Clair Bidez
Snowboard Pro Forum

Name: Clair Bidez

Date of birth: 8/7/1987

Started riding in what year? 96

Sponsor/s? Flow, Helly Hansen, Rip It Energy Drink, Copper Mountain, USSA, Bolle,

Where did you grow up? Minturn, Colorado

Live now? Minturn

Fave places to ride? Copper Mountain is my favorite. I love to ride in Colorado. We have everything here, awesome terrain parks, really good back country, and awesome powder runs everywhere.

Do you warm up each day before you ride? If so, what do you do to warm up? I try to stretch some, but it's not really an issue. I usuallyu take a couple of warm-up runs, making some easy turns.

How keep in shape in season? How keep in shape for snowboarding out of season? I try to go the gym, I love yoga and Pilates classes. I haven't done it recently but I was a dancer for 13 years - all styles. Ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop.

Fave riding buddies? I definitely love riding with my younger brother Dylan. He's the one who got me into snowboarding. He's just killing it now. He made it onto the US team this year so we'll get to ride together more this year. I love riding with the US Team and the Flow Team.

Who do you admire in snowboarding or outside and why? I definitely admire Jim Smith. He's a retired pro-snowboarder who taught me for years and years. He was my coach for 6 years, and still coaches me now when he sees me.
He has the classic old school style. Tweaking every grab as hard as you can, putting style over the number of spins. He always said "you're not tweaking your grab until you can hear your bindings squeak."

Do you ever get bummed out about your riding, and why? A lot of times I do. I'll go through phases where I feel that I'm stuck, and not learning anything. And then I realize that it's my negativity holding me back. I have to step back and realize that snowboarding is fun, take a few powder runs... and have fun with it again.

Do you use visualization, and if so, how? Yes. Before I do a trick, I'll imagine myself like I''m doing it. as realistically as possible. If you can visualize the trick and see yourself doing it, I think you can do it.

What safety equipt. do you wear, use for snowboarding? Helmet, all the time, even when I freeride. The worst concussion I ever got was on a groomer. I was wearing a helmet. I think I was reverting from switch to regular and caught my toe edge. But I don't remember. Black eye and concussion. Blacked out for a couple hours, raging headache. Missed competing at the US Open 2005. I wear Wrist guards sometimes - for backside spins in the halfpipe.

If you're pro, when did you decide to “go pro” — and what happened to get you there? I've always been a competitive person. It was just taking the step from the USASA events to the USSA. Then the US Open 2004 - I won in the raffle to get in. I was the only girl to make it from prelim to the finals without being an invitational guests. I ended up 5th that year. Last year was the first year I had real professional sponsors.

What have you read, listened to seen that you liked lately? I actually just finished reading Tom Robbins book, Another Roadside Attraction. I loved that. I read all the time. I loved Pirtates of the Caribbean, both movies. Garden State is one of my favorite movies of all time.

My all time favorite band is definitely Led Zeppelin. I kind of discovered Elton John lately. I really like Justin Timberlake's new song - "Sexy Back."
Also the Black Eyed Peas, and Outkast.

Where have you traveled to lately that you like? I loved New Zealand. My 4th time down there. I really like Switzerland - I've been to Zermatt and Saas Fee. Cabo. I'm learning to surf.

Any guilty pleasures? Chocolate.

Have you done well in any contests lately that you want to tell us about? I won the Junior World Championship last year (2006) in Korea. That was especially exciting. It was the first time my brother qualified for it and he ended up sixth.

Anything that not many people know about you that you would like to share? I love to dance!

Encouraging words for beginners? Just have fun. Make sure you're always having fun. You'll burnout so fast if you're doing it for anything other than yourself.