Altitude Cup 2013

Last weekend my Son my Wife and I went to a little town in the mountains called Empire Colorado. The reason that we went there was to check out a Mountainboard competition called The Altitude Cup. This was the sixth year that it had been put on by Altitude Sickness a local board shop in Empire. (see my review of the shop)

When we first arrived I wasn't sure what to think I had never been to a Mountainboard competition due to the fact that we didn't have them in Spokane Washington. The park looked small and kind of scattered and at first I was thinking to myself we drove 2 hours for this! Then people started riding.... MIND BLOWN. Apparently that saying "it isn't the size that matters its how you use it" applies to this park. Once you see people ride it the park makes more sense.

Trying to figure out where the races would be held I looked around and all I saw was a run going down the outside and behind the half pipe at the end of the park. "How exciting can the races be" I thought to myself. Yet again MIND BLOWN. When the racers started I didn't know what to expect then at the first turn they hit a fairly steep little hill and took off. Most of the races were neck to neck and I found myself at the edge of my seat wondering who was going to win. Right before the end there was a nice left turn up a pretty large sidewall, This obstacle seemed to be what got most of the racers. There were some pretty good bails and at one point during practice someone even went off the edge and hit a tree. (they were ok though)

Over all this experience was awesome and the riders totally prove to me "it isn't the size that matters it is how you use it". I would recommend if you have some free time next year to come check out The Altitude Cup in Empire Colorado and if you feel up to is register and compete.

If you would like to check out video and pics from this event go to :
https://www.facebook.com/events/483094005091994/

The results for this years Altitude Cup are:
6th Annual Altitude Cup Mountainboard Challenge results

           Groms

BoarderX 

1st "Flyin" Ryan Enochs

2nd Hanna Combrink

Freestyle 

1st Hanna Combrink

2nd "Flyin" Ryan Enochs

3rd Braden Combrink

4th Gage Sheader

            Youth

BoarderX & Slopestyle

1st Wyatt ParkRat Harper

             Sport

BoarderX

1st Ian Forgette

2nd Wyatt parkrat Harper

3rd Matthew Tornado Spinney

Slopestyle

1st Matthew Tornado Spinney

2nd Jacob T-Bone Ochsner

3rd Ian Forgette

4th Wyatt parkrat Harper

          Women

BoarderX

1st Catherine Rios

2nd Melissa Ponce de Leon

3rd Ari Coats

Slopestyle

1st Ari Coats

2nd Melissa Ponce de Leon

3rd Catherine Rios

         Masters

BoarderX

1st David Kennedy

2nd Phil Sheader

3rd Brian Bishop

Slopestyle 

1st David Kennedy

2nd Phil Sheader

3rd Brandon Fry

            Pro

BoarderX 

1st Kody Stewart

2nd Jason Lee 

3rd Evan Carlson

Slopestyle

1st Devin Garland 

2nd Kody Stewart 

3rd Evan Carlson

Altitude Sickness

So this last weekend my Son, my wife and I went to the Altitude Cup in Empire Colorado. The Altitude Cup has been put on the last 6 years by a local Mountainboard shop called Altitude Sickness. Though the shop is small and I didn't have a whole lot of time to poke around I was able to get everything that I was looking for. They have a pretty decent selection of shirts from various companies and years  I was able to Pick up an MBS shirt I had never even seen before.

 If you are going to go to Empire to hit the Mountainboard park I would recommend stopping in this shop and checking it out it is a pretty sick shop. The people run it are very nice and they seem to be very knowledgeable in what they do. Plus it is conveniently located up the hill from the park so if you have anything break chances are from what I saw they probably have what yo need to fix your board.

Updated contact info

303 489 7699

        Or

707 884 7929

Store Front

Contact info / Business card

Motorola MOTOACTV

I have had this watch for about six months or so and I love it. Not only is it a watch but it is also an MP3 player , excersize watch, With a Bluetooth heart rate monitor you can monitor our heart rate, and you can receive calls and text messages if you sync it with your phone (doesn't work with windows phones).

There are two different sizes to this watch right now an 8 gig and a 16 gig. I got my 8 gig for 149.99 plus $10 for the watch strap (it only comes with a belt clip).

