Mountain biking health and safety news: study shows that mountain bikers care about and protect the environment.

According to a study conducted by the Shimano American Corporation and the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), mountain bikers:

• are dedicated conservationists
• volunteer time, labor and money to protect the natural resources in the places where they ride
• are enjoying a sport with a low impact on the environment, comparable to hiking

According to the IMBA Executive Director Mike Van Abel, “From the beginning, IMBA members have embraced a stewardship ethic that benefits conservation of our natural lands and waters.”

The IMBA member survey also showed that their network provides more than 750,000 volunteer hours in the United States each year, a value estimated to be $13 million.

Remember to protect yourself, as well, with mountain bike protective gear!

You’ve got all sorts of rides planned for the 2008 season, which is great, but it’s important to wear the protective gear that will help keep you and your friends and family safe.

Helmets – full face mountain bike helmets and regular mountain bike helmets – prevent injuries and even save lives. Pads protect your shins, elbows, forearms and knees, while wrist guards protect your wrists.

Order your mountain bike protective gear from XSportsProtective today, including:

• mountain bike helmets
• mountain biking pads for knees and elbows, and
• mountain bike wrist protection, and more

Also check back with this blog often for more mountain biking health and safety news!

Did you read the skateboarding news about Tony Hawk in USA Today?

I like this line: “Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk moves with the power and grace of a jungle cat.”

And, listen to this. According to Research International USA, Tony Hawk is the most recognized athlete among youth today, passing up basketball greats such as Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal and LeBron “King” James.

The article revealed a few tidbits about Hawk’s plans for the immediate future, too, including:

• Even more exciting video games featuring Tony Hawk
• Giant roller coasters opening at Six Flags amusement parks, nationwide, called “Tony Hawk’s Big Spin”
• A 30-city tour of Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam skateboarding show, which keeps selling out
• Potential expansion of Hawk apparel into Europe, Latin America and China

Reading about Hawk got me in the mood for skateboarding season. How about you?

Here’s a checklist of skateboard protective gear that you’ll need for skateboarding safety.

• A Quality skateboard helmet that fits well, feels good and looks great. Need help? Read How to Choose: Skateboard Helmet
• Skateboard knee pads / skateboard elbow pads that help absorb impacts and prevent nasty abrasions. Need help? Read How to Choose Skate Pads: Skateboard Knee Pads and Skateboard Elbow Pads
• Skate wrist guards to protect you against the most common skateboarding injuries. Need help? Read How to Choose: Skate Wrist Guards
• Padded skate shorts to protect your butt, tailbone, hips and thighs from impact and abrasions. Need help? Read How to Choose: Padded Skate Shorts
• Skateboard ankle and shin guards if you’ll be riding near rails or other inflexible objects.

You don’t want to make skateboarding news by having an accident, right? So, what skateboard protective gear do you still need to avoid skateboarding injuries in 2008? For fast shipping of top name brand gear, contact XSportsProtective by calling (800)930-4084 or emailing info@XSportsProtective.com today.

Here’s a final quote from the skateboarding news story in USA Today that’s really cool.

“I wear a lot of different hats,” Hawk says, after discussing his numerous business-related projects. “But in the end, I just want to be known as a skater.”

Mammoth Mountain has debuted the Unbound Super-Duper Pipe, making it the only place in the world with all 3 sizes of half pipes.

That’s right . . . if you head to Mammoth Mountain, you’ll see that the “freshly cut Super-Duper Pipe is 550 feet long and 58 feet wide vert to vert with 22 foot walls and 25 feet of transition.” At this park, there is also a 450-foot-long Super Pipe – and a Mini Pipe, as well, in the new Wonderland Park for beginning snowboarders.

Let’s face it, though. The more thrills that are provided by snowboarding parks, the more need there is for quality snowboard protective gear, especially snowboard helmets.

The more aggressively that you snowboard, the more protection that you’ll need. You definitely don’t want to sustain snowboarding injuries that will push you to the sidelines while your friends are still out there riding the slopes.

Choose the snowboard protective gear that will keep you protected while you tackle Mammoth Mountain and other extreme venues.

Check out these snowboard helmets by Giro, SixSixOne, ProTec and RED that help prevent snowboarding injuries – and, while you’re at it, read about the XSportsProtective contest where you share your own snowboarding news so that you can enter to win a piece of brand name snowboard protective gear.

