As you may have noticed, Bitness has been on hold. I’ve just returned from Jamaica where I spent the week with family. Unlike last year, the weather was amazing. Plenty of swimming, golf, running (holy hills and humidity!) and playing with the kids.

I also had a chance to film and produce a DVD for a local surfer Claudius Ramsay, who is spearheading an effort to get the Montego Bay area on the map with the Jamaican surfing scene.

Like most Jamaican surfers, Claudius rides a Quashi, a brand of board I had never heard of. I was impressed with the shape and quality construction of the Quashi Claudius rode.

Heavy onshore breezes and a disjointed reef didn’t help shape the waves where we were and there was no way to distinguish sets as far as I could tell. Regardless, Claudius caught 4-5 waves and milked what he could from them for the camera.

Jamaica has an up-and-coming surf scene. Their team continues to improve at world events and Quashi promises to become a better know brand for surfers around the globe.

I’m back and the weather is cold. Sugarbush has been spinning the lifts for almost 2 weeks! If this is a sign of what we can expect this winter then strap in a point downhill because it could be epic!

Bitness contributors have taken some serious slams. I have video of Frank biting through his lip and nearly knocking himself out skateboarding in the half-pipe. I convinced Jay when we were younger to do a front-flip off my parents deck – I promised to do it if he did. He landed on his back and I took off running. I screwed-up snowboarding by missing a simple air called a slob. I sailed over the middle of the half-pipe, landed on my back and knock myself unconscious. Once I tackled Dean into a bar we had in our college apartment. A stone lamp landed on his head. Adding insult to injury, just a few weeks later a pissed off girlfriend clocked Dean on the head with her phone.

If we had wearable d3o laden gear we would have fared much better. ‘d30 (dee-three-oh) is a specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules. They flow with you as you move but on shock lock together to absorb the impact energy.‘

The best way to show you how incredible this stuff is, is to show you a video, enjoy:

Every once in a while there comes along a product that is so futuristic, I feel lucky to have witnessed it in my lifetime. I’m still waiting for time travel and a chance to book my ticket to Mars, but for now at least I have d3o. If you’re reading d3o, I’m drinking the koolaid and ready to go to work.

Posted by: Lawrence

One Summer many years ago, my best bud Jason and I went to Mt Hood to snowboard ‘camp.’ We stayed at Rebel Lodge, which on paper sounded as good as the continental breakfast, dry-land training, gate training and half-pipe sessions we greedily read about in the pages of our snowboarding mags.

When we arrived in Oregon, we were picked up at the airport by a hung-over driver who insisted on making a pit-stop to chug a few Bloody Mary’s. Afterwards he took us to his drug den so he could ‘get some stuff’ before finally heading back to the airport to pick up one last ‘camper’ from California and heading to the lodge about an hour and a half away.

Rebel Lodge, we discovered, was a simple cabin in the woods of Government Camp. While the plumbing didn’t work and there was a problem with infestation in the bunk room, there was a mini pipe set-up in the back and the outside walls of the cabin were lined with demo boards from every manufacturer of that time. We had our choice of Barfoot, Crazy Banana, Sims, Burton, Kemper, Avalanche, to name a few.

We walked through the doors of the lodge and were met by a haze of pot smoke. Making our way to the bunk beds in the back of the cabin we walked past and over people watching at snowboard videos, reading industry mags, tuning boards and talking shop. Some of these guys looked familiar I thought. Yes, many were pro riders I was just reading about that morning on the plane.

The next morning we woke up for continental breakfast but were instead instructed on how to slip a tapered Yoplait yogurts into a glove at the local market and then make a run for it (dry land training?). On the mountain we ran gates, free rode and then, after one last run to salt the glacier, we made our way down to the half pipe to rip for hours with the likes of Chris Carol, Kris Jamieson, the Papas brothers (George and Chris), Dave Estes, Sonny Miller, Don Szabo among other great riders of the time.