 Some of the cool things about this watch is that you can download personal trainer data onto the watch and it will remind you when it is time to run and it will keep track of your pace and distance and even heart rate if you have the heart rate monitor. It also has this cool feature of keeping track of which songs motivate you more due to increase of heart rate and speed and it will play those songs more frequently. If you sync the watch with the MOTOACTV web site you can view all of your stats including a satellite image of the route you took. It has a slew of different actives that you can track too. (list coming soon)



 I will post more about this watch later I just wanted to throw this up to give everyone something to read.

This is what the route feature looks like on the watch itself

MP3 player. This is also what the unit looks like without any strap or anything

Watch mode

Armband

Ryders Running Glasses

My wife bought these glasses 3 or 4 months ago when we decided to start running again. If I recall correctly we paid around $45 for these. 

In many ways these glasses are a lot like Oakley's. The glasses are comfortable the lenses are dark and clear and they seem to be pretty durable. My wife likes to keep them in her purse and our 2 year old son likes to run around the house in them. There are also vents at the top of each lens that seems to keep the lenses from fogging up to bad. I don't really have a lot to say about these glasses they are an amazing set of glasses and if you are looking for some new running glasses I would recommend running glasses by Ryders.

Oakley GasCans

I went through at least 6 pairs of glasses a year and at around $10 a pair I could have bought five or six pairs of Oakley's by the time I bought my GasCans.

I have owned these glasses for a little over a year now. I tend to have an issue with sunglasses where if they don't fit right across the bridge of my nose my nose starts to hurt and I get migraines. With the Oakley GasCans I don't have this issue. Half the time I forget I am wearing them. I also have a piece of shrapnel in my right eye so bright sun and some overcast causes my eye to hurt like shampoo is in it. With the lenses on the Oakley's I can wear them on the brightest day or even when it is over cast and they work amazing and everything is super clear. The lenses are super easy to replace too you just pop them out and pop the new ones in.

There are also many different color lenses (I am not sure if all the colors below are available for the GasCans) and frames to choose from. (see pictures below)

The durability of these glasses are better then any other glasses I have ever owned. My son has got his little  hands on them many times and quite frequently they end up in my back pack or in the center console of my car and there isn't a scratch on them. For the price I think these glasses are worth every penny.

SOL REPUBLIC V12 TRACKS ULTRA HEADPHONES

These are some of the coolest most unique headphones i have ever owned. The headphones break down into four interchangeable pieces; The head band, the wire, and the two earphones. The coolest thing about these headphones is that they are starting to sell replacement parts to change out so you can fully customize them.


The sound quality of the headphones is outstanding and the other cool thing about them is if you have an iPhone you can use these as a hands free device so you wont miss any calls if your listening to music.

The downside to the headphones is that the hands free portion of the headphones only works with Apple products. The other thing that I didn't like about these ones is the size of the ear cups. They fit over my ears but not around them so after about an hour or so my ears would start to hurt. These two issues ultimately caused me to get rid of these headphones.

Sol Republic does sell multiple types of headphones at different specs sizes and prices so if you are considering some sol republics I would recommend the brand for the price and the sound but i might not recommend these particular ones for the reasons stated above.

Chasing Mavericks Movie Review

So I just finished watching the movie Chasing Mavericks.

Chasing Mavericks is about Jay Moriarty A kid that discovers surfing when he almost drowns at the age of like 8 or 9. In the movie he is living in a pretty broken home with his mom and his one escape is surfing. One day he follows Frosty Hesson a local legend on a surfing trip and discovers the legendary Maverick swells. After discovering these he convinces Frosty to train him how to surf them. There is more to this movie but I don't want to ruin it.

I don't know how accurate a lot of this movie is but if you like movies about someone working their ass off to achieve their goals this is a great movie. It also shows that if you push yourself hard enough you can make it through anything and to any goal. I am not going to go into details about this movie because there are a lot of parts that you don't expect and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. I would highly recommend watching this movie though.

Triton Kunai WiiU headphones

I got these headphones not long after getting my WiiU, sometime around Dec 2012 if I remember right. The reason I got the Triton Kunai's is because at the time they were the top of the line for the WiiU and at the time I was playing a lot of Call Of Duty Black Ops 2.

