Mike Condon is an incredibly talented snowboarder. Keigan sponsors him because… well, he is the man!
Here is a little bio info on our friend and SUPERSTAR, Mike:
Originally I’m from Southern California in Palm Springs, CA where i was born in 1979. I had no idea as a youngster that I would ever become so fond of snowboarding as much as I am now. I had lived in Southern California for about 8 to 9 years moving from Palm Spring to Yucca Valley to Morongo Valley and finally to Big Bear, CA. Big Bear was the first place that I had ever seen a SNOWBOARD and quickly found myself drawn to the action sport even though it was’t that popular. I had only one thing standing in my way though, the fact that my mom did have the cash to get me a board, nevertheless, afford to get me a pass to go ride. This is where my obsession started as a young boy with a dream with only time in my way.
A year or so later my mom, brother, and I moved once again to Northern California in the town of Grass Valley, CA. We had taken that huge move because at the time my mom had been studying to be a Wildlife Biologist and seemed like a pretty close kind of area to fit that kind of atmosphere. We finally settled down in Grass Valley around 1988 to 1989 when we had met some friends that suprisingly enough had a son that snowboarded. I had been so excited to know that I just might have a chance to finally get to snowboard at last!!! The best thing about my new friend was that he worked at Soda Springs Ski Resort(Hwy 80 East towards Truckee, CA) at the time and had connections and would be able to rent me a snowboard and teach me to snowboard as well!
I just couldn’t believe that I was finally going to be able to snowboard…I just couldn’t wait to try it for the first time! As I began to get some time on the mountain, thanks to my friend, I found that I picked up snowboarding very quickly and enjoyed it alot! After getting down the basics of snowboarding(turning, stopping,and so on), I pretty much just learned to get down the hill from there. Its not until about 8 years or so later that I started trying to learn tricks and that’s when it started to get interesting!! Time had passed and I started feeling like I could actually hold my own and start trying to get into doing expression sessions at the local Boreal Mountain Ski Resort on Donner Summit/Castle Peak. I had really enjoyed competing with my friends and looked forward to competing as competitions came up.
When I was in high school (Nevada Union HS), I pretty much dreamed snowboarding all the time during the winter and always was hanging out at the river in the summer. I was living the life of something that I had always dreamed of doing for such a long time, but never sure as to when it was going to happen….I was finally living my dream. During the last part of my high school years I had always wished for something bigger than just riding and wished to become sponsored as a rider and be a superstar snowboarder…I know it sounds funny, but I was serious as a heart attack about becoming a well accomplished snowboarder. After the end of my time in high school I had managed to pull off one time riding 100 days in a row!! I was bound and determined to just destroy and ride as much as possible at any cost.
After I was done with high school, I managed to pick up a job at the local ski resort (Boreal Mountain Ski Resort) in the Rental Shop. There I was able to ride pretty frequently and was really able to practice on my riding. It was really amazing how fast I was picking things up riding so much as I was, I just couldn’t seem to get enough and just kept killing it every time I touched the snow! Time went on and snowboarding for me just kept getting more and more exciting and fun to do! I felt like I wanted to live, eat, and sleep snowboarding all the time which had become an uncontrollable obsession/addiction that I couldn’t do without.
As time pasted, I had realized that life has a tendency to throw you curveballs…which I found out first hand. Being 18 to 19 years old (at the time), I got into trouble (who hasn’t) and learned that for every action there is a positive or negative reaction. Through this whole time though I had still snowboarded like it was going out of style. There was times that I actually hitched a ride to go snowboarding (there was a time when I hitched a ride and it was raining in the lower elevations and snowing in the higher elevations where I was going…Hey, I had to go SNOWBOARDING so I just dealt with it), it was all about making it happen!!!
As time has shredded and carved on, at 30 I’m still hesh’n my way down the mountain and showing that my dream hasn’t died. This year in the season of 2009 I was enrolled in the USA Snowboard Association (USASA) in the Northern Tahoe Series in the Senior Mens Division in which I carried myself through several competition in Boarder X , Slopestyle, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Half Pipe. I’ve had a great season and managed a 1st through 3rd place in all of the competitions attended during the season granting me a place in the 2009 National Championships in Copper Mountain , CO. Going to Nationals was the BIGGEST accomplishment that I have ever reached in my career of snowboarding yet going against some of the best riders nation wide.
