Wintersports
Snowmobile
A day 20 years in the making: Levi LaVallee on living out his dream day
"These three sports have been staples in my life, where I find joy and where I find happiness, and I’ve learned so much from each of them."
Professional Snowmobiler Levi LaVallee has accomplished quite a lot over the course of his career. He’s a seven-time Winter X Games Gold Medalist, he was the first to attempt a double backflip on snowmobile, and he holds the world record for longest jump on a snowmobile with a distance of 412 feet.
Levi Lavallee on his snowmobile during his Dream Day in Longville, MN
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
On April 23, 2024, Levi accomplished another feat: the dream of doing his three favorite sports in one single day: snowmobiling, dirt biking and wakeboarding. From sunrise on the snow to sunset on a glassy lake, Levi lived out a vision that was years in the making.
It’s been a dream forever… all three are passions of mine and I’ve always wanted to do it in a single day.
Where did this idea come from? How long have you had it?
The original idea came to me almost 18 or 20 years ago. I had a boat and a dirt bike, and I used to wake up and go ride dirt bike in the morning with a buddy of mine, over at his track. And then I had another friend who’d get off work around two, and I’d meet him in town with my boat and we’d go out wakeboarding all afternoon. Often we’d wakeboard until the sun went down. We’d be out on the lake and it would be so pure, and I remember thinking 'Man, if I could ride my snowmobile in a day along with what I just did… the dirt biking and the wakeboarding… that would be the perfect day.' So it’s been lingering in my head forever and ever, and I’m always thinking about how could I make it happen? How would it work? And we finally accomplished it!
Levi Lavallee riding a dirt bike during his Dream Day in Longville
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
Having done it, was it truly a dream day?
It absolutely lived up to my expectations. It was so cool throughout the entire day, to just step outside of myself and think about what I was accomplishing. I was all smiles, all day long.
My favorite thing about this project was that I wasn’t necessarily out there trying to break a record, but that I was out there doing these three disciplines that I love for the joy of doing them. And that was so rewarding to me… like these three sports have been staples in my life, where I find joy and where I find happiness, and I’ve learned so much from each of them. It was really rewarding and special to get to do them all in the same day, knowing what each has meant to me throughout my life.
In my head, I’m checking off the boxes like here are these three things I’ve been passionate about for the majority of my life, and I’m doing them one after the other all in the same day. Usually, I ride snowmobile in the winter. I get out and ride dirt bike in the spring and fall, and my summer is all about wakeboarding and being on the lake. I literally went through all the seasons in one day. It was an incredible experience, to think that my entire life these things have been constrained to a given season and finally I combined them all. It’s mind boggling to think about what we achieved.
When you began to plan this, what were the biggest worries about feasibility or obstacles to overcome in order to make this day happen?
The big hurdle is obviously going from a winter sport into a summer sport! And that’s a dynamic shift! You’re going to need snow, which really only exists for a short period when it’s cold enough, but at the same time you need open water for wakeboarding, so you need it to be warm enough for the ice to be off the lake so you can get your boat in the water. And then with the dirt bike, you can ride on frozen ground but it’s less than ideal. So that was the true challenge: finding the sweet spot where it was cold enough for snow, but warm enough for thawed ground and open water, and geographically close enough that we could do it all in the same day. It’s a pretty narrow window where all those things aligned, especially in Minnesota!
Levi Lavallee's Dream Day in Longville, Minnesota, USA on April 23 2024
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
Like you said, you went from Winter to Summer over the course of the day, which must have been a shock to the body. How were the conditions for you?
Obviously, the lake portion was cooler than I’m used to. I had a wetsuit, which helped tremendously, but honestly I was just so fired up about what was happening that I almost didn’t notice.
What was the actual hardest part of the day?
It was definitely the lake portion. I wasn’t sure how it would go for a few reasons. I’ve never wakeboarded in cold water before, so I didn’t have a lot of experience with wetsuits. On top of that, I hadn’t wakeboarded since the previous summer… so it was my first time back on the water and on a board. That was a challenge and it took me a bit of time to warm up to everything, but once I got going it was just like I remembered and still as much fun. And that was rewarding, once I got loosened up and started feeling the mojo out there.
This certainly was a sportive challenge. You did three very different sports within a 15-hour period!
That was the challenge! I shifted my competitive juices from doing something bigger or better and focused on how we would accomplish all of it. Knowing that we had to drive several hours to the snow, and then drive back three hours to get to the dirt bike. And to try and articulate all of these different elements in one day is what took the planning and the effort. But all of that planning and effort made the day that much more rewarding.
Levi Lavallee riding a dirt bike during his Dream Day in Longville, MN
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
Athletes talk a lot about getting in the zone, or finding their flow state, and it seemed like you were able to find that for each sport. Would you agree?
For sure. I mean, all three of the different disciplines are things I really love. Obviously coming off of winter, I felt right at home and comfortable on the snowmobile. But even with minimal time on the bike or the wakeboard this year, it’s just something that was fun to get in a position where my mindset shifts to I’m enjoying this, I’m having fun. What was so pure to me for the whole day was that I was enjoying everything so much. Was it the best riding I’ve ever done on the dirt bike, or the best wakeboarding I’ll do this year? Probably not, but in the moment I just had so much joy because I was doing these things that I truly love, all in this day, and it made each thing that much more enjoyable for me.
When I was out there ripping on the bike, I was grinning from ear to ear, and having a ball. And once I got comfortable on the water, it was the same thing. I kept thinking,“This is what I love to do.”
How do you prepare for a day like this, both physically and mentally?
Physically, I was trying to get comfortable with what I could. We just wrapped snow season, so I was feeling pretty good about the snowmobile. I was able to get out and ride my dirt bike once beforehand, which was helpful. But for the wakeboarding, there wasn’t much I could do, really. I’d just gotten the boat days before and the 23rd was the first day I’d put it in the water. I think the one thing I really could control was just making sure I had all of the different elements covered, regarding equipment and the set up, so that when the day came we weren’t scrambling to put gas in the bike or find my helmet, or stuff like that. I did what I could to make it as easy as possible to get from one piece to the next. Which, I always believe in overpreparing, because then you’re less stressed. And that contributed to the joy of the day! I’d already worried about everything, so I could just enjoy myself.
Levi Lavallee on a snowmobile during his Dream Day in Longville, MN
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
Let’s say you get to do a Dream Day Part Two… what would it entail?
I’d have to think about this, I mean I’ve thought about the first dream day for 20 years! I guess it’s finding those things that really make you tick, that really excites you. There are so many things that bring joy to me and make me smile, so I’m sure I could come up with a few more ideas. Something that I always tell people is that I hope everyone finds a passion, something they love to do and gets them fired up.
You’re part of a Consumer Activation where you’re inviting people to submit their dream days and you’ll be picking a winner to actually live out that dream… any guesses into what sort of dream days you’re going to see?
The possibilities are really endless! You know, it’s like you’re the artist and you’re staring at a blank canvas and can paint literally anything… and Red Bull is giving people this opportunity and saying Paint your picture and let’s try to live that out. For me, I’ve had tremendous amount of opportunities to do cool things, but this was one of those times where I was able to paint that picture and say this is what I want to do if I could do anything. And now folks have that opportunity to do exactly that. And I hope we get some really cool ideas and I can’t wait to help live out someone else’s dream.
Levi Lavallee's Dream Day in Longville, Minnesota
© Stephan Jende / Red Bull Content Pool
What’s your dream day? Submit your idea for a chance to live out your dream with Levi LaVallee.
