Olde Petoskey Bumpjumper And Sled Company, LLC
BUMPJUMPER.COM™
Hi everyone! I have so many things to share and people to thank!!! First, a shout-out to Gina and the team and volunteers at Mount Snow! The 35th annual Jacj Jump Championships were awesome and the people were friendly, fun and they put on a first rate race. There were nearly 100 racers and the Jack Jumpers were given access to the resort all day! I would definitely recommend the Mount Snow Jack Jump Championships to anyone who enjoys, or is interested in, Jack Jumper, BumpJumper or Skibock riding! The Men’s Division winner was Mark Stirewalt! You see Mark’s post on the guest book – Mark is a talented and seasoned Jack Jump rider and a friendly guy! I heard Mark is one of the famed riders from Northern Vermont! There seems to be a mystique about riders from Northern Vermont – something about being great Jack Jump riders! Mark didn’t let anyone down! In second place was Ethan B.W. and in third was Darby H.. (since I didn’t ask people for permission to use their names I will only give first name and last initial. Next year I will be keen to ask for permission!) In the Women’s Division it was Sue Z., who came in first! If I heard Gina correctly, Sue is a local gal who has won this race many times! Congratulations Sue! Second place went to Marilyn L. and third place went to Mollie W.. In the Youth Division it was Riley C. in first place. Zach H. came in second and Danielle H. was third! Congratulations to all of the riders! Oh yes, a shout-out to Barbara from Mount Snow Ski School who I raced with! Barbara’s husband and children are all Jack Jumper riders and fun hogs in their own right! This is a race for people who want to have fun! And fun hogs of all skill levels and ages are welcome – so get yourself a BumpJumper, Jack Jumper or Skibock and plan to make it to the 2015 event!!! You don’t have to knock down a sub minute run to enter the race, it is fun for all!!
Mount Snow was an excellent venue for riding – I would love to see the resort open up to Jack Jumpers all season. They could be the first resort in Southern Vermont to welcome Jack Jumpers and be a leader in a new trend!!! Far as I could tell those Jack Jumper folks were drinking hot chocolate, eating hamburgers and spending those greenbacks just like everyone else in the resort! The championships are currently the only day Mount Snow management allows Jack Jumpers on the mountain! I learned about 3 resorts in Northern Vermont where Jack Jumpers can ride any day! Drum roll please…. They are Bolton Valley, Jay Peak and one other resort. Hey can one of you locals leave a post on where else you can ride anytime! As soon as I know I’ll pass that information along – in fact if you read the linked article in my last post I think it said there where you can Jack Jump in Northern Vermont!
The Jack Jumpers at Mount Snow were of so many different designs! I even got a glimpse of one of the original style jack jumpers with a narrow ski and skinny seat! I have to hand it to the ingenuity of the Jack Jumper community, I saw designs from old tractor seat springs, rough cut 2by4’s, to jumpers with shock absorbers and fiberglass frames!!! The best one I saw was a homemade unit with a pillow duck-taped to the seat! That was ingenuity at its best! Just pull over at the end of the day and take a nap!
Ok, what’s happening at Olde Petoskey BumpJumper and Sled company, and BumpJumper.com? Well, I’ve been hard at work on Saturday mornings building jumpers in my garage! (this is only a part time gig for me – for a few more years anyway! – so, I usually hit the garage on Saturday’s!!) We are very close to having our first two models ready to put up on the site! I have to give a shout out to Roman – thanks for the help over the last few weeks and thanks for the awesome workbench you built for me! It is coming in very handy!!! I also want to welcome Nick to the team – he is a friend and college student who also likes to do wood work. Nick will be a main man in the building process! A HUGE shout-out to two new additions to the Sales Team!!! I want to welcome Tom and Dirk onboard who will lead our sales and marketing efforts in Michigan and California/western states, respectively. Tom is a fun hog of the first degree; he has been a skier and riding for 40+ years, his son Parker is on the home page! Dirk is going to cover California, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Montana and all points west. Dirk is my nephew, a fun hog as well, and he has many years of experience in the ski and snowboarding industries. Dirk taught skiing and snowboarding in Michigan and at Vail for many years! He also has extensive experience in ski shop operations and management and I can’t say how happy I am to finally be working on a start-up with Dirk! I’m really excited to load up Tom and Dirk with demo BumpJumpers and have them introduce this awesome new sport to friendly ski mountain people in Michigan and the West! A big shout-out to my brother in-law and good friend Dan aka Flip! He and I have been working on this idea for years! Dan is an industrial engineer by trade and he has and will continue to be instrumental in the development of Olde Petoskey’s success. I have to THANK my brother Dave who has also helped in looking at different designs and ideas! Dave has HatcheryCreek.com! He holds a patent for one of the coolest Fly Rod Fishing cases I have ever seen! Dave is an inventor, perfectionist and artist and his workmanship is phenomenal!! He is also deeply involved in Prison Ministries and is currently having a great time helping people find the Lord! So needless to say, when my work sometimes has to take a backseat in his priorities – I’m not complaining – more power to you BRO! Keep up God’s work!
In closing, I can only say THANKS to everyone who has helped me get to this point and give a Big Shout-Out to the people at Mount Snow and the locals from around Vermont who came out for the 35th Annual Jack Jump Championships! Gina and her team did a great job running the event! We need to get more events like this going in 2015! Contact me at M_ZERK@yahoo.com if you want to get involved in setting up races for next winter!!! To all of the people who have expressed interest in Jack Jumpers, BumpJumpers and SkiBocks please join the discussion, leave your stories and let’s have some fun!
I could go on, but feel it is time for s break --- Peace-out freaks, dudes and homeboys; ride on!!! ZERK