Grays On Trays

I’m always on the lookout for reports of interesting and prominent people who are also snowboarders, so I caught an item about the man who will be the next secretary of the treasury.

The Economist says that Tim Geithner, age 47, is a snowboarder, in addition to being president (for now) of the New York Federal Reserve.

Conor Dougherty, who writes at a Wall Street Journal blog called “Real Time Economics” is disappointed that Geithner isn’t also a skateboarder, as first reported in some press accounts.

Dougherty offers some reasons why snowboarding is preferred to skateboarding:

There are some theories as to why surfers and snowboarders have outdone skaters in seeking political office. Surfing and snowboarding tend to cost more, and this may act as a social filter.

Also, a lot of people start surfing and snowboarding in middle age. It’s certainly possible to pick-up skateboarding later in life, but few adults can stomach the time and pain commitment that learning skateboarding requires. (Emphasis added)

So if you think snowboarding is hard to learn, consider this: At least it isn’t as punishing as skateboarding. (Falling on soft snow is one thing; falling onto concrete is another.)

The Secretary of the Treasury, by the way, is fifth in line for the presidency.

It’s easy for day-only ski areas to build programs for kids. But is there enough interest on the part of adults for anything other than ski racing? One small ski area in the Minneapolis area thinks so.

Hyland Hills Ski and Snowboard area is offering to snowboarding classes that might be of interest to adults. They’re not classes, in the sense of offering instruction. They’re more like the on-snow version of an open gym: We’re welcoming a specific market, so come on in.

The Women’s Board of Directors offers “snowboarding for women in a comfortable environment,” while the Midweek Board Meeting offers “snowboarding for adults only in a fun atmosphere,” according to this year’s brochure.

They’re not going to close the area to people who don’t fit into these demographics, obviously, so the classes are probably going to be more along the lines of “Meet under the clock at the appointed time and we’ll all go hang out together.” Still, it sounds like a useful way of meeting some folks you might want to have in your snowboarding Rolodex. I can imagine some e-mails flying back and forth after these events are over: Hey Charlie, I’m heading out tomorrow. Want to join me?

For $99 you get 3 rentals and 3 lift tickets for the designated days. If you’re in the Twin Cities are, check it out.

If you’re not there, and you know of other ski areas that offer a similar outreach to either women riders, adult riders, or both, drop a line in the comments.

I know little about NASCAR outside of hearing some of the famous names that any casual observer of sports knows: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Gordon, and reaching back a ways, Richard Petty.

Apparently I should have been more familiar with Jimmy Johnson, who won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.

Johnson, born in 1975, was interviewed by the Roanoke (Virginia) Times. When asked about his off-track interests, he mentioned snowboarding:

“Snowboarding is like a constant slide, which is cool to me and reminds me of skateboarding and surfing, which I did as a kid. To be doing the long slides and transitioning from corner to corner and sliding along down the mountain is a good, cool rush.”

There are plenty of ways to enjoy riding, not all of which involve speed. On the other hand, snowboarding can indeed be “a good, cool rush.” (Source: Interview with Jimmie Johnson, March 30, 2008).

Do companies that neglect market niches leave money on the table? It all depends on the niche, the market, and the company. But I suspect that when it comes to snowboarding, the answer is yes: Snowboarding-related companies aren’t doing enough to talk to the adult market.

I see an analogy with the market for women golfers.

The Golf Blogger reports that the magazine Golf for Women is ceasing publication. He blames it on a lack of advertisers, and in turn, companies missing an opportunity to tap 40 million women baby boomers who could be golfers.

The golf company that takes these women as seriously as they take the men can really position itself. And that doesn’t mean taking a man’s club, making it a little lighter and coloring it powder blue or pink. It means starting from scratch, and putting the same effort into research and development as they do with the men. Then they need to market that equipment—clubs, balls, bags, pull carts, and so on—with the same aggressive stance that they do with the men.

To their credit, some snowsports companies are coming out with gear designed for women, gear that takes into account the fact that women are not small men, but have (for example) calf muscles that are differently shaped than those found on a man.

What alterations would be useful for adult riders? Flows, K2 Cinch bindings, and other bindings help, by reducing or eliminating the need to bend over or stand up, heelside, after having sat down to adjust bindings. Other than that, I’m not sure what other adjustments to gear are necessary. But there are plenty of adjustments that can be made to marketing materials. In brief, offer some grown-up graphics and text.

Are adults who go snowboarding the just-out-of-high-school sorts who, except for a different set of equipment, are “ski” bums?

Some are, but certainly not all. The Reno Gazette-Journal says that there’s a new principal at a local middle school. Among the off-the-clock interests of Sean Moyle: You got it; snowboarding.

