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As amused as I am at how many people have Opinions about taps, I won't be getting back to your comments today. My apologies.
This is because I have just spent an entire day (9 AM to 5 PM) learning to snowboard. Or, as our instructor so tactfully put it, "hauling ourselves repeatedly up a hill and then falling down a lot."
I am pleased to have survived the experiment whilst retaining my ability to walk. I do have, however, a bump on my head and a badly bruised coccyx. I'm still kicking myself for not wearing my padded cycling leggings under my waterproof trousers and instead going for my standard workout leggings.
I managed to go down the hill once on my own heel-edge, and most of the way once toe-edge, without falling over. When they got to the demonstration of turning in the afternoon, I just laughed. I will certainly not be "snowboarding to recreational standard" (as per the blurb for the course) without several more lessons. Or possibly never.
Here is a photo of us at the end. Astonishingly, we're all still smiling. The one without a helmet was our skillful and lovely instructor Kasha. Then there's me. Then there's the instigator of this particular lark. Our daughters are currently taking snowboarding lessons together, and are already more skillful than we are. The person on the end in the blue helmet is another friend she talked into attending.
If you'll excuse me, I'm now going to go drink a lot of mint tea and take some ibuprofen in the hopes that I will be able to bend down enough to hug my children tomorrow.
This is because I have just spent an entire day (9 AM to 5 PM) learning to snowboard. Or, as our instructor so tactfully put it, "hauling ourselves repeatedly up a hill and then falling down a lot."
I am pleased to have survived the experiment whilst retaining my ability to walk. I do have, however, a bump on my head and a badly bruised coccyx. I'm still kicking myself for not wearing my padded cycling leggings under my waterproof trousers and instead going for my standard workout leggings.
I managed to go down the hill once on my own heel-edge, and most of the way once toe-edge, without falling over. When they got to the demonstration of turning in the afternoon, I just laughed. I will certainly not be "snowboarding to recreational standard" (as per the blurb for the course) without several more lessons. Or possibly never.
Here is a photo of us at the end. Astonishingly, we're all still smiling. The one without a helmet was our skillful and lovely instructor Kasha. Then there's me. Then there's the instigator of this particular lark. Our daughters are currently taking snowboarding lessons together, and are already more skillful than we are. The person on the end in the blue helmet is another friend she talked into attending.
If you'll excuse me, I'm now going to go drink a lot of mint tea and take some ibuprofen in the hopes that I will be able to bend down enough to hug my children tomorrow.
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And I can sympathise on the forced smiles.
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And also, hooray for pain killers.
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Painkillers are my friend, yes.
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Yes, there were a bunch of facts that I didn't know before I went, and which probably would have put me off going. These were:
1) The last weekends in January are always PACKED at Tamworth Snowdome because people are preparing for their half-term holidays with the kids.
2) The snow is very, very hard compared to other facilities.
3) There is only one slope and it's very steep.
4) There are multiple ski and snowboard learner groups running concurrently, which multiplies stress when you're a beginner.
On the other hand, I'm pleased I did manage to learn and make progress under the circumstances.
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Yep all those. Although when I learnt to board I had lessons 1&2 on the beginner slope, 3&4 on the main one and skiing also on the main ones. Padding (and skiing ;)) are where it’s at...
Milton Keynes has other problems, although it’s much softer to land on!
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* for not very good values of "ski"
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I think I will probably prefer skiing - I've never tried - but I wanted to give snowboarding one more go since Humuhumu likes it.
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Yes - with ski-ing, we did "learning to stop", and then "advanced learning to stop more quickly".
Good luck with snowboarding! Remember the padded shorts next time! And the ibuprofen gel!
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I have actually never tried skiing and want to try that as well. I suspect that once I do, though, I'm unlikely to go back to snowboarding. :P