Demo Day

Though I’ve never been much of a gearhead, yesterday I tried out two new pieces of snowboarding gear.

The first was a new set of gloves. They’ve got some built-in wrist guards, designed to disperse the forces of a sudden impact so that you don’t suffer a fractured wrist. Did you know that wrist injuries are the most common injuries in snowboarding? I’ve suffered two mild sprains in my time, the first coming on my second day out.

I’ll have more to say about these gloves later, but I was pleased with their performance as gloves. I didn’t get to sample their effectiveness in avoiding injury, thankfully.

The second piece of snowboarding gear I sampled was an all-mountain snowboard. Thanks to being an instructor, I came across a guy who is a sales rep. He hooked me up with a new board for a few hours. When I held it in my hand and compared it with my current board, it didn’t feel any lighter. But it felt lighter when it was attached to my feet. Perhaps that’s because it seemed to have a quicker edge-to-edge response.

It didn’t ride too well for me, though; I wiped out on heelside turns several times. Though I rarely fall these days, it could have been operator error–an unfamiliarity with the board. Perhaps I’ll try it again next week.