It’s natural when you pull on a pair of ski boots to think, “My toes are cramped. These are too small.” And maybe they are, but it’s just as likely that they’re the right size when you get on the skis.
The problem is, once you get out on the slopes, if your boots are too big, you’ll get that slammed feeling in your shins. That will end the fun pretty quick.
You don’t want to travel all the way to Colorado or Wyoming or Utah for some spring skiing just to end up sitting in the lodge in pain.
The Spoke-n-Sport crew headed up to Red Wing, Minn., recently for the Welch Village Demo Day.
It's a chance for product reps from the Upper Midwest to show off some of the newest gear for people like us who get to bring them to you.
Derek from our Minnesota Avenue store made the trip and he said he came away excited about the new boards and skis that "can make you feel like a kid again when you're riding."
There's some really cool developments for going up hill - and then downhill - with split-boarding and skinning. That's a big part of the back country skiing that we wrote about when Chad headed west for an adventure.
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| Giant Talon 1 |
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| Liv Alight 2 |
It's ridiculous to think that in modern American consumer landscape, the average person can't get what they want. Well, that seems like a ridiculous statement on the face of it, given where what we've gone through and where we are today.
It's a strange place to be, isn't it?
Upset that we can't get consumer goods when history would suggest that it could be - probably will be - so much worse.
Yet here we are.
Not able to get exactly the bike we want, forced to accept what we can get.
Here's some good news: We have bikes!
In fact, when you consider that people have been using skis as transportation - and fun, of course - through the mountains for generations, it's really quite old.
But like all things recreation, gear makes it better and more accessible to more people.
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| This is Chad. More photos below. |
The first question most people have is, "Why?"
First, it's in the mountains so there are amazing vistas in some of the best places on earth. Plus the opportunity to ski unbroken powder in a way that few people get to experience.
"You go there to see the things you can’t see in a car," Chad said. "Where we were, those views are not accessible for everybody. They are for the ones who push hard and just want to experience that next view."
But getting away from the masses at the local resort also comes with some challenges.
Not that a cynic can't be a lover. That's absurd.
It makes Valentine's Day... difficult.
It's a no win situation if you're the partner - or hopeful partner - of the love cynic. If you join in the cynicism, eschew the trappings of what is, admittedly and unabashedly, a made-up holiday, you risk the perception of not caring about them as a human being.
That doesn't end well.
The other side of the VD - wait, can't do that - the Valentine's Day conundrum is wading into the chocolate and stuffed animal muck that is the tradition.
That's fraught with peril as well. "Oh, you're one of those."
What's an sincere and caring partner to do?
That's right - BIKE GEAR!
Not here, unfortunately.
The Winter Olympics start Friday (Feb. 4) in Beijing for two weeks of non-stop winter sports.
If you're a fan of skiing, hockey, the luge and the like, there's a deluge of options for viewing.
It's a "snow-blast."
Get it?
For all the hype and hysteria that comes with any Olympic games, it's also the stuff from which dreams are made.
Specifically, the dreams of children perched in front of the TV - or laptop, or tablet, or phone - are often inspired by the heroes who spring up along the way.
Nearly every gold medalist tells stories of wanting to be "that person" when they were little. They want to go that fast, be that agile or fly that far.
That's the magic of the Olympics.