Protective Gear

[rhaskins]

This is sort of a reprise of the Gilmour Gear thread from last winter.

I am looking for left hip and left shoulder impact protection. All my falls that resulted in any injury happen at slow speed, and I always land on my left side. I jacked my left shoulder up so bad that I forced the Doc to xray it because it hurt so bad. I also got a huge hematoma on a fall that bulged out 2 inches from my hip. I fell on it 2 days later and shattered the hematoma and it spread throughout my entire posterior. Dark purple with some of that there green color for some contrast. That hurt. I landed on that same spot about 3 more times after that, and ended up with a hematoma into early May. All at slow speed. At high speed I either cartwheel or skip and slide without any injury - so far.

I am really interested in the d3o material, like the Spyder Stealth Top http://www.the-raceplace.com/spy_stealthtop.html (http://www.the-raceplace.com/spy_stealthtop.html) That looks good except for the shoulder pads which are not d30. Has anyone used that? I want something to spread out the force of the impact.

The impact shorts that I have looked at from the various manufacturers are bulky. Like the 661 shorts. http://www.sixsixone.com/Catalog_661Snow.aspx?id=920542a2-1cbb-49ca-b17b-279b74b3ae14&product=462827e2-f723-4c69-a579-4a0eb699bbf9 (http://www.sixsixone.com/Catalog_661Snow.aspx?id=920542a2-1cbb-49ca-b17b-279b74b3ae14&product=462827e2-f723-4c69-a579-4a0eb699bbf9)
I am looking for impact shorts that will only protect my left side, again to spread out the impact force. If I have to purchase impact shorts, I will remove all the padding except for the left side. Anyone know of any shorts that have d3o material or removable pads that don’t have migration problems?

Anyone know where to buy d3o material so that I can have it sewn into a pair of shorts?

Is the Gilmour Gear going to be a reality?

I am going to spend some money on this. I was really playing hurt at the end of last season, and want some protection this year. None of my injuries kept me off the slopes, but they did force me to switch to skis on some days because of the pain from boarding and landing on my hip. On the upside, my helmets did their job as they were supposed to. I completely destroyed one in one memorable high speed crash – a triple cartwheel right under a chair lift with a big audience.
<O:p</O:p
Rick

[Phil]

I ride evs shorts every day on the board. They have removable hip and tailbone pads that are pretty thin and light, yet do their job well IMO.





http://www.evs-sports.com/



Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like lessons would be as good an investment as pads.

[photodad2001]

To be honest. I've only smacked my face on the ice once in over 22 years, and have had only one wrist injury due to a huge drop and one hell of a knee injury due to the same. I've never had a shoulder injury or hip injury from this sport. My advice would be to look into the Red protective gear they have for boardercross.

But this opens a window to the helmet issue that is off limits but I want to get into due the fact that I've been "playing nice" for so long and am sick of it as it so reminds me of the highschool days of kissing ass while skateboarding.

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of. I've been clocked by a local Sheriff at 63 mph coming down a sheet of ice at my po' dunk resort and the worst head injuries I've ever had are... in the top 5...

1 - knee to face on the 3 meter board doing a "watermelon" breaking my nose and putting me in the hospital over night

2 - forehead to handlebar on a quadrunner after impact from a 20 foot drop, knocking me unconcious.

3 - chin to asphalt after hitting a pot-hole while slowly cruising down the driveway of my own home giving me 5 stitches to my chin.

4 - bridge of nose to camera at a girls basketball game after the ball flew over my head and 3 highschool girls crashed into me breaking my nose... again.

5 - Finally a snowboard accident, however, it was in the park doing a 360 stale-fish grab that went sour and I hit chin first on the ice, giving me a nasty scab below my lip, plus a fat lower lip. No hospital, no stiches. Just a few minutes to think about it and then back on the horse.

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All in all I find carving to be safer than windsurfing, "fruit-bootin", and even photography... I had my knee wacked by a receiver plowing into me at a highschool football game. All you helmet nazi's should be more concerned about wearing a helmet in every day life than on the slope. I knock my head more getting into my car than on the slope.