My first impression out of the box was that these headphones were gorgeous. I got the black and silver and they looked like they should be upwards of $100. I liked the feeling of the ear pads ad the center pad on the band they made the head phones fit very comfortably. The ear pieces are large enough to cover the whole ear but not swallow the side of a persons face. The detachable mic was a nice touch since I didn't always chat while playing and I hate having to find a position to place a mic to get it out of my face. The one cord connection was another perk to these headphones. They have one wire that connects to the tablet and that is it. They are very basic with only a volume control and mic mute on the cord which makes them very user friendly.

When using the headphones with the WiiU the look is pretty much the only thing I was really impressed with. I thought being Triton and all that these headphones would have amazing sound and make it easier to hear online. I was not as impressed as I would have liked for $50. For some reason when using these headphones they didn't get as loud as I would have liked and you can still hear noses outside of the game. I connected the headphones to my phone and listened to music even made a phone call to see if I could and the sound was amazing and if you want to look like a football coach walking around you can even make calls using them. So why is it they don't produce the same sound while being used with the WiiU. I don't think that the issue is as much with the headphones as it is with the WiiU but still your connecting them to the WiiU so they kinda go hand in hand.

Ultimately if you are trying to get headphones so you can hear your game and not disturb other people these are pretty good headphones. If you are trying to improve your kill streak or what not on Call of Duty try to find a different set of compatible headphones. I like the headphones over all but i wish I would have only paid $30 for them not $50 plus tax.

This picture is meant to show off the padding that theses headphones have

The pretty Triton logo across the band

Detachable / adjustable mic

Volume control

Mic mute toggle switch

Bern helmet

I do not remember the model number of my helmet since I have had it for a few years all I know is that it is a Bern duel purpose helmet.

 I love this helmet it fits well and it is designed for use in the winter and the summer. I like the look and the feel of the helmet and the overall protection. With the amount of sports that I do I like only having one helmet that I can use year around.

The helmet has a liner that is a lot like a head band that easily snaps into the helmet. If you want to seal the helmet even more in the winter it comes with a piece of foam that fills all the holes in the top of the helmet. I never used this extra piece of foam but my head also sweat a lot when i was snowboarding so it was nice to be able to let some of the heat out.

The helmet also has a hook on the back to attach your goggles to so if you wipeout hard they don't fall off ( my brother tested this out a few years ago with an epic wipeout that gave him a pretty bad concussion, but hey his goggles were still attached)

Out of all the helmets that I have owned I think that this is my favorite. I am thinking this year it may be time to buy a new one and if I do I will be sure to post a review.

This is what the helmet looks like with the liner

This is an example of the liner , hook and foam piece that plugs the holes inside

Side view of my helmet

Goggle hook located on the back of the helmet

This is where the liner snaps into the inside of the helmet

GoPro Hero 3 Black

I have had my GoPro Hero 3 Black for a couple months now and i must say it is an impressive little camera. The issue is it is too impressive. I have talked to multiple people that have the same problem I do. The camera itself is so powerful that my 2008 macbook pro cant review the videos by simply importing them and watching them. When I do this the video is choppy and the sound is off. I have to actually import it onto my computer then import it into iMovie to see the video in all its splendor. I think that this is less a camera issue but more a software / hardware issue with my old computer.

The things that I love about the camera though far out weigh the issue I wrote about in the previous paragraph. I just started playing with all the crazy features the other day when I went to the skatepark with my son. One feature that I am in love with is the 100 fps shooting for when I want to slow a video down.

 The second thing that really impressed me was the app. When the app first came out it was pretty badly broken and almost not worth using, But now that they have updated it and improved the glitches it is really nice to use when setting up the camera stationary or for seeing where the camera is pointed when it is mounted. In the last update they also made it to where you can preview the sound through the app so you can tell if you need the waterproof or the other back plate when recording.

The only issues that I have with the app right now is the fact that there is a good 4-5 second lag between the camera and the app when reviewing. The second issue that I would like to see them fix in the future would be the inability to review videos that you have already recorded.

