Crazy Days out in Val d'Isere, France at the World Championships of Alpine Skiing...

Check out this audio of Ted's reaction after the race: Part 1 Part 2

First, a dark horse immerged from the back of the pack. Naoki Yuasa started 75th and as he came down, the bousterous French announcers were blaring his name out, firing up the crowd that was going crazy as the Japanese racer came down and qualified for the 2nd run. "Yuuuaaaasssaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" the people yelled! Just goes to show, people LOOOOVE the underdog. Way to go Yuasa. Konichiwa for a killer run! Ohhh yeah, and good choice in using Slytech Nervous Shin Guards.

Then Bode Miller, the no-holds-barred American -- always a crowd favorite -- skied with his usual reckless abandon depsirately looking for a medal and promptly skied out 2nd run.

But the biggest stoke moment came when Slytech/ Shred rider TED LIGETY came in 3rd place and collected the bronze! He had a so-so first run, but surprised everyone with a sweet second run that catapulted him to the podium. Congratulations TED! Way to sport those Shred Omnibot 80's Papaya Goggle.

 

 

ISPO in Munich was hoppin' yesterday (ISPO, in case you didn't know is the International Sporting Goods Trade Show in Munich)! Sometimes it was impossible to scoot past people in the halways between the booths, it was that packed. Slytech/ Shred was no exception, filled with representatives from stores, distributors and the people like you and me who just simply use it. Anyway, if you're in the neighborhood, stop by today, because at 10:30AM CET, we've got Olympic Golden Boy Ted Ligety signing autographs at the booth (A-118) and then at 4PM we've got YES snowboard legend Romain di Marchi stopping by to chit chat and sign autographs. You might want to come early to either session, because it'll be packed.

Hope to see you there! Get some autographs, hold the gear, try it on, get to know the crew...

Ted looked deep into Vladimir's eyes and... saw a friend.

Haha. I'll never forget the day George "dubya" Bush said that about Vladimir and lo and behold, it turned out Russian relations went down the tubes!

But, thanks to Ted, there couldn't be any smoother sailing between the USA and Russia. He even had the balls to hand Putin a Barack Obama bumper sticker and said: "here, put this on your car!"

That takes some serious serious guts. Good stuff!

On Friday January 2nd, 16 of the top men's alpine skiing athletes participated in a promotional event meant to create enthusiasm for the 2016 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Organizers estimated over 25,000 people attended the FIS alpine promotional event held on a specially constructed ramp towering 183 feet over the heart of the Russian capital.

Even though he had Vlad pulling for him, he managed to come in 4th, behind Bode (3rd), Grange (2nd) and Neureiter.

Wild stuff that event, and it made you think: imagine they pulled that off in Central Park in NYC? Or in Chicago? Or any major European city? Fun...

Whether you're in the Rockies, Alps, New Zealand, or Moscow: RIP IT UP!