Ride-em & Rank-em

RIDE’EM AND RANK’EM

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Date: March 14, 2008

Every spring we need to make choices on the skis and snowboards we are going to offer to our customers for the following season, three years ago we decided to get the consumers involved, to get their opinions about what skied and rode the best, so we could be sure we know what we were talking about when it came time to recommend a new product, and that's how Ride'Em and Rank'Em was born.

Every March we invite 35-40 of our local customers to a ski and board testing day. All our vendors arrive with their vans, tents and next seasons demos and hope for the high marks as our testers are sent out to ski, ride, carve, spin, jump and rate the performance of the best the winter sports world has to offer.

We have an interesting cross section of testers. We've invited skiers and riders who would be representative of the customers we see all season. We didn't stack the deck with instructors, racers and sponsored pros, but insurance salesmen, moms, health care workers, students, electricians, chefs and even an accountant or two.

Each tester is assigned a range of ski or boards based on their ability level, and spends the day putting each product through their paces and ranking each on a number of categories including edge hold, stability, versatility, quickness, and if the ski or board is appropriate for the level it is claiming to be (would this be a good ski for an intermediate, or is it too stiff or soft, is this a good board for the pipe and park or does it lack energy?)

After a long hard day of testing, the wrap-up party is buzzing with opinions and lots of hand motions to describe how well their favorite of the day was carving or how high they could get off the lip of the pipe. Then our job has just begun, we sort through the info to pick the best of the best to offer to you for the next season, and that is what you see in our store today.

Want to join our test team? We are always looking for the next test star! Send an email to Mike@wachusett.com and in a short biography let us know who you are, your background, your age* and why we shouldn't run this test without you. We are looking for solid skiers and riders, but also those who can develop a picture with words. Your email should reflect this. This year the test is Thursday, March 14th, and we'll need a full day commitment from you (8:30-2:30)

Looking forward to hearing from you.

*(18 and over only, please)