The third thing that impressed me with the Black Edition is the remote. When I first got the camera I thought to myself I will never use the remote, I was wrong. When I was still living in washington state I  used to go mountainboarding every saturday with my brother. When I mountainboard I wear some pretty thick motorcycle gloves and with the GoPro I could press the buttons to turn it on and to record but sometimes it was a pain. With the remote I can just mount it to my glove or arm and the buttons are large enough to easily press.

This is all I have for now about the Hero 3 Black Edition but I will update regularly as i figure things out. Videos showing the 100fps slow motion should be up by the end of the day. If there is anything that you would like to know that I didn't cover please feel free to leave a comment either here or on my Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/KrisSquibb511ProductionsCO

Hero 3 Black Edition

This is the back of the hero three I have the open back plate to get better sound in my recordings (this makes the GoPro no longer waterproof)

New clasp design makes it more secure you have to slide the button over then flip the clasp down to unlock

The additional button on the side it to enable or disable the wifi 

new larger flat buttons make the camera easier to use in or out of the case

The new Hero three takes a Micro SD card and has Mini HDMI out

Kahuna adjustable Big Stick

Two weeks ago I took the plunge and bought the Kahuna Big Stick. I have made home made big sticks in the past and they worked pretty well but they were nothing compared to Adjustable Big Stick from Kahuna Creations. It has:

- adjustable Aluminum shaft that is as easy to adjust as a set of crutches. 

-The overall weight is just 2.2 lbs and all the weight is in the rubber "blade". 

-The blade grips the road very well even though I did experience some minor slipping when I first started using it. (I don't know if this was caused by it being so new or by user error.) The blades are easy to remove and easy to replace.

So far the Big Stick seems to be very durable and it feels very sturdy when being used. I was kinda skeptical at first with the telescoping aspect of it I didn't know if it would "wiggle" or not. There is no wiggling so far and I have skated around 5 miles so far with it. (which doesn't seem far but I feel as if my arms are going to fall off.) 

The ride that you get with a Big Stick is amazing you get your feet in your perfect stance and you let your upper body do all the work. You can either casually cruise with it or you can use it to gain speed going down hills. The other great part is you can use it to pivot on when turning giving you increased balance in turns. 

I don't remember the exact height adjustments but i know that it is adjustable to anyone that is 4'5" all the way up to over 6'. 

One thing to be cautious about though if it is something that you worry about is that the graphics are just a decal and as I found out today they will peal off if you are not careful.

Overall I am very excited and happy with my purchase and I would recommend this to anyone that would like to try paddle boarding on land. 

If you are interested in purchasing a Kahuna Big Stick (or to see more about them) you can order them at 

www.Kahunacreations.com

Big Stick Collapsed to smallest (storage size) not meant to be used in this position

Soft grip handle

Road blade

Fully extended to 6'

Lowest usable length at 54" long

Memorial Skatepark review

This is the second park that my son and I have visited so far in the colorado springs area and it is our favorite. If you don't like crowds I would recommend going in the morning probably before 9. between 930 and 10 am is when the crowds start showing up. we have not had any issues the three times that we have gone. (other then smokers and fowl language)

This park has amazing veriaty in the different styles of skating that you can do there. There are 3 bowls one of which has a 17 foot section. There are also two amazing half pipes. I believe one is about 6 foot and I think the other one is around 12 to 15 foot. The majority of the park is set up for street though and the ramps and transitions are pretty intense.

 I will write more on this review later today or tomorrow and try to upload some pictures.

 If you would please leave comments that would be greatly appreciated. I will answer any questions that you may have and if there is anything that you would like me to write about feel free to leave me a comment about that too.

Construction of half pipes. 

(this was the only image I could find of both of them)

Birds eye view of skate park

Finally settled , Welcome to Colorado Springs

Just moved to Colorado Springs (Co Spr)  from Spokane Washington a little over a month ago. So far I have had nothing but good experiences since moving. If you love the outdoors and family friendly environments Co Spr is an amazing place to live. The first stop my family and I made down here was the Garden of the Gods. It is an amazing place with paved walking trails, gorgeous landscapes and some pretty amazing looking rock climbing. (I haven't had the time to climb yet)

The newest adventure that my son and I have been going on is exploring the local skate parks. (I will do a separate review on these in another post.) So for now this is all I have to say but I will be trying to add more posts at least once a week. Thank you for reading.