As the snowboard season begins to wind down, send us your snowboarding news and we’ll enter you into a drawing for a prize of snowboard protective gear from XSportsProtective.

More specifically, the prize will be a pair of Crash Pads 2500 snowboard padded shorts! These are our top selling padded shorts and they’re great for snowboarding, skateboarding or biking.

What do you have to do to win? Well, take a look at what snowboarding news Burton is collecting and then I’ll let you know the XSportsProtective spin.

First, the Burton snowboarding news: the website for Burton snowboard protective gear has added an “I love snowboarding” section.

I love some of the answers, including these two:

• As I grew older, I went back to school, fell in love with a girl who snowboarded as well. I remember my second time riding with her; she hiked some powder with me and took a ten foot drop. I was in love.
• Because of snowboarding, I have gained a greater appreciation for life and learned to not take anything for granted. Because of snowboarding, I stopped wishing and just did it.

XSportsProtective rules for the drawing:

You can tell us why you love snowboarding, but you also need to tell us when you – or a friend or a child of yours – was protected by snowboard protective gear!

The deadline for entering to win the snowboard padded shorts by Crash Pads is April 15th and we may share your answers on the XSportsProtective Action Blog. Email your answers to info@XSportsProtective.com. 

Good luck!

Snowboarding news: two good friends battle it out to win the King of the Mountain snowboarding competition.

Earlier this month, snowboarders Shaun Palmer (a five-time snowboarding world champion) and Nate Holland (three-time X Game gold medalist) fought it out to the end, to see who would win the King of the Mountain competition. Palmer won in a very close race.

This made me think: how would you define a “snowboarding friend”?

I would define a “snowboarding friend” as someone who cares about you, your well being, doesn’t put you in harm’s way because of his own actions, AND who encourages you to wear snowboard protective gear.
True friends help one another avoid snowboard injuries so that they can enjoy snowboarding all season long - at full tilt!  The “big three” pieces of gear we recommend are helmets, wrist guards, and padded shorts. It’s important that your snowboard helmet fits well and is worn properly. Snowboarding gloves should have built-in wrist protection and snowboard padded shorts and pants are important, too, to avoid snowboard injuries and take the edge off of falls and spills.

Discover more about how to prevent snowboarding injuries — your own and those of your own good snowboarding friends.

Check out this page with links to snowboard protective gear articles that share info about preventing snowboarding injuries, including:

• Ski and Snowboard Safety by the National Safety Council
• Snowboard helmet safety tips by Lids on Kids
• Snowboarding injuries and prevention by the American Physical Therapy Association

Be sure to send me your favorite snowboarding news about your own snowboarding adventures with friends! Post below.

Interested in receiving a free snowboarding lesson and lift ticket package? If so, do you have the snowboard protective gear that you need?

Burton Snowboards recently announced GO SNOWBOARDING, a program to introduce people to the sport. With the purchase of certain Burton snowboards, you can receive a free lesson and lift ticket package.

That’s a great deal . . . but, before you head for the hills, make sure that you also have the proper gear.
Choose the most important piece of snowboard protective gear – the snowboard helmet – first.

Head injuries may not be the most common of snowboarding injuries, but you still want to avoid any head injuries. So, to protect yourself, choose a top quality Burton RED snowboard helmet that fits well, feels good on you – and, while you’re at it, also looks great.

If you’re new to snowboarding, then I’d recommend:

• R.E.D. Trace 0.5 Youth Snowboard Helmet
• R.E.D. Trace Adult Snowboard Helmet
• R.E.D. Aletta Women’s Snowboard Helmet

To protect yourself from other snowboarding injuries, you’ll want more protective gear.

For a great overview of what protective gear you’ll need before hitting the slopes, read, “What Snowboard Protective Gear Do I Need?” For information about how to choose the right fit in your snowboard helmet, check out this helmet sizing guide.

To place your order - or to talk with an expert - call
(800)930-4084 or email info@XSportsProtective.com

Padded Shorts - one of our most popular products with snowboarders - is also gaining popularity with skiiers.

Snowboarders have known the benefits of wearing pads on their butts for years.  My typical setup for snowboarding includes a pair of SixSixOne Fleece Bomber Pants, and I won’t leave home without them.  Just last weekend, after slowly going over a 3-4ft drop (really slowly - I’m 41 don’t you know),  my board slipped out from underneath me and I dropped right onto my tailbone.  Ouch.  I simply can’t imagine the pain I would have experienced without my snowboard butt pads, so I’m glad I had them on.