[Wun]

Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of.

Why the hate against helmet-users? :(

You'll want to laugh at people that want to protect the one body part with the most infamous of consequences on injury?

Shooooot. It seems you've missed this thread!
http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=19584 (http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=19584&highlight=helmets)

[kjl]

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of. I've been clocked by a local Sheriff at 63 mph coming down a sheet of ice at my po' dunk resort and the worst head injuries I've ever had are...

My house has never burned to the ground so I don't need home insurance?

Your single data point is meaningless. Do you now wear a helmet with a faceguard while cruising down your driveway at 5 mph or while going to girls' basketball games?


To get back to the original poster: I ride with the Dainese impact shorts. I like them, though I haven't fully "tested" them yet.

--
Ken

[rhaskins]

I ride aggressively. My issue is with cat tracks and flat areas and always falling the same way in hard boots at slow speed. At speed, on edge, on a slope, I rarely have a problem. I never have issues in soft boots. I started boarding on Dec. 1 of last year and hard booting in Feb. All my hip and shoulder problems started after Feb. At slow speed I seem to catch an edge on my hard boot setup a lot. I don't know why. And I don't do it a lot, but when it happens . . . it hurts. OTOH, I can tuck and roll very good now, what with all that practice.

Rick

[BadBrad]

I could also use some shoulder protection. In January I landed hard on my left shoulder, and it still hurts a little bit today when doing certain movements. I also landed on it again in February, which didn't help. In both cases it happened when transitioning from heelside to toeside at high speed. My toeside edge didn't engage or engaged and then let loose, causing me to fly through the air horizontally and slam down on my left shoulder (I ride goofy foot).

[tex1230]

To be honest. I've only smacked my face on the ice once in over 22 years, and have had only one wrist injury due to a huge drop and one hell of a knee injury due to the same. I've never had a shoulder injury or hip injury from this sport. My advice would be to look into the Red protective gear they have for boardercross.

But this opens a window to the helmet issue that is off limits but I want to get into due the fact that I've been "playing nice" for so long and am sick of it as it so reminds me of the highschool days of kissing ass while skateboarding.

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of. I've been clocked by a local Sheriff at 63 mph coming down a sheet of ice at my po' dunk resort and the worst head injuries I've ever had are... in the top 5...

1 - knee to face on the 3 meter board doing a "watermelon" breaking my nose and putting me in the hospital over night

2 - forehead to handlebar on a quadrunner after impact from a 20 foot drop, knocking me unconcious.

3 - chin to asphalt after hitting a pot-hole while slowly cruising down the driveway of my own home giving me 5 stitches to my chin.

4 - bridge of nose to camera at a girls basketball game after the ball flew over my head and 3 highschool girls crashed into me breaking my nose... again.

5 - Finally a snowboard accident, however, it was in the park doing a 360 stale-fish grab that went sour and I hit chin first on the ice, giving me a nasty scab below my lip, plus a fat lower lip. No hospital, no stiches. Just a few minutes to think about it and then back on the horse.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m2M4cirjiwU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m2M4cirjiwU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

All in all I find carving to be safer than windsurfing, "fruit-bootin", and even photography... I had my knee wacked by a receiver plowing into me at a highschool football game. All you helmet nazi's should be more concerned about wearing a helmet in every day life than on the slope. I knock my head more getting into my car than on the slope.

Please at least tell us that your kids wear helmets...

[KingCrimson]

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of.


Cough.

Regardless of your opinions, there are too many argumentative babies on BOL to be making these kinds of posts.

You know that. Remember one of my earlier postings? I hold my tongue.

[queequeg]

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of.

I will speak out for the argumentatative babies:

You clearly aren't moving very fast at all.

Not everyone on this forum is going mach-schnell on the hard-stuff riding a stiff 170+cm ride but many are, and they would be MORBIDLY STUPID to not protect themselves. And even if you aren't, you are still pretty dumb to be riding around without a helmet, because there are plenty of out-of-control joeys out there just waiting to straight-line into you at full speed, and regardless of how soft the snow is, when another skull, body, board, ski, pole or boot comes in contact with your skull at any significant speed it WILL **** you up.

