WCR Winter Warmup review

I just got back to Vancouver last night after an interesting weekend in Palm Springs. I spent the first two days relaxing poolside at the Helios men-only Resort before the tribe started showing up from L.A. in the late morning on Friday.

Spending time by myself was something I thought I would like at this point, but I found myself feeling pretty lonely by Thursday night, especially after seeing 'Avatar' in 3D at the Palm Springs Imax and being emotionally compromised afterwards (don't ask why; it's complicated). I did manage to get to Tuff Stuff Leather in the afternoon before the movie and look over a bunch of rubber gear Jim had there on assignment that I had seen on the West Coast Rubber website. I ended up buying a pair of black opera-length (read: fisting) rubber gloves and a leather-look Feisty Muscle spandex bodysuit for very good prices.

Friday morning once everyone showed up we immediately proceeded to get supplies for the weekend (ie. visits to Trader Joe's and the liquor store), then did a stint by the pool again before slipping into rubber for our Formal Rubber Dinner which we did at Dink's. The amount of stares and inquisitive people coming to the table was marvellous! Afterwards we went back to the resort quickly then headed to Barracks Bar for the evening.

The rains started overnight Friday and didn't let up until Sunday morning. It was cold and miserable: I figured I should've just stayed home at that point since the weather would be better! Thinking that it was a tad ridiculous that a bunch of rubbermen would be complaining about the rain, Rubberfiend and I did a photo shoot in the early afternoon. It was a great session, probably the best photography I've ever seen of myself! It helps to have someone with professional equipment who knows what the hell they are doing with it. I was in my Spexter suit with straightjacket, inflatable butt plug and gag. The intent was that anyone could randomly inflate/deflate me, and this went on for some time later in the afternoon when everyone got back from shopping. I was edged so many times I lost count!

There was some more time around the hot tub, more rubber outfit changes from everyone, and we decided to grab some more food at Hamburger Mary's in the early evening, so we took over another three tables there. It was immediately back to Barracks for the first annual Rubber Pup Contest (pics now at West Coast Rubber website). There were two contestants and a great time was had by all! Almost everyone headed back to the resort afterwards, and after a period of time in the hot tub again, everyone was exhausted and went to bed.

The weather on Sunday was vastly improved; it looked a lot more like Palm Springs should be on a February day. We spent most of the day lazing and playing by the pool in various states of undress (of course, mostly in rubber). Most people left by Sunday evening, but Rubberchris32 decided to spend another night at the resort with me, we went out for dinner and then to Hunter's for a few drinks.

Monday morning, Rubberchris32 and I got up early and did another poolside photoshoot before having to get ready to head to the airport for the flight back to Vancouver. Rubberchris32 left for Los Angeles again soon after. I was glad to be heading home, but my rubber needs still weren't satiated!

Luging for the Win

Posted: Jan 28, 1:29p ET Updated: Feb 1, 10:42a ET

U.S. luge going high-tech for medal chase (AP) - After the World Cup luge season ends in the frosty Italian Alps this weekend, Mark Grimmette will pack away his mittens for a few days and start heading halfway around the world to breezy, sunny San Diego.

Once there, Grimmette will lie down and relax.

A quick vacation after a long season? Not hardly.

Next month in Vancouver, doubles pair Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette (R) will aim to add a gold medal to their hardware collection. The soon-to-be five-time U.S. luge Olympian will be hard at work on Feb. 3, trying on at least three different bodytight suits that serve as a racer's uniform in a high-tech wind tunnel, looking to find those tiny fractions of seconds that could help him or another teammate find the podium at the fast-approaching Vancouver Games.

"My job's pretty simple," Grimmette said. "I just have to lie there on the sled and be as still as possible."

Simple, sure, but vital considering luge speeds on the track at the Whistler Sliding Centre flirt with 100 mph - almost unheard of for the sport.

"The upcoming round of aerodynamic testing will be especially important," said Gordy Sheer, an Olympic medalist and now USA Luge's director of marketing.

Most sports measure time to the tenth or hundredth of a second. Luge measures to the thousandth, simply because the line between winning and losing can be incredibly slim. So to find a sliver of time here or there, USA Luge is heading back to a place it has visited many times before, the San Diego Air and Space Technology Center.

