Congratulations to Jack H. for answering last weeks blog about Michigan Snowboard Companies. Because he was the smartest and fastest out of the group, he is taking home a brand new Dragon Snowboard Beanie. I hope it keeps your head warm, and thank you for reading jonathantollefson.com.
Two Michigan Snowboard Companies
Marhar Snowboard Co. located on the west coast of Michigan, started a couple of years ago, and is bringing a whole new aspect to riding. These guys are innovative and are building boards with original shapes that have the potential to revolutionize the snowboard industry. Their boards are made with killer materials which I am going to keep secret. If you are interested in a sweet ride, look’em up at www.marharsnowboards.com.
Epix Snowboard Company is located on the eastern coast of Michigan, and has been on the map since early 2000. They design boards that I have seen rode in competitions around the state, and I have recently seen posts of them adding more presses to their shop. From graphics to board construction, Epix will build a board that fits you. Looking for a killer 2010/2011 board to add to your quiver be sure to check Epix out at www.epixsnowboards.com.
Last week we had the chance to wakeboard at Wake Nation which is a cable park located in Cincinnati, OH. Being one of the few cable parks in the Midwest, we decided to make the 4.5 hour journey to get there. Was the journey worth it? You know it! From the time we walked in the door to the time we left, it was like we were in wakeboard heaven. The customer service was great, the park is pimp, all ages can participate, and everyone there was more than willing to answer questions. If you don’t have a boat and use that as an excuse why you don’t wakeboard, look no further. Cable parks are popping up all over the world, and are the perfect choice for someone who doesn’t have a boat. The price is right, and you can wakeboard your heart out for hours. That is if your body doesn’t give in first. I see cable parks working their way into every state and if they are not, we need to do something about it!
Enjoy the short video I put together of Andrew and I ripping up Wake Nation. We had a blast and will be heading back real soon. Anyone want to come?
Keeping it raw and straight to the point, the S4 is a sweet ride. I rode this board not knowing how it was going to react and I was generally pleased. The S4 is a smooth buttery ride. When on edge it would bite like a rattler. For surface tricks, it was easy to break free which allowed me to slide effortlessly all day long. Taking this board to the wake you will notice that it holds a consistent edge all the way through the wake, and when you stand tall at the tip of the wake you better be ready to get boosted. With a pop that is always the same, you can be assured to come back down with a soft landing. Forgiving landings are huge when you take into consideration the speed that the S4 carries. This board holds speed all the way through the wake, and soaring into the flats is not an issue. In the end the board preformed better than I though, and it also has killer graphics. Liquid Force, Phillip Soven, and their team built a killer board that has a Bay Watch attraction of Pam Anderson running on the beach!
If you have never wakeboarded before this is not the board for you. Get a cheap board to get you out on the water so you can start to learn your riding style. If you are looking to advance your skills and take your game out into the flats, go to the store and pick up an S4. Wake to wake riders be careful of what you are getting into. You can tame it, but can you tame yourself?
In a post I wrote earlier this year, I stated that I was not sure if the Outlaw Slinger from Banshee Bungee was going to be able to pull me across the water. Well it did! One the flip side, we found a problem. It did not pull me fast enough to do anything that I would want to do. Now before I create a problem, I have always been told to solve the problem first, so I am going to take that route.
To solve the Banshee Bungee problem, I have came up with a few different solutions.
1. Buy the Federal Offense. This would give us twice the power, and is sure to get us across the water in order to hit a rail. Need more people to pull this thing back!
2. Get a bigger board. This would help get us on top of the water, and hopefully help create more speed.
3. Use a skim type board. A skim board would help us keep the speed because skim boards have less rocker than a traditional wakeboard. I believe the rocker that is designed into a wakeboard causes a lot more drag, and having less of this would defiantly help keep our speed to the rail.
4. Use a better starting platform. By using the grass as the starting point, I lost a lot of the initial pull that the bungee needs to get me going across the water. A nice plastic surface would have been perfect.
5. I could always loose 20-30 lbs, but I doubt that is going to happen.
So what do you think? Do you have any ideas on how we could make this work?
Either way, I put together a short video for all of you to enjoy. It was rainy and cold, dealing with the apartment manager was not fun, and thank you to my buddy Andrew for helping me out. We had a blast testing the Banshee Bungee out on the water, and I am determined to figure out how I can make this work. From there the possibilites are going to be endless. Enjoy!
One of my major gripes about living in the Midwest is that there is always a huge gap from time snowboarding is over to the time we can get on the water and wakeboard or wakesurf. Not to mention we have to deal with the same gap when we go from the water season to the snow season. I like to call these two gaps Fall and Spring. One of my goals is to fill the gaps, and lucky for you I have found another way to do just that. Have you ever heard of a skateboard/longboard called the Freebord?
Freebord came out with an innovative way to turn longboarding/skateboarding into snowboarding without snow. With this board you can now cruise down a hill like you would on a longboard; however it will now feel like you are on a snowboard. Their goal was to replicate the snowboarding experience and bring snowboarding to dry land. With the freebord you have total speed control, you can slide to a stop, and you can now carve down the hill like you would on the snow. It is hard to put into words how the Freebord system works, but I will take a stab at it.
The Freebord is a skateboard/longboard hybird that is longer than your typical skateboard and it has additional caster wheels positioned behind each of the trucks. The board has special bindings to keep your feet attached to the board, and the bindings also help you preform snowboard type maneuvers down the hill . With the addition of extra caster wheels you will be able to slide sideways down the hill as you would on a snowboard. Like I said, it is hard to explain, but if you can imagine snowboarding down an asphalt or concrete hill, you are well on your way to understanding the freebord experience.
Lucky for me, Youtube was invented, and we have fanatics of the Freebord that have produced a few videos of it in action. Since actions speak louder than words, check out the video, and I will let you decide if this is how you want to shorten the gap all of us in the Midwest fall victim to. Enjoy the video, and I hope to see more people Boarding the Midwest All day, Everyday.
