So, you think you’re pretty hot stuff on your mountain bike, eh? Or maybe it’s your skiing or snowboarding that’s completely show-off-able. Whatever your sport, you can now take video footage of your moves through your own eyes. Well, not quite through your eyes but alongside your eyes anyway.
The ATC-2000 Action Helmet Camera from Oregon Scientific mounts to your helmet, handlebars, or other sports equipment so you can take video footage anywhere you go. Including batteries, it weighs just a half a pound, so it’s light enough that you’ll barely feel it on your head (or wherever you stick it). The company promises it’s water-resistant and shock-resistant, so it’s suitable for extreme conditions. The price is $130, but you’ve got to pay for a memory card and batteries, so include that in your estimate if you’re thinking of making this someone’s Christmas present this year.
Here’s a gadget for those of you into winter sports. Whether you’re a snowboarding champ, a cross-country skier, or just like to tramp through the bare, white trees on snowshoes, you can listen to your favorite tunes and warm your ears at the same time. How? With these combination ear muff headphones, of course. No more trying to tuck your iPod earphones into your ears, then mashing a hat or regular ear muffs on top of them. “This headset combines all-weather protection with high-quality mini-speakers, so you can enjoy your audio device without exposing your ears to the cold.” You can get this all in one package from Hammacher Schlemmer for $35:
It’s a little early for snow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start training for this year’s ski season. The “Pro Fitter” is a device that lets you slide back and forth to work on muscle endurance, cardio, and balance. Whether you’re into downhill or slalom, it can give you a work out. It looks like you can actually do a number of non-ski-related exercises on the Pro Fitter (though it can be argued that anything that helps build core strength will help you on the slopes), such as leg extensions and kickbacks, ab crunches, and various arm exercises. (And, of course, this is all stuff that can be done in front of the television if you wish.)
The device is available over the web for just over $500: Pro Fitter
Though I’ve snowboarded a couple of seasons, I remain a skier at heart. It’s not really about the way a board moves compared to skis… it’s about how lazy I am. With snowboarding you have to stop at the top and stick your boot in the binding (for me, this involves sitting down), and then you have to take it out again at the bottom and do that half-sliding, half-skating thing to get to the front of the line. With skis, you just ski off the lift and don’t stop until you’re at the front of the line on the bottom.
Still, one disadvantage we skiers have is all the stuff we have to carry. At the end of the day, boarders just throw their snowboards over their shoulders and tromp off to the parking lot. Skiers have four things (2 poles and 2 skis) to tote out. It can be a little awkward.
That’s why I thought this little ski- and pole-carrying gadget looked nice. Called the Graspen, it secures all your equipment so you can just tote everything out to the car like a piece of luggage. It’s cheap too. For $12, you can get the Graspen from the Vacation Gadget Man.
Sledding may not be what you automatically think of as something done for exercise, but any kid who has spent a day sliding down the slopes on his or her belly will tell you there’s a lot of effort involved (mostly in dragging the sled back up the hill again). So, I figure it’s appropriate to write about a sled on a fitness site. Besides this one is cool.
The Air Board is a big improvement over granny’s wooden sled or those round plastic things from Target. You blow it up, so it’s got some cushioning, and this lets you really cruise down the hills and get some air off those bumps. And the best part is there’s a model for adults too. That’s right, sledding isn’t just for kids any more. You can skim down the hill next to your kids (or by yourself if you don’t have kids yet). The price for the Air Board is $150 for a children-sized one and $300 for the adult version.
How do you practice your snowboarding moves in the summer? Why, with the iJoy Snowboard Simulator of course. You can practice on it all year around actually. Simply step on the “snowboard” and work on your balance as the motorized machine rocks. You can set the difficulty level, so there’s something here for advanced boarders as well as beginners. The cost for this fitness gadget? $450.