Are you looking for a lacrosse team to join? Are you looking for a running partner? Do you want to sell the bike you just replaced? Esportsboard is a new local classifieds just for sports and fitness. It’s like Craigslist.org, but just the athletics. The site lets you buy and sell used gear, equipment, and apparel; promote local services such as a trainer, pitching coach, or fishing guide; post announcements including teams looking for players; find people looking for partners for running or cycling; and promote tournaments, camps, and fund raisers. Anything sports-related, there’s a category.
When you visit Esportsboard it recognizes what city you’re in, and asks if that’s where you’re looking. The site says it aggregates classifieds for over 4,500 local sports organizations, and serves 160 million Americans actively participating in sports and recreation. If you’re looking to put your kid in little league, or want to find a group of runners to train with, it’s a good place to find that, and get the gear to outfit you for your sport.
CamelBak is on the lookout for unconventional teams outfit with its bottles and hydration systems. It began its search with the “Official Water Bottle Of” campaign last week. CamelBak will provide BPA-free Better Bottles and t-shirts with the team logo and have water-carrying rights at the teams’ sanctioned events. It will also promote the team on the CamelBak Web site and its Facebook fan page.
Unconventional sports on CamelBak’s radar include dodge ball, roller derby, and underwater hockey. They’ll be happy to hear about more quirky sports, and so will KineticShift. So far Santa Cruz Derby Girls and San Francisco Sea Lions Underwater Hockey are charter members of the search.
CamelBak began years ago as a hydration system built into a backpack. It now offers a line of backpack hydration systems, clothing, and hands-free bottles.
Rudy Project was the eyewear of choice of Olympic athlete Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia who won gold in the women's biathlon.
As the Olympics close, the Rudy Project reports it had a hand in 18 medals, internationally. Before the torch was lit, Rudy Project said it would supply eyewear to a number of Olympic athletes. The round-up of athletes that placed on the podium included gold for women’s biathlon competitor Anastazia Kuzmina from Slovakia, who also won a silver medal. German cross country skier Claudia Nystad won gold in the team sprint. Johan Olsson from Sweden took gold in the cross country 4 x 10 relay.
Kinetic Shift congratulates all the athletes who competed in the Olympics. And kudos to Rudy Project for supporting so many winning athletes.
This SP16-SPAX tool from the Ontario Knife Company has many uses.
An axe is one of the oldest tools in humankind’s toolbox. However it has evolved over the years to be less unwieldy and more practical. The Ontario Knife Company based its newest axe tool, the SP16-SPAX, on a WWII emergency crash axe model, and continued to improve the design. The new SP16-SPAX is useful for emergency first responders and firefighters, but also for outdoor activities such as camping and hunting.
The blade is made of razor-sharp 1095 epoxy powder-coated carbon steel, and has a special hole used for opening and closing fire hydrants and gas valves. The handle is ribbed with Kraton polymer, and features tang construction meaning the blade and handle are all one piece. Sturdy. The hole mentioned above serves a second purpose. The Axe can be gripped higher up to handle tasks that are more precise.
Omega has kept track of time for the Olympic Games since 1932.
Omega has had its hand in the Olympic Games since 1932. At that time Omega supplied 30 stopwatches to track all 14 sports events. Over the years Omega developed timing technology such as the photo finish, which captured images of athletes as they crossed the finish line. This helped determine who had the lead when all the competitors finished in a group.
The drive to advance its accuracy and reliability in timing for the Olympics means Omega does much more than supply 30 stopwatches to the games. In Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Omega deployed 220 timekeeping professionals and engineers supported by 290 local volunteers. The watch manufacturer brings roughly 250 tons of equipment for timekeeping, on-venue results, and TV services. The equipment and support from timekeeping professionals tracks athletes to the split second, and often means the athletes wear sensors so they are accurately tracked during competition.
Lost? Check out the GPS readout on your thumb in the X-Plore.XGX gloves from Zanier.
While Olympic skiers have a defined course to travel, the rest of us skiers want to explore the whole mountain whether it’s Whistler in Vancouver or another slop. The X-Plore.XGX gloves have GPS built in. The thumb display tracks altitude, speed, distance, duration, and weather conditions on a planned route. You can also adjust the settings, just don’t do it while flying down the slope.
The Vancouver Olympics have not been without disappointment. The Russians lost out in the mixed figure skating for the first time in decades, and there were disappointments for snowboarders as well. But the most underwhelming performance may have been from the electric powered ice cleaning machines. This followed delays in speed skating as the machines broke down.
