 Hi, I'm Craig McMorris. This is McMorris Redux, the show where we talk about our first season of McMorris and McMorris, our only season. As a matter of fact, in this episode, we will be talking about Episode 3, Trans-Europe Express. Myself and my younger brother go to Europe and compete in two different snowboard contests. This will be the last contest of the year for me. I don't really know where the heck we're going anymore. In my opinion, this is how not to train for a snowboard contest. Let's bring in my co-host, Mark McMorris. Thanks for having me, Mom. Hey, no problem. Thanks for coming on the show. We really appreciate it. Let's talk about Episode 3. What a time. I remember flying to Europe with an all-star crew. We had Jack Matroni, Craig McMorris, Myself and Adam Burwell, and we flew over for the Euro-X games. And you came and saw a little bit, but you were on your way to try and make the Canadian team for the 2014 Olympics, which is so bizarre to look back on, and you and Jack set off and you guys had a little bit of a trip. You find a circus in a parking lot in France when you're looking for Spain. Mathematically, it's not going to work out for your equation. Yeah, we had a trip, figuratively and literally. It was quite a wild time. I look back on my life and I think that's one of the highlights. That was one of the most fun trips I've ever been on. Is it the best way to prepare for a snowboard contest? Maybe not. But in this episode, I'm going to talk about why I think that changed my life, that trip. I should not be pushing a nine-passenger van up a mountain five hours before I'm supposed to practice. Episode 3, Trans-Europe Express. Mark, there was a lot of ups and downs. We were young men. We were snowboarding. And hindsight, being the year 2020, is 2020 right now when we look back on those kind of situations because there's a lot of bubbles. There's a lot of things that I probably would have changed in my life and I don't know about you. Honestly, I would say the exact same. You'd say the exact same? Well, let's bring in somebody who may beg to differ. Adam Burwell. Adam Burwell on the line. How are you, big fella? I'm great. How are you guys doing? We're fantastic. We're in this beautiful studio for McMorris Redux and it's a pleasure to have you on the line. We're talking Episode 3, Trans-Europe Express. This is kind of the start of your working relationship. It's really funny. We talked about this entire series. This was a cornerstone, a turning point for us and changed our lives and changed your life as well because you guys were traveling the world and working together. It was very exciting times. I remember getting dropped off at the airport in Geneva and being like, this is crazy. No one was there. Had to find Freddie Ospo. Got me on the bus up to Teens and yeah, it was on from there. We had a lot of fun that trip. For sure. Now I want to play a clip here, Adam. You can watch this with us. This is, I thought was really interesting because obviously in the show, it's a lot of fun and stuff like that but when you're at the top of the run and you're competing and you're working with somebody, it's a high-pressure situation. You know, there's stuff that happens. So let's watch this clip and I want to talk about it because I thought this was a very, very good learning experience for everybody. First run did not go according to plan. What I think happened was I might have started my triple cork slow off the take-off and didn't even come close to making it around. I see the one from the run. Oh, look a little upsetty. I would like to come to the top after my run, see what I need to fix, but someone didn't film it. Sorry, Adam, for being such a sore loser. I knew what to do different. I just wanted to see it. I think it's really interesting because now you're a veteran, but do you feel like that was like, hey, this is a really cool growing experience or were you like, this sucks. I want to quit. Well, I mean, to be honest, after that incident, my character got completely written out of the show. So you can understand the impact. Not at all. Not at all. I don't think you got rid. I thought you were such a big part moving forward and I think that was really cool because we were talking about this earlier, too, Adam. That was a real genuine interaction between you two and I think you grew from it and I don't think you see that very often. We did grow from that and I don't think he's missed a run since. Well, the difference now is back then it was me, I was filming, I was doing everything. Along with the job description of Filmer, I'm the scheduler, the manager, I'm the traveling dad, I guess you could say. When we go to an event now, there's lots of people around. There's four or five people that are working with us at the top from Team Canada. I focus on different things now. So that's certainly nice as an evolution of our contest prep. Totally and it is funny because this was before Slope's Al made its Olympic debut and we are now blessed to have many coaches around