ARE YOU A TRAILBLAZER ?

PHNX riders come in all ages, shapes, and sizes but one thing they all have in common is a sense of adventure and a willingness to try something new (well, kind of new, snurfing being around for 50 years!!).  A recent response on our PHacebook page got me thinking about the kind of person who might be attracted to a PHNX Board.   When I asked the responder why our boards "might be fun for some people, but not for me", he replied "I like to go backwards sometimes and jump fakie, that's why".  While that is totally cool, and snowboarding itself is cool, I don't understand why you would want to restrict yourself to just one way of doing things.  Snowboarding, skiing, snurfing, sledding, dang, sliding your butt down a hill is one of the best things in life, why not do them all?

OK, so you really can't ride a snurfer backwards, but what you can do is experience first tracks all over the place with a hassle-free board that costs less than just the special boots required to snowboard.  You can experience the peace and quiet of slopes all to yourself, like my man Marcus in the photo above.  You can snurf right in the city on all those hills screaming out to be had...like my man Marcus in the photo above...who is snurfing in Boston.  And, you can learn something new, ride an "old school" snurfer but with some new features that make it even better.  Oh, and you can do all this without spending a fortune on lift tickets!

Speaking of Marcus, this guy is so cool I could write an entire post about him.  Here's a guy I met at that same hill in Boston who saw me riding and wanted to try it out.  He failed, failed some more, then started to get the hang of it.  At the end of the day, he convinced me to trade a PHNX prototype for...a beer!  What? Yup, he took advantage of the fact that I was dang thirsty and got himself his own board.  To be honest, I figured he was too poor to buy one, but that changed later on when he came back and bought TWO boards, a brand new Trailblazer and one of my spare Burton Throwaways...er.. Throwbacks  (just kidding, the Throwback is actually fun, but would be better if had the PHNX features).  Oh, and by the way, this time he bought ME three beers!  Better yet, these were beers that he home-brewed...legitimate, full bodied brews.  Boy did I invest wisely in this guy!

So, whether you're a snowboarder who loves jumping fakie, a home-brewer who loves city snurfing, or a modifier who takes his various boards to the big resorts (read my last blog), one thing is for sure.  You are someone who likes to try new things and mix it up.  A trailblazer for sure, which is why we named our board after you!

Modify your life!

(modified and prototype snurfers with the PHNX Boards patented Rip-Cord Binding-Brake System)

PHNX Boards snurfers have been shipped all over the US and a few shipped overseas (Russia, Japan, Luxembourg).  We shipped one the other day to Utah and were surprised at the response:

Hey received my board yesterday cant wait to shred it around town when we get more snow here in Utah! Question i didnt realize the bottom wasnt ptex. How would i go about waxing it to keep it sliding good?? Also thinking about routering the bottom and installing some edges!

Wow, this was both concerning and exciting.  Concerning because we thought we've made it very clear that a PHNX Board was a wooden snurfer without a ptex bottom or metal edges.  At least that's what we say on our website...but there's not much on our PHacebook...er Facebook page.  At the same time, it was exciting because this rider got something he wasn't quite expecting but nevertheless was jazzed up about riding it...and already thinking about modifying it!

I explained what a PHNX Board is and isn't and steered him over to PHNXBoards.com.  His response:

I just didnt pay attention enough i guess! Yeah Im planning on taking it up to Snowbasin so edges would be nice when i'm crossing over hardpack runs. Ive modified a few burton throwbacks and takem them up to the resort on pow days allot of fun! Ill take pictures and tag them on your FB when we actually get another storm

While going back and forth with this new rider, it occurred to me that this is the kind of person who meets life with a sense of adventure and excitement.  Complainer?  No way!  Didn't get exactly what you thought you would get?  Well, maybe I'll just modify it!  Already skied or snowboarded Snowbasin, one of the premier resorts in the US?  Heck, I'll go up there with a modified Burton Throwback...and maybe modify this PHNX too!

This rider's "modify it" attitude really resonated with me because that's how PHNX Boards came to be.  The original snurfer was a modify of the sled concept, getting off your butt and onto your feet.  The original Burton Board snowboard was a modify of the snurfer, adding those edges and bindings.  And now the PHNX Board is a retro modify of the snurfer, taking a look back and starting over.   It's a cycle of modification and innovation, sometimes small modifies, sometimes big ones.

More importantly, though, its the "modify it" attitude that leads to all innovation and progress, no matter what product, or lifestyle.  These days, its called hacking, or lifehacking; fixing something that annoys you, taking a fresh look at what you are doing and finding a better way to do it.

Do you live by the "modify it" attitude?  When facing challenges, do you modify your life?

Here are some photos showing the development of the PHNX Board Trailblazer.  Modify, modify, modify until you get the best possible combination of features, using whatever you have to do it.  Oh, and don't mind the mess, you can clean that up later!