mt hood

Well not really off to a good start!
I was sat on the train plain sailing looking out of the window enjoying the scenery when the train came to a stand still.
the conductor spoke across the tanoy and said that the train in front of us had caught on fire and that we were going to be delayed.
that's when I got that horrible feeling in my stomach and thought to my self "I am gonna miss this flight!"
I was figgeting about pacing the length of the carriage stressing out phoning the rest of the team who were waiting in the air port.


the train finely got in around 2 hours late, I ran and jumped in a cab and asked him to take me to gatwick.
he was cool a black dready dude, he was running lights and over taking to try to get me there in time, I had phone calls every five or ten mins from the rest of the team asking for progress reports.
in the end I got in about 30 mins late and that was it, totally fucked!
feeling really sorry for myself I wondered around the airport looking for more flights.
already £100 short from the taxi I ididn't feel like putting my hand in my pocket.
Ii got a call from my mate and manager Paul who was sat in front of a computer looking at other flights.
he got me a flight that would leave the next day.
i went and had some fish and chips and a pint from the gatwick weatherspoons and tried to relax.
as far aI i am concerned you are not an experienceded traveler unless you have spent nights in airports!
welI i have sleeped in gatwick many times and i know the best spot, the secret is to get there early if you don't you will be sleeping on the floor.
the spot is in the back corner upstairs, the lights are dim and the seats are long and comfortable.



I got picked up from the airport and taken to our cabin deep in the Mt Hood woods.
I was feeling totally burned out after 40 or so hours of traveling so i went straight to bed.


our cabin and cars


because of our jet lag we all woke up at around 630am to a beautiful day.
we drove up to the hill and went riding, it was so warm that you could ride with nothing more than a t-shirt.

Ben and myself enjoying the sunshine on the chairlift.


we ride the pipe in the morning and then move on to the rails and kickers in the afternoon



a front side air in the windelhalfpipepe



Angus busting an air over me while i slash some slush in to craigs (our coach) face.


we have a nice cabin deep in the woods which is a nice place to chill out at after riding.
we normally have a bbq then jump in to the car and head out and about to different skate parks or shops in Portlandnd.



if you ask Craig, theres is only one way to get the barby fired up!
portlnd is a cool city and there are some cool thrift shops that sell all sorts of weird and wonderfull clothes and accessories that you would never see in the uk.
we have two dodge durrango suv trucks so for us living deep in the woods it would be rude not to test them out on some challenging terrain!



not only does craig know how to fire up a barby but he knows how to drive trucks through the woods!


so back on the mountain for a kicker session. a front side 540.




a surf stlye slash in my england pork pie hat.




one day on while riding the pipe i took a bit of a spill, i head planted and took it all in the shoulder.
i jumped up and put my hand on my shulder and felt that it wasnt right, i thought that i had either dislocated my shoulder or i had broken my collar bone. either way it didnt seem right, so i rode down and jumped in the car and went to the hospital. i had an x-ray and they said that i had seperated my collar bone from my shoulder.



my x-ray



me feeling a little upset!
we had planned to have a few days off since we had been riding for five days straight, so we went to the coast.
it was nice day so i was more than happy to sit on the beach and chill out and soak up some rays.
we stayed the night at in a motel and i woke up feeling a little better.
although my shoulder still hurt a little and clunked a lot i decided to go for a little surf.
i was so stoked because as soon as i paddeled out i realised that it wasnt to bad.
after a good surf we headded back to the hills to go snowboarding.



some mornings we wold wake up and look out of the window and think that the weather was bad but then once on the chair lift we would break through the clouds to find a nice sunny day.


my shoulder was fine as long as i stayed controlled and didnt wave my arms about too much.
Near the end of he trip there was a competition, the Chevy Truck Revolution Tour.
the plan was to train towards that event.
training was going ok but because of my shoulder i wasnt very brave so i was just cruising about and doin the ocasional trick.
by the time the comp came around (a week after seperating my shoulder) i was feeling fairly fit, but the smallet movement of my arm in the wrong direction and my shoulder would hurt loads. so i took a few pain killers and started to compete.
it was going good and the mixture adrenalin and pain killers numbed the pain in my shoulder.
i was in the second heat and by the time i got to do my qualifying run the pipe was looking a little worse for wear.
both of my runs were fairly smooth and i qualified 1st.
i went in to the finals, my first run i crashed out on my first hit, my second run i rode a smooth clean run and i finished in 1st place.
quite nice end to the trip think!



me with my trophey, not really showing how stoked i really am because the sun was in my face!

action shots by: ian@fall-line.co.uk
all other shots taken by my mobile phone.