For Love of the Sport
All images by Brandy Floyd
For Love of the Sport
My attitude coming into this season has had a bit of a change from that of years past. With the recent rash of bad winters, along with a lot of personal growth and a few small hurdles I have experienced over the last few years, I came into this season with a lot to learn and wanting a bit of redemption. However, let me clarify exactly what I mean by redemption. I came into this season seeking what got me into the sport in the first place—the freedom, adrenaline and strong bonds with both friends and family that few other sports can create. There are many great people that I would have never met without motorsports.
Nothing offers the freedom of the hills like mountain sledding.
Every ride that I have been on this season has been in the pursuit of something that can be lost all too easily when searching for the perfect day. There are too many things out of our control, so this season I’ve refocused on the search for an all-around good time. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in what we are trying to achieve, and I will be the first to admit that I am always looking for that “perfect shot”, but above all I’ve just been trying to slay perfect lines for myself. I try to keep in mind that it is all in the pursuit of fun and it’s a guarantee that any day on a sled is better than a day at work!
Even the most cloudy day sledding is better than a day at work!
I can still recall some of the first times that I ever rode a snowmobile. I must have been around two or three years old, sitting “squirrel” in front of my dad, holding onto the mountain bar and squealing with excitement every time the sled left the trail. I would be asleep by the time we returned to the truck, my helmet bobbing around against the handlebars making it near impossible for him to steer. It is memories like these that have reminded me to look for the joy in every ride above all else, and to try to ride with my parents every chance I get. It is also these memories that have me excited to be a father myself in the coming months, giving me the possibility to share what I would say is one of the most adventuresome and freeing sports out there.
Snowmobiling has also given me a chance to explore areas I don’t think that I would have ever gotten to see otherwise. With the sleds we ride now, we are getting into areas that we could only have dreamed of riding on an Edge chassis! I think that it is important that we as a community remember how fortunate we are to see so much of what nature has to offer. There are times sledding when I have wondered to myself how many others have seen the same beautiful landscape laid out before me.
We all have so many reasons that we love this sport. There isn’t a single person that I have ever talked to on the mountain that can’t tell me the exact moment they fell in love with snowmobiling. It can range from childhood experiences like mine to a day a friend took them up on a loaner sled. Even now, I look forward to the day that I get to share the love for this sport with my little one.
– Ryan