This Olympic attempted to be “green,” and the results were less than spectacular. So much so that a traditional propane powered Zamboni machine was brought in from Calgary. We like the idea of a “greener” Olympics, but what exactly is so much better about an electric machine – especially if it doesn’t work?
Today marks the beginning of the action sport of curling in the 2010 Olympic Games. OK, we’re joking about the action, but the truth is that the sport has also gotten some high tech aids this year. The Edmonton Sun ran a feature this week that notes how the Canadians are using various advances such sensors, along with high-speed cameras to help.
Clearly even a sport using nothing more than a “rock,” brooms and ice can go high tech in the new millennium.
Riding a thin board down a track made of ice, and doing it headfirst would be enough to scare the life out of you (And we say this with absolutely no disrespect to Georgian luge racer Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was tragically killed last week at the end of a training run. Our condolences go out to his family and his teammates).
Maybe that is why this sport is called the “skeleton,” which was permanently added to the Olympic Games in 2002. The sport evolved from a form of tobogganing called cresta sledding, and dates to the 1880s. The difference today is that riders only use their bodies to guide the sled, instead of using skates to help steer. The U.S. Olympic skeleton team prepared with help from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York where engineering professor Timothy Wei and his team built a special custom-made simulator to help understand wind resistance. But they should know against a highly trained athlete, resistance even of the wind variety if futile.
We wish all the skeleton and luge riders safe runs!
Chocolates are said to be good for your health, but why not give gifts that are good for the heart and get your sweetie moving. That’s a gift for the heart! KineticShift has a few recommendations to get you on the right track this Valentine’s Day.
Measure heartbeats per minute with the SmartHeart from Oregon Scientific
This water resistant monitor tracks heart rate, calories burned, average heart rate, and vibrates to send alerts. The SmartHeart features a touch-sensitive lens so you can toggle through settings with a tap.
Listen to the beat on these retro-style headphones from Urbanears.
Listen to music with style during workouts or jaunts to the store with Urbanears Tanto headphones. The retro-style headphones has a fabric cord to add strength and has 36 mm handmade drivers. The remote/microphone lets the headphones double for a headset with a cell phone.
Shield mobile phones from breaking with a silicon case from Speck.
Protect your sweetie’s phone during workouts with Speck’s PixelSkin. The no-slip grip is due to its textured silicon construction. The phone-specific case provides access to all the phone’s ports and controls. For Valentine’s Day, Speck is offering 25 percent off red, pink, and purple phones.
They say cold hands, warm heart. That doesn’t mean your love’s digits should freeze off by the end of winter. Lightweight Running Gloves from Nike uses a Dri-FIT material made from high-performance, microfiber polyester fabric to wick sweat from hands to relieve runners and those just smitten of sweaty palms.
Keep him warm on the slopes or any other outdoor activity in the extreme cold. Metal has diamond-faced ColdGear construction to remove moisture while holding in warmth. The top has ventilation zones for heat release and temperature regulation. It also features flatlock seams to increase mobility without causing irritation.
Rudy Project Noyz sunglasses are a pick for 2010 Olympic athletes.
As the Olympics gear up athletes are at the ready. Eyewear and helmet manufacturer Rudy Project outfitted many competitors in Turin in 2006, and will outfit many more in Vancouver 2010. While goggles and helmets will be in order for certain sports, the Noyz Fluo will cover many eyes. The Fluo version of the Noyz sunglasses have a technicolored-look, though the Noyz model is available in many bold colors. The lenses have ImpactX sun technology, which allows for a lighter lens, adds impact resistance, and doesn’t stress crack or craze. For sight, the lenses have favorable optical properties with a lower light refraction index, internal stress, and chromatic dispersion than comparable polycarbonate lenses. This brings a lower surface reflection and higher definition and sharper images.
The Rudy Project was just named the exclusive eyewear and helmet supplier for the USRowing, a three-year partnership including support of the U.S. National Team in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In Turin, Rudy Project gear was on athletes who won 45 medals (18 gold, 13 silver, and 14 bronze). This winter Olympics athletes from Germany, Finland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Spain, and Italy plan to wear eyewear from this Rudy Project.
At 60 lumens the Energizer Micro LED Headlight will shed light on your evening run.
Evening runs get to be a bit daunting in the winter months. It gets dark, and you want to be sure you can see and be seen. That’s especially true in residential or even rural areas where streets may not be lit to brighter-than-day standards. It’s for these late-day runs and camping that the Energizer Micro LED Headlight comes in use. The LED light packs 60 lumens into a small light, and is waterproof to 1 meter, so you can even use it in the rain.