[Gtanner]

Exactly!!!

It's not me I'm worried about, it's everyone else on the hill that could hit be from behind or completely blind-side me!

[Vahur]

I used this Spyder's top last season. Haven't had serious testing (knock on wood!) but from experience can say that seems comfortable (used also Dainese's back protector vest on top of it and managed to completely forget about them during riding). Only issue seems to be that elbow protector pads seem to rotate out of position and couple of landings on hard ice were quite painful.
What I don't like is that it is top model and forces me to wear additional layer on top of it: without this my beer belly shows up between pants and top:eplus2:, full length would be better.

[rhaskins]

Three days after a one-point landing off my motorcycle, sitting in the waiting room the doctor told me from the door I had a concussion. I guess my fully-dilated eyes gave him his first clue. It took a week of recovery to just get my eyes half working again in bright light. I would not be here entertaining you without the helmet I was wearing then. On two occassions last winter it was just me and 2 skiers on the same slope, me with the "right of way" both times and I got hit both times. Both times it was the two skier's racing each other. The skiers got the worst of it, they were going way faster and both times launched into perfect Superman's to land face and arms first many feet down the slope. Both times they claimed not to have seen me - tunnel vision because they were focused on racing. Both times my helmeted head hit the ground. I like helmets.

But I digress, that is a discussion (helmet) that each person has to decide.

I need shoulder and hip protection, something unobtrusive, easy to wear, as inexpensive as possible. I would like to get some of that d3o material to try either on a shirt or sewen into the liner of my coat. I have viewed the shovel test on the one of the sites, and it looks like the d30 will provide all the protection I want. Some of Spyder's biking shorts with the d3o look good, but probably come with a chamois. Not what I want on the slopes.

I don't plan on ever falling this coming winter, just so that you know.

Rick

[MUD]

If I really wanted to protect my head or any other part of my body I wouldn't do it on the slopes. Seriously. Snowboarding has to be one of the safest sports in the friggin' world. If you're wearin' a helmet on the snow you deserve to be made fun of.


:freak3:

[big mario]

I doubt I would be typing this had I not been wearing one last December. As more than a few on this board know, it is more often a matter of when, not if, you will go in to the trees. Experience has taught me that trees are much harder than snow.. Go ahead, laugh at me all you want jackass, I know that by wearing a helmet, I have greatly reduced my chance of becoming nothing more than a brainstem by wearing one, and my head will be nice and warm
Live fast, Die stupid
mario

[MUD]

I do have to say. If I did not have a FULL FACE (laugh if you like) helmet on the last time I was out west, my face would be smeared on some rocks of one of the dictator chutes at Big Sky.

But hey, to each there own.

[trailertrash]

I think the OP was talking more about body protection than head. Lets leave the helmet discusion to another thread and stick to the topic at hand. :D

[MUD]

I think the OP was talking more about body protection than head. Lets leave the helmet discusion to another thread and stick to the topic at hand. :D

Spoil sport.........:D

[rhaskins]

I sincerely apologize for putting the word helmet in a post. Sorry.:rolleyes:

Rick

[Dave ESPI]

If I know its a hard hard hard packed day, I wear my crashpads.

Its underarmor I wear for gate racing, but sometimes. its just nice to have a lill extra cooshin around my lanky arse and all the pokey pointy areas on my body.

http://pics.summitonline.com/137400.jpg

they have shorter ones also for like 70, but I like the shins protected !

[rhaskins]

Would it be easy to remove some of the pads? Without destroying it or the integrity of the remaining pads? I really want something to protect my left hip area.

Rick.

[ursle]

I sincerely apologize for putting the word helmet in a post. Sorry.:rolleyes:

Rick


I second the crash pads, wouldn't dream of stepping onto a board withoutem I use the shorts, have a few pair, thinner for warmer, have one pair with removable and placeable pads, look around http://www.crash-pads.com/intro.aspx?dept=snow

[Dr D]

Would it be easy to remove some of the pads? Without destroying it or the integrity of the remaining pads? I really want something to protect my left hip area.

Rick.
check out the skateboard sites . I wear a pair of padded board shorts under my gear that work great and the pads are removeable. the pad shorts that go under football pants would work well to. you can take either hip pad out as well as the tailbone pad.

the rest of my gear is mtn bike stuff. 661 has a great compression top that has hard plastic shoulder cups over the shoulder pads. they saved my shoulders at least twice. Once from a fall in the deep and steep and once from a straightlining idiot skier.

anyone who doesn't like helmets hasn't tried one on. The comfort level is so much better temperature wise that I wouldn't ride without one for that reason alone.

[MUD]

How about something like this?????

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/2/7/21/1806/ITEM/EVS-PP05-Ultimate-Shorts.aspx

EVS makes good stuff.

If you live in the Twin Cities, you can check them out here:

http://www.bobscycle.com/

They are at Rice and Hwy 36.

[photodad2001]

Why the hate against helmet-users? :(

You'll want to laugh at people that want to protect the one body part with the most infamous of consequences on injury?

Shooooot. It seems you've missed this thread!
http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=19584 (http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=19584&highlight=helmets)

Sorry, I must appologies for that drunken rambling. After a half of a bottle of rum and an arguement with friend... who is still my friend.. I went bolistic without cause on this forum. I am for safety, but do have a differance in oppinion with some people on this forum and took it out in the wrong place. Circumstance and timing was off and I accept my wrong doing. My original opinion does still stand, but I will apologies to those that were in the wake of a hostile rampage that was not caused by you.

[photodad2001]

Please at least tell us that your kids wear helmets...

Tex. I'm not even sure how to present this. Apparently we both have a lot in common... and we both are two worlds appart. Maybe more the first than the later. I'm not trying to butt heads, but at the same time there are differances that perhaps I am too proud to let go. Can we agree to this or are we going to continue to squable over subtle differances or acknowledge that we both carve... go fast... and get called "fags" from the jib monkeys on the lift?

And "Yes"... I bought my kid a helmet... but like her "old man" refuses to wear it.

[bobdea]

Tex. I'm not even sure how to present this. Apparently we both have a lot in common... and we both are two worlds appart. Maybe more the first than the later. I'm not trying to butt heads, but at the same time there are differances that perhaps I am too proud to let go. Can we agree to this or are we going to continue to squable over subtle differances or acknowledge that we both carve... go fast... and get called "fags" from the jib monkeys on the lift?

And "Yes"... I bought my kid a helmet... but like her "old man" refuses to wear it.

lead by example....................

[No.2]

Very interesting tread. This d30 material looks interesting. I wonder if it is as non Newtonian as it claims?

This is what I'd be into;

Bottoms; The CW-X stabilising compression pants with Auto Sensor fabric d3o pads sewn in. http://www.cw-x.com/ss/products/mens/m_insulated


Top; The Adidas powerweb golf compression top made out of the CW-X Auto Sensor fabric (Next years CW-X tops will have a similar stabilising web as these Adidas tops) again with d30 pads sewn in. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3164667


That way you have compression for added veinus return, (Less burn) Stabilising webs for muscle vibration protection. (Greater endurance and control at max output) The webs also help posture when out there on the edge of control. The intelligent nano tech modified fabrics that control body temperature at different exertion levels and have anti bacterial silver in them. Plus a non Newtonian padding system that allows complete range of motion but freezes and distributes load on impact! Just what I've been looking for. :)

At the moment I'm wearing the rather bulky UFO Scorpion https://www.adventure-spec.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=104 and 661 pants.

Quite a bit of hassle but hilarious the last time I got bowled buy an out of control skier straight lining the race track. He didn't know what hit him. (he hit) ;)

Actualy make mine a one peice, wind and water proof and I'll take two in BOTH colours, fluro yellow and pink with "Hardbooters are Homospaiens" on the but.:biggthump

[carvedog]

I ride aggressively. My issue is with cat tracks and flat areas and always falling the same way in hard boots at slow speed. At speed, on edge, on a slope, I rarely have a problem. I never have issues in soft boots. I started boarding on Dec. 1 of last year and hard booting in Feb. All my hip and shoulder problems started after Feb. At slow speed I seem to catch an edge on my hard boot setup a lot. I don't know why. And I don't do it a lot, but when it happens . . . it hurts. OTOH, I can tuck and roll very good now, what with all that practice.

Rick

While not trying to discourage you from wearing some protective gear, the fact that you are having issues on the flats points to a more serious problem than the thickness of the padding you want to use.
If you cannot ride comfortably on the cats there is some body alignment, boot alignment or binding issue that you need to look at.

Trying to address crashing on cat tracks with padding is a little like putting a band aid on a torn artery. It may help but you will still have all those sudden deceleration type injuries that you can't pad away.

[rhaskins]

Seriously, it is weird. I can ski at full speed, jump, carve, single D without any issues and do the people slalom on the slopes at high speed without issues. On a soft boot setup, I ***NEVER*** have any issues and I ride Duck stance on my twin and a forward stance on other boards and I ***NEVER*** have any issues. I put on hard boots, clip into my AXXESS and at speed can carve around with *minimal* issues. Those minimal issues are always emergency stops when I get someone that just has to dart out in front of me, or when my attention wanders when I am tired at the end of the day. My instinct on emergency stops is to put my board sideways, and my AXXESS just has a lot more stop in it than my soft boot boards so sometimes I crash in an emergency stop. Something to do with the longer edges.

But I am a pig on ice at slow speed in hard boots. I have changed my stance slightly, changed my angles, put more cant into my rear (right) boot, unlocked my boots, got a BTS system, all to no avail. I have plumbed the depths of bomberonline and The Carver's Almanac for setup/stance/riding information. But I still crash more consistently at slow speed. By that I mean on a typical all-day session, 6 to 8 hours, I will fall once or twice. Not trying to over-detail you, but when I fall I just crash into my left hip, I never go over to the right. And these slow speed drops (crashes) are so fast I cant believe it. It is like an edge crash, which it probably is, but it is just so fast I can't analyze it that good. I was so beat up on my left hip at noon on March 29th (last open slope day) from crashes over the last 4 weeks and a couple of crashes that morning that mentally I could not take another crash and switched to ski's for the rest of the day. The effect was cumulative - I hurt my hip for the first time on March 1st and then about once or twice a week thereafter landed on it. I have talked to everyone I could about technique, and changed things around, but still had the same result. Pads to alleviate or reduce the point loading on my hip would have made all the difference I think.

So, my bottom line is that a little pain isn't gonna keep me from boarding. When I broke my leg at the top of Buck Hill (not a big hill by any means), I got up after a few minutes and skied down. Tibual plateau fracture I think it was called when they diagnosed it 3 painful months later, but that is another story. I may have a technique problem, I may have an equipment problem, I may just suck and may never get the hang of it, but until they pry my snowboard off my cold dead feet I will .... sorry, I forgot what I was doing there for a moment. I got me a Donek FCI and a Razor to explore the possiblity that my issues may be equipment based. New boots also. I have both hard boot and softboot coverd with my new Donek's. I have been fairly systematic about any changes I make, adjusting cant, stance and etc. and riding each change for a couple of hours before I make another adjustment. I just need to protect my hip and to a lesser extent my shoulder so that I do not have beginning-of-the-season injuries that will nag me the whole season or force me to switch to skis. I never fall on skis and never fall on soft boots, so those are my fall-backs. (never means hardly ever, ya know?)

A benefit of hard booting has been to my skiing. With hard booting I have committed to the carve, laying out over the snow, facing into the turns and ignoring the possiblility of a crash. That has really increased the learning rate and my skill at carving, such as it is. Now, when I switch to skiing, I am much more aggressive and, for lack of a better term, lively on the skis. I wasn't that much of a wuss before, but now I literally have no fear, just cold, calculating nerve. I owe that to hard booting. I am addicted to hard booting. I really want snow. Now.

Have to run, my longboards are calling me to the asphalt slopes.

Rick