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Whoa buddy, lets think a minute here, What you are practicing here is that same as the self declared skier swishing his/her tails back and forth while going strait down the trail in a uncontrollable speed. rolling the board back and forth just changes the edges while going straight. To set the edge you need to be dynamic not static balanced above the board but balanced in the center of the g forces of the turn. otherwise you go straight down the hill with no speed control. speed control for skis or snowboard is accomplished by finishing a turn back up the hill till you slow down. All the tail wagging and swishing in the world will not control your speed no mater how cool the dumb Blondes think it is, (I am married to a blonde and after 32 years she is not dumb but has the best dumb blonde jokes ever), will not , WILL NOT SLOW YOU DOWN before you run into a building or the Cadilac SUV in the parking lot. You need to train yourself to be dynamic not static as to your body position and balance and resistance to G forces. you would be better to go out to the alley and put foot prints on the wall two feet up and run till you can put your feet on the prints and then return to ground. When you can get both feet on walls 7 to 10 feet apart, prints up above your normal standing shoulder height so your feet are above the center of our body mass then you are ready for push pull turns. This means you are upside down if you were not moving dynamicaly since your mass is below your contact oint (our feet), you would fall to the ground. The centripital force of running up the wall is a greater force which allows you to run up the wall and return to ground easily. You create a centripital force by movement that is greater than the static gravity so you do not fall. It takes guts and a whole lot of self confidence . But once you do it it is addictive. this is a real dry land excercize that replicates the motions , the balance , the discipline, the feelings and the muscle training for fully laid turns. BLUE B HELP ME OUT ON THIS ONE. I don't want to get pedantic here on the board so call me and i will explain in detail. After 20 plus years of dry land training of snowboard instructors i think I might be able to help you. And It will only cost you a phone call or two . It is so easy but so complicated at the same time i would ;need to test you verbally and find out what you do know how to do from snow and other sports to find a common denominator to build your program on based on what you already can do. As with all my instructors, each program is unique and individual. I would be honored to help you, as I have a failing back and degenerative spinal disease, to use my last years in helping and coaching others. With my 42 years of professional snow sports teaching and my 25 years as a top world leader robotics engineering seminar chair I have a unique technical understanding of what we do. So call me GWS Grand father wolf singing "dances with trees" Chase Kenyon 603 938 5282 and let us design a personal program for you. i know Blue B will help and many others . so if we can do it for you then we can build something that we can make a permanent part of this site. Will you be the Guinea pig so to speak? You have everything to gain and nothing to loose and would be creating a legacy for our sport.

Thats not a bob cat it looks more like a Norwegian Elkhound we used to have one still have the bob cat though don't ask GWS

Happy Birthday Michelle. So that makes you like, uhhh 27 now. Cool, my wife won't let me go out with any other women under 27. :biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump:biggthump GWS