Grimmette will squeeze his body into suits of different fabrics and styles, made by companies from all over the world. To common fans, they all would look pretty much the same, but to racers the differences can be colossal.

Luge racers used to wear a suit with an outer coating of a rubberized material, only to have those banned more than a decade ago. Modern suits - most of them are made of a Spandex-type material - still have some rubberizing, although it's on the inside and solely to limit how much air comes through the material as racers hit high speeds in often-frigid air.

Grimmette estimated a good suit can shave as much as three-tenths of a second per run, a huge amount of time in any sliding sport.

"Having the best material going into the Olympics, it's very important," Grimmette said.

Much like in swimming and skiing, where the suit material has been all the rage in recent years, the same applies in luge.

As in all sliding sports, aerodynamics are essential, and some racers will try just about anything to stop the trackside clock a few mini-ticks earlier - shaving arms and legs is common in skeleton, bobsled push athletes always tuck their heads as low as possible to minimize drag, luge racers wear booties with no treads - all in the name of gliding more smoothly.

So in San Diego, at a facility also used to measure and experiment with the aerodynamic workings of missiles, jets and airplanes, engineers will measure drag off Grimmette's race suit. He's a doubles slider, so Sheer will be on the sled with Grimmette, trying to simulate a race condition as much as possible.

Aerodynamic engineers will turn the wind to upward of 90 mph, taking into account all the variables such as Grimmette's suit material and position on the sled. They'll then be able to tell which mix creates the least amount of drag, which theoretically would show which mix will create the most speed at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

Wind-tunnel testing is hardly used only by sliders - even seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong has been to the facility.

"Testing is really critical," Sheer said.

And even though the Olympics are nearly here, USA Luge has no concerns about getting new suits if testing dictates they're needed.

"They can manufacture them for us pretty quickly," Grimmette said. "As far as the suit goes, it's something that we just put on for the race and that's it. It's not something that we need to break in or have to have anything specially done to it. We just put it on."

© 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Winter Warmup Photoshoot

I was fortunate to arrange a photoshoot in Palm Springs on Saturday with Rubberfiend. The weather was rainy and cool, so while the pool party was off for the day, we decided to have some fun of our own anyways! :)

I climbed into the Spexter suit around noon. The straightjacket went on at 1:30 and the shoot was done around 3 (when everyone stopped edging me???). Great great afternoon.




We we interested to see what the rain drops would look like in the pictures. In the high-res photos, the close ups look amazing.


I love this shot! ;)








I was really enjoying the camera...




This is the best photoshoot I've ever been involved in. A new height has been set.

Aren't these photos amazing?!?!? Rubberfiend is a very talented photographer.

Blast From the Past: Speed Skiing

Remember this sport? It is pretty exclusive/niche-y, but sure is nice to watch...I remember it was once an Olympic demonstration sport, but I guess due to the lack of courses nor opportunities to create new ones, the sport is pretty inaccessible to most of the world.

The current world record is 251.4 km/h (156 mph), held by Simone Origone, set in 2006. Speed skiers regularly exceed 200 km/h (125 mph), which is even faster than the terminal velocity of a free-falling skydiver; about 193 km/h (120 mph) in the belly-to-earth position. Speed skiers wear dense foam fairings on their lower legs and aerodynamic helmets to increase streamlining. Their ski suits are made from air-tight latex or have a polyurethane coating to reduce wind resistance, with only a mandatory back protector to give some protection in the case of a crash.

The special skis used must be 2.4 meters (94.5 inches) long and maximum 10 cm wide with a maximum weight of 15 kg for the pair. Ski boots are attached to the skis by bindings. The ski poles are bent to shape around the body, and must be a minimum of 1 m long.

Speed skiing is practiced on steep, specially designed courses one kilometer long. There are approximately thirty of these courses worldwide, many of them at high altitudes to minimize air resistance. The first 300 or 400 meters of the course (the launching area) is used to gain speed, the top speed is measured in the next 100 meters and the last 500 m (the run-out area) is used for slowing down and coming to a stop, with the speed being recorded over the 100 m between (the timing zone). The start point in FIS races is chosen so that, in theory, skiers should not exceed 200 km/h, hence competition is aimed at winning a particular event, not breaking world speed records. At Pro [2]races, there is no maximum speed and the speed attained is determined by conditions and safety.