and everyone's filming everything and there is opportunity to see where things went wrong and went right. Because Adam and Mark, that's a really funny thing and I think a lot of people don't know this like back then you're at the epitome, you're at the top, you're at the pinnacle, you're competing for an X Games gold medal and it's just you two. It's just you two, like Adam, you're filming them, you're making sure his bindings are good, you're making sure the board got waxed, you're making sure there's goggles on his head, you know. You're making sure he's talking in the interview, you know. So I feel like it was a small show but that gave it a real, real look at it. So I think that was really special. Adam, is there anything else that you remember from that episode? That kind of comes to the top of your mind. The biggest thing for me is just the amount of baguettes you're able to consume, to be honest. Bye! This contest in Spain, it's a big one to qualify for the Olympics and I just hope that Jack and Craig take it somewhat serious because they're not going to take anything serious. How are you feeling? Are you tired yet? Oh yeah, no. Yeah, we should probably switch out pretty soon. Maybe switch every five, keep it fresh the whole way. I was still competing, I was still trying to make it to the Olympic team here. What did you think of mine and Jack's plan? Were you like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard? Were you like, maybe you can pull it off? How did you feel about that side of the episode? Because it's Craig McMorris and Jack Mitrani, somehow, some way, I knew that was going to enhance your chances of making it on the Olympic team. This is my guy. That's why we love him. Thank you, Adam. Whenever you looked at the map, Craig, you said it's only this far. So I think that there's just eternal optimism right there, you know? Sue me, right? So we left teens, we thought, you know, we're going to bomb down maybe make her in the night or early morning to Spain, but literally on the map didn't look like we moved anything. It doesn't cost you any more to be happy or optimistic, ladies and gentlemen. That's a lesson. You can take that home. Adam, we thank you for your time. Thanks for joining us on McMorris Redo. Episode 3, Tranjuro Express. Alright, thank you guys. Cheers. What a conversation with Adam. That was fun. A lifelong friend. You met him when you were five. I met him when I was seven. You know who else is going to be a lifelong friend, Mark? Can you guess? I think his name would go by Jack Mitrani. That's correct. Absolutely. One of our heroes in Episode 3. I can't wait to bring him in. Before we do, I have a surprise. I want you to toss on this. So when he answers the call, he's going to see a couple horse heads because in Europe, he got these crazy masks. He scared me to death. So I think we should scare him a bit here. I had a feeling you guys would be in masks. I don't have a mask, but I had a flamingo hat. Best I can do. Jack, welcome to the program. How are you, Matt? I'm doing pretty well. Is that what you guys have been wearing during quarantine? Those are like... I would say that's about as safe as you can get when it comes to a mask. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't go into any restaurants or hotels, so I just wear this. And I've been getting some weird looks. I'm going to be honest with you there. I'm going to keep this up on the desk here. Mark, you can take it. I think you could actually leave yours on almost. It's a bit of a mask. Is that Mark under there? That's Sparky McMorris, Matt. Cool. There you go. Jack, we're talking Episode 3. And we had Adam Burwell on. So he explained the X Games Europe part, but we brought you on because we want to talk about one of the greatest European road trips ever put down by two individuals, you and myself. What do you remember? Give us a big picture. I mostly remember the circus. I don't know what it was that stood out, but when we were driving and we pulled up and we came across this circus, that was kind of like the first part of our trip that really made it something exciting and different. I got to get Top 30 in Sierra Nevada, so it's a little bit serious. But you know, when you want to do a little pre-training, what's better pre-training than street-circusing, you know? Sorry. You have your strength, your agility, and most importantly, your balance. Being Craig's coach, I could not be in a happier place right now. Yeah! And then from there, I don't remember anything. Until I watched the episode again, I completely forgot about everything. It was a complete blur. That's how much fun it was. Do you think your brain intentionally made you forget? You know how sometimes there's traumatic situations and you push it way down? Is that one of those? I think that's exactly what it was, man. I think it was that one wild night in Barcelona. I've been to a lot of parties in my life, but you know, a Sunday night in Barcelona, Spain gets real fast. I pooped my pants. We're going to play a little game jack. Enmar, okay? Can either one of you guys pick my result? Do you guys remember where I actually ended up? It's out of 30. I had to get top 30. There's also like 200 people, so it's pretty good. Craig, this is it. Your entire existence depends on today. No pressure. Jack gave me an absolutely amazing pep talk and sent me on my way. Very weird coaching strategy, because usually they're up there with you, but I'm going to let it slide this time. What did you guess? I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt. 24th, Marques 24th, Jack Mitrani 18th. He's my coach, so hopefully he gets a little bit closer. What is the answer? We're going to producer, Darren. 