afterbang Reviews, articles and resources useful to snowboarders

About

Hello, my name is Gavin Hope, I live in the North East of England; I really like to snowboard. Afterbang is a snowboarding blog; an ongoing chronicle of my snowboarding experiences from the UK and beyond...

I started this blog back at the beginning of 2006. Back then I didn't have a specific reason for blogging about snowboarding. I've always liked writing about things and a blog seemed a handy way to document my snowboarding experiences. Over time I've added reviews and articles, resources that others have found interesting. And I've enjoyed it.

So that's what you'll find here, my aim is:

• to provide articles that are useful to snowboarders.
• to help beginners - those new to the sport.
• to write interesting articles, relevant to snowboarders.

You'll get a mix of my personal experiences too. On that side of things I most of all I like to write about two things: the snowboarding trips that I go on and my progression as a snowboarder.

Things you might want to do

• If you're new here, be sure to check out the top posts page; here you'll find some of the key articles, as well as the key topic areas.
• The reviews page provides an index of all the things I've reviewed on the blog: equipment, accommodation, DVDs, lessons etc.
• The products page is different. There are a small number of products that I think are excellent, that I'd happily recommend to people. This is where you'll find my favourites.
• If you like what you read you should subscribe to the feed and stay up to date with useful stuff...
• If you'd like to contact me, my email address in on the contact page.

What's the deal with “afterbang”?

If you've seen Robot Food's film afterbang, you may be thinking why's this guy stolen their name?

I didn't use the name for that reason. Back in January (2006) when I started this blog, I was signing up with blogger and I thought crap, what am I going to call the blog? A few options came to mind, words, phrases, but they all seemed a little lame; then I had this thought I know, I'll call it afterbang - that's a sick name.

Robot Food was my introduction to snowboarding, it got me hooked. Well, that and a handful of lessons on a dendex slope. I watched that DVD before I bought my first piece of snowboarding equipment, even before I'd ridden on snow. The soundtrack to afterbang was playing as we drove into Chamonix. A lot of the fun and the reasons that I love to snowboard are associated with that word, which is why I called my blog afterbang.

Thanks Robot Food. Thanks Pierre Wikberg.

Skating

I started skating around the same time I started this blog. If you can't stand sideways on a snowboard then why not do it on a skateboard, hey? Seriously though, I really enjoy it. My skills are pretty weak, but it's still a lot of fun. It's also a good way to keep fit and I'm sure the balance helps with the shredding.

- Gavin