Speed skiing was a demonstration sport at the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics in the Les Arcs 2 kilometer course.


Can you even imagine barreling down a mountain at 200kph in nothing but a fucking rubber suit? It's complete madness!

Libidex Update

I just found out yesterday that the Military catsuit got put into the mail last Friday (5th) so it should be here within the next week! I'm very excited! In a way it's a bit of a sad arrival since I ordered this on November 30th...it was a Christmas present from Murad. Weird that so much has changed since those days when the order went in. :(

I'm planning on buying this Captain's Hat from Breathless UK to accessorize the suit. What do you think?

Countdown

The XXI Winter Olympic Games officially start in two days! The energy of the city is palpably rising. It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.

I apologize for not getting the rest of my sports overviews posted in time. There was, um, a situation that impeded my progress in completing them. At any rate there will be more than enough sports coverage and photos of beautiful guys in skintight outfits all over the media until the middle of March!

I don't have any event tickets...prices were higher than I wanted to pay. But there are a lot of fun free events going on around the city and hopefully some opportunities to meet some of the athletes while they spend time in the city. Who knows?

I hope to take lots of pictures and add some posts on events going on that I witness.

Starting with this weekend: the Vancouver Men in Leather are hosting the Friday night Valentine's Day party with the red code color as the theme.
from VML:

The theme is "RED PARTY". Feel free to interpret the theme in any way you like. Some suggestions are:
GO CANADA
VALENTINE'S DAY
CHINESE NEW YEAR
FISTING
LIBERAL PARTY
COMMUNISM

supposedly to coincide with the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics on Friday afternoon. I am going to try and have some fun this weekend.

Rubberstud of the Week #93

Logan McCree deserves two weeks in a row! :)

Thoughtful

I'm reading a book on grieving provided by a friend who's been through the loss of a spouse more than once, unfortunately. Fortunate for me, however, to have such a good friend that has been one of my best shoulders to cry on and most consistent providers of support and advice.

Reading from the book today, it suggested several grieving exercises to do at certain points over the course of the next couple of years. One of these exercises is to write a letter to the one you loved and lost, and re-read it as many times as required over the next year until you are no longer reduced to tears by reading it.

This is s great exercise that I think I will embark on tomorrow while things are quiet and relaxed in the afternoon. I really have a lot of things I want to say to Murad that I obviously didn't get to say before he left - how special he is, how impactful on my life he is, how deeply he was loved, how inexplicably lonely and miserable I am now that he's gone, how sorry I am about how things turned out, and how much I miss him. And what a sexy fucker he was. I had never met anyone as kinky, playful, and sexually voracious as he was. I am a bit freaked out that I will never achieve that dynamic and compatibility with anyone ever again.

Once again my wise friend put me on the right path. There should not be any worry in this process. My relationship with Murad was unique and will never be duplicated so I shouldn't be already thinking about comparing anything in the future to what I had and lost. Future relationships will have their own merits and be amazing in their own different ways therefore it is unreasonable and unfair to even make comparisons. There is also the possibility I have to consider that I might have just had my most intense, endearing soulmate relationship. It's now gone and I have to deal with that.

One of the strongest messages out of the book I'm reading now is that grieving can end up being a positive experience if you work at it and ensure you complete the process; that there truly is life after loss. The only way to grieve is to go directly through it; once you're out on the other side, the possibilities for living a full life are immense. I know I'll eventually get there but for now I just want to focus on giving Murad the proper farewell he deserves.

Getaway

I've decided to head to Palm Springs this weekend. It was originally supposed to be a recuperation trip for Murad once he was out of the hospital, but now it is a rest and relaxation weekend for me. I've tried to get on top of the flood of work stuff over the past couple of weeks with little success in addition to having to deal with Murad's apartment and lots of other obligations. I need some time to reflect on everything that's gone on over the past couple of months. I leave tomorrow, have two days by myself at Helios, then the West Coast Rubber tribe lands on Friday afternoon. It should be restful and fun! I'll have lots of pics and stories when I get back on Monday the 8th.

Rubberstud of the Week #92