Realize this in general those that go to work in a field in the government are the bottom 20% of those who have studied the subject. I have had to deal with government decision makers whose only exposure to a subject field of research was a pass/fail "survey" class.Back in the day when i was the lead engineer and department manager of 23 person engineering research team, I found out about a Gov't research grant of $250,000 for a feasibility study of "On Board Weigh in Motion" systems for the trucking industry. So I put about 100 hours into the concept and wrote a grant request. This is the paper presented at a major international engineering conference on how to deploy such a system cost effectively within one year. Practical on-board weigh-in-motion system for commercial vehicles (Proceedings Paper) <form method="get" action="app/ecommerce/index.cfm" id="frm265340" name="frm265340"><input id="fuseaction" name="fuseaction" value="cartadditem" type="hidden"><input id="product_id" name="product_id" value="265340" type="hidden"><input id="redir" name="redir" value="x648.xml" type="hidden"><input id="ID" name="ID" value="x648" type="hidden"><input name="origin_id" id="origin_id" value="x1636" type="hidden"><input name="Search_Results_URL" id="Search_Results_URL" value="http://spie.org/x1636.xml" type="hidden"><input name="Search_Origin" id="Search_Origin" value="ResearchSearch" type="hidden"><input name="category" id="category" value="ResearchPapers" type="hidden"><input name="isResearch" id="isResearch" value="true" type="hidden"><input name="UseJavascript" id="UseJavascript" value="1" type="hidden"><input name="Please_Wait_URL" id="Please_Wait_URL" value="http://spie.org/x18503.xml" type="hidden"><input name="authors_editors" id="authors_editors" value="chase kenyon" type="hidden"><input name="boolean_filter" id="boolean_filter" value="All" type="hidden"><input name="sub_category" id="sub_category" value="ProceedingsVolumes" type="hidden"><input name="year_from" id="year_from" value="1994" type="hidden"><input name="year_to" id="year_to" value="1998" type="hidden"><input name="go" id="go" value="submit" type="hidden"><table class="centerColElement" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="448"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top"> Author(s): Chase H. Kenyon <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding-right: 12px;"><input name="format" id="format" value="PDF" type="radio">PDF: Member: $18.00, Non-member: $18.00 <input name="format" id="format" value="Hard Copy" type="radio">Hard Copy: Member: $24.00, Non-member: $24.00</td> <td align="right" valign="bottom"><input id="go" name="go" value="Add To Cart" alt="Add To Cart" onmouseover="this.src='/images/global/btn_addtocart_over.gif';" onmouseout="this.src='/images/global/btn_addtocart_out.gif';" src="http://spie.org/images/global/btn_addtocart_out.gif" border="0" type="image"></td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> </form> Proceedings Vol. 2903 Mobile Robots XI and Automated Vehicle Control Systems, Chase H. Kenyon; Pushkin Kachroo, Editors, pp.156-161 Date: 23 January 1997 Paper Abstract Many commercial carriers are currently operating vehicles which are overweight, creating an unsafe and illegal situation. However, the cost to law enforcement agencies to stop vehicles for roadside weight checks is prohibitive, while the cost to the nation in lost travel time adds shipping costs which are reflected in the price of every product transported by truck. Overweight trucks also become a threat to public safety when, on public highways, solid cargo breaks loose or liquid cargo leaks. The solution is an on-board monitoring system. With such a system, trucks under their legal weight limit would be allowed to travel past state borders and checkpoints without being stopped. THis would save money both in law enforcement and shipping costs to the nation as a whole. A properly designed system would also have the capability to warn both the driver and local safety and enforcement personnel when the truck is loaded beyond capacity or any other unsafe condition. This paper will detail a system that would even in early limited production be cost effective for both the law enforcement agencies and the operators of trucking fleets. In full production the systems would be cost effective even for smaller or owner/operator trucks. This is a safety system that could become standard equipment similar to seat belts, ABS, and airbags. The initial testing of sub-assemblies and sub-systems which could be deployed now for beta test has been completed. DOI: 10.1117/12.265340 Current SPIE Digital Library subscribers click here to download this paper. © SPIE - Downloading of the abstract is permitted for p Notice the dates and realize we still do not have such a system for our trucking industry. We did not get the grant. It went to a college in Ohio I believe. The reason we were given was that it was a grant for a feasibility study not a Beta deployment. The college spent the money and published their findings. Their findings and conclusions were we would not even be close to having the technology needed and the ability to build even a prototype system for at least 20 years. I had already built it and tested it with cordwood loads on a Dodge pickup before I presented the above linked paper on the subject. GWS aka Chase H. Kenyon, CMfgE, M

My absolute favorite place to stop and hang for weeks recuperating from ops when I was attached to NATO naval standing forces in the cold war endeavors in the early 70's Better than Paris as the people in the Newcastle area were so nice. Remember the trip up to Berwickshire to try and meet some of My Hume relatives, like I had met some Kenyon 20th something cousins in the Oldham/Peel area. Aviemore ? heard they had major investment and new lifts and snowmaking some years back. Is it true and how is the season these days of global warming in the Highlands? Grandfather Wolf Moms NDN side of family aka Dads side of the family Chase Hume Kenyon

Well you can always come for a visit. GWS

my local DSL is only god for about 760 each way. So you got me beat easy. on the other hand i live here in the lakes district of NH and have 3 major ski areas within 25 minutes. one ten minutes away. htat is Mt Sunapee where from the summit with the binoculars on the deck rail you can see over twenty five ski area summits and or trails. All of them within an easy two hour drive including Killington and Stowe. Eat your heart out, I'll stay here and let you have the faster broadband. LOL:lol: GWS

