It’s been a crazy week for Steve Fisher.

After winning the Winter X Games gold medal in the halfpipe last Sunday in Aspen, Colo., the pro snowboarder had precious little down time before rushing to Central Oregon for the U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix at Mount Bachelor, where he will compete today.

”It’s been a little hectic, I’m not gonna lie,” Fisher said with a quick smile Thursday while sitting in Bachelor’s West Village Lodge after a practice session. ”I still don’t even know. I’m still trying to grasp at how big that (X Games gold) was, and exactly what happened. It’s just really exciting … not a lot of sleep, I’ve just been so excited about everything.”

After a stunning upset of world-renowned snowboarder Shaun White at the X Games, Fisher left the bright lights and huge crowds of Aspen and found himself practicing in Bachelor’s halfpipe in front of only a handful of spectators Thursday and Friday.

Fisher, 24, said he hopes to take some momentum from the X Games into today’s contest. While White is not competing at Bachelor, Fisher, who lives in Breckenridge, Colo., will be up against some of the best halfpipe riders in the country, including Mason Aguirre (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Tommy Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.), Scott Lago (Seabrook, N.H.) and Danny Davis (Highland, Mich.).

Now a two-time X Games gold medalist in the halfpipe, Fisher said he is riding his best since he first won the X Games in 2004.

”I was really excited and really confident in my riding throughout the week,” Fisher said. ”I definitely wanted to win, but I wasn’t, like, gunning for Shaun or anything like that. I was just really happy with my riding. I was riding, I feel, WAY stronger than I have in the past couple years, so I was just really pumped on that, and basically just wanted to land. And I did that the first run and it ended up sticking.”

After Fisher’s victory, ESPN’s cameras showed White taking a snowmobile ride up to the top of the halfpipe to take another run. Fisher said he never received a congratulations from White, who Fisher believes was just frustrated with himself.

”It’s not a big deal to me,” said the easygoing Fisher. ”I feel like he was really upset after the event, and I actually feel kind of bad. I wasn’t gunning for him.

”It was really weird, I don’t know what happened. Everybody was coming up to me, being like ‘Hey, he was really bummed, he didn’t even congratulate you.’ ”

But Fisher, much like White, is more concerned about competing with himself than worried about what other riders are doing.

After a slow start this year, the X Games victory offered some redemption for Fisher. But he is still looking for a strong performance in a Grand Prix event after placing a disappointing seventh in the first Grand Prix of the season at his hometown of Breckenridge in December.

”This year was a little bit frustrating for me at the start,” Fisher said. ”I really wanted to do well at the Breckenridge Grand Prix because I felt that I had been riding with more confidence and was back where I should be. But I ended up in seventh, and I was a little bit bummed out by that, and that definitely fueled the fire. I want to ride well here (at Bachelor) and at least put on a good show for people.”

Fisher – who began riding a halfpipe at age 8 near where he grew up in St. Louis Park, Minn. – missed qualifying for the 2006 Olympic team by just two spots.

While last year’s Grand Prix at Bachelor was an Olympic qualifier, this year’s event is still a crucial one for riders, as the Grand Prix is considered the country’s premier professional snowboarding series.

”Every Grand Prix is a big event,” Fisher said.

Last year at the Bachelor Grand Prix, halfpipe riders were slowed by several inches of snow that fell in the pipe, and the contest was even postponed due to harsh weather.

Fisher and other riders are hoping that skies remain clear on the mountain today.

”I definitely like coming to Bachelor,” Fisher said. ”It’s a little difficult sometimes when there’s five feet of pow’ and you have to have a halfpipe contest, but it’s looking to be pretty good in terms of weather. It should be nice not having a pow’ pipe.”

Fisher, who stands an unimposing 5 feet 7 inches tall, said he is not really working on any new tricks, but rather just trying to keep everything ”smooth and big.”

U.S. Snowboarding halfpipe coach Mike Jankowski said Thursday that backside 900s – in which riders take off with their backs to the pipe and execute 2> rotations – are a ”pretty hot new trick.”

”Steve Fisher is doing them real big,” Jankowski said. ”He did one of the biggest one’s I’ve ever seen in the X Games. It’s a very difficult, technical maneuver, and not a lot of riders do it. You won’t see a lot of backside 900s.”

Today’s women’s halfpipe competition will also feature some of the best tricks and biggest names in female snowboarding, including 2006 Olympic silver medalist and last year’s Bachelor Grand Prix winner Gretchen Bleiler of Aspen, Colo. Also competing is last week’s X Games gold medalist, Torah Bright of Australia, and 2002 Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark, of Mount Snow, Vt.

Lindsey Jacobellis, of Stratton Mountain, Vt., is also on the roster for both halfpipe and slopestyle, though she is more known for snowboardcross, the event in which she won an Olympic silver medal last year and an X Games silver medal last week.

Both the men’s and women’s halfpipe winners will take home $14,000, with $7,000 to second place and $3,500 to third place for both men and women.

”If you can get a podium or a top five you’ll definitely be on the radar for the U.S. team,” Jankowski said. ”There’s definitely quite a bit on the line here.”

U.S. SNOWBOARD GRAND PRIX

At Mount Bachelor

Today – Women’s halfpipe qualifier from 9:15 to 10:30 a.m.; men’s halfpipe qualifier from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; halfpipe finals from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Sunday – Women’s slopestyle qualifier from 9:15 to 10:30 a.m.; men’s slopestyle qualifier from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; slopestyle finals from 2 to 3:30 p.m.