We would kill it in that pipe for hours, cheering each other on and discovering new tricks in just weeks, what would normally take years. After heading back in a car with faulty brakes, we would party; either at the lodge or by a huge bonfire along Hood River. We had little success persuading the local girls to come to ‘Chateau Rebel’ – the reputation was too well established.

Clearly this trip was not what we signed up for – it was way, way better! I probably forgot more about snowboarding than I’ll ever learn at this point, or I simply don’t have the balls to try as much. It’s been said there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots. If you ever have a chance to do some Summer riding check out Hood, BC, Chili or, for the truly adventurous, New Zealand.

Posted by: Lawrence

Softrucks are so simple yet so clever that I kick myself for not thinking of them myself. Molded from TPU urethane (the same material used to make wheels), Softrucks are similar to the shape of a skateboard’s trucks and wheels and set at the same height. They mount to any skateboard deck using the provided hardware.

A deck with Softrucks feels identical to a regular deck only you ain’t going anywhere. Well, check that… maybe UP if you have the skills. They offer some good pop and don’t roll so practicing ollies, flips, shuvits, etc is easier and usually safer than on a ‘live’ deck. Once you can do a trick with Softrucks you’re virtually assured you can stomp it on wheels.

So here I am in my slippers, trying a heel flip and thinking the yacht, mansion, parties with Puffy and hanging out in the grotto with Heff’s girls will have to wait with the hopes I think of something so brilliant the next time…

Softrucks will run you about USD $25.00. Go out and get yourself some.

I have a friend who fancies himself a big air specialist on a wakeboard and snowboard. Truth be told he’s barely off the ground, but my friends and I humor him. The AirPod from Johnson Outdoors can track how many jumps you do in a run or in a day and the height of those jumps. You can even track a ‘lifetime’ of airs in this device.

The Airpod sells for about $70 and is also a stopwatch, provides temperature information, time and date and alarms. It would be cool if they integrated an MP3 player into the AirPod. As it is I’m usually carrying around a snickers bar, mp3 player, wallet, glasses, goggles, trail map, cell phone and the disappointment of riding like a sliver of my former self 😉

I wouldn’t normally warn anyone before a link, Bitness is a family friendly site after all. However, when you link to AirPod be prepared for the most annoying Web site ever created! It’s an absolutely torturous experience I wouldn’t wish on my own worst enemy (George Bush).

Go Big!

I’m a sweater. Not a mohair, but a dyed in the wool, honest to goodness sweater – like former NYC Mayor David Dinkins. I can sweat bullets in zero degree temps. When I snowboard, I instantly fog-up my goggles rendering them useless. Nothing sucks more than plunking down 70 bucks to go snowboarding, only to find yourself in some sort of sensory deprivation-like hell on the very first run.

Anti-fog lens, double lens, liquids or good old fashion spit are no match. The theory of keeping the goggles on your face and never taking them off – no matter what – total crap. This weekend I prepared myself with ‘anti-fog’ goggles and 2 pairs of glasses. Three runs later all three were useless.

The biggest reason for this problem is my helmet. It’s an older Boeri and has nary a vent. All the steam from my melon comes rushing down and condenses on my specs. To resolve this I need to call in the big guns: gear. After all that’s why were all here right?

Lo and behold, I get the Steep and Cheap email (see previous entry: Killer Gear Deals (usually…)) this morning and click on it: Smith Prodigy Turbo Fan Series Goggles for $50.83. Regularly they’re $179.95, that’s a 71% savings!

Next, I’m on the hunt for a helmet with vents, preferably controllable vents I can open and close to regulate airflow. Chances are I’ll keep the top down full time, but I like options you can fiddle with. Is it even really gear without things to adjust and mess with? Seems like ‘equipment’ to me.

I’m thinking about the Smith Platform Helmet because it has that ventilation control I want, looks comfy and is priced right. I have 4 days until I’m back up north and spending a total of $130 total to keep me seeing the slopes is totally worth it. Even if I am broke.