Well, It's been a while and a lot has changed. It's now the summer of 2014 and when the last website was running it was basically 3 years ago. I have been updating a facebook page but not nearly as often as I wanted or needed, plus it has never really caught on. Sure it has it's core following of friends and such, most likely those who feel obligated to like it and never really check on it again. That's not what I wanted, I wanted a place where people could come and check on what is going on, see some pictures, check out some videos and just pop in every once and a while. This is the new beginning, and with that I'll start with a story.
I left Tahoe in November of 2011. Life had taken a turn and a long story all in itself, it put me out on the road in search of a new start, heading to Texas to visit family and wrap up some training. All went well, was offered a job remodeling a house for my uncle, got into the stone business with my cousin, and after a year of scraping to barely make ends meet went out on my own and have found some success. You might be asking yourself,"But Nick, what does this have to do with snowboarding?" Well, snowboarding is a huge financial undertaking, especially to ride at the professional level, travel, train, and do things correctly. Budgets from sponsors are not the same in the new era of snowboarding, less product, even less money and more talent to go around. You have to work hard and at the end of the day it's not about the money, it's about your passions and your mind being in a place where nothing else can take you.
My love of cars still hasn't wavered. The Evo 8 I built came to a poor sad end in Amarillo TX after a drunk or illegal ran a red light, took out the front of the car, and then took off. Needless to say my insurance wasn't too kind on the matter and the extra $11k I had invested to track prep the car wasn't seen as worthy of even being included in my loss. Now I have a 2004 Subaru STI, plasti-dipped and probably will be changing colors....again. It's not an awe inspiring vehicle at this point and time, and this car I dont really see taking it to that point. It's old, it needs some love, but it's a subaru and it gets me into the mountains and back to the hot flat south.
I have some new ideas coming for cars, snowboarding, and the works. This upcoming winter looks to be a blast, but at the same time a lot is still up in the air. The upcoming weeks will bring a lot of changes, especially as the snow starts to come in and I prepare to head back West.
