DRIVEN TO RIDE '05 - ARIZONA SNOWBOWL

While we were in Las Vegas for the SIA tradeshow, some weird sh-t was going on with the weather in the Northwest; Bachelor, Crystal, Baker, and Snoqualmie, all our future destinations, were rained out! On our third day at SIA, we were all a little dazed and confused but we knew we had to act quick, so while we threw down some pancakes and eggs at the Hard Rock, we came up with a great idea: abort the Northwest for now and follow this storm to Snowbowl, Arizona.

A few problems though: we would only have one day to notify Snowbowl, we had no place to stay another night in Vegas, and our RV, packed to the brim with product leaving nowhere to sleep, was also without heat.

Sorry, where was I ... all problems aside, I get on the phone with Snowbowl, explain the situation and wait for a call back. A couple hours later after I had been reciting love poems to my awesome girlfriend, I checked my messages and the man himself, Dave Smith from Snowbowl, gave a shout! I immediately called him back and before I could say anything, Dave said to me, "Bring it, boys! Jeff Rosdac at the Embassy Suites in Flagstaff would love to have you stay there. (Whom might I mention took great care of us and when you go to Snowbowl, that is definitely the spot; nice people, good Jacuzzi, and excellent made-to-order breakfast, complimentary, of course.) Then Dave upped the ante by telling me there was a bunch of snow waiting for us at Snowbowl, "Excellent!" I said, and then rallied up the boys, stopped at the trade show on the way out, which was great because Doug Harley from Ride snowboards contributed some product, as well as the original Hand Warmer guys, Salomon, Bonfire, Marvel snowboards, and Carrera.