The Good Life - Max Houtzager

My season has been ‘over’ for a little while now after finishing off back home with a podium finish at the Howl Mountain Classic. After many weekends of nonstop travel and racing, two weeks off was a great chance to hit the reset button on my body...And then jam in my Subaru all the way up to Whistler!

I made the drive alone in two days stopping in Portland to stay with my idol photographer (legend in snowboarding, soon to be in mountain biking), Tim Zimmerman. I drove straight to a freshly redone dj park in Portland for a GT photo shoot with Eric Carter...




We feasted on sushi afterwards which was delicious, and amazing to sit next to another legend, EC. I learned a lot while devouring endless plates of sushi. Life in Whistler is obviously pretty rad, living a stone’s throw from the village/chairlift in a house with a bunch of chill Aussie’s.

Multiple dirt jump and pumptrack spots within a 5 minute pedal from my door. And trails galore. Don’t feel like riding the road or bike path? Just ride the ripping technical singletrack that’s right next to it nearly everywhere in the valley.

The ‘xc’ riding doesn’t exist by US standards, it’s all tech trail/all mountain stuff, and I could not get enough. I barely rode the same trail twice and your constantly either going steep up/down or over endless roots and rocks. Just how I like it, although coming home to fast buff trails was a nice change.



Another highlight was the Art of Flight Premiere, where I got to watch on the big screen and see all my favorite snowboard pros in person, including the all time Travis Rice.

I pretty much spend all my time riding, cooking, and eating. A lot of thinking about food and I am obsessed with some of things available (Farmer’s Market twice a week, Local Wild Salmon, Grass-Fed Buffalo, Pastured Eggs, Japanese ingredients, epic cookies).



Lots of Experimenting (Coconut Blueberry Muffins with pastured eggs and the best blueberries)

I did the last Wednesday night downhill race, Chainless on A Line with most everyone dressed up in costumes. Unfortunately I didn’t have any thing out of the ordinary to sport.



Overall actually getting to live in Whistler was quite epic, and a great beginning to my year off of training, traveling, cooking, and racing! It got a bit cold and wet towards the end and I’m stoked to be back in Cali, until it gets too wet here :)

I also got to hit up the Air Dome before leaving and stopped to shred and eat in Ashland on the way down.

BC2011 Teaser Trailer

BC 2011 Teaser video from our friends Joz & Moz Zimmermann

This was a tough one. A few days ago I decided to finally sit down and have a look at all the footage that my brother Jonathan and I captured during our amazing summer in Whistler. 'Having a look at the footage' quickly turned into dragging all the files into my editing software and working my way through it. Well... I'm nowhere close to being done but here's a first glimplse at what to expect from us in the following weeks... enjoy!