Yaalleh left out the roasted red peppers and the sprinkled Feta cheese. GWS

Dave the key thing you hit upon is imagery! From my years in robotics engineering, radar guns measure speed at a single point in space time. The run down the mountain is a continuously varying speed/time/energy situation.Change their perception. With rare exception 0.001% ski patrollers run the fall line almost straight down. tail swishers and even the carvers usually don't go more than 15% out of the fall line. At KIng Ridge we had a beginning of the season challenge (helped by having one snowboard patroller and a marketing manager for the mt who was both.) this was the deal the steepest wide trail on the MT Six patrollers six hard boot snowboarders. timed run . all turns had to be smooth and linked, no side slipping and skidding allowed. Slowest times from top to bottom win. The carvers made full Christmas Ribbon candy turns using the whole trail width. Obviously we were last to the bottom. PERCEPTION: WE WERE "SLOWER" ON THE TRAIL THAN THE PATROLLERS. End of hassle. All perception of speed. The reality was at all times during the run our ground speed/radar speed was much faster than theirs. We just tracked maybe three times the yards of distance they did. Perception perception perception. This did allow us to work with patrol on a Safety awareness campaign RE: the fact that the person furthest down the mountain going laterally, or even if coming up the mountain has the right of way. It did help that we had a strong telemark gang who were also making turns back up the hill. LOL GWS:D

The history of our sport is missing from this list!!!!!! Old snowboards.com, Queg, Boris, and others Join me!!!!! The youngsters need to learn their roots. I have an old renegade copy but Warren's "Tweaked and Twisted" Is an iconic snowboard film. It is worth watching just for the cuts with the Joker (mike Jackoby) and Tara. Plus Jean nerva and peter bauer. Then there is the Russian trip and powder and the idiotic Russian lift system. And more and more neat stuff including jake burton on ancient snowboards from as far back as the 1890s. An incredible opening act would be the original PSIA (Pre AASI) snowboard video with Tojam, and many other of the initial certified instructors that legitimized the sport. Without their dedication most Mountains still would not allow snowboarding. GWS:smashfrea

Umm reminds me of my old Kemper Rampage with the adjust angle on the fly three strappers. It actually held real well on the steeps even when icy. Then i found a year old PJ Assym that weighed like one tenth of the Kemp. Destroyed the Kemper using it for three years after that as summer Sand/Gravel Pit cliff rider board. Used to use J&J acrylic one shot floor wax on the bottom each run. I must be getting old "cuase it seems like just yesterday. Any one else into sand/rock summer riding? GWS:ices_ange

After many years of teaching Mogul clinics on skis and board It is my perception\\\ 1st problem is most folks stiffen up this is when you really need to be loose (trees even more so) 2nd problem is faulty perspective. If the trail is a 25% slope what is the real slope angle of the backside of the mogul? You can not control your skis or board if you are behind it with respect to it's actual true slope, which has to be the mogul slope not the trail slope. You have to move you down the hill before the gear. Be in charge, not taken for a ride by the gear. So how do we stupid humans fake ourselves into this one? KICK UP YOUR TAILS AS YOU GO INTO EVERY TURN. It will move you both forward and down the hill. In the bumps and the trees you have to travel a line of miniature ravines, No room to swing the skis or the board. So you have to drive the nose into the new turn. the tail(s) WILL FOLLOW. They be in the same rut in the ravine you just made with your front half of he gear. 3rd problem even when taught the above in mogul clinic almost everyone Practices and goes to fast. To master the technique have a slow race in the bumps. No stopping all controlled turns no side slipping and last one out of the bump field wins. When carving Push Pull turns we swoop like an eagle. In the bumps and trees it is hover and dart here and there like a humming bird. Lastly whoop it up and you can keep your energy maxed and then it gets easier and easier. Hope this helps. If it does not make sense then I need to get BlueB to elaborate as I believe we both teach the same thing. GWS:ices_ange

