer?? In Wakefield???
“We were all really excited about our second day because we’d all achieved more on the first than we thought we would. Sunday had been perfect: perfect weather, perfect snow. We got up earlier today to get more in, but when we got to the top the wind was horrendous; as fast as you were coming down you were getting blown back up again.
We split into two groups: some girls went to the pipe, but I stayed on the piste to practise what I’d done the day before. We then headed over to the park which was a bit more sheltered, but the jumps that we’d done the day before were now really slow. Instead we hit the rails. I’ve never done one before, but this time I decided just to give it a go – I don’t see a reason not to try now, because everybody else is trying and nobody’s going to laugh at you, so it doesn’t feel like it matters that I’ve never done it before. I managed a board slide down half one rail, and jump on from the side on another; we all had a great time.
We found two better kickers and at this point I took off my rucksack and thought, you know, if I go really fast, the worst that’s going to happen is that I’m going to fall and roll. After a couple of attempts I managed my first f/s 180, which was fantastic. Then I went for an indy – I wouldn’t say it was a lengthy grab, but I touched it. By this point everyone had forgotten about the crap weather and everybody had done something that they hadn’t done before.
After lunch we went skating again. Before I came away, I’d told everybody at work that I’d give skating a go and then sunbathe in the afternoons for the rest of the week. I also thought: how hard can it be? I was wrong on both counts. Yesterday, when I first stepped on a board, it just disappeared away from underneath me. By the end of about half an hour’s tuition, however, I felt pretty confident and could comfortably push and ride down a hill.
Today we started by setting up a new board, which I remembered how to do from a demo the previous night – for me, remembering something like that is amazing. Then we learnt to tick tack. I got it in the end, but first I stacked it and grazed my elbow. The graze was worsened from a few tough landings on the trampolines, which we went on after skating to practise our spins and grabs. It’s strange, as you grow up you get all sensible about not hurting yourself, and though I do other sports I haven’t got a graze for years. The feeling of it stinging reminds you of being a child – and skateboarding reminds you of being a child, of doing something that maybe you shouldn’t, which is so cool.
You know, I came on this camp with two aims: one was to do a boardslide and the second, to do a 180 off a kicker. I did my first boardslide yesterday and my first 180 today. God knows what I’ll do tomorrow.”
Want to go on camp? Visit Our Camp to find out more.
Like that? Read day one by Alena.
