Design, Art, Music, Technology, Travel, Active (Skate, Snow, Martial Arts) and Life
This is an interesting video. A lot of great historical moments and milestones of snowboarding. I thought this was a great post since it is already snowing up in the hills of Colorado, and I can’t wait to get up there.
A friend just showed me some Andy Hug footage. Up until now, I was unaware of this martial arts champion. A Swiss martial artist, Hug passed away in 2000 leaving behind an impressive legacy of a warrior.
The Kyokushin Karate practitioner had a very lethal leg. His kicks were not only powerful, but they were fast and very dynamic. His popular kick was the straight forward kick, and as you will see in this video, a lot of his opponents were hit on the way down of the kick.
As much as I appreciate Ju Jitsu and the popular MMA circuits, it is nice to see a martial arts fight where there is a little more stand up action. He did win several K-1 championships; “K-1 is a combat sport that combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San shou, Kickboxing, traditional Boxing, and other martial arts to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the “1″).” (definition by: Wiki)
Check out this “Best Of Andy hug” part 1 video from YouTube:
The wait is over! Well will be tomorrow.
A-Basin will open Wednesday October 15, 2008! It will be the first resort in Colorado and possible nationally, to open for the 2008 season.
Late addition:
My apologies for not mentioning that Loveland also opened this day. So, they both tied in this friendly competition of being the first ski/snowboard resort to open for the 2008/2009 season.
The first day isn’t always the greatest snow and conditions, but it’s something to ride/ski on!
I just received a pair of Ride Contraband bindings and am anxious to try them out.
I have been riding Burton bindings, religiously, for he past several years. Prior to my Burton phase, I did have the fist series Ride Team bindings (neon orange and carbon fiber highbacks) and loved them. I then made “franken-binding with Ride team straps”, Burton P1 baseplates, demo Burton Cap straps, and I did manage to fit the Ride Carbon highbacks on the P1 baseplates as well. That was the past.
Now this is now.
Ride Contraband Bindings
Ride has gone the route of aluminum baseplates for several years. For several reasons from aestethic design, flex & response, stability & durability, weight to strength ratio, and I was also informed several years ago that Burton held patents* on the unibody nylon composite baseplate and this may have affected binding manufacturing approaches towards the use of different materials like aluminum. Now, aluminum is much stronger than nylon, but I have seen some Ride baseplates break as well. Aluminum doesn’t allow for many flex patterns, but you do get a constant with the level of stiffness in the baseplates they have. You can count on very solid, and responsive plates. They do the customizing with the straps and highbacks. Some people forget that with the combination of board, boots and bindings, you can create an array of flex patterns for the varied riding styles. I can talk about that later… what I want to talk about are the new Ride Contraband bindings!
So, aside from the traditional ride styling and design, there is an obvious new aspect. The single strap with toe harness. There is a traditional ankle strap, and connected to it, is a toe harness, similar to a chin-strap for your foot. Fully adjustable in both length and angle! This should make entry and existing a snap. Another cool feature is the width adjustment of the frontal area of the where the toe strap connects to the baseplate. Bindings have a fixed width baseplate, but this allows the rider to adjust where the new toe strap mounts to the baseplate, and allows you to customize the width of that area between the strap and the outer sidewall reinforcement. This will not only get you in the range, but provide an ideal snug fir for your boot’s length and now width!
Check these videos for more info and the teaser!
View the Contraband teaser here:
I do love Burton bindings, with their very comfortable straps, one of the cap strap pioneers, along side Marc Frank, the usage of versatile nylon and fiberglass composite baseplates, provide a nice buffet of flex patterns in their Burton line-up. I do still have my Uninc EST’s, which probably aren’t going anywhere.
I will say, with any snowboard equipment, you must go with the product which best suits your needs, riding styles, budget, and most importantly, comfort. Notice, I did not say anything about your favorite colors or graphics 
Click here to read the latest post >>
*Burton Patent appended note:
You can read my reply to a comment regarding the patent questionability in the comments below, as a reader brought it to my attention that it may not be true. I have since edited this section in the above post and added this footnote, but the primary subject of this post is about the Ride Contraband Binding, not patents. My apologies if I had any incorrect information, but my patent research still points to some truth regarding Burton’s patents.
This reminds me a lot of Dae Won Song and Rodney Mullen technicality, but applied to rails. They’re not huge hammers, but still, crazy!
Watch all of it!
Gou Miyagi
My apologies that I have not provided a full on review of experienced riding with these bindings since my last post. I have a sprained ankle and prob won’t get to ride until December.
I do have close friends at intermediate to advanced levels who say they love them. They definitely do feel different they said.
One mentioned that you have really responsive toe edge since the strap essentially connects to the bottom of the toe area of the binding rather than just the sides. They also said that for park/pipe and hiking, they can see them being awesome and really convenient.
They also did well in freeriding, although you can notice the strap is not really there like the traditional feel you may be accustomed to, but they do provide the necessary support required for hard freeriding.
As for set up:
Bindings are fairly easy to set up most of the time, if you want to fine tune the fit, then you will probably spend some more time adjusting strap lengths and high back rotation. The Contrabands allow for all of this, however, you have to time your adjustments accordingly. Adjusting the toe strap requires some bottom screws for the width and the length, so you cannot mount the binding first. Similar to the Burton toe strap longitudinal adjustment which also must be adjusted while unmounted. This isn’t a huge problem unless another rider is using your board and needs different settings.
