This week I find myself on an adventure in Mt.Crested Butte, CO. If you don’t know where that is, try this
View Larger Map
Oh yeah…Colorado Rocky Mtn High. This place is off the charts beautiful…and the terrain at the mountain is as challenging as it gets. You can’t get an appreciation for how BIG these mountains really are until you look closer at the map: a little place called ASPEN is only about 10 miles northeast of Mt Crested Butte, as the White-tailed
Leaf Warbler flies. But if you were to drive from one to the other you would travel 206 miles! Or approximately 4.5 hrs of sitting with a softball between your ass and your non-heated seat listening to NPR on some scratchy am radio station. How big are these mountains? That big. Ain’t no road gonna take you the 10 miles between the two.
Sorry for the rant. More to the point, why are we here? Every year the Water Sports Industry Association (sounds boring, just focus and hang in there for a sec) holds an annual summit, somewhere cool. Park City, Whistler, now Mt. Crested Butte. They bring in speakers who know a hell of a lot more than you know about stuff you never even knew existed…until now. I feel like one of the most fortunate people on the planet, because my boat sponsor MasterCraft, decided to let me tag along. Its great they can overlook the fact that I haven’t washed my hair in 5 years, or that I’ve been alternating between the same 2 pairs of jeans (skinny jeans, mind you…as that is all O’Neill seems to make anymore) for the past 3 weeks. What’s even crazier is that they pulled the trigger on an Ad for the latest WaterSki Mag…with my bobble-mop head all up in there. See for yourself!
Well thats all for now. I’ll let you know how the week finishes up. Till then, here are a few iPhone pics I snapped yesterday and today…for your viewing pleasure. Be jealous!…
What makes you get out of bed every morning? What keeps you going throughout those long hard days? What is the one thing in this world that, above all else, you are sure you could not live without?…?? No, waywait….shuushshut your mouth don’t answer…. cuz we already have the answer for you: This website.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking….”how did he read my mind?!”. Honestly, I don’t really know how. But lets face it, the “how” doesn’t really matter to you anyway. All you want to see are results. Money where my mouth is. And being that this is the most recent procrastination-heavy time killer you’ve come across….you’re skeptical.
Well I can tell you this. I’ve seen a few places, learned a few things and created a few websites in the past. Moving forward this here website is going to be the best of it all, in one location. Nice and simple.
We’ll take journeys into the minds of some of the greatest from across broad sports disciplines…and we’ll go on adventures around the Globe. I will ask hard questions, get lost in the outfield sometimes and even throw you a few curve balls every now and then.
But at the end of the day, all joking aside, hopefully this will be a place you can come and find something to laugh at, look at or learn from.
My quest in life is to be as curious as possible, learn as much as possible, and enjoy the shit out of every day. I hope this here project can capture some of that.
Yeah, you may notice a slight bias towards water sports around this place….but lets face it, we all wish we could be as badass as this boss on the water.
Enough said. Stick around awhile….
MB
The feeling of plowing water @70 mph, on the edge of losing control…..there’s nothing like it. The folks I meet, the places I get to travel & the pay aren’t all that bad either. But the real truth, when I really feel a connection, is when I’m chillin’ on the boat suspended in the air by a sheet of glass……when everything that doesn’t matter melts away….and all your left with is the moment.
And the best part? There will always be the open water….always one more sheet of glass to plow somewhere in the world!
Taken from www.HOSports.com, here’s 9 questions current Master Champion Will Asher (www.WillAsher.com) threw at me a while back.
WA: If you weren’t skiing, you’d be…?
MB: Working at some Civil Engineering firm, solving differential equations by hand to figure out the reinforcement required for an inverted concrete T beam.
Or I’d be a snow chasing bum,… living in Van down by the river.
WA: Paleo way of life,…what’s it all about?
MB: Paleo or “Cave Man” diet is simply the way we (humans) are supposed to eat….the way we really ate, before agriculture and farming began. No grains (no more bread or pasta), legumes or refined sugars. Basically real food: Meat, veggies, fruit, nuts. Simple.
Wanna live longer?…feel better?…ski better? You probably should give it a try.
WA: Do you ski different on a Syndicate product vs. everything else?
MB: To keep things short and sweet, heck yes I ski different on Syn product. I ski better. My moves are better, I’m more balanced, and I’m more dynamic….all because the board on my feet is the best designed piece of carbon in existence. The first time I tried a Syndicate (reluctantly, due to all HO products I’d previously tried & failed on) not only did I ski better than I had on my stock ski…but I skied different. Things were happening that I’d never felt before…good things.
I never looked back.
WA: What’s the best part of Team Syndicate?
MB: Team Syndicate is so well rounded: It’s an idea factory, a grassroots movement and a product development team with more collective competition and R&D experience than any other team out there. Syndicate is pushing the limits of what’s possible, moving in new directions and reaching new heights. Just having a chance to be a part of that is an honor. I have ambitions & passions…fueled by successes and failures…that’s why I ski. Team Syndicate embodies the same ideals. It’s a perfect fit.
WA: Are you stronger than your girlfriend??
MB: Haha…funny, I’ve never heard that one before (jk)!! I hope so…! But who knows these days. She’s a BadA$$….you’ll be seeing more of her in the near future. Anyone ever heard of the CrossFit
Jenny at the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games
Games? Keep your eyes open for Jenny LaBaw. AND, maybe we’ll organize a “battle of the sexes” brawl and put this nonsense to rest, once and for all.
P.S. – her nickname is “T2″…as in Terminator 2.
WA: MarcusBrown.TV, tell us a little about it, and when will it re-launch?
MB: When fall and winter comes, it gets cold. Cold = water freezing. That means no lake skiing. That doesn’t mean people forget about it. MarcusBrown.TV was an effort to give folks something during the ‘off’ months.
It was fun, having a live webshow…bringing on a new guest each week. Even had Team Syndicate on at one point!
Basically when we re-launch the webshow (hopefully soon after the new year), it should be legit. Guest experts, speakers, news, videos, stories, prize giveaways, etc… There will be something for everyone.
Keep it locked here to www.HOSports.com for news on the upcoming re-launch and MarcusBrown.TV updates!
WA: You started a new school way of thinking…West Coast Slalom. Where did it all start?
MB: Former world Champion, and friend, Mike Suyderhoud slapped some sense into Terry Winter and I when we were 16 & he said “boys, you could be good, real good…but it’s gonna take some work”. So we went to work. We hypothesized, tested, failed, tested, tweaked, tested, etc… At the end of it, we had a new approach to skiing.
West Coast Slalom was born.
At its roots, it’s an explanation of how to move. Everyone moves, whether they walk, jump, run, skate, board, bike or ski. The basics of movement, no matter what the sport, is almost all the same. We had cracked the code, and come up with a “movement for dummies”.
Try it…it’ll change your life.
WA: Tell us something we don’t know about you:
MB: I eat like a Caveman, The Universe fascinates me, working with wood is a passion, I drive a van…a really really big van & 75.8% of my life has been spent with hair shorter than a Mexican Hairless Chihuahua!
WA: I know people ask you this all the time…but how much do those dreads weigh?
MB: Dry Dreads = 1 lb, Wet Dreads = 6 lbs
Team Syndicate Rider & Ambassador, Marcus Brown