17. 17. The answer is 17. One off. Top 30. Give it up for Craig. Big more ass. Seven years later, you look back, you watch a younger version of Jack Mitrani. What would you tell yourself now? You have so much life experience. What would you tell that young Jack Mitrani? I say that like we had an opportunity that many people don't have and would dream of to be able to do what we love, travel the world, and then sneak off and do these road trips and go to Cancun and all these different experiences. Can't make it up. I would have just looked myself in the face and just been like, hey, keep up the good work. Keep doing what you're doing. Well, I think that's a beautiful answer and I think it's a beautiful way to pick a look at this photo because I mean, if you want to change from that, what would you tell yourself now if you were Craig Barsala? I'd say, hey, maybe lay off a little bit of the gluten because if you eat 400,000 baguettes and drink your own body weight and beer, probably going to be a tough time for your stomach. But I'd also tell myself not to compete in snowboarding. I didn't like doing slope-style contests. I was telling you this to everybody and I want to tell everybody at home like, follow your heart. As cheesy as it is, follow your heart because me quitting slope-style led to a broadcasting career. It led to a filming career. It led to X Games medal. Like I was in the X Games just because I quit slope-style snowboarding and the reason I wanted to quit was because of that road trip because you said to me, hey, it's not about just going there and doing this. It's about having fun while you're doing it. So when you say change absolutely nothing, I would tell myself, you know what? Change absolutely nothing. You know what you want to do? Follow your heart. Cheesy as it is. I love it. Cheesy at all. That's not cheesy. That's life. That's from the heart. That's real. Thank you. Thank you. Well, Jack, I think we should let you go because I think everybody wants to watch this episode. We want to watch Trans Europe Express. Should we watch this or what? Let's watch this. Roll the tape. It's a schedule. They say it's so flat here you can watch your dog run away for three days. Possibly the last place you'd expect to find a couple of pro snowboarders. But you know what? We're prairie kids and prairie kids f***ing sendin'. My brother Mark is sittin' on the peak of professional snowboarding right now about to drop in. The best. I have a dream come true of the job. Mark and me get to travel around the whole world with our guys. Pretty much have as much fun as we can, and that's all we do. Oh, f***! We're not going to be young, healthy, extremely good looking for our whole lives. So you've got a carpet yolo. You know, European X Games is the second winter stop for the X Games series. It's probably the biggest European snowboard contest of the year. This will be the last contest of the year for me. I'm very excited about that. I've yet to win the Euro-X. Glad to do it this year. That's the goal. We have the gang back together, Adam, Craig, Jack and myself. Dude, I'm like not really feelin' this weather. We are in beautiful Tignis, France. I don't know why they pronounce it teens, because it's got a G in front of an N. Cheers to teens, boys. Cheers to teens. So I got to be in Spain in a couple days, and instead of flying, I think I'm going to drive. Put your ball glove on. Let me pitch some to you here, okay? We fly on planes 24-7. Let's just drive there. I think you guys are in for a little surprise. I've been in Europe for a little while now. I'm going to be here for another week, just doing contests. It's like this far on the map. That's all you got to go is an inch. So how far is an inch on a map? Well, we did the math a little bit, but we're going to do something else. Okay. We've put it in the calculator. It's going to take about three hours. Carry the one. That's like a 17-hour drive. I'm a little concerned for Craig, because this is a huge week for him. And I'm not exactly sure if he knows what he's got himself into. Craig, I'm sorry can't come with you. Oh, don't worry about us. I'm going to be by Craig's side 100% the entire time. He's going to Spain and he needs a coach, you know? So I'm here for him. I'm his wingman, spiritual advisor, financial advisor, I think they're really dumb for driving. It