rail to rail balance board: DIY "goof board"

3 months after ACL surgery and i am getting ancy.  I figured a relatively safe idea for fun and excitement would be a new balance board.  An obvious rip off of the " goof board " this DIY job is pretty fun.

i expect to use a larger diameter PVC pipe as i get better and as my leg continues to heal.  

I wrapped the pipe with some foam pre-tape and then a roll of athletic tape.  

being rail to rail is much more of a surfy/skate feel. 

The Worst 20 minute bike ride....ever.

   

The Worst 20 minute bike ride...ever.

  A quick bicycle ride becomes a 12 month ordeal.  

Why did i crash? who ever knows? i have been the victim of speed wobbles, pot holes, faulty crank arms, lack of skill, and lack of focus. Every serious climbing fall has been a lack of focus. Skateboarding crashes generally seem like a lack of skill...bicycles have been both lack of focus and faulty equipment...

I am chocking this one up to lack of focus. I had been putting alot of miles on a Shogun touring bike, and what was intended to be a short intense ride on the fixe, was only about 15 minutes long...including the limp home after the crash. I figure i got about 4 minutes of ride...5 minutes of crash and gathering of wits, and then 6 minutes of limping home with a broken bike, a blown out knee and a jacked up shoulder. 

Paying for radness, putting blood into the game.

  So....as you can see from the pictures that this training ride for ski season, ended my ski season before it started.  What you see above is a shredded ACL.  Below the massive bruise on my shoulder.

 And...the condition of the bike.  The wheel is twisted and cracked. I have not had the heart to give the forks a good check.  I think that in 2014 I will filp this over to single speed free wheel, give myself a little more margin for operator error.

Lake Michigan sailing: fun til death outta South Haven

Sporting a " Fun Til Death" sticker on a sailing vessel is a questionable decision.

Fun til death stickers!

Stickers available. Message me your address.

A number of random pics

Large bugs, banks that if cleaned up, could be sweet skate spots in kalamazoo and grand haven, twelve gage bar ends for scott bars, and stickers available for a SASE.

This bank sits unused while skateboarders do kick flips in an empty lot across the street.

This one would need some work...but would be worth it.

Kalamazoo looses a great ski hill

 Here in the south west of the Mitten our hills are small and often covered with trees and or brush. So when there is a hill that is open, and kept free of brush by a local college and it is 5 minutes from your front door- a love affair begins.  During winter storms your sneaking out to ski that hill alone or with friends.  small, steep and cheap. A friend of sledders, Midwest bound snowboarders, and the place where i unlocked how to turn- all lost under the excavator and Kalamazoo College's new development


This commercial for the Mt. Bohemia Experience brought a smile to my face though.

Still no snow here- which is fine. Sunny warm Octobers are always welcome.

Glen Dale Mini Half.

Upjohn Skatepark : frontside practice

OOOF! The price of radness is paid.

The Set up

The Bail

 All taken with the timed shutter of my cell phone camera so the scenes captured are kinda random. Unfortunately I didn't catch a single successful frontside carve or....attempt at frontside slasher grinds. 

For those of you who are interested:  Limited Edition Fun Til Death stickers are available.  Send me your address and i will mail out a few. Excellent addition to helmets, skis, poles, skateboards, etc. 

Salomon ADV 8 Backcountry ski boot

I have waited, like a puma..silently craving the beefiest boot Salomon offers in a cross country boot.  Then on deep discount i pounced- throwing caution to the wind and bought the Solomon ADV 8 backcountry Ski boot. These boots came to me in July, which is the worst possible month to test ski boots in Michigan.
So these are so far untested- I did take some pics though for comparison.  Those of you who might be considering this boot may appreciate it.

Not every person who skis,but every Skiier i have met is kinda always on the search for the best possible set up..until they find it. Maybe it is the never ending search for the perfect ski,  I figure that for some this is a never ending saga, while others figure it out stick to it and accept the limitations while reveling in things that the rig has to offer.  Many will read this posting and have lots of ideas on how to make these ski rigs better...and i welcome that but please consider the following:

          1. I am committed to a ski that i can tour for turns with.  Not really doing lift skiing means i need to climb and snake between the trees on the ups and down.
          2. I really like making turns, I like the idea of skill over gear.

These are the skis that i want to drive through the powder.

The higher cuff on the ADV 8 is all fluff....errr...integrated Gator- which think will be pretty sweet...but what am i gonna do with my 20 year old OR gators?

Some will say...just go with the Excursions...but those are not mine, borrowed from a friend.

 and used at the telemark festival that is described in this post : aftermath-of-blizzardzilla-body-is-shot

Two looks at the ankle support of the ADV 8s. From playing around with them, i doubt that they will be much more supportive in the ankle than the Greenlands.

Here is the Greenland.  This boot was revelation to me, from what i could tell at the time, it was the perfect boot.

The undersides of both boots. The ADV 8s do feel like they have a heavier sole than the Greenlands.  I am unsure if this will add much control to the boot.

Why Such heavily lugged soles on the new ones? I never had a traction problem walking around in the greenlands.

Lansing, Michigan Skate Park

Fun Til Death!

 - I have been having so much fun as of late that i haven't had much time to document it here.  Fun has included: family camping trip to Lake Michigan,  construction of the Glendale mini-half, and trip to Ranney Skate park in Lansing, Michigan.  

most of the pictures of the park in Lansing turned out horrible. The spot is worth a visit- lots of fun lines banks, transition and some spot where kids can flip their boards around.  Especially liked the banks here.

Todd drops in the pool.

preparation of the grounds

Cutting Tranny

the two dimensional view

does this carve make me look fat?

The Bert Slide is certainly Fun Til Death.  Being a skateboard trick that is low to the ground - falls or crashes from attempting this extremely stylish move are relatively mild. These pics are a compilation, that looks like a series. I pulled out of a couple of these....but i also lost control and fell out of many of these.

This is all a little later than usual dawn patrol church of skaten at Upjohn park.  The park had some wet spots, but you know....wet spots are always the result of fun.  West Michigan had a ton of fun storms, which over the week proceeding and during the Memorial Day weekend of 2011 i had opportunity to camp in. Upjohn park as well as a lot of other spots in West Michigan were flooded.

The 'thane lines on the bank remind me of ski tracks.

On the Old Man Army forum, some one mentioned looking into your arm pit as a method for getting the frontside crave down. They were right, and it has started to open lots of lines for me.

I am wondering if it is too early to start thinking about Ski Boots.  I am financially committed to the binding system i am running- just thinking about an upgrade on boots.

Often fun til death must be planned out months in advance.

Ok- so I am really happy about getting this high frontside on our local bowl. This is real progress. However,  when i am really invested in balance and some one takes a picture- looks like my gut is huge... I think that this may be a result of the Chi Gong- sinking my chi into my tan tien......or maybe the beer that i sink into my gut.