I just spent the past two weeks… from July 7th through the 21st… at a camp called Adventure Unlimited where I taught nearly 30 kids how to ride the Dirtsurfer.
The camp is located in Buena Vista, Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level near the base of Five Fingers Mountain. We flew into Denver on the 7th where the camp staff met us. Then they helped us get loaded onto a bus with the other new arrivals and drove us the two and half hours southwest to Buena Vista.
The camp is a former ranch that was converted into an adventure camp back in the 1950’s by Cap Andrews. They now offer an extensive horsemanship program, mountaineering, backpacking, climbing, kayaking, whitewater rafting, canoing, mountain biking, ropes courses, and loads more fun activities for those seeking a challenge. On several of the days the campers get a free choice activity where they can take classes not offered as a standard part of the programs… like Movie Making or Fly Fishing, to name two.
I had my Freestyle and full set of pads shipped out to the camp so it was there waiting for me when I arrived. As soon as I had it assembled and took it for a spin around the ranch kids were begging me to teach them how to ride. The camp director liked the idea and asked me to if I’d be willing to do a couple of free choice sessions. Of course I agreed. I love this sport and I love sharing it with others.
The first day of class was packed with nearly 24 riders ranging in ages from 6 to about 12 years old. I was amazed at how easily these kids picked it up and were flying down the road with confidence.
The next classes were held at the older kids section of the camp called Round Up Ranch. These kids were mostly 8th and 9th graders who were also very anxious to give it a try. I was also pleased to see that there were as many girls riding the Dirtsurfer as there were guys. Interestingly, many of the girls were better at it than the guys. They claimed that dance lessons helped them improve their balance. Whatever… it worked.
Since the camp did so well with the Dirtsurfer lessons, I donated the Freestyle and all of the pads to the camp so that they could continue offering it as a free choice after I left. This meant that I had to round up a few camp staff to train on how to teach the class. So, it wasn’t long before I had five or six camp staff… mostly college students… cruising around camp, too.
Now if I could just convince them to buy the 3 more Dirtsurfers and sets of protective pads then they could have a real Dirtsurfer program to be proud of.
As it turns out the camp is only about an hour from Snowmass where the U.S. Open Mountainboard Championships are being held this weekend. I told the camp about it and I know some of the staff were planning on going. I also know that Jeremy and the crew from Canada are scheduled to be there to demo the sport. Who knows, maybe next year we’ll have enough riders to have a real Dirtsurfer event.
Cheers,
Brian
Inline Boarder 