From the Mind of Sean
Caught by the addictive grasp of mountainboarding, Sean has been riding with me for about a year now. He has proven his love for the sport with his sweat, blood, and perhaps most importantly, his willingness to step back into the bindings time and time again.
Sean recently sent me the following article, and gave me permission to post it here. He titled it, “It’s not about mountainboarding.”
Dirt. Rocks. Trail. A giant hill below me. “What in the world am I doing?” As I stood there, my feet adjusting in the bindings that would keep me safe, I looked down at my mountainboard and sensed two very familiar feelings: cowardice and disgust.
The cowardice arises from a simple glance at what lays before me – a long, steep, rocky hill with nothing but God’s good grace to keep me unharmed. Naturally, the instinct of self-preservation kicks in. Cowardice flashes images in my brain – pictures of my wife and kid, all the things I haven’t done yet, the email I forgot to send, the bowl of cereal I didn’t finish but really wanted to, the parking ticket I forgot to pay!
Then enters Disgust. “You little whoosy boy! You’re nothing but a pathetic, yella-bellied, chicken! You make me sick!”
So I stand there and wrestle with these two emotions. The breeze coming up from the valley below gently caresses my skin. A crows caws in the distance. I shift my weight and hear the familiar squeak of my board. “I should really get those trucks lubricated”, I think to myself. “Now you’re just procrastinating!” screams Disgust into my ear. “Just do it!”
Without a second more to think, I kick out my board and start racing down the hill. The scenery speeds up and starts flashing past. Faster and faster! Every little move is calculated. I’m flying down the mountain!
Do I reach the bottom? It doesn’t matter. What matters here is the valuable life lesson to be learned: It’s not as much about mountainboarding as much as it is about overcoming yourself. Whether you’re motivated out of disgust with living as a cowardly person, by the need for adrenaline, or just plain wanting to have a kick-in-the-pants good time, mountainboarding can change your life.
-Sean Marshall
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