As a technical writer for Xsportsprotective, I can’t help but watch the Olympics this month with at least one eye, sometimes two, on the gear the skiers and snowboarders wear because, of course, they’re the best skiers and snowboarders in the world. So, it stands to reason that they would choose the best ski and snowboard protective gear in the world.

Now, I know a lot of these athletes get paid to endorse certain products, so one has to be careful how much credence one gives to my above statement. That said, being a technical writer for protective gear, I also know things about these very same products– ski helmets, snowboard body armor, ski and snowboard googles, etc.– that most people would not, maybe not even the pro athletes themselves. So, I have my own opinions about what I think is great protective gear.

One company I have always had tons of respect for is POC from Sweden. Their protective gear is both well designed and beautifully spare in its Scandinavian styling. Witness the POC Sinuse or the POC Skull Comp and you’ll see what I mean.

In fact, it’s this latter helmet, the Skull Comp that has been showing up on TV a lot lately as POC skiers have blazed the trail on to so many medal victories. One skier in particular, Julia Mancuso, with her grace and style, and of course, her lightblue-crowned Skull Comp to match her body suit, has made the Vancouver medals stand twice already and she still has one event to go, the Giant Slalom, one of her best, on February 24.

Then there is Chemmy Alcott from the United Kingdom. She may not have medaled yet, but she’s probably the most universally attractive woman on Whistler Mountain’s Creekside Olympic course. She too is a POC athlete, which goes to show, in fact, that contrary to the saying, all blondes are not dumb blondes.

Watch for more POC athletes this week in the slalom and giant slalom - Maria Pietila-Holmner, Mattias Hargin, Andre Myhrer, and Kentaro Minagawa. All of them are slalom and giant slalom specialists and all of them have be skiing well as of late, as you would expect from world-class athletes getting on their game.

C’mon you POC skiers! Go for the gold!

All call for Kevin Pearce… Pull through, pal. You’re needed on the slopes again…

The news of snowboarder Kevin Pearce’s accident on the half-pipe in Park City has more than a few people wondering about the risks involved in pulling complicated moves in sports considered extreme, which, of course, snowboarding is.

That said, personally I don’t think it should ever be about not taking the risks. Hell, there’re enough couch potatoes watching reality shows already. Rather, it needs to be about mitigating risk in these sports to the maximum extent possible.

Which, by all accounts, Kevin Pearce does. He is a professional boarder, equips himself with the proper safety gear, then practices by pushing himself (like pros in every sport do) to perfect his ability in his given field of play. Accidents happen, even when you’re at the vanguard of what you pursue.

So what’s to say about Kevin’s accident? Certainly nothing more from the peanut gallery than, “Fight, buddy, fight. Pull out of it. Get yourself up and around, and (when the time is right) out on the half-pipe again.” Which, taking the positive motivational side to all of this, I definitely want him to do. With a vengeance. Everybody loves a comeback story and based on the latest news from his family, he may well be entering the early tracks of one.

Kevin Pearce. Never met you. Don’t need to. Fight like a banshee and come through this. I’ll be part of your rooting section for life.

So while Kevin fights, then recuperates in a Utah hospital, let’s say a prayer. I am most definitely not a religious type. However, I am a deist in moments like this and the deist in me can pray mightily for a man like Kevin.

Good luck, god speed, and may we hear great news of you again soon.

from Bill Westbrook on the staff at XSP…

An Idiot’s Tale… A Case For Snowboard Body Armor

For winter road bike conditioning, I ride rollers. I’ve been riding them since 1986. If you don’t know, bike rollers are basically an indoor trainer without training wheels, meaning they’re tricky to ride at first and you can fall off them if you’re not careful. However, after you’ve been on them awhile, you get the hang of it and that’s that.

Okay, so in the past 23 years, I’ve fallen off my rollers maybe ten times, never with any consequence. This past weekend was different. I was riding, saw some dirt in a crevice of my right brake lever, and decided to scratch it out. I got carried away, scratched too hard, and pushed my wheel nearly off the rollers. Then I overcorrected and flew off the rollers to the left.

Normally, I can get my foot unclipped, but this time I couldn’t. I fell onto a metal frame chair and toppled over into the fireplace tools which went crashing into the fireplace. I’m not sure if it was the back of the chair or the tools, but it hurt like hell. In an out of body sort of way, I pictured the whole scenario as a cartoon, which made me laugh, but laughing hurt like hell to laugh, too. Here’s why. Turns out I cracked three of my ribs (the chair back was the culprit).

