I’m a Rider: Lisa Wiik
Professional Snowboarder, Trondheim, Norway
I started wakeboarding about three years ago when my boyfriend introduced me to a whole new world. He has been a waterskier for years and started Stereo Skis. a wakeski company. I went with him to all kinds of contests and watched. I got bored just watching and wanted to have fun too. I started to ride his old wakeboard and had so much fun trying out my snowboard tricks on water.
I love to do switch tricks on my wakeboard because the pull from the rope makes me more stable. A frontside 270 to switch lipslide to a backside 270 out is fun.
I love to go off the jumps from a flat board (usually I use an edge to pop on my snowboard) and spin frontside, which is my worst side spinning when I’m snowboarding. I get a lot of practice and get used to my body moving frontside when I’m wakeboarding, which is perfect. But I really hate the flat landings. My pore knees!
My worst snowboarding injury was when I landed short on a backside 540 on a kicker and tore my ACL and meniscus. I struggled quite a lot with that. I worked so hard to get back in business. My injury was a few months away from the Torino Olympics and I was really sad when I realized that I had to watch the games from home.
It is hard to notice that your body is weak and that your mindset has changed. I was more scared and really afraid I would hurt my knee again in the beginning. But it’s all about not giving up and having the right focus.
My hard work and focus paid off this season. I had my best season ever, placing second on the TTR world ranking.
I like Orlando Watersports Complex in Florida. It is the only cable park I have ridden outside of Norway. I also like the one in Norway called Norsjø, but the water is not as comfy and warm as it is at OWC. The warm water actually makes it OK to crash sometimes. It doesn’t feel as hard.
I definitely need more arm strength if I am going to be able to wakeboard more than one or two hours a day. The muscles in my lower arms kill me and I just have to let go of the rope in the end. It doesn’t matter how much fun I am having. My arms just say stop and I lose the rope. My well-trained thighs do not help me much with that problem.
Wakeboarding is my favorite cross activity. I like it because it is similar to snowboarding — especially the similarity between the rails in cable parks and the snowboard parks.
I can bring less equipment when I go wakeboarding — no additional boots and fewer clothes. When snowboarding, I train at a higher level than I do when wakeboarding I and have to focus more on details.