doesn't sound like any fun. I'll be here working, so have fun guys. They're bailing on me, so I'm going to have to hold down X Games Europe on my own. We are in the eye of a shittokane right now, so I'm excited to get in the van and just drive to a warmer climate closer to the equator. All right, guys. Hey, carry the kid, all right? I'm in spring break mode. I got to hit the road, get to the beach, get my suntan back. I'm starting to get pasty again here. Don't crash. Me and Jack really have no idea where this is, but we're just going to put her in drive and let the road take us where it wants to go. Okay, everybody, watch out. New drivers at the wheel. Get out of the, oh, I just about clicked her. Bye, guys. See you later. Bye. This contest in Spain, it's a big one to qualify for the Olympics, and I just hope that Jack and Craig take it somewhat serious because they're not going to take anything serious. I don't really feel like I'm deserting Mark here at EuroX because he's kind of doing his own thing. He's got Adam all over him, like a dad, and I think we're just kind of going in different directions, you know? Way of the road, bubs. How you feeling? Are you tired yet? Oh, yeah, no. Yeah, we should probably switch out pretty soon. Maybe switch every five. Keep it fresh the whole way. Yeah. How long do you think we've been driving for? I've blacked out for a number of hours, and I don't know how we're still on the road. So we left teens. We thought, you know, we're going to bomb down, maybe make her in the night or early morning to Spain, but literally on the map didn't look like we moved anything. Here's Spain. I just saw a sign here and just make sure we're on the right road before we drive any further. There's an exit right there. Let's get off, collect our thoughts. Look at this horse. Right in the road. There's a horse in the road. We're definitely still in France. Oh, God. Oh! We see this horse in the parking lot and we pull up and we find a circus, you know? You find a circus in a parking lot in France when you're looking for Spain. Mathematically, it's not going to work out for your equation. Do you guys give free lessons? Give us a circus. Okay. So I guess the best part about a road trip is you never know what you're going to get. So we get out of the van. We meet a young trapeze artist. We also meet his younger sister. She is a contortionist. Hi, horsey. They decided to give us a little lesson, you know, a free little lesson. Hey, guys, careful. You're on concrete. There was a lot of risky business going down. We were on the concrete, a lot of tandem handstands. It was the street edition of Circus Acts. Oh, my Lord. Oh, my God. Top 30 in Sierra Nevada. So it's a little bit serious. But, you know, when you want to do a little pre-training, what's better pre-training than street circusing, you know? Sorry. You have your strength, your agility, and most importantly, your balance. Being Craig's coach, I could not be in a happier place right now. Yeah. That one we can do. Wow. Mark has an hour practice before the contest. So it's super crucial that he gets his run dialed and that he gets quite a few laps to get in the group. Mark has an hour practice before the contest. He gets a few laps to get in the group. Once he gets that confidence built up, he's good to go for the contest. My practice went unexpectedly well. That was a really nice way to start my day. Mark usually keeps it pretty relaxed before he rides. Until he's in the start gate, it's fun, joking, laughing with everybody. Once he's standing at the top of the course, it's on. It's got to do what I did every single run in practice. It doesn't sound too hard, does it? So according to the map, there's more caves on the old Bessie, but it's a rental. Don't be gentle. So we're way south then. You know, we started off in a snow storm and this is exactly where we wanted to be. Let's get a nice little lunch on the Mediterranean. We head right for the coast and I gotta tell you, it's by far the most beautiful drive I've ever been on. Oh my freaking goodness. We name the van Bessie for its strong-willed attitude. What a different spot, man. It's impossible. I always heard that French food was good, but now I know. So we're at this cafe having a little business meeting and we're still a ways away from Barcelona, but Craig and I both know that's where we want to be tonight. I don't know anybody in Barcelona, but I heard of this guy. His name is Soren. Apparently he has the whole town on lockdown. Jack says he has a friend that he's never met. In my mind, doesn't make sense at all, but I'm gonna go with it. Let's text him. Heading to Barcelona, anything going on tonight? Wink, smiley face or no smiley face? You're the one with the rosy cheeks, the straight face I love that one. I guess I'm paying. My first run was pretty much one of the better qualifying runs I've done all year. It just felt really clean and perfected. The sun was out. The course was riding really well, so made it on to finals. That last rail. Thanks, brother. As of