It’s snowboard body armor for me…

Now I’m not going to wear snowboard body armor when I ride my rollers (maybe I should wear a bike helmet though). However, I’m definitely going to wear snowboard body armor on the slopes this winter. Currently it hurts just sleeping on my right side. I would hate to find out how it feels after a full-fledged wipeout.

I need quality snowboard body armor at a nice price… I need Demon

I’m an athlete, a writer, and a product tester. And I’m not famous, so unlike Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong, I don’t make a lot of money. I need something that’ll work for me, yet something I can afford. I need Demon Flex Force High. I like that

• it’s lightweight
• it’s comfortable, and
• that you can keep all your mobility when you wear it.

The Demon Flex Force High is like a padded sweatshirt. Every shoulder, elbow, rib, spine, and collarbone pad sewn into this breathable, crewneck-style ski and snowboard upper body armor is made from foam, not hard plastic, so I’ll have protection without feeling like a running back in a Friday night football game. I can wear the Flex Force High as a base layer or wear a base layer under it. I can wear it all day in the park, then all night après-ski. And I can even sleep in it (which I might). Last but not least, it sells for 58 bucks, which even a poor writer can afford.

Look for me this winter in Demon Flex Force High. Hell, for 58 bucks, I might even buy two of ‘em!

Level gloves at Beaver Creek

I don’t know if anybody watched the men’s World Cup from Beaver Creek on the tube this past weekend, but that 23-year-old Swiss phenom Carlo Janka won basically everything- the super combined, the downhill, and the giant slalom. Here’s a photo of him on his way to winning the GS on the Bird’s of Prey course.

What’s amazing, particularly in the downhill, is how fast these guys go. It’s no wonder that when these guys crash, they look like power-packed mini avalanches barreling into the snow fencing and off into the trees.

Level racers

I know Level sponsors a handful of World Cup racers. One in particular is Aksel Svindal, who won the overall in 2007 and 2009. However, I suspect neither he nor his Level-sponsored compatriots on the WC circuit wear Level’s line of BIOMEX protective ski and snowboard gloves.

Well, I think they should. In particular, I think they should wear the Level Super Pipe Pro. Here’s why:

• they’re super warm
• they’re waterproof
• they’re windproof
• they’re kevlar-reinforced

Best of all, they come with BioMex wrist guards, great to prevent snowboard injuries, sure, but after seeing these guys wipe out at 90 MPH and slide off the side of the mountain, great to prevent high speed skiing wrist injuries too.

Crash Pads - the backstory

So the story goes that the woman who founded Crash Pads protective body armor did so after she perfected the art of sewing padding into her own clothing, through trial and error, after she had perfected the art of falling down. This is not to say that she wasn’t athletic or isn’t an athlete. I’ve seen her and she is. It’s simply to say that whenever you choose to take up a new action sport, you’re liable to suffer a few bumps and bruises along the way.

Of course, she needed protective body armor. What was she thinking?!

Now, this woman who started Crash Pads, her action sport of choice was inline skating. She took it up in the early 90’s in the little town of Astoria, Oregon. If you’ve ever been to or seen pictures of Astoria, you’ll know that it’s beautiful. It’s built into steps along the southern hillside of the majestic Columbia River. I’d love to visit, ride my road bike up and down those hills, sail a Laser in the river, have a beer and a burger in a pub, etc. etc. But I can tell you what I wouldn’t want to do there. I wouldn’t want to learn how to inline skate. Even the paved paths in the municipal parks can be treacherous.

Prehistory…Pre-Body Armor History

In a time before sports-specific body armor really existed, I can just imagine the cherry bruises on her hips and tailbone pre-Crash Pads 2500 Padded Shorts or the gashes on her arms and elbows pre-Crash Pads Series 6100 body armor. Ouch! I hate to sound unsympathetic, but I’m glad it was her, not me. I love action sports, but my threshold for blunt force trauma has diminished rather significantly over the years.

Just because she learned the hard way doesn’t mean you have to, too.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, it most definitely is not that you should play it safe, stay inside, and find your love in front of a video game. On the contrary, it most definitely is that you should find your love in the great outdoors, skating, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking or whatever you choose to pursue. That said, however, do it smartly. Learn from other people’s mistakes (wonderful as they were in the case of Crash Pads’ lovely founder). Choose the proper gear, wear the proper protective clothing, and abide by the rules of gravity and common sense.

From the XSportsProtective remote field testing base in the dizzyingly high mountains of Geauga County, Ohio, it’s over and out until the next time. Cheers… Bill

Which brand and style of protective snowboard body armor is right for you?

