I had the opportunity to be there when Linden came out for his very first ride with Thunderstruck. His Mom had been sending videos to Jim for months to get him the opportunity. Clearly talented, but very young, Jim was reluctant to take on the risk, but finally relented. His Dad drove all night to get him to Revy to ride with us for one measly day. Linden was pretty quiet at first, watching as Brett Coupal and Randy Swenson slayed one chute after another. It was a lazy blue bird day in the Bullpen on Boulder and Jim turned to Linden and said, "If you want to try some stuff, go ahead... Just remember that I need to get you home safely kid". Linden proceeded to climb a nasty vertical line and then sidehill across a steep cornice at the top for an indescribable amount of time. I just kept thinking "His mother is going to kill us" (and snapping pics, of course!). Linden made a showstopping exit over the top and rejoined us at the bottom in minutes.
Now, Linden was wearing some pretty crazy earth-muffin, form fitting, cross country skiing type snowpants that had us all a little on edge. When he got back down from his first "show" Randy simply said, "Nice work. But if you are going to ride with us, we need to do something about those pants!!" And just like that 16 year-old Linden was IN!!
I too am continually amazed with this kid. He is mature, quiet, understated, well rounded and beyond talented. In short, he is everything this industry needs image wise. Keep an eye on this boy, because he doesn't come off as a big player... But he will be
AGREE!! He contacted me in January about sponsorships for a Turbo and I did my best to point him in the right direction, but he was pretty late on the draw. By then, most of the companies had cast their dice and were firmly into the sponsorship game... I would really like to see Linden get some good sponsorships this season and start promoting the sport with his humble and inspiring talent and nothing more. I am going to do my damndest to get his name out there EARLY and see if we can't get him hooked up. He works road construction in the summer and buys and repairs his own sled, so it is not like he is begging for handouts. I just think that he deserves a chance, and I can't imagine what he could do with a turbo under his azz!!
Momma, if you get a chance, look at his photos from his family trip to the Nahanni this summer (on Facebook) ... absolute bucket list material. Me and you and the littles need to round up the Drinkle-JerBear-Duo and go for a trip of a lifetime
Oh ya, and not to hijack this thread: Jim's great too
He'd have to stand on Plio7's shoulders to look Phelan in the eye.I met Jim at MM4, nice guy, very sociable. Had some great laughs with the guy but bogger for some reason thinks he's a douche.... (there's a story to that) you should have seen bogger's face when he saw the size of Jim
