Apollo Anton Ohno is taking up Boardercross and will use Alpine Boards

[skategoat]

I took ice skating in college.. One of the excersizes was to get up some speed and then coast as far as you could on one foot. I'm regular, so it was obviously my left foot, but one of the things that suprised me was I could go around the rink counter clockwise (left turns) forever, but as soon as I tried turning right I'd lean in too far and have to set my right foot down... Just seemed odd to me.

pebu:

Was that a *credit* course?

[tex1230]

I took surfing in college - 3 hours credit PE elective :)

[Phil]

Colleges with phys. ed. programs will usually offer a snowboarding program if presented with the opportunity. I have taught snowboarding for several colleges and continue to do so. It looks good on a resume and it brings in some $$ on the side. I would recommend it for any seasoned snowboard instructors who are into the academic thing.

[neil sunday]

phil- i couldnt agree with you more on the teaching college snowboarding issue... except... i think it's for old pervs (not excluding myself) that want to teach college cuties to ride, compared to the typical 14 year old punk kids we usually get to teach/coach! :) have a good holiday weekend.

[Jim]

Actually Heiden did win a few including the first USRPO Cycling Championship in 1985.He also went to the Tour in 86.He probably would have been a big cycling star but decided to pursue career in medicine after some injuries ,from what I remember reading back then.Speed skating actually has had a few crossover successes in cycling,but I would have to agree with the previous point about the jumps in BX.That's a whole different thing.

Yeah. My bad. I still don't follow cycling and moved back to Santa Cruz in '83. I wonder what field of medicine he pursued.

[Neil Gendzwill]

It cracks me up when an athlete thinks he can just transition from one sport to another. They almost always fail. Michael Jordan, Grant Fuhr (hasn't made a dime as a pro golfer), all the track athletes who try to play pro football. Pure hubris.

Jordan did way better than any ordinary schlub. Like I have any shot at even keeping up with the local midget teams, much less bat .250 in double-A ball. There's a really interesting book around called "Why Michael Jordan Couldn't Hit" or something like that. I haven't read it, but the gist of it is that when we are young (under 18) and learning physical activities we are building neural pathways, but if we start older we are just adding learned behaviour. It's like having specialized hardware vs software to do a job. We can get pretty good, but we'll never be as good as those who started in childhood. I have little doubt that Jordan could have played big league baseball, or damn near any sport, if he had started as a kid.

Ohno seems like a nice guy, I wish him well. This is good publicity for racing, if nothing else.

[wavechaser]

This just in...Shaun Palmer is retiring from snowboarding (really this time) and plans to make the next Olympics in short track speedskating, but plans to wear full protective gear and "take out those little Koreans" rather than depend on speed alone.

[Cristan]

I assume that Ohno's strength and endurance are substantially better than most folks in the series (I'm sure they're no slouches, but neither were the people Ohno beat in the Olympics). I also assume that he's got fewer hours of experience with snowboarding than most folks in the series (but how do we know he hasn't been carving for years?).

Seems to me that it comes down to a question of whether his (assumed) greater-than-average fitness outweighs his (assumed) lesser-than-average experience.

I wouldn't be surprised either way, but I'm hoping he kicks some ass, because I think the extra publicity for hardbooting would be a good thing.

Well said!

Regards,

Cristan

[BlueB]

Well, there were few success stories of top athletes winning gold in cross-over sports... NHL stars, Lammens brothers, switched to Finn sailing. Hank won the Gold cup twice and his brother once, I think. Richard Clark went from Finn sailing to win Volvo Ocean Race. Best ski aerial jumpers are recruited from gymnasts and pool divers... You never know.

[felix]

Well for ski aerials it's the way to go. It's far too dangerous to start that sport very early and you will miss the coordination anyhow. Therefore it's mainly trampolin or gymnastics and then on to freestyle. Learning how to land a jump is not difficult if you got perfect coordintation in the air and even pros will spend a lot if not the majority of their time on a trampolin or doing gymnastics. I think the same applies for diving.