Considering all the brands of ski and snowboard body armor out there, you might wonder which brand, model, and style of body armor is right for you. There’s quality stuff manufactured for all price points. It’s really just a question of figuring out which is the most appropriate ski and snowboard protective gear for you.

Here’s a tip. Correctly identify the kind of boarder you are: ‘Finesse and Grace’ or ‘Slash and Burn’. If you’re F and G, you have some options. You can choose hard-shell body armor (highly protective, but restricts your range of motion), soft-shell body armor (less protective, but hardly restrictive), or some combination in between. For you F and G’ers, it can be as much about personal preference as anything else.

However, if you’re the latter, an S and B’er, Mr. or Ms. Slash and Burn, then you should think seriously about full-on hard-shell body armor protection. And if you’re not inclined to go this route, then at least go for something that will protect your critical parts and pieces - what I would qualify as your spine, shoulders, collarbones, tailbone, and knees.

POC, Demon, Crash Pads, EVS, SixSixOne, and more

At XSportsProtective, we carry everything from the value-oriented Demon line of upper and lower body armor to the gorgeous POC line of scientifically advanced body armor, which may be the very best snowboard protective armor out there.In between these two price points, we carry brands like Crash Pads, a very high quality line of soft-shell body armor, EVS, a company that makes many different styles of hard- and soft-shell protection, and SixSixOne upper and SixSixOne lower body armor, the true believer in hard-shell protection.

So, ask yourself what kind of boarder or skier you are. Then, based on that, take a look at our different ski and snowboard body armor lines and see what appeals to you. And if you still have questions, give us a call (800.930.4084). We’d be more than happy to help you sort through maze of choices and options.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Skiing and snowboarding can get expensive. Often the parks and the slopes are far away, the lift tickets cost a chunk, and the planks, boards, and boots can really take a bite out of ya. So, when it comes to protective gear and clothing, it’s nice to know there’re some quality options at prices that won’t require you to work off your apres-ski bar bill by washing beer glasses deep into the morning.

The Demon Shield Protective Vest is one of these nicely priced pieces of ski and snowboard body armor. Not quite cheap, it’s still less than 80 bucks out the door and for that, you get full frontal chest protection, padding on the sides and shoulders, and most important, an overlapping armadillo-style hard-shell spine guard that runs from the base of your neck down to the top of your tailbone.

And for those who want even more mobility, this very same armadillo-style spine guard is also incorporated in the Demon Shield Spine Guard, which at less than 60 bucks is almost like stealing it.

Both the Demon Shield Vest and the Demon Shield Spine Guard are lightweight, both are easy to slip on and off, and once out in the terrain park or on the slopes, both will feel like just another piece of clothing under your jacket. No muss, no fuss, just excellent protective gear at a quality price, just like all the other Demon ski and snowboard protective gear.

Level Biomex Plus Protective Ski and Snowboard Gloves - coolest thing since sliced bread

Okay, so my name is Bill and I’m the ‘product analyzer guru’ for XSportsProtective. My job is to investigate every aspect of every product we sell, then write up the most detailed product descriptions I can, so that you, when you’re shopping on the XSportsProtective website, can learn quickly about the helmet, the body armor, or whatever it is you’re interested in, then make the most informed decision possible when it comes time to buy.

Now, I’ve spent a huge amount of time investigating some of the wintersports brands we sell and I can tell you that the Level Biomex Plus protective snowboard gloves and mittens are the real deal.Why, you ask? Well, a few reasons. First, of course, would be the Biomex Plus wristguard. It has a split tail that runs down over the wrist, so the impact from a fall is dispersed across two planes, not one. The Biomex Plus wristguard also pivots at the base of the hand, so you can set it in whatever position is most comfortable for you.

Second, the material craftsmanship of Level Biomex Plus protective ski and snowboard gloves and mittens is first-rate. On all of the models, the Level Super Pipe Pro, the Level Half Pipe, the Level Fly, the Level Butterfly, the Level Fly Junior, and the Flash, there are so many features and almost every single one of these features serves a real purpose when you’re snowboarding or skiing. These aren’t just decoration.

Third, the styling of these snowboard wristguard gloves and mittens is hugely appealing. Whether it’s the Level Super Pipe Pro with its robocop aesthetic, the Level Fly with it red tartan (my personal favorite), the Level Half Pipe with its ninja black, or the Level Fly for women ‘white’ (which ain’t white at all!), I’m way into these snowboard protective gloves.

The guys and gals at Level have really done their homework and for that, we thank them. They help make the park and slopes a safer, way cooler place to be.

Bill

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.”