Men Do Outdoors: January 2018

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Downhill MTB - Jace Ohran - Featured Profile

Love Downhill Mountain biking? The speed, the extreme concentration, the tight turns, and split-second decision making? If you answered ‘Yes’ then you will get excited about this interview with Jace Ohran.

A young fellow who is extremely passionate about bikes and sport. So much so that it inspired me to get more into things that I am passionate about and look back on the days I hit up the mountains on a bike and really shredded.

Probably nowhere near as good as Jace but then again, I didn’t put anywhere near as much time and effort into it as he has.

So without further ado let’s get into this interview with young Jace Ohran and hopefully, his excitement will spill onto you.

How old are you?:

Where were you born?

I was born in Florence Oregon

Where do you live now?

I currently live in Managua Nicaragua

What Outdoor Activity do you do?

I race Downhill mountain biking, ride BMX, race motocross, surf, snowboarding, hunting.

Who is your greatest inspiration?

As far as riding, my inspiration for Mountain Biking is Kirt Vories, for one he shreds, and also no matter what he is riding he is having the best time ever, and I think that’s awesome! In BMX my inspiration is Kriss Kyle, his riding is insane and his style is flawless, I definitely get ideas for tricks based on some stuff he has done.

What inspired you to take up Downhill Mountain Biking and BMX?

For downhill I went to mount hood, In Oregon for the first time during mountain biking season when I was 15 and I saw all of these downhill bikes, and I had never even seen a Downhill bike before and after that I was hooked. And BMX I started watching x videos so that’s what got me started.

When did you take up Downhill Mountain Biking and BMX?

I have been riding bicycles all my life but they were always like really crappy mountain bikes, but I was 16 the first time I rode a downhill bike. And I was 16 also when I got my first real BMX.

What kind of training do you do to be at your best for the activity?:

I have been doing HIIT (CrossFit) style workouts, alongside with p90x. And I try to ride my bike every day.

Do you have a special diet?:

Not really, I need to, but right now I’m just staying off of soda and cutting sugar to a minimum.

What’s your favorite location and why?:

My favorite mountain bike spot is la Pista montañita, it’s my local track. And BMX I love everything street, park and dirt.

What’s your favorite Trick?:

On my downhill bike I like doing crank flips and throwing whips, BMX I like hop barspins.

What’s your favorite gear?:

Fox racing, deity components, Nike sb.

What’s your biggest achievement to date?:

My biggest accomplishment so far is probably placing 4th in an international race that had riders from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, San Salvador, Colombia, and Honduras.

What’s your most memorable moment?:

Probably placing 1st in my very first downhill race.

What are your goals for the future?:

I want to finish my first mountain bike edit, make more edits, one of my biggest goals is I want to ride in Red Bull Rampage! And riding is not all about sponsors, but it has been a lifelong dream to be sponsored by Red Bull, because they are the top athletes of the world and that’s what I want to be, and I’m willing to put in the work!

What are your best tips for being amazing at the activity?:

Well, not that I’m the best rider, but from my experience, you have to put in work and love every second of it. You can’t expect to be the best and not work at it. One of my favorite quotes ever is

Click To Tweet

What are your recommendations for someone just starting in your activity?:

I’d say if you want to get into mountain biking, get some sort of mountain bike, it doesn’t need to be the best but at least something that functions properly. Then just start riding as much as possible and have fun!

Anything else you would like to add?:

I want to say thank you to my sponsor Deity components! I am very stoked for this year! Thank you MenDoOutdoors for the opportunity to do this interview!

Thanks for the interview Jace it was a pleasure getting to know more about you and your journey. Here at Men Do Outdoors we wish you the best for the future and look forward to seeing you shredding the mountains as a Red Bull athlete in the future.

Do you do Downhill Mountainbiking or BMX riding? Leave a comment below for Jace and if you liked this interview make sure to share it with others.

Also, make sure to check out Jace Ohran’s social profiles to follow his journey and support him by liking his profiles.

Jace Ohran’s Youtube:

http://youtube.com/jaceohran

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Downhill MTB - Jace Ohran - Featured Profile

Sunday, January 7, 2018

History Of Snowboarding Article You Need To Read

If you have done some searches about the history of snowboarding, you would have most likely come across a lot of articles that had different claims to who was the inventor of snowboarding.

And to tell you the truth, they probably all have some correct facts about them, but with the amount of information provided in each article, you might feel a bit overwhelmed.

So I simplified everything and made it into a short concise history of snowboarding timeline.

But first, How often do you snowboard? Are you just beginning your journey? Let me know in the comments below and also check out First time snowboarding? You need to read this

Snurfer Patent Sketch — revantoptics.com

History of Snowboarding

So, in all honesty, the history can be broken up into two separate types.

One is the day that a piece of wood was used to hit the slopes and two, the modern take on the snowboard. It’s up to you as an individual to decide whether a plank of wood had a close enough connection to the sport or not.

