March Goal: Become a world Champion

Whoa. That's setting the bar a tad high. Let me rephrase: March goal: Train like and learn from a World Champion. That's a little more achievable.

I am so stoked about this month. I have to admit that's it's not completely outside of my comfort zone, but I figure that after diving with sharks, playing in net, and surrounding myself with small children, I earned a "me" month. This month's goal is something not completely foreign to me, but rather involves one of my favorite summer activities. However, in keeping with the theme of this year-long project, I will be pushing myself beyond my limits and meeting someone very special. In addition, I have a partner this month. Ev. He's in. I guess it's not a "me" month but an "us" month. Yay us! Speaking of us,  Ev and I had one of those hectic, frantic weeks where nothing seems to run smoothly.

Exhibit A:
I awoke to Ev's phone alarm on Wednesday morning.
Me: What time is it?
Ev: 5:10
Me: why did your alarm go off at 5:10 (we usually get up at 6:45)
Ev: I don't know
(We both fall back asleep for like 2 minutes until I roll over and look at my alarm clock)
Me (frantic): Ev! it's 7:20! Get up! Why did you think it was 5:10?
Ev (looking closely at watch): Oh. We're 510 meters above sea level.
Me: super helpful

Sometimes I feel like Ev and I are passing ships in the night. Real life is hectic and stressful and every now and then I feel like we fall into this lame, scripted pattern: "How was your day?" "meh. You?" "Meh. " "well, love you. good night.""yep." Sucky. Especially since I think Ev is so cool...and we are capable of having so much fun together. So that's what makes this month extra special. Ev and I are working together on this one. And we get to "play."

Ok, here it is. Remember my post from waaaaay back about finding an inspirational girl who longboarded? I told you guys about Ev's admiration for the 5 time world Wakesurfing Champion, Drew Danielo.This is the phenom from Florida who Ev facebook stalked friended. Since my last entry, he has won another championship! 6 world champions! Prior to every set behind the boat, Ev would intensely watch Drew's iphone app in which Drew describes and executes each and every wakesurf move known to man. Ev would confidently, yet unsuccessfully attempt a "shove it," wipe hard, surface, stare to the sky, and plead, "Drew! What am I doing wrong?" I don't want to freak Drew out (what if he reads this?) but he has become a household name around here. We don't "know" him, other than to watch him ride via u-tube videos, but we're pretty sure he's a super cool dude, and obviously extremely talented. I mean, World Champion? And not just once, but 6 times???!!!! That's huge. I was the 2nd best bowler in Canada in 1994 (someday I will share that amazing, yet tragic story) and I thought that I was the s to the h to the i to the t. I can't even fathom being "the best in the world" at anything...except maybe headstands. We'll see.

Well...somehow, someway, we've managed to score lessons with The 6 time world Wakesurfing Champion, Drew Danielo, in Florida at the end of March! Can I get a whoot whoot! When Drew confirmed our dates and I pressed, "purchase" on expedia for those flights, I fist pumped. That's right. Fist pumped. My first instinct was to grab my vintage white samsung cell phone that everyone loves to mock (leave me alone. I just learned how to text message like 9 months ago) and send a text to Ryan. Shit. That is just the WORST feeling in the world. It's that feeling when you suddenly remember that...he's gone. I just so badly needed to share my exciting news with him. He would have LOVED it!  I needed a "Ryan" text. I needed his high-pitched squeally girl voice exclaiming, "F'n Gnarly!" or "Rad!" At that moment, it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. I would never get a "Ryan" text again. I took half and hour and cried. I miss him. Ryan was "into" so many things: skateboarding, fishing, diving, quading, surfing, music, wakesurfing, etc, etc, etc. I think that's why he had such a diverse group of friends. Every friend of Ryan felt like they had a "thing" with him. Wakesurfing was our "thing". He loved it just as much as we did. We'd have a beer and discuss the shape of the wave for hours. He would have received my text, responded with pure uncensored excitement, and then immediately booked his flight to join us for these lessons. I know he would have.

I figured my longboarding buddy, Randy, would appreciate the magnitude of my news so I sent him a text explaining our upcoming lessons with Drew. Randy pulled through:
"Dope! How did you set up that dealeo?"
It was exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks, Randy! :)

So yes, we will be receiving wakesurfing lessons from Drew on March 28 and 29 at his own private lake near Venice, Florida. Oh my god, I just hyperventilated.

One of these things is NOT like the other:

Ev shreddin' the gnar

super steazy

drew has a better camera angle

This is a big deal. Ev and I cannot show up and expect to get anything out of these lessons in the shape that we're presently in. Given that we currently reside in a frozen tundra of despair, we are unable to train like most world champions, which would include hours and hours of time behind the boat.  It's been 6 months since we've surfed behind the boat. We have 1 month to get ourself into world champion form. Conveniently, Ev owns a gym (technically, I own it as well but it creates a lot of pressure to appear as though you are actually in good shape. Therefore, I call it "Ev's" gym).  Ev programs specific workouts for various athletes (hockey, lacrosse, soccer, etc). His new obsession has become researching the training regimes of top surfers, wakesurfers, and wakeboarders, and creating workouts for us that focus on explosive power, balance, flow, single leg and rotational strength (I don't know what that means, but I trust him...and I don't mind watching videos of Kelly Slater at all. Yum). We also own an Indo Board - a wobbly board that targets balance. It is now situated in front of the TV and will become a daily practice tool for us. In addition, we have big plans to configure a longboarding track in our garage. It's awesome. Me and my buddy Ev are on a mission. Impress Drew or die trying. We have 25 days.

This vid is one my favorites. Drew's at the end but he's worth waiting for....notice there's no lady riders. Pick me! Pick me!