I ended up pulling the toe strap length (front screw) all the way out for a size 9 U.S., then adjusting the upper part (ankle strap connection) to adjust for the centering and slack.
It was a little difficult to unscrew that, and then press the strap so that the insert gets recessed enough to pull the strap out or in. I did this by simply pressing the strap downward near the insert with a screw driver tip and pulling. Once you get it to budge initially, then it is much easier to move.
The width adjustment is pretty easy, this uses the screw on the inner part of the binding. If you need to, you can pull it in quite a bit, and you will have to cut away the perforated baseplate foam in that area to make clearance for it.
After mounting, then I go for the highback rotation which is fairly simple and similar to their other bindings. This adjustment is optional, but some recommend and I prefer, to have my highback angle parallel to the edges of the board. This will give more heel side support, and prevent inner calf interference of the highback. It is a minor adjustment, but makes a huge difference. On most bindings, you will most likely have to pull the highback to get the final screw into the insert properly. This is normal, since you are altering the angle from its default state. This can affect the forward lean adjuster too, so make adjustment accordingly to that.
So aside from those initial set up factors, the overall mounting and set up is not too difficult. I will say it a little more work than traditional bindings, but well worth it.
for details you can check the videos in the previous post on Ride.com.
What can I say… I have been in the scene since pioneering videos such as Scream of Consciousness (Burton), New Kids on the Twock, Big Jean Fantasy, Upping the Ante, Coming Down the Mountain (TB series), to the infamous current Mack Dawg films like Meltdown Project, Decade and even the current Double Decade (Double Decade is off the hook!). even with all of those being great films, That’s It, That’s All is AMAZING!
Travis Rice and a group of other talented riders have been making this film for the past 2 years. Featuring the talent of Travis rice, Nicolas Müller, Terje Håkonsen, Jeremy Jones, John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Pat Moore, Scotty Lago, Bryan Iguchi, Jake Blauvelt, Danny Kass, and a few more. Put them together with Hi Def, 35 mm, and super16 filming by amazing cinematographers (Curt Morgan) & photographers, Red Bull, Lib tech, and Quicksilver sponsors behind it, and you get one of the best snowboard videos ever made!
I used to be able to name tricks as they rolled across the screen. Deciphering the spins and flips was key in learning new tricks for myself. There are some things that Travis does in this video that I have no idea what to call them.
Also, it doesn’t just feature flips, spins and corkscrews either, even though they are performed on back country hits. There’s some Big mountain riding in endless powder sessions, first descents, ridge lines, heli-boarding, all of that good stuff to make this a well rounded video of many styles of riding, gorgeous cinematography, and an ear-pleasing soundtrack. I like the creative play with the intro as well, unique views of the film processing was pretty cool.
The passion and skills these riders have in this realm is just unbelievable. They have taken it to a few orders of magnitude higher than most seasonal progression does.
I finally got out and rode a couple weeks ago! Colorado is getting dumped on in many places. Beaver Creek has received 40″ in the past 7 days!
Ok, back to the review…
This was my second posts based on others’ feedback:
Ride Contraband Review
These bindings were surprisingly supportive for having the new strap technology. You can feel a slightly looser feel near the toes with extreme lateral and medial flex, but I mean you would really have to be leaned into a pretty stylish poke or “euro-carve.” It’s not enough to really have to adjust your riding though.
The leverage you get on your toe edge is interesting, since the toe strap “thong” part curves over the top and under the binding. It can get pretty sensitive, which I do like for edge control.
They do have a strange feeling on the toe area, or no feeling at all really. It feels like you don’t have much over your toe and give a “phantom” feel of nothing, but you have the support and response you need.
Overall, I was impressed with the feel and support of these bindings. They do have an aluminum baseplate, so they will feel stiffer than nylon plastic bindings. the ankle strap is comfy and supportive. There are a lot of adjustments to really get these customized to YOUR foot, including frontal foot width, heel cup, highback rotation, forward lean, and straps. The ease of getting in and out is definitely a plus with only having t deal with one buckle (ratchet).
The only negative thing may be relative to the rider and your boots. I found that the point right below the main ankle strap where it begins to split into the toe strap, introduces a new pressure area which is not usually present on conventional two strap bindings. It did bother me a little bit, but I’m also breaking in a brand new pair of boots. I’m not saying it is enough to detour me from riding these bindings, but you should strap into these for at least 15 – 20 minutes before heading to the slope, or heading out of the store and see if they affect your foot shape. You should do this with any pair of bindings and boots any ways.
There has been a rumor floating around about a secret $500,000 half pipe in the hills near Silverton Colorado. Who is behind this beautiful U Jump? Red Bull and Oakley have sponsored the construction of this beast at 12,300 ft! Apparently the highest and possibly the largest ever built.
It is also rumored that it has wall gaps throughout all the way down, so the rider will HAVE to clear those in order to land. It is hard to gauge from this photo, but it seems like it could be over 100 yards at least.
It is only accessible by heli or snowmobile, and they also fund White a house in a near by town, and one very important feature, avalanche control around and above the location.
It is open to any Red Bull sponsored rider, not just Shaun white, but White is apparently planning on filming a new video with the same hi quality HD cameras and Heli’s used in Quicksilver’s and Travis Rice’s That’s It That’s All video released earlier this season.
Check out this Modern Day Samurai with some amazing swordsman ship – I mean AMAZING!
