johnstewart

Here's a little video I did this weekend with a Centriphone at Marquette Mountain, MI. It's super hard to do this while riding, so my carving technique is not ideal!

Email sent; let me know if you didn't get it. Am interested.

Yeah, I think these side pivots are just too junky for my size. These were brand new-shells (and pivots) when I put the BTS on late last season. I do still need an excuse. =)

I'm a big dude (~220lbs). Ride pretty hard (main stick is a 184 Coiler race board). The weak point in my gear is my Raicle 123's. I had a ton of spare parts because I got a bunch of these shells on closeout (I sold a few dozen pair here at $25 a pop), so I've stuck with them, since I have endless spare parts. I put BTS on 'em last year, and right away it was awesome, but now it's clear a major design problem with them is causing me grief. The pivot point at the ankle, if it's cranked down, won't allow the boot to flex on that pivot... making BTS useless. With the hex bolt loosened a bit to allow it to pivot, it also allows the shell to ride up and down, effectively screwing up the cant and prevents the boot from being stiff side to side. I've had it. I don't think there is a solution with the 123's. The Head Stratus Pros seem to be damn popular around here. Seems like they work with BTS, so I won't lose that investment? Unless anyone has an idea for how to deal with the craptastic pivot on the 123's, I think I'm going to make my wife unhappy and pony up for some new boots. I'm in Madison, WI... I don't think there's anyplace closer than Colorado to try these suckers on (let me know if there is!). Any input appreciated; thanks!

Thanks for the input folks. Decided to skip it for now. I know there's some event there coming up, too, so it'd probably be overrun.

How's Breckenridge right now? A buddy has a line on some free lift tickets next weekend; thinking of burning some frequent flier miles to get out there for a couple of days. Is it worth it? This may be my last chance to get out west for a while (in Wisconsin); kid #2 is due in March.... but if the place isn't covered very well, would prefer to save the money!

Wow, old thread. So anyone carved up at Welch lately?

Awesome. Yeah, just spend 2 hours last night trying to get both boards, bindings, and my boots packed into two bags both under the 50lb airline limit. Sounds like some good riding! =) =)

It's part of a bigger league; each team gets points for each gold/silver/bronze NASTAR each week. But as I mentioned, to compare NASTAR handicaps seems to have issues in that if you just subtract the delta between handicaps the fluctuation of the "bad" racers easily overwhelms the data.

So we have a Monday night race league at Tyrol Basin, a little pimple of a hill just west of Madison, WI. Ten of us are on the team (two skiiers, the rest boarders). It's a lot of fun, but generally there's not much competition... the rankings amongst ourselves is usually the same. I'm a second slower than the guy above me and 1-2 faster than the guy below me, and so on. What I'd like to do is devise a way we can all throw a buck in a pool and compete in such a way that we all have a shot. So one way might be: - Average the last 2 race times. You get a bonus based on the difference from the fastest guy on the team, strictly based on time. So for example (using actual numbers from our first race this season http://www.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=raceresults&race=72605&year=2010) Tim: 20.49 Brett: 20.71 John: 21.21 Aaron: 25.8 Rochelle: 32.5 So the bonuses for the following week would be: Tim: 0 Brett: 0.22 John: 0.72 Aaron: 5.31 Rochelle: 12.01 ... and then the winner would be whomever is fastest after subtracting the bonus. The course (of course) is slightly different each week, so by using time instead of handicap you're not comparing apples to apples... but if you use handicap, the delta between people is much huger. For example: Tim: 23.21 Brett: 24.53 John: 27.54 Aaron: 55.14 Rochelle: 103.25 So by simple subtraction the handicap bonus would be: Tim: 0 Brett: 1.32 John: 4.33 Aaron: 31.93 Rochelle: 80.04 ... so simply subtracting this from the handicap and the deviation would be quite high. As the boarders are better, the handicap is more stable, but as you get slower, it changes a lot more. So I like handicap to keep the comparison more fair, but how to deal with the higher fluctuation? The goal is if a rider has a good night, they should win. But I don't want it to be random, either. Just sort of brainstorming here, so any suggestions, please speak up. Also, an enhancement might be to include more races in the the past for bonus calculation... but we don't have a lot of data points; only 6 races per season (and not everyone raced last year).

So... snow, I hear? Headed out west for the 1st time in a couple of years. Going to get a couple of days on the hill Sat/Sun/Mon. Not sure on Sat/Sun, but had planned on Park City on Monday (the last time I was there was the best carving day I've ever had). Was just trying to fit my 182 Coiler in a borrowed snowboard bag... doesn't really fit well (but better than mine). But if there's a bunch of snow, then maybe I'll just leave it home and only bring out my ATV. I really love that Coiler, though.

Does anyone know of a source for replacement cables for Intec heels? Now that Bomber has gone Fin-Tech, they're not carrying them any longer.

Hmmmm... just found this. Anyone used this? (a bit cheaper) http://www.sportstop.com/product/DEMON09DS1350:#Z03 Edit... or this... the "pro" model? http://www.sportstop.com/product/DEMON09DS1650:#Z02

Thanks. Which Head unit do you wear? I don't see anything that covers the whole torso...

I don't want a full-on race suit, but would like a little padding on my upper body to help with hitting gates... especially in the kidney area. Any recommendations for snowboarding racing gear?