Winter 2012

With me, Minty Shorn, going to Montana and back, time elapsed one year, I was left sitting at home in my parents basement the whole summer figuring out my plans for the upcoming season. Long story short, I decided not to go back to Montana for school. The small paradigm about Minnesota riders going out West and coming back to MN shortly thereafter is true. Add me to the list of Jake OE, Justin Fronius, and others that have expressed that notion. Even though it isn't a Hyland or a Troll, I'm getting amped to ride Afton. I hope to ride here during the week, and on the weekends take advantage of the streets of Minneapolis and make trips to the places where my friends ride now.

I still have many Afton locals to ride with.

I will talk about TT first: We met one night at Afton when me and J-another Coyote- were lapping the Meadows park with Ryan Paul and his posse. I rode the lift one of his friends (TT) once and we began to talk. Eventually, he said, "You two are pretty good."

I was sort of flattered at the statement, thinking that Ryan Pauls crew must be really, really good. Maybe as good as RP, who was an up and comer at the time. In other words, underground rippers at random resorts that nobody films so nobody knows about them. I thought Trevor was one of these, but it turns out RP slays way harder than all of us and we all filtered out being around the same skill level.

 TT had never seen TT before that night. After that, we started seeing and riding with him more and more and  finally figured out he was a local. Eventually, we became good friends. I remember a few certain nights in which we progressed quite a bit together. I missed that out in Montana, which is why all of us Midwest park rats end up coming back to town. I won't have to miss those progression nights again because this season I will physically BE there again, not just in my head like when sitting in my dorm in Montana.

TT is friends with another Afton local that I rode with once last winter over Christmas break. His name is C. He is better than all of us. I am excited to ride with him this winter. He will push me and TT to get better. He might not even say anything to us, but by just by riding with him will make us better.

Besides those two, the locals SP and CG will both be riding there again. SP is cool. He has always given me given me good compliments about my riding. I return the compliments, perhaps out of humbleness. He has a sponsor, which tells you he is decent, but he just started to clean up his style last season. I talked to him recently, saying that we should ride together this season. He was stoked as I am to start the season up.

CG is a character. I don't remember exactly when I met him, but he sends it. He is another one that makes me feel awkward with compliments. I talked to him as well about the season: He was ecstatic, and made me feel like he wanted to be my protegé or something. I don't even know about that, but whatever, I'm going to worry about my self progression first.

J went up to Duluth, joining my skier friend David Duea and that crowd. Since Duluth is a common trip from Minneapolis to shred, I of course want to make it up there this season. Maybe even a couple times. But only when Spirit gets good.

Mont du Lac is also nearby. Last season, this place put itself on the map. There were almost no Spirit edits. Instead most of them came out of Mon du Lac. To me, I would describe this place as a really spread out Hyland Hills with way less tranny. They tend to have small looking rails, but I have never been there. I will find out when we ride Spirit, spend the night, and do Mont du Lac the next day.

My friend G is posted up in River Falls these days. He is going to school and gets the $100 pass deal at Troll, which is the closest area to ride for him.

 I have never ridden Troll. Ever. It's sad. I don't know how. Visiting Hyland every year happens, but just never got around to Troll. This is going to change because G and I formulated this loose plan: K (I will talk about him later) , TT, and I will drive out Friday night and meet G to head out to Troll. We would do that $15 shred till 3am deal. After that session, we would go back to G's and crash. The next morning, we would head to Hyland Hills, shred until early afternoon, and then part ways. G would go see his girlfriend, who is a freshman at the U of M, and K, TT and I will try to go hit a few street spots. I hope to do this a few times.

Speaking of, one big trip I want to do is to Montana. Shred Bridger and Moonlight for a few days. And hopefully meet up with all of my friends that I know in Washington. They will plan on doing the trip the same days as I.

When Spring Break rolls around, we will hopefully extend the tradition of going to Blackjack resort in Michigan. This is another place I have not been to. However, the tradition stands because of all the other Coyotes get up there. I have pussied out for three seasons straight apparently.

Anyways, the park content up at Blackjack really improved last season. I'm excited to ride there. Also, the other Coyotes discovered a few street spots up there, so we would make time to hit those after warming up in the park.

The final trip we will be taking is a three week tour throughout the U.S. First, we would go through Bozeman, stay there for a night, then head to Washington to meet up with the boys. They talked up this beach in Oregon that we would travel to together. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be awesome. Then from the beach, we will head to Mt. Hood to camp and shred for at least a few days. This trip has been a dream of mine for a very long time. It never seemed possible until I experienced the move to Montana and back. I realized trips like this are possible, all it takes is a little planning and a little courage. I won't ever regret blowing money on these trips. They will be all time.

Winter 2012.