Between all of this fancy convocation stuff, I almost forgot to mention one of the most exciting events coming up this month in Bozeman! When I began working with Paula Beswick and Carmen McSpadden over OBOB events, one of the suggestions that came up was creating an longboard deck design contest. Well the time has come for a call for entries! We have a local longboard manufacturer, Grizzly Longboards, helping to sponsor the event alongside SCS Wraps, and Speedy Prints – both local businesses.

Here’s the skinny -

Thanks for your interest in One Book – One Bozeman’s first-ever Art Contest! This contest is open to students in middle school through college.

The first step is to read the One Book – One Bozeman/MSU Summer Reading selection “Double Take: A Memoir” by MSU grad, Kevin Michael Connolly. Next, get creative with your own longboard deck design. Go to www.onebookonebozeman.org to find the list of locations to pick one up. Four lucky winners will get a FREE Grizzly Longboard Deck with his or her original artwork!

If you would like to print out a copy of the guidelines yourself (as well as coupon for Grizzly Longboards) – here’s a download link: OBOB art contest form. Otherwise, hit the jump for the full list of guidelines as well as download link to the longboard template.

Contest Rules:

1.) Fill out the requested information and cut off coupon with the form (the discount coupon will be honored only if you submit the form and artwork). Be sure to choose a theme from the two options below. There will be a winner in each category, only one submission please.

2.) Pick up the Grizzly Longboard template (will be scaled to full-size for transferring to longboard deck) – go to www.onebookonebozeman.org to see the list of designated locations to pick up a template. You can also print off a pdf copy yourself right here.

3.) You will have until Friday, September 24, 5pm to submit your design to the Bozeman Public Library with the form below TAPED ON THE BACK OF TEMPLATE. Winners will be announced on Thursday, September 30 at the Awards Ceremony and Art Reception with Kevin Connolly at the Bozeman Public Library. There will also be a Viewer’s Choice award and honor prizes.

*Art work designs are at your discretion – black and white or full-color – but be bold!

*If you have questions, please email: grizzlylongboards@gmail.com or director@bozemanlibraryfoundation.org

Here are some of the locations to find templates for Longboard Deck Art Contest:

Bozeman Public Library
Bozeman High School
Sacajawea Middle School
Chief Joseph Middle School
MSU Catapalooza (August 25, 26, 27) at the Bozeman Public Library table
Various locations on campus and in Art Department
Starky’s Authentic Americana

September 8, MSU Bookstore at book signing by Kevin Connolly, 11:45-1:15
September 8, Convocation, Brickbreeden Fieldhouse, book signing ~ 8:40pm

Email for the growing list of locations: grizzlylongboards@gmail.com, director@bozemanlibraryfoundation.org

Photos of the new rig after the jump

So it’s finally done. After starting work on this monoski back in August, it’s  amazing to finally see the finished product. I gotta admit, I was going to post these yesterday, but was a little nervous about how well it would work on the snow and didn’t want to count my chickens too early. Below are some photos I took comparing this new rig to the old one so you can see the difference in terms of design and durability.

And as a bit of a key – every little band of silver that you see around the top part of my old frame is from having to weld old breaks.

And here’s the new one. Can you say upgrade?

Here’s a dead-on comparison of the frame.

Old one

New one

Old one

New one

I had my first ride on this machine yesterday, and I gotta say… it’s pretty incredible. The balance and response of the machine is such a dramatic improvement over the old rig that was left almost speechless for the first few runs. There’s still work to do – we want to recalibrate the shock and lighten the frame a little – but this is a hell of a first step.

I’m going to be working on a photo shoot for Outside Magazine over the next couple of days, and so hopefully I’ll have some shots of this thing in action before too long. Check back!

Hit the jump for news on a new monoski and X Games!

No – that’s not a snapshot from some movie involving the predator, but the results from the most recent stress test performed on a new monoski prototype that I’ve been working on since August. Almost my entire skiing career has been plagued by monoski breakages. Whether it was a weld breaking on my frame during X Games (and many other times, as well) or a shock spewing oil after being pushed too far – I’ve always been pretty hard on gear. Even the X Games race that netted me the silver medal in 2007 (and I also wrote about in Double Take) was run on a frame that had been hastily re-welded only a couple nights before.

So that said, when I got the final part of my book advance after finishing my manuscript, I decided to go out and design a monoski that was specifically designed for the abuse I give it. I’ve been working with two cool companies out of Bozeman called Spark R&D and Twenty6 Products who have been helping me with work on the design as well as fabricating the thing. I’ll be posting some video this weekend as we assemble the machine, but till then, here are a few more screen shots to wet your appetite.

New mono on the left, old on the right.

The above shot gives a decent impression of where we’re headed with design (reducing weight, lowering center of gravity, tweaking bucket angles) the really cool stuff is the material that we’re making this new frame with. Gone are heavy old metal carriage bolts and aluminum tubing! Now we’re working with titanium linkage pieces and specially machined pieces! I’m nerding out here, but considering this thing is what keeps me on the hill, I get a little excited about all the new details.

Working on the max angle of carving. Hopefully I never reach 68.5 degrees...

This shot hopefully gives a better dead-on idea of what the new suspension is like. Of course, these are all rough renderings compared to what the real thing will look like.

The real test for all of this will be at this year’s Winter X Games, where I’m officially a lock to compete in the 2010 Mono X. So over the next few weeks expect to see more video of me trying to stress test this thing out for real…

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