16th Century

-A single plank with rope for balance was used to shred the mountains in Austria. This device was called the ruariser knappenroesser otherwise known as knappenross. There are tales of people using these boards in the 1800’s for races

-around the same time a ritprätt (also called the rittpritt), on which a rider could sit or stand, is supposed to have been used in the Swiss Alps during a similar timeframe

17th Century

-In Turkey’s Kaçkar Mountains there is a remote village in which the people have been riding sideways on flat, rectangular, toboggan-like devices called the Lazboard for over 400 years. They use a rope near the front for balance and a stick in the rear hand to help with steering.

1900

-An Austrian by the name of Toni Lenhardt rode a monogleider (“monoslider”) in the Alps, with contests being held in Bruck an der Mur around the 1914’s

1929

-Supposedly a man by the name of M. J. “Jack” Burchett, took a piece of plywood or a barrel stave, secured his feet with clothesline and horse reins, and shredded down a mountain. But this one could be taken with a grain of salt. Just like many other stories and folklore that seems to have popped up over years.

1939

-A patent for the Wicklund board was created by Gunnar, Harvey Burgeson, and Vern Wicklund, which closely resembled the Turkish board.

1948

-A guy by the name of O. J. Lidberg’s 1948 filed a patent for the Glider Sled, which suggested the use of a stick for steering.

1949

-Arthur Juntunen’s 1949 filed a patent for the Toboggan, which did not require the use of a stick for steering.

Modern Day History of Snowboarding

1965 Snurfing (contributed greatly to Modern Day Snowboarding)

A young surf freak by the name of Sherman Poppen who dreamt about surfing the magical pow of the Rockies designed a board which was called Snurfing by his wife.

He built his first prototype which consisted of tying together two 1,20m long plastic planks: otherwise, know as two kids skis. He attached a rope to enable him to steer.

The Snurfer is said to have had a major contribution to modern day snowboarding with more than a million being sold in 10 years.

Have you ever ridden a Snurfer? What was your experience like? Let us know in the comments below.

History of Snowboarding: Snurfing contributed greatly to Modern Day Snowboarding #snowboarding #snurfing Click To Tweet

1967

-Carl E. Hagen’s designed a Snow Board which looked like a toboggan but had their front and back edges turned up at sharp angles.

-Craig T. Christy’s designed a Snow Surface Rider which was a skateboard for the snow which included a rudder on the bottom and blocks on the deck so riders could brace their feet.

1968

-Joel Salisbury’s designed a Snow Sled which looked like a small surfboard

-John Fulsom’s toboggan-like Snow Ski Board curved upward on the front and had rudders on the bottom.

-James L. Rippetoe’s designed a Slalom Snow Ski which was based on a water-ski design, with the front foot facing forward and the rear foot turned at a 45-degree angle to the length of the board.

1969

-Victor T. Berta’s Snowboard had magnets to help keep boots in place

1971

-Ronald Carreiro’s designed the Snow Surfboard looked similar to a small rounded wakeboard with a braking device.

1972

-Dimitrije Milovich began developing snowboards for his company ‘Winterstick’ which is believed to be the first snowboarding company.His design included steel edges, laminated fiberglass, gravel on the board for traction and nylon straps. After a few years, the company went broke.

1977-78

-Jake Burton released a Snurfer knockoff called the Burton Board and managed to sell only 6 units in the first season.

1978-79

-Tom Sims also began selling Similar boards on the opposite side of the country and also found it difficult to sell the board in the first season

1982

-First National Snow Surfing Championships were being held with 125 contestants making their way down the hills on Snurfers at speeds of up to 50 miles an hour. It wasn’t a prestigious event but it helped popularize the sport by broadcasting it to The Today Show and Good Morning America.

in 1985 Burton took over the even and held it in Vermont’ Straton Mountains. Since then it has grown quite significantly, with more than 30,000 people going to the event each year.

1983-84

-the first resort to open up for snowboarding was Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont in 1983-84. Other resorts followed suit and by the 1990’s 476 resorts welcomed snowboarders on their slopes

1985

-The first snowboarding magazine got published which was called the International Snowboard Magazine. It provided readers with real stories from the slopes.

1990

Snowboarding becomes the fastest growing winter sport on the planet with more than 6 million people

1992

The Pipe Dragon was built by Doug Waugh. This heavy piece of machinery was built specifically to create and maintain half pipes and since then has had a huge contribution to the snowboarding freestyle movement

1996

Snowboarding movies became more and more popular as the sport grew, but one that stood out was by Johan Olofsson, where he shredded a 50-degree drop, 3000-foot slope in a mere 35 seconds. His achievement made it into the Guinness Book Of World Records and has turned him into an overnight legend

1998

Men’s and women’s snowboarding made their Olympic debuts at the Nagano Games in 1998 with giant slalom and halfpipe competitions.

2005-06

Shaun White completes a perfect season by entering and taking out 12 snowboarding contests among them all five Grand Prix Olympic Qualifiers, two Winter X Games events, and, of course, the gold medal in Torino.

So that is a majority of the History of Snowboarding put in a nice timeline for your reading pleasure. Below you can also watch a bit more about the history.