now, it looks like Torstein, myself and Seb, qualified in the top three should be a good showdown. Soren, what's going on, man? How are you? I'm almost there, man. We're driving through the border any minute now. Perfect. You're the man, Soren. All right, we'll hit you up when we get there. All right, see you, buddy. Barcelona! Finals are about to start. I did not have the practice I wanted. I've fallen a whole bunch trying this triple. Everybody is going to be doing triples and I couldn't figure it out. I guess that's competition. You go and try and do what you can do and hopefully it works out. Greg! You're missing his run. We wake up a little late and, you know, we're moving a little slow. Oh! Your brother just slammed because you're not here to support and watch. We should be on the road right now, getting some miles down, but it's not all about us all the time. Oh, snap, take it. Oh, shit. Oh, and then he pooped his pants right there. Look at him standing awkwardly. Because he pooped his pants. Mark just dropped for his first run. Didn't go the way he planned. I don't know what I did and I think I was just like so slow. First run did not go according to plan. What I think happened was I might have started my triple cork slow off the takeoff and didn't even come close to making it around. I see the one from the run. I didn't film it. You didn't film the TV? No, I was filming the one on the inside. I would like to come to the top after my run, see what I need to fix, but someone didn't film it. Just gets anxious at this point. He wants to get up there and drop again right away. So it's just a waiting game now. What time is it right now? Time to go. Let's watch Mark's run and then we need to literally split because you know what? You got one of these contests coming up. Here we go, Mark. Come on, kid. Come on, buddy. One, two, trois. Perfect! Oh my God! One last jump. What's he got? Oh, he's going massive. Oh! Big ole front side. He broke both his legs. I don't know how the f*** he's still snowboarding right now. Ladies and gentlemen, Mark throwing down the run of his life does it. Oh! A salute to the crowd. And here it is, folks. He needs a 95. 94! And it's not going to do it. God, I had it and Seb ended up still staying ahead by a few points. Mark did like the most insane run ever and still got a 94. So Mark got second and it made me think about my summer contest and how I just need to get top 30. So I'm aiming a little bit lower than him, but that's okay, you know? It was quite the wake-up call. Today is a day full of training, driving, and baguettes. All right? Let's go. I'm really happy for my Canadian mate. It would have been nice to end off the season with a gold, but I accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to this season. So I'm ending the year with a smile and healthy and happy. But you're not even going to be able to fly you're so fat. Just chill out. Eat a baguette. You're not going to be able to stand in about 30 seconds. You don't tour, you're just going to get in for free. Okey-dokey. Came across this insanely cool mask shop and I know Craig has this weird thing about masks so I just couldn't resist. Oh, hola, mi amigo. I have the best baguette in Spain. Hola, sir. Try my baguette. It's the best one in Spain. First of all, I hate paper machine because I'm not good at it. Second of all, it's scary. Wait till you see the rest of the ones I got. You got more. Oh, yeah. I think Mark and Adam were right. This drive has turned out to be way longer than we expected. How you doing, Craig? Longer than three hours. The days have now blended together. We don't know where we are. We're somewhere in Spain. I don't know. Where are we, bud? I don't really know where the heck we're going anymore. I'm not questioning your navigational and ornautical skills right now, but seriously, Jack, I actually need to be there tonight though. I understand you have practice tomorrow as your coach. I'll get there. I trust you, buddy. The fun is starting to fade away, and I can see Craig is just starting to lose his steam. My brain has turned numb, and I just want to get to Sierra Nevada. We've been driving forever, it feels like. This is starting to suck, and I can't believe we're still driving. My legs are cramped. I have to go to the bathroom. Oh my gosh, is this the exit to Granada? How can you even see straight? We get up the mountain and all of a sudden we just realize we're not on our Mediterranean storm. Come on, baby. Come on, baby. I'm talking major blizzard, roads covered in snow and ice, and Bessie is not happy. This is a joke, right? Like I'm flooring it. No traction. Old Bessie is revving high. Come on, go, baby, go. Give her a nice push. There we go. Jack's got her pinned to about 6,000 RPMs. They should not be pushing a nine passenger van up a mountain. Five hours before I'm supposed to practice, I just need sleep so badly. Push it, Craig. Every single indicator light was on. It literally said stop. We couldn't stop. We needed momentum. Get in, get in, get