BRECKENRIDGE — For all the precision, discipline and dedication required in the modern Olympic era, there is no road map depicting the surest route toward becoming a professional snowboarder.
Fortunately, Clair and Dylan Bidez have each other to help navigate the way.
“Team Bidez” — as the brother-sister duo is sometimes known among friends and coaches on the U.S. Snowboarding team — is the Colorado version of snowboarding’s increasingly common family affair. And just as U.S. Olympians Mason Aguirre and Hannah Teter ride the halfpipe alongside their siblings, Molly Aguirre and Elijah Teter, the Bidez kids have their sights aimed high.
For Clair, 20, already a Junior world champion, a member of U.S. Snowboarding’s “Pro Team” and a three-time Winter X Games competitor, that means qualifying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team headed north to Vancouver in 2010. For Dylan, 17, the target is to become an established pro, moving past his current “rookie team” status to join the Shaun Whites of the world among the ranks of recognized riders.
They appear to be on the right track.
Team Bidez enjoyed a breakout season in 2007, with Dylan making his mark on the Chevrolet Revolution Tour — considered the premier U.S. development series — with a halfpipe win at Minnesota’s Spirit Mountain in February. That win opened the door to a pair of World Cup contests in Calgary, where he finished fifth and second on consecutive days as a 16-year-old getting his first start in the big leagues.
“It was definitely exciting,” Dylan said last week while in Breckenridge. “Especially because that weekend Clair was in Lake Tahoe (Calif.) and got third place at the Vans Tour, so it was a pretty good weekend for us.”
Pocketing the confidence of a podium finish in the Vans event — one of the pre-eminent pipe contests in the world — Clair went on to place third at another elite-caliber contest, the Abominable Snow Jam at Mount Hood, Ore., in July, setting the stage for the season as she busted out a frontside 900 on the first hit of her pipe run to win the prize for “best trick” among a stacked field of pro women at the event.
“You don’t really see girls doing that on the first hit,” said Dylan, sounding more like a proud papa than a kid brother.
The tone is reflective of the relationship shared by the Bidez siblings.
Early start
Although 3 years younger, it was Dylan who introduced his sister to the sport and convinced her to skip out on ski racing sometime around her 10th birthday. Dylan had been riding since age 5, moving from “pre-school to snowboard school,” as his sister is fond of saying.
A healthy sibling rivalry has ensued since, as sister and brother attempt to outdo each other.
“We kind of have this little competitiveness with each other, but it’s friendly,” Dylan said.
“Really friendly,” adds sis.
Said Dylan: “A lot of the time we’ll kind of be working on the same trick and we’ll be like, ‘I bet I can get this trick before you,’ and then we’ll just go from there.”
Added Clair: “And we’re probably the only people who can tell each other without hurting each other’s feelings, ‘You need to go bigger,’ or ‘That looks really bad,’ that sort of thing. I know that he just wants me to do really well. He’s not trying to hurt my feelings by telling me something that I did didn’t look good.”
Growing up in the tiny town of Minturn, near Vail, the notion of a pro snowboarding career never came to Clair until late in her junior year at Battle Mountain High School, about the time she was filling out college applications. She had seen more than her share of success already, riding her competitive instincts to a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Open in 2004 and earning Pro Team status at 17. Still, she says, she never saw her current life coming.
Traveling the globe
These days, the small-town girl finds herself traveling to exotic locales in Japan, New Zealand and throughout Europe for as much as six months a year, competing among the sport’s elite and modeling for sponsors Flow Snowboards, Bolle Goggles (until her new deal with Giro kicks off in January) and Rip It Energy Fuel. Much of that time, her brother is right by her side.
“I always snowboarded because I loved it, just because it was fun. But I never really thought about becoming a professional snowboarder and having that be my life,” she said. “It was just kind of a gradual realization. One day it was about time to fill out the college application forms and I sat down and talked to my family about it and just realized I wanted to snowboard. I already had an idea of what kind of an education I could get through traveling around snowboarding, so I decided I could always go back to school.”
For Dylan, now a junior at Battle Mountain, the decision is much more cut and dried. The Sports Illustrated “Next X” champion had designs on a professional snowboarding career before seeing his sister’s success, even forgoing a successful stint as a high school football player in order to preserve his health for the halfpipe. Never mind that he has managed to break 15 bones through the years on a snowboard. He still considers it his calling.
“I had to quit playing football after I tore my meniscus. I decided I can’t risk getting hurt again,” he said. “Snowboarding has been my life ever since I started. I’ve always been there, hoping to travel the world snowboarding, and now that it has become a reality, it’s amazing.”
Upbeat through spills
Dylan, who still considers himself an amateur, suffered another setback this month when a severely sprained ankle kept him from competing in last weekend’s U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix in Breckenridge, one of the biggest contests of the season and a common steppingstone to professional status.
The weekend could have worked out better for Clair as well. She fell while attempting traditionally stock frontside 720s on the final hits of both her qualifying runs, relegating her to 21st place as she watched her friends Gretchen Bleiler, Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter — Olympic medalists all — take the top three spots on the podium.
But true to their upbeat nature, both members of Team Bidez remain focused on the positive, guiding each other with inspiration and motivation as they move forward on their chosen path.
“I’m just going to focus on the fact that I’ve been riding really well, probably stronger than I ever have been, and just look forward to next time,” Clair said after the contest. “Gretchen, Kelly, Hannah — I want to get myself up there with those names. I feel like I’m one step below that at this point, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to take that next step, hopefully this season.”
Dylan said he considers his sister a role model on his road to a pro career.
“I think that as I progress myself as a snowboarder, then people will look at me more as a professional athlete,” he said.
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