Of course, when you live in Reno, you’ve got plenty of good options to choose from when it comes to riding.

Cleaning out some papers I came across a note I had attached to the November 2005 edition of Snowboarder magazine. There was a letter from “Anne Lewis,” of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Lewis wrote:

“My husband and I got a chuckle when we read about the riders “well into their 30s an still ripping.” We took a few snowboarding lessons to surprise our snowboarding sons. We both discovered that it was more fun on one board than on two planks! … At the “ancient” ages of 56 and 58, we are both looking forward to our third winter of snowboarding. Someone once referred to people like us as “grays on trays.” Works for me!

The response here: Well into their 30s? That’s nothing. Wander over to the Grays on Trays discussion board and you’ll meet folks in their 40s, 50s, 60s and perhaps beyond.

The response from the editorial staff at Snowboarder magazine? A flippant comment relating to the publishing industry, completely ignoring the point and missing an opportunity to welcome a non-traditional demographic to the sport.

Typical

Here’s one of those themes that should get old, but doesn’t: A 40+ year old adult takes on snowboarding. This one is from the Calgary Sun.

An excerpt:

One of the best things about the sport is being able to share it with her daughters.

“It was amazing to be riding up the chairlift with Vanessa on her 16th birthday. I wouldn’t have believed it four years before.”

Now her younger daughter, Sydney, is also hooked on boarding.

Her advice for wanna-be boarders — “give it seven days and be prepared to get hurt, dust yourself off and get hurt again.” Don’t get too worked up about that; the “hurt” is more to the pride than anything else. She recommends taking time off in the week to snowboard with a partner. It’s a short, sweet read. Check it out while you can.

Video can be a useful tool for learning how to ride. Unfortunately for adults learning how to ride, snowboarding videos focus on freestyle tricks. Not that there’s anything wrong with freestyling, but if your focus at the moment is learning how to ride from the top of the lift to the bottom, a video about 50/50 boardslides on a rail won’t do you much good.

For a little inspiration, here’s a video of somebody’s grandmother (or at least mom) riding at Gunstock, New Hampshire.

She writes, in describing this video, she says “you say I’m not exactly shredding, fellow riders, this could be your own mother! Or even someone’s grandmom.”

Yay, grandma!

And thanks for the plug for Grays on Trays.

I came across a new (to this season) blog called Snowboard Women. I’m not sure how old Erica (riding since 1999) and the rest of her Southern California-based gang are, so I’m not sure if they’d be comfortable identifying with the Grays on Trays demographic, but they do get “age points” for remembering vinyl records.

Also, I liked the post “Snowboarders Getting Older.” At least I plan to be snowboarding while getting older, as are the folks on the Grays on Trays discussion board.

The blog has a post on pre-season conditioning that comes with this twist: strengthen those triceps.

Say what?

“You heard me. Unless you have step-ins, you’re gonna spend a fair amount of time sitting at the top of the run strapping in. Once your gear’s all set, you gotta push yourself up off your seated position… over and over! Getting your arms prepped will prevent you from being too sore the next day.”

Not a bad idea to tone those arms, of course. But you could also get some Flow bindings and avoid that sitting on your bum.

One of my favorite types of news articles are the ones about adult snowboarders. They have this “Holy Cow! Can you believe that?” quality to them.

I’ll grant that it’s a rather old story now, as adults have been snowboarding for years now. Then again, you’ll always find stories telling you that winter is here and guess what, there’s an outbreak of the flu. In both cases, old news can be informative (get that shot! give snowboarding a try!), and at least with snowboarding, it can make the winter go (too) quickly.

The latest publication to catch on to the grays on trays phenomenon is Crains Detroit Business. It features Patrick Becker (age 40); Greg Flowers (42); Brad Hynes (44); and Oliver Dixon (42). These men are no slackers, working (respectively) as a vice president of sales and marketing; an automotive designer; a vice president of operations; and a marketing manager.

They’ve got some pretty good skills for grown-up riders. Becker is an experienced instructor; Hynes teachers a snowboarding team at a local high school; Dixon has participated in USASA competitions; and I suspect that Flowers is no slouch, either.

The story offers several benefits of snowboarding:

• Innovation is the spice of life;
• It’s a resume boost [really?];
• A thrill of competition;
• A rush from big air [sorry, I can't relate];
• Joy of playing in the snow;
• Families can enjoy it together;
• The equipment is lighter (no back strain!);
• There are plenty of opportunities to try something new;
• A community of people with a shared passion.

So dads, moms, and just anyone 30 and up, if you haven’t tried snowboarding but find it interesting, find a snow sports school and take a lesson or three. (You might benefit a lot from getting a private lesson from another adult.) It may be one of the best purchases you’ve ever made.