Fustrating Couple of Weeks

The above photograph pretty much sums up my attempts at recent trails hunting - nice track approximatley 5 foot wide, reasonable gradient, no ramblers or dog walkers, good length, but unrideable in full due to the frequent use of a locked gate or style.

Seems to be the way for footpaths, but not so bad for bridleways (got to get the horse through!) or single track routes which more than often seem to deliver the goods a bit more. I suppose that discouraging anything that might be considered fun is a particularly good way to keep people off your land.

Big disappointment this weekend that I was unable to attend the ATBA-UK Round 4 Final due to a stinking cold; the initial reports seem to suggest that it was a good'un with great weather for the BX at the very least.  As usual, I'll put up a separate post to link to the various articles and videos that should crop up over the next couple of weeks.

noSno Owners Club

The noSno Owners Club is going from strength to strength.  Only a fortnight ago it had zero members, now at time of writing, it has 12 - an increase of infinity percent!!

In contrast, considering that this blog has been going for approximately 2 years now and only has 9 followers (according to blogger) is a little disappointing, but hey, ho, content has been a bit light recently.

So, are you on facebook?  Do you ride a noSno?  Then join up soldier!

Sexy Ratchets!

"When browsing please sit back to avoid drool from spilling into your computer..." - Trampa Website Welcome Message

Out boarding up Cromford Hills last weekend (separate post in the works) and managed to finally break one of the ratchets on my heel strap.  Purchased from Trampa in December 2006, they've not done badly at all, especially considering that I've got through a couple of sets of MBS ratchets for the F3 bindings in the meantime.  When I say break, all that's actually happened is that the return spring has broke so that the ratchet arm won't return automatically, not like the MBS ones where the plastic section wore sufficiently so that the ratchet wouldn't disengage without a bit of a battle.

Anyway, it doesn't break the bank to purchase new ones, especially as Trampa sell them in all kinds of sexy colours to tempt you.  Even though I'm normally a 'performance over looks' kind of fella, if they do the job and do the business, then great!  Two for £10, £6 each - bargain!  Take a look at the range here.

Trampa sell their products with additional P&P based on weight (very sensibly) and came to not unreasonable £2.50 (or there or thereabouts...).  Decided to add to the mix a spare set of ladder straps and to save a ride just in case (and especially as I've been caught out recently), a couple of 8" and 9" inner tubes.  P&P still came to £2.50 or thereabouts so all good stuff.

Turned up safe and sound in a couple of days so all good for this weekends fix of ride with your cock out, rock and roll mountainboarding! Have fun out there!

New Toys and Stuff

Every year that we get a reasonable amount of snow fall, I scour the pages of ebay for cheap snowboards,... along with every other dude with a similar idea.  Used boards of all makes and models turn up and inevitably go for silly prices as everyone bids in hope.  Problem is separating the wheat from the chaff and the genuine bargain 'used once and didn't like it' from the 'two years old (but used on the dry slope twice a week since'.

Speaking to a couple of people in the know (though who really knows...) seemed to suggest that the new season stuff comes in around September time so hey, see what you can get your hands on around August sort of time.  And besides, how much of an advancement does a board make from one season to the next anyway?

So, board, boots and bindings were sought, and as of today, I'm a third of the way there...

Brand new, 2006 Ride Control 162 should do me alright bought for not many pounds of ebay. I think I got lucky as there are plenty of people bidding on items, even at this time of they year - they must also have the same idea.  As mentioned previously on other postings, I never get to Tamworth Snowdome more than once a month, even less so at the moment with the 7 month-old on the loose and the chance of real snow this year is minimal so I don't need anything too advanced.

Boots and bindings still to be sorted, though I was quite disappointed to be told that snowboarding in hiking boots and my noSno Rage bindings wasn't a great idea. Following advice to get down the shops and try on some boots it seems as though Salomon Dialogue boots will support my high arches and would you believe it, it's the only pair not to be on sale right now :-(    But the fella from Salomon Customer support reckons the F20 boot is the same shape inside and they seem to be £40 cheaper.  But that's still loads so its back to ebay, gotta get those bargains!

Behold the Short Trousers of Dooom!!!

Eagle-eyed readers may think that these 'Short Trousers of Dooom!!!' are just a pair of shorts with a bit of leather stitched to the left arse cheek, secured with a bit of super glue here and there.

And they'd be right except that the headline 'old pair of shorts gets a new lease of life' doesn't sound quite so exciting.

And, how many power slides do you think it'll take to rip the leather clean off revealing a large hole and exposing my delicate bum flesh and/or rapidly deteriorating Hillbilly impact shorts?  Not many I guess, mainly because I know the quality of the leather stitching isn't that great, and because my power slides, though effective, are technically harsh on the buttocks, resulting in the hole in the first place.

Perhaps a new pair of shorts is in order - they usually last me a season.

Thinking out loud, a friend of my dad's an expert in leather printing, leading me to wonder just how many boarding folks would want their respective logos printed in leather?  Could be a nice novelty but quite hard wearing which always helps in this game.  All I know is that he's called Peter and he works with leather, and the internet being what it is, I'm reluctant to type 'leather' into Google...

Haredown Headcam

Not from Round 3, but entertaining non the less, in fact, view all their videos - all good stuff!


In other news, no posts recently not due to writers block, simply that I've lost the download cable for my phone and can't get the photos off it!  Brand new content soon, hopefully!

ATBA Round 3 Results

ATBA Round 3 results are now available predictably from the Results page on the ATBA website here.  But then you already knew this as you've signed up for the ATBA newsletter, haven't you?  Congratulations to all competitors.

No videos or pictures found yet, I'll link to them below as and when they become available.

Video up via the Project Doc fellas - can be viewed here.

Next up, Round 4 on the 28th/29th August at Hales Superbole.  Hopefully see you there!