New Board, New Season
Yesterday, I decided to finally do it while I still had the chance.
No, this has nothing to do with virginity. I took advantage of the off-season discounts on last year's models to put together a K2 snowboard deck, the bindings, and the boots for less than $500 (if you don't count the $67 the government ended up stealing from me as a result of the transaction). It also didn't hurt that they take 20% off the bindings if you buy the boots, which were only $60. Damn, I sound like a woman after a day-long shopping spree. Even if I get a job in a sunny place (yeah, right) and have to move to where there isn't any snow, it's nice to know that I have equipment on standby if I ever come back home to visit during the season.
Yeah, my parents might freak out at me for making such a big purchase with so little money left, but I'd told them I spent only about half as much as I did on the last set of snowboard equipment. And they can't really argue with me, because they have a habit of buying ANYTHING, no matter how useless, tacky, or hazardous, so long as it's on sale.
"Son, I got this walrus polishing kit for 5% off!!"
So why don't I fall back to my old snowboarding equipment, you ask? Well, I would if I could. My old board had those nice Switch step-in bindings, but the boots cost five times as much as I paid yesterday because they had to have all the support built into them, instead of in the bindings. I was willing to pay that much for step-ins because I'm either practical, or a lazy bastard to have to ratchet those standard bindings onto my boot everytime I get off the lift. Imagine having to stop and pull your nuts out of your scrotum everytime before you go up a set of stairs, then stopping and cranking your nuts back in when you reach the top. That's how big a pain in the ass it is.
What happened to my old board was that I took it with me when I spent my three years in Japan. I had some great times with it while taking advantage of the bullet train ticket/mountain pass packages there, and Japan has some really neat jumps, rails, and half-pipes at the board parks to try out your tricks. I think snowboarding has far overtaken skiing in popularity over there.
As fun times as I had with the good ol' board, when it came to going home after my three years, I decided that it costs more than the board, binding, and boots to ship it back once I factored in depreciation. So I sold it, complete in the cutesy Engrish board bag labelled "Mr. Board" that I bought in Ochanomizu, to an Australian colleague of mine, who was going to be staying one more year. I trust that he has put it to good use, and he even took it back to Australia with him once his time in Japan was up. I don't know if there is any snow in Australia, even during their winter (summer for the folks in the northern hemisphere). Well, even if there isn't any snow, I'm sure he can strap the board to a kangaroo and try to ride it down a mountain or something.
Unfortunately, when it came to buying my new board, they no longer have step-in bindings in the market, presumably due to safety concerns that the boot may come off the binding. This is unlike the step-in bindings on skis, which are designed to come off on impact when you fall, so that you have to hike halfway up the mountain to get your ski back, and thereby raising the exercise value of the ski. Using poles? You'll have to hike another kilometer up to get them too! So being stuck with standard bindings, it's back to cranking my nuts for me.
Sadly, my social life back home isn't as good as my social life in Japan or Miami, so I hope I can put together some mates to hit the mountains with me. I haven't invested this much money to go by myself, and it would be even more expensive to do so without others to pool the costs. No buddies, no snowboarding, and nothing exciting to do during the winter season.
In that case, I'll have to find a walrus to polish.
No, this has nothing to do with virginity. I took advantage of the off-season discounts on last year's models to put together a K2 snowboard deck, the bindings, and the boots for less than $500 (if you don't count the $67 the government ended up stealing from me as a result of the transaction). It also didn't hurt that they take 20% off the bindings if you buy the boots, which were only $60. Damn, I sound like a woman after a day-long shopping spree. Even if I get a job in a sunny place (yeah, right) and have to move to where there isn't any snow, it's nice to know that I have equipment on standby if I ever come back home to visit during the season.
Yeah, my parents might freak out at me for making such a big purchase with so little money left, but I'd told them I spent only about half as much as I did on the last set of snowboard equipment. And they can't really argue with me, because they have a habit of buying ANYTHING, no matter how useless, tacky, or hazardous, so long as it's on sale.
"Son, I got this walrus polishing kit for 5% off!!"
So why don't I fall back to my old snowboarding equipment, you ask? Well, I would if I could. My old board had those nice Switch step-in bindings, but the boots cost five times as much as I paid yesterday because they had to have all the support built into them, instead of in the bindings. I was willing to pay that much for step-ins because I'm either practical, or a lazy bastard to have to ratchet those standard bindings onto my boot everytime I get off the lift. Imagine having to stop and pull your nuts out of your scrotum everytime before you go up a set of stairs, then stopping and cranking your nuts back in when you reach the top. That's how big a pain in the ass it is.
What happened to my old board was that I took it with me when I spent my three years in Japan. I had some great times with it while taking advantage of the bullet train ticket/mountain pass packages there, and Japan has some really neat jumps, rails, and half-pipes at the board parks to try out your tricks. I think snowboarding has far overtaken skiing in popularity over there.
As fun times as I had with the good ol' board, when it came to going home after my three years, I decided that it costs more than the board, binding, and boots to ship it back once I factored in depreciation. So I sold it, complete in the cutesy Engrish board bag labelled "Mr. Board" that I bought in Ochanomizu, to an Australian colleague of mine, who was going to be staying one more year. I trust that he has put it to good use, and he even took it back to Australia with him once his time in Japan was up. I don't know if there is any snow in Australia, even during their winter (summer for the folks in the northern hemisphere). Well, even if there isn't any snow, I'm sure he can strap the board to a kangaroo and try to ride it down a mountain or something.
Unfortunately, when it came to buying my new board, they no longer have step-in bindings in the market, presumably due to safety concerns that the boot may come off the binding. This is unlike the step-in bindings on skis, which are designed to come off on impact when you fall, so that you have to hike halfway up the mountain to get your ski back, and thereby raising the exercise value of the ski. Using poles? You'll have to hike another kilometer up to get them too! So being stuck with standard bindings, it's back to cranking my nuts for me.
Sadly, my social life back home isn't as good as my social life in Japan or Miami, so I hope I can put together some mates to hit the mountains with me. I haven't invested this much money to go by myself, and it would be even more expensive to do so without others to pool the costs. No buddies, no snowboarding, and nothing exciting to do during the winter season.
In that case, I'll have to find a walrus to polish.
posted by Cosmic Ocean at 1:23 PM
3 Comments:
You must have bought those step-in bindings without the back support. Those take up a lot less space. I had the step-ins with the back support built into them, btu I don't see them in stores anymore either.
oh, congratulations! see you on the slopes
Let's do it! Let's hit the slopes once the season kicks in!! Cypress sounds good?
Post a Comment
<< Home