in. Go, go, go. Get in. You know, when you have an old cow, sometimes you got to put her down. We almost put Bessie down. I'm sorry to say. She took care of us and we treated her piss poor. Oh, my God. Let's get out of here, dude. Honestly, that was the hardest, most insane mission to conquer. But you know what? We did it. We finally get to the hotel exhausted. We check into the room and the rooms are pretty much a prison cell with two beds, but we were so exhausted after that crazy road trip. Where'd you park? Right there. Wait a second. I think it was right there. Are you serious right now? Are you actually serious? I swear to God, we walk outside the hotel and poor Bessie isn't tied up to the stall we left her. I swear to God, I parked it right here. This is not happening. So we find a little yellow note in the snow and I don't know truck driver thought. You can't just leave a yellow sticky note on the snow where a car was parked. That's a system of doing things. We started being so good and now we're just blowing it. So we called. Hola, ¿cómo estás? Our van got towed. No entiendo. Okay. Mi gusto, carro, but I don't have one. They didn't speak English. It was really hard to understand. No, this is Jack. Why? This is happening. Okay. Thank you. We'll see you in a little bit. Why? We just showed that piece of paper to some of the locals. They're like, it's in this lot. After all we've been through and then they had to go ahead and take our cow away. How did you just do that? We got down to car prison. We went up to the lady. Hello. And you know, I'm just trying to keep the energy up and trying to negotiate a little bit, you know, just trying to get my New Yorker out. So is there any way that you can help us out with the price? Right on. There's something wrong with her cereal that morning because she was pissed. Thank you. Muchas gracias. Okay. We had to spend a little bit more than we wanted to, but we got her out of there. She was only in for one night. Oh, I missed you. So life goes on. Bye. Thank you. Gracias. So which way is the mountain? The mountain of Sierra Nevada is covered in a mist that even Jane Goodall couldn't find a gorilla in. The contest looks like it's going to be canceled. Morel is just terrible right now. There's a picture of the slope-soled course right now, but it keeps telling me to take the lens cap off. Is that bad? That just means that they need to cancel this event. We need to go back down and get a brusque and a baguette. We went up to the hill and you basically couldn't see two inches in front of you. Spanish gods was like, no, we don't want you guys riding right now. So you put his white blanket over the course and we had to go home. It's just been crazy trip so far out here in Spain. Finally, the contest is about to start. The entire existence depends on today. No pressure. So to remain on the national team, I have to get top 30 and that's going to keep my Olympic hopes alive. I'm going to go ahead and say this is the biggest contest of Craig's life today. Craig, I want you to remember this. You're the eye of the tiger. Okay. You're the chariot of fire. Okay. Harvest the energy center your cheek. Had to give Craig the final athlete support pep talk and just trying to fire up that fire that's inside of him. I'll be watching you from down here. Okay. I have a very weird coaching strategy because usually they're up there with you but I'm going to let it slide this time. As soon as I left Craig's side, a girl was by my side. He'd be my Spanish girlfriend? Yeah. Yeah? All right. So it was nice to have someone who I could relate to and especially one as beautiful as Bertha. There he is. In the Stargate, Craig McMorris. Here he goes dropping in. So I was pretty nervous, you know, like everyone in the first runs was falling. So I was just like, Craig just lands something. I'm getting nervous. I really want to get like there's a lot of pressure on me. I hadn't really got to snowboard at all. I'd been on a road trip and people were wondering if that was the best training so I kind of want to prove myself. So he did. He put together smooth safety run. You could tell he was definitely riding very cautious. Craig having the run of his life, if he just stays on his feet we are going to see. Got it. Got it. Got it. When he landed it was just like, Yes. Yes. The whole trip came together and it was like thank goodness. I'm sorry. I was nervous for sure. I was shaking in my boots. You know, it was a mellow run but I needed to just land on my feet so I was pretty stoked to get that under me. Ladies and gentlemen, top 30. Give it up for Craig. Big more ass. So I got a top 30 really stoked on that. Did what I needed to do. Had an awesome road trip with Jack. Couldn't have asked for a better traveling companion. The sun came out and said, you know what, thanks for coming to Spain. Have fun on your next adventure. I think it's time to take off. Let's do this. It's a good road but the journey continues. We're journeyin' on homebound for the next adventure. Along. Two, three, four.