Recently, the New York Times asked us for information to help them to conduct a comparison test of many snowboard padded shorts that we carry.

Although each snowboarding pad has different strengths and weaknesses, they’re a piece of snowboard protective gear that you don’t want to miss.  Popular pads include the Crash Pads 2500s (protect your tailbone with a built-in shield), the Crash Pads 2200s (thermal pants with pads built in), Demon Flex Force Padded Shorts, and R.E.D. Impact Shorts.

If you are a skiier, padded shorts give you an added layer of protection while you learn or hit the terrain park.

Order padded ski shorts here, and get protected!

Jim B

This past August, Australian skateboarder Jake Brown was involved in a skateboarding accident that shocked viewers around the world. Brown survived a skateboarding crash that would have killed or seriously maimed most people. And although the accident was terrible to watch, it did provide a great opportunity for parents and teens to talk about skateboarding safety, including always wearing a skate helmet.

Skateboard protective gear does save lives!
Brown was extremely fortunate. Although he fractured his wrist and a couple of vertebrae, and although he had a lung contusion and a liver laceration, he is healing and recovering.

Here’s how lucky Jake Brown really was. According to Brown’s orthopedist, Dr. William Previte, 50% of people who fall 30 feet do not survive. The odds for survival go down dramatically with a fall from 45 feet or more – and that’s just what Brown did in fact survive.

Parents . . . skateboarding season will be here before we know it. Please use this opportunity to remind the skateboarders in your family that skateboard protective gear, especially, a skate helmet, really does save lives!

Serious head and spinal injuries continue to increase for snowboarders and skiers who don’t wear ski helmets or snowboard helmets.

According to the British journal Injury Prevention, traumatic brain and spinal injuries are on the rise around the globe, with males and snowboarders under the age of 35 most likely to suffer severe injuries. The study also notes that “snowboarders were substantially more likely than skiers to suffer serious injuries.”

Reasons suggested for this rise in skiing and snowboarding injuries include the “rising popularity of acrobatics and high speeds on the slopes.”

Knowledgeable neurologist shares the solution for skiing and snowboarding safety: ski and snowboard helmets.

The solution, according to neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Tator, is for participants to always wear ski helmets / snowboard helmets when enjoying the slopes.

“We feel,” said Tator, “that every skier and snowboarder of every age, of every skill level, should be wearing a helmet.”

Discover how to choose the snowboard helmet that’s just right for you – meaning just the right construction, just the right style and just the right size of a snowboard helmet.

Expert in snowboarding injuries prevention shares one more thought about skiing and snowboarding safety.

“We don’t want to discourage people from participating in these activities,” Tator said, referring to snowboarding and skiing. “These are great activities. But we want them to participate more carefully.”

If you have questions about the helmet that’s right for you, please call a specialist toll free at 1-800-930-4084 or email info@XSportsProtective.com.

On Sunday, December 23rd, snowboarding fans worldwide celebrated thier special day, and “It’s going to be huge and crazy: from China to France, Austria to the U.S., and wherever snow falls, snowboard will be celebrated!”

Just for fun, check out this montage of cool snowboarding moves.

Last year, this event took place only in Europe. In 2007, throughout the globe, participating resorts offered free access to all snowboarders with the goal of “easy and fun riding”. Other places offered free lessons, testing of new snowboard products and so much more - in part to introduce new people to the sport and to encourage them to try snowboarding.

Here are tips on what snowboard helmets and other snowboard protective gear you’ll need if you’re just starting, or are thinking about taking some lessons.

The most important piece of snowboard protective gear for your snowboard safety is a snowboard helmet that fits well and feels comfortable. Beginning snowboarders and advanced snowboarders should check out:

The Giro Fuse Helmet (with Audio!)

The Giro G9 Helmet

The Giro Encore 2 Helmet

Once you’ve chosen the right snowboard helmets, pick out the snowboarding gloves and snowboarding pads that are just right for you.

Consider these snowboard gloves, which all offer built-in wrist protection (the most frequent snowboarding injury):

Level Super Pipe snowboard gloves

Level Half Pipe snowboarding gloves

Level Fly gloves

plus, these snowboard padded pants and shorts and snowboard knee and elbow pads. As you become more proficient in snowboarding, you’ll want to upgrade your protective gear, including your snowboard helmet.

Feel free to post your questions about snowboard protective gear here!  We hope you enjoyed World Snowboard Day where you live.

Jim