During the duration of my stay in Copper Mountain (April 3rd -10th), I had an impressive turnout of getting 1st in BoarderX , 3rd in Slalom and Giant Slalom, and 8th in Halfpipe, and 4th out of 20 riders in Slopestyle…also making me 1st in Overall Disciplines taking home another GOLD receiving a plaque for such accomplishments. The riders there were incredible and definitely deserved to be there…Props to all my fellow competitors I raced against during my time there! There is also one person that I have to thank for helping me accomplish all this too is my wife Dawn Condon and my two kids Kendra and Nathan. She worked her butt off in order to make sure that I had the time to practice and prep for my competitions I attended during the season. I was so appreciative for her putting out the efferts to help me accomplish all that I have. Without her I dont think that I would be able to speak of all that I have done this 2009 season.. As for my two kids, they have been really interested in seeing me snowboard and excited about me getting medals that I bring home too! Its just really cool to have them experience all that’s going on with me snowboarding!
On another note, prior to my trip I was doing some pre trip practice at my local mountain and was practicing my backside spins and came up short on one of my spins and jacked my knee putting me in a really bad position. Thanks to not riding and staying off it for the rest of the time till nationals, it was ok during my competitions with a little help of heat packs and Ibuprofen. All in all, the whole trip was a great experience and I cant wait to do it again next season! Thinking of the future, I think I’m going to attend the USASA again next season and then after that I’m going to go for the next step of competition and try doing the Tours and so forth and just try to work UP from there and go as big as I can from there!!! JUST KEEP ON TRUCK’N!
A little more…
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MIKE’S “OTHER” HOBBIES: While im not snowboarding, I find myself wakeboarding in the summer, drawing, hanging out with my kids at the park, going to the river and jumping off high rocks, hanging out with my friends, hanging out with the family, going to the speedway down in the city and racing go karts (30mph)….so sick!!, going to the movies, wake surfing, going on random road trips to Fort Bragg with the wife and kids, having a good time enjoying life:)
MIKE’S FAVORITE TRICKS AND WHAT’S IN STORE: When it comes to tricks, I think that I would have to say that I really enjoy doing Frontside Rodeo 5’s or 7’s…whatever ends up being the way I come down to land? I can grab in different spots as well which makes them alittle different so they dont look the same all the time. I also do switch FS Rodies too…they are just fun to do in general. I think the next thing I want to work on is doing them Backside now…I wanted to do them a long time, but got held up in learning Underflips..which kind of seemed sick more so then doing Backside Rodies…so I just went with it and didn’t worry about them for the time. Another thing i dig doing to is BIG backside 3’s or 5’s….Just going off a jump and just lofting off and just taking your time is a really fun thing to do that makes them look really cool! I dont know whats next after that…maybe learning back to do BS 7’s again…I lost my body memory on how to huck them..so I guess its back to the drawing board…haha! Other than that, just try to not wreck myself and have a good time with my friends!
Competition History (USASA - SENIOR MENS) North Tahoe Series & Nationals
April 5th-10th 2009….Overall Champion(Senior Mens)…1st place(Natl Champs)
April 5 2009…….BoarderX……..1st place(National Championships)
April 7 2009…….Slalom…………3rd place(National Championships)
April 8 2009…….G.Slalom………3rd place(National Championships)
April 9 2009…….Halfpipe………..7th place(National Championships)
April 10 2009…….Slopestyle…….4th place(National Championships)
March 7 2009…….BoarderX………1st place
March 1 2009…….Slalom…………1st place
Feb 28 2009…….G.Slalom……..1st place
Feb 22 2009…….BoarderX………1st place
Feb 21 2009…….BoarderX………1st place
Feb 8 2009…….Halfpipe………..1st place SENIOR MENS
Feb 7 2009…….Slopestyle…….1st place
Feb 1 2009…….Slalom…………1st place
Jan 31 2009…….G.Slalom……..2nd place
Jan 24 2009…….Slopestyle…..1st place
Jan 10 2009……Slalom………….5th place
Jan 10 2009……Slalom………….5th place OPEN CLASS MENS
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This bro has mad skillllls! HUGE thank you to Mike for being so incredibly awesome.. not to mention incredibly talented.
CHECK HIM OUT @ http://www.myspace.com/popeyed79! ! !
