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Action Hero: Nate Holland (snowboard cross) |
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Written by Julie Brown/Tahoe World
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Tuesday, 05 February 2008 |
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X Games champ Nate Holland is still hungry for victory
Picking Nate Holland out of a crowd is fairly easy.
Just look for the guy who’s so amped from owning the boarder cross gold at the X Games three years in a row it’s contagious.
“To go there and win three times in a row — I was fired up,” he said on a mellow Tuesday evening at the Bar of America in Truckee last week. “I still am.”
After a day’s worth of shoveling, snowmobiling and solid riding at Squaw, Holland looked exhausted — take it as proof that he still can be just another Truckee resident.
 But a long day of snow definitely didn’t zap his energy when he started talking about his win the previous weekend in Aspen.
Holland said he never got the hole shot in any of his starts that Saturday afternoon — canceling plan A, and opening the door for plans B through Z.
“I just kind of let it all play out and happen,” Holland said. “You’re just thinking so fast and reacting. A lot of times I don’t even remember much.”
The rider who defines his style as “wreck or win” says he’s matured in his racing technique and knows how to calculate a pass. So when he got off to a bad start, he just let the cards unfold. And then made his move.
Just so happens his patience paid off. He came home with another win — one more to add to his already extensive list.
Despite his impressive rap sheet, Holland’s still hungry for another podium. His eyes are on the next Jeep King of the Mountain event at Squaw Valley, where he hopes to reign as a boarder cross champion among his home crowd.
 “I’m hoping I still feel this way in two weeks,” he said. “Feeling pumped up and ready to go.”
Good thing the 48Straight event is sure to explode with energy — the crowds, the music, the hype all set Holland’s mind straight to focus and perform in a race.
“I tend to do really well in big events,” he said. “It’s just the atmosphere and that energy.”
His sports psychologist told him to watch movies from bigger events just before a low-key race that lacks the hype.
“That was the tip they gave me,” Holland said. “Not sure if it works.”
Now a three-peat X Games champion, Holland’s come a long way from his stint as a Squaw Valley lift op in 1999. He says he moved to Tahoe from Sandpoint, Idaho to pursue snowboarding professionally — something he’s wanted to do since his first taste of victory when he won a half-pipe contest at age 12.
“That feeling of winning, and being the best and [snowboarding] being an individual sport,” he said. “That was kind of attractive for me.”
Squaw’s all-around challenging terrain has proved to be the perfect training grounds for Holland’s boarder cross career. After five years of riding Squaw, Holland made it to the U.S. team and his career has taken off ever since.
The question that remains is whether Squaw will prove to be as favorable a competition venue for Holland as the site of the X Games, Buttermilk Mountain. Best stay tuned to find out.
Photos:
Top: Nate Holland with his third consecutive X Games gold medal this year will come into the Jeep King of the Mountain border cross races as a favorite (photo courtesy of Eric Asistin)
Bottom: Holland winning the X Games boarder cross race in Aspen this year (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 February 2008 )
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