I have ridden many boards and freely admit a slight partiality to Tankers. You indicate a desire for hard carving in the AM and then whole mountain. If your MT has a lot of wishfull "expert" skiers and snow boarders ( the kind that skid their tails for every turn and think carvers ruts are wrecking the snow) Then you are going to have afternoon "Harbor Chop" The situation at many MT's is the majority of visitors are self declared experts, they must be they go down the blacks don't they, but in reality they are terminal low level intermediates with a good pub talk routine who can't carve or avoid running into any emergency on the hill at their regular cruising speeds. So what to do???? Fresh New England heavy Pow at ten or more inches by the time those guys and the weekend race teams have been out all morning at 1:30 PM you get some Serious harbor chop that is packed denser than a snow ball. Nothin absolutely nothin in my experience beats a Tanker in those conditions. I start my turns very aggressively so I mount at neutral plus one on the front and plus two on the rear. The 192 and the 182 will both power through harbor chop with monster 4+ ft high 12 ft diameter haystacks like in the white water raft ride. You can carve your lines and leave Guiness Book level trenches. I'm 100KG ((225#) 6'2" but my Ragged Mountain is tight and turny and not always the best groomed. and on a snow day they do not touch it till after the MT closes. For deep pow and bigger MTs I would go for the 192. You are much lighter and I will recommend the 182 tanker in your case. I miss my 182 demo (sold one to few tankers that season to get to keep it-----Dang) When i first rode it in that extreme harbor Chop I felt like I was strapped on to a berserker paint mixer the whole way down. But my senior staff and snowboard director, all level 2 or more AASI, said it was nuts . THey could not keep up and told me I was hitting the haystacks and powering straight through them level no bouncing which exploded them giving my gang visibility fits. By next week after a whole day on the "tank" I learned to stay real lose but precise in the chop and really got hooked. It is a real trip at the end of the day when every one on the MT is running into the stacks and stalling and falling and you go through Like Steven Seagal just blowing up any that happen to get in your way. It is addictive as all get out. So at your weight and having crud, chop and haystack in the PM have a ball get the Tanker 182 which is still short enough for trees and moguls if you remember to drive the nose down the MT and Lift the tail on the tight turns. I'm sure most if not all the Tanker geeks on here will agree with me. GWS:biggthump

Sorry guy for what has happened here. I do still have a lot of connections. Cal me at 603 938 5282 and lets talk and see what i can do to help you. If phone time is $$$ for you leave message or email my LD phone is unlimited so I can cal you. I really think I might be able to help you as i have helped 10 to 12 of my best (hard boot gung ho) regular snow board students get their racing programs going over the last 20 years. CAn't make any guarantees but i was able to help them get it going. Chase

So that is you. I have been trying to figure out who you are since you joined BOL. We have had more than one IPA together watching the Tractor Parade. I will concede you knowledge of cars, have you finished the Triumph yet? Did that v8 fit? I could not place a hard booter (your ski collection in the barn) and I don't think you ever mentioned you even snowboarded when we met. You also were not working in a restaraunt then you were in Aero-space engineering (g-suit). Do you still have the Corvette? Did you get the new KTM I think you were selling one to get the new one. I think you have me mixed up with someone else here. I have never and probably never will own a corvette. Jaguar man since 73. wow would like to get together with you maybe EZE will stop by from Newbury. we can have late season cookout. :D

Ah come on over this weekend we can share some good laughs yeah You are right. I was trying to help by making him Decide if he was serious I still have some (a few ) good connections but you know how it is you can only use them so many times. i really want to help him ........... but he does have to get his store in order if he is going to go for it. No Triumph??????? but have the 40 ft Prevost Le Mirage ex Tour bus camper conversion and the Audi Quattro Turbo ex Alexandria/Newfound lake SCCA Ice Racer as primary vehicle. She's a real trip. custom 3 inch exhaust from the turbo back is just the beginning of the mods. Good thing My mechanic is a stock car racer or she would not be on the street.:D

BTW find me a 62 or 63 Corvette with Transistorized ignition and disc brakes. Not till 65 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By late 63 They were running not R2 but R3, R4, and the infamous R5 larks and hawks at Bonneville not for records, they already had the records but running for testing. HP factory ratings. Even now at the PSMCDs they ignore the factory ratings and use the now known realistic much higher tested ratings stated at 289 4bbl 225 hp actual closer to 290 R1 240hp actual 299. R2 289hp actual 376 at the rear wheels. R3 335, actual at the rear wheels close to 425. R4 rarest of all who'es guess R5 rated at 425 to 485 depending on whether it was Studebaker or Paxton division of Studebaker dong the rating. Actual well over 500 hp at the rear wheels on dynos. :D

some guys here are die hard kite boarders. I am into chainsaw engine powered slalom/autocross street luge. I guess I have been a total gear head since i was a little kid. I don't always understand but get a kick out of the discussions here on off road motorbikes. Picture 1967 and a 5HP Rupp Sprint minibike. deactivate the governor and now you get 40 mph. OOpps blown motor. Ok lets put the 19 hp Mc Cullock snowmobile engine in it. Woooooooooahhh what a ride!!!!!! I have been into and competed in SCCA Racing and solo 11 and pro rally and more and more motor sports. 3 Gs on a street luge in a turn at 70 mph two inches off the tar is just like 3 Gs in a push pull turn on the courderoy. I am I guess the resident old man gear head. LOL