[bumpyride]

Don't tell anyone you heard it from me but this may be progressed much further than first thought. Was that Ohno is Whistler earlier this year with a full face shield helmet with a Kamikazi insignia? And was this mystery rider also seen coming out of Prior with the helmet on as a disguise? The really interesting part comes from an unnamed source deep within the industry. Apollo Ohno is not only developing the "SOUL BLADE", but also a split board that he will be using to SKATE up Mt Ranier and BOARD back down. The split board will be called "SOUL OF THE MOUNTAIN". With his dedicated training and ability, if anyone can do it, he can.

Details of the boards are sketchy, but one fact can be counted on. The edges will be Iridium Platinum. Iridium is the hardest natural element and is not affected by water (no rust). It's very difficult to machine and that's the reason that his short track skates cost $18,000. I can't wait to see the trickle down technology that will better our sport.

[felix]

WTF are you talking. Ever thought about the new inventions? Or was that post ironic, if so yes than you nearly got me.

For racing or competition what you want is softer not harder edges than on retail gear. A too hard edge breaks and if the edge is so hard that it doesn't it would probably rip out or even worse distort the board flex. A soft edge can be furthermore sharpened much easier and better and for a couple of runs this is enough.

And why use someone who can't yet even snowboard to design a splitboard.

[Sinecure]

These bumpy posts get more entertaining with each iteration.

[wavechaser]

Summer really brings the gossip out on BOL...thank god I'm too busy doing other stuff most of the time! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[skategoat]

Well, there were few success stories of top athletes winning gold in cross-over sports... NHL stars, Lammens brothers, switched to Finn sailing. Hank won the Gold cup twice and his brother once, I think. Richard Clark went from Finn sailing to win Volvo Ocean Race. Best ski aerial jumpers are recruited from gymnasts and pool divers... You never know.

I remember Hank Lammens.

NHL Totals GP:27 G:1 A:2 PTS:3 PIMS:22

That was on a pathetic Ottawa Senators team too.

[bumpyride]

In a related story Apollo Anton Ohno may have a new clothing line to coincide with his new snowboard line. He may be using the experience derived from Short Track and developing a new line of "Sausage" suits. The suits could be a combination of Teflon, Kevlar and Spandex. It's speculated that the name of the suit will be in keeping with the "SOUL BLADE". It may be called the "SOUL SAUSAGE".

Rumor has it that Jake Burton, upon hearing this, was contemplating getting back into Alpine Boards. Burton's new board may be called the "SLICE AND DICE", and will neatly cut the "Soul Sausage" into cocktail weinies. The same rumor had Jake further commenting on the "SOUL SAUSAGE", and saying "Dude! It will never work. Too many snowboarders are overweight slackers and small packages will be far too prominent" When asked to clairfy his opinions on the AAO (Apollo Anton Ohno) line, Burton referred back to his catalogs for the argot that would be recognizable by his legions of followers, and made this very Johnny Cochranesque retort:

"Apollo's schizzle,

Is sure to fizzle

Dude!"

I would have to offer my own opinion on the "SOUL SAUSAGE" line, and say that Mothers of Snowboarding Betty's should jump on the "SOUL SAUSAGE". It would be a natural propylactic for their daughters. After all who could spend the time pouring themselves out of and into a Teflon, Kevlar Spandex suit in the snow.

[Cindy Kleh]

too funny!

[Baka Dasai]

One athlete who successfully crossed over into another sport: Anthony Mundine.

Went from Rugby League to boxing, and became a world champ.

[Terryw]

Not sure how serious Apollo is about all of this. Saw him on Conan O'brien Late Night last Friday. He had lots of chances to mention new endevors or interests, but he failed to mention anything about crossing over to yet another soprt.

[skategoat]

One athlete who successfully crossed over into another sport: Anthony Mundine.

Went from Rugby League to boxing, and became a world champ.

For every Anthony Mundine, there are 10 Marc Gastineaus.

[patmoore]

Someone already said it but I'll reiterate: If he follows through and competes on plates, it's good exposure for the sport. I wish him well.

[wavechaser]

I still say this is a hoax.

[bumpyride]

I still say this is a hoax.

I thought that this would tip it.

Speculation is that Chris Prior is in design phase with Ohno on his board. The word is that they have developed a high density polymer afixed to the tip of the board, that dampens not only vibrations but heavier impacts and has an added bonus of being shaped like an airfoil when on the snow and releases after the tip leaves the snow surface. The idea behind it the release point is so that when airborne the tip of the board doesn't dive. They have done this by striating the polymer into hair-like fibers that react to pressure and return to a "memory" shape when the pressure is relieved. This will look much like "Yeti Fur" and be very prominent on the tip. I believe they're calling it the "Soul Patch".

Then I figured this would do it.

Don't tell anyone you heard it from me but this may be progressed much further than first thought. Was that Ohno is Whistler earlier this year with a full face shield helmet with a Kamikazi insignia? And was this mystery rider also seen coming out of Prior with the helmet on as a disguise? The really interesting part comes from an unnamed source deep within the industry. Apollo Ohno is not only developing the "SOUL BLADE", but also a split board that he will be using to SKATE up Mt Ranier and BOARD back down. The split board will be called "SOUL OF THE MOUNTAIN". With his dedicated training and ability, if anyone can do it, he can.

Details of the boards are sketchy, but one fact can be counted on. The edges will be Iridium Platinum. Iridium is the hardest natural element and is not affected by water (no rust). It's very difficult to machine and that's the reason that his short track skates cost $18,000. I can't wait to see the trickle down technology that will better our sport.

3 Days Ago 03:11 PM

The I figured that this would do it, after all who would belive "SOUL SAUSAGE"

In a related story Apollo Anton Ohno may have a new clothing line to coincide with his new snowboard line. He may be using the experience derived from Short Track and developing a new line of "Sausage" suits. The suits could be a combination of Teflon, Kevlar and Spandex. It's speculated that the name of the suit will be in keeping with the "SOUL BLADE". It may be called the "SOUL SAUSAGE".

Rumor has it that Jake Burton, upon hearing this, was contemplating getting back into Alpine Boards. Burton's new board may be called the "SLICE AND DICE", and will neatly cut the "Soul Sausage" into cocktail weinies. The same rumor had Jake further commenting on the "SOUL SAUSAGE", and saying "Dude! It will never work. Too many snowboarders are overweight slackers and small packages will be far too prominent" When asked to clairfy his opinions on the AAO (Apollo Anton Ohno) line, Burton referred back to his catalogs for the argot that would be recognizable by his legions of followers, and made this very Johnny Cochranesque retort:

"Apollo's schizzle,

Is sure to fizzle

Dude!"

I would have to offer my own opinion on the "SOUL SAUSAGE" line, and say that Mothers of Snowboarding Betty's should jump on the "SOUL SAUSAGE". It would be a natural propylactic for their daughters. After all who could spend the time pouring themselves out of and into a Teflon, Kevlar Spandex suit in the snow.

3 Days Ago 04:49 PM

This was fun on my part. Hope you enjoyed.

[Rob Smith]

Sbx courses vary widley. This season saw high speed banked GS to wootang after wootang. For an olympic event, the cource construction is bush league. There is very little to no help on cource construction. The legal threat of liability destroys any atempt of colaberation.

Many elite sbx riders in Canada are hard boot trained. Our national coaching team are leaning strongly to soft gear.

My thoughts of Apollo on hard gear; the banked GS format would favour him. His ability to read the field, see the opportunity and instantly take advantage are real, if he aquires the required skills. The big disadvatage on this cource is his lack of wieght. I believe these carving cources favour 180 lb.+ riders.

The highly technical cources (perhaps the future) require amazing flexability, flight balance & carving skill. I believe a hybrid gear set up of soft & hard gear will soon rule the sbx circuit.

[wavechaser]

Bumpy - guess Rob S. didn't read your last post...nice job though...gotta keep the snow-starved from getting bored in the summer!! :lol:

PS - I heard Tonya Harding is taking up SBX though.