The light is mounted to an adjustable elastic band that fits snugly around your head, and the single AA battery fits discreetly in the back. The light has three modes: bright 60 lumens, dimmed from 100 percent to 6 percent light, and light from two red LEDs. The bright spotlight is rated to provide two hours of power, while the red light will shine for up to eight hours on a single battery. The light itself can also be angled three ways while mounted on your forehead including straight ahead, and two angles facing down.
In our tests the spotlight was quite bright, and even at a dimmer setting we were able to see what was ahead of us, and even a little wider area. If you use the light for running, or doing work around the house, you’ll have no problems seeing where you’re headed. The interesting setting is the red light setting. This is best for camping or being able get around in a dark space but not necessarily doing work. The red color is a bit easier on the eyes, and doesn’t cause you to lose all sight when you turn out the light. We were able to see in detail objects at arms length, and even a little beyond. We could read text easily, and saw enough detail to get around tight areas without colliding into objects.
No matter the setting, we advise you to adjust the light to face down slightly. This will still shine a bright light in order for you to see and more importantly be seen. Yet you won’t blind oncoming traffic. You’ll also save your own eyes in case you look into the mirror. That bright light will shine right back in your eyes! There’s other headlights on the market we’d like to try, but we do think Energizer gets it right for providing different brightness and light settings, plus angles while keeping it light and secure enough to stay on your head while running or doing other activities.
We met up recently with the eco-folks of Klean Kanteen, who showed us their new Wide Insulated bottles. You have probably seen Klean Kanteen products at your local yoga center or Whole Foods. These particular beverage holders have double-walled vacuum insulation and are made with a solid 18/8 brushed stainless steel designed for handling food. They’re also BPA-free, but what isn’t these days since the “scare” of a couple years ago. They come in three sizes—12, 16, and 20 ounces—and all cost less than $30 ($22.95, $25.95, and $27.95, respectively). They can also accommodate the optional cafe cap ($5.95) you can screw on, great for coffee drinkers.
But the big seller to these new bottles is the said double-walled vacuum insulation, which Klean Kanteen says will keep a hot beverage hot for up to six hours and iced drinks for up to 24 hours. Now, when you throw those kinds of claims in my face, I become skeptical (I’m generally skeptical anyway, but that’s another story). After all, we’ve grown up with those Thermoses that promised to keep our soups hot by lunchtime, only to find it lukewarm. After Klean Kanteen provided us with a 16-ounce model to try out, we put it through a quick real-world test.
We brewed some instant coffee (times are tough, leave us alone), poured it into the bottle, and sealed it tightly with the included loop cap. Just to see how tight the seal is, we threw it in a backpack that contains some clothes and we tossed around for the next few hours. Luckily the seal was tight and we didn’t find any coffee-soiled shirts. We opened it once after three hours to check on it (still hot). After a total of 6.5 hours later, we opened the bottle again and took a sip. Sure enough, the bottle lived up to its claim of six hours. But the coffee wasn’t just hot, it was lip-burning hot, as if we had just poured the coffee into it a minute ago. We were pretty surprised that it was so hot. Luckily we had the cafe cap on, which made it a bit easier to drink than pressing your lips directly on the stainless steel (ouch).
We didn’t test it with cold beverages for a complete 24 hours, just 12. We poured in some diet cola with ice, sealed it, and left it in a warm room with a steam heater nearby. After 12 hours, we removed the cap and found the cola very cold, how soda should be drank. The ice, however, had melted, so the cola tasted somewhat diluted but nothing we couldn’t drink.
The one issue we noticed is that, despite having cleaned it with soap and water after we dumped out the coffee, we could still smell a bit of the coffee in the bottle when we were sipping the cola from it. Klean Kanteen says the bottle does not retain or impart flavors, which we didn’t find when we tasted the cola, but we wonder if that also meant smelling it from the bottle. Also, due to a narrow internal chamber it’s a bit difficult to wash using just a regular household sponge, yet the bottle was too big to fit in our Jeep’s cup holder (although Klean Kanteen says it’ll fit most). Plus, it feels a bit heavy when you compare it to non-insulated bottles.
Design-wise, some may find it a bit boring to look at, but we think the simple and clean design is appealing. It lacks the design and color choices of a Sigg bottle, but here we think the function definitely outweighs the option of graphics or pretty colors (just slap a sticker on it to make it yours). Overall we are really impressed, and we think it’s worth the money if you like having the option of either hot or cold.
Update: We soaked the bottle overnight in regular dish-washing detergent, and we found no trace of any smell from the liquid it held prior. So make sure you give it a thorough cleaning unless you enjoy smelling coffee with your cola.