Here says only ten r3s, bull **** there are ten of them still storming the pure stock drags eating up all the 440 challengers and such and I was an assit. service manager at the only Chrysler Plymouth Dodge dealer in CT with it's own rear wheel Dyno-mometer IN THE 60S rarest of the rare 1963 Studebaker Super Lark DAYTONA Convertible! <tt> <tt>This vehicle is STILL owned by its original owner!</tt> <tt>It's one of the last surviving, unrestored 1963 Studebaker Super Lark Convertibles with a 289 Paxton Supercharged Avanti Engine with a 4 speed!</tt> </tt> <tt> <tt>Its been garage kept since 1963. </tt> <tt>It has never been in snow.</tt> <tt></tt> </tt> Very RARE, one of 31 Paxton Supercharged Studebaker Lark Convertibles ever made..., with aprox. 46K ORIGINAL Miles! http://www.sweetchariots.com/sale2.php Special note here yes STudebaker did super charge the 289 size version of the High rpm gear drive cam small block. but they did it in 1957 for the golden hawk at 289 BHP ( which was underrated) By 1963 the 289 R2 with paxton blower had a much hotter cam and valve train improvements and had like 30 to 40 % more boost pressure . With a larger carberator and a better larger diameter free flow exhaust. so to say that the 1957 HP numbers were what they had in 1962 and three is just poor reporting. A R2 convertible has 250 extra Lbs on the rear wheels. with the top down to load the rear axle with max Lbs and a tonneau cover to reduce wind drag you are looking super hook up and at consistent mid 13s at THE DRAGS. this is a fact that Mopar ( i am one ) gm and ford guys hate to see coming. get real ......a super 428 gto judge is only good for an average of 14.7 at the strip as street stock. Yet the Jet Thrust club (supercharged Studies gang ) says they don't really know how many were done. Well over 1000 as it was not just a factory option but a dealer upgrade. I have personally seen over 24 r3s and i think their was probably more than 100 created based on Paxton supercharger production volume numbers. that does not even count the R4s with the twin monster four barrel carbs like the one hand built as a feature article by a Motor Trend editor. In addition the number of R5s with twin four barrel carbs and twin superchargers is a big speculation. they were never shipped from the factory but were a factory authorized dealer upgrade if the engine was shipped to Paxton. How many ?no one really knows. But since it was a dealer factory warrantee in force upgrade it does qualify under all car racing sanctioning bodies as factory stock. So many of the Studie folks have over the years searched and found the expensive parts to do the upgrade. Just think 299 Cu in displacement some at 302 cu in. twin 750 CFM carbs, 12 to 15 psi of boost, and 6500 to 7000 rpm!!!!!! do the math read up in what the top of the line super cars today are doing and have. and the Studies weighed an average of 1000 Lbs less than the current super cars. Same HP less weight . Over 40 years ago. Now they still hold over 40 some odd records for speed . And they are still holding Mercedes , Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborgini, BMW , and others at bay in their Class C with a car that is over forty years old. Incredible as it may seem they are still also holding those big guns at bay in many higher classes and even in the unlimited class. this is fact gang. BTW Studebaker STILL HOLDS THE RECORD FOR PRODUCTION CARS OFF THE PRODUCION LINE FOR WINNING INDIANAPOLIS MULTIPLE TIMES . NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER EVEN DONE IT AND STUDIE DID IT OVER AND OVER MAnY TIMES. Read th4e history of Indy and you will see gws

DuRace you are local I'm right here on rt 114 1 block from rt 103. Just look for the viloin shop with the big tour bus next to it. I have been a Studebaker Historian since 1967. I have not said or posted anything that I can not back up 100% Stop by for an IPA and I will show you. Yeah I chaired the International Mobile Robotics and Artificial Intelligence international engineering conferences for several years also. I have the books and pubs to back that up too. Now while the folks you hang with might be BS artists ......I am not!!!! ...DO NOT JUDGE ME BY YOUR STANDARDS. 603 938 5282 I don't do drugs I am a disabled veteran and if you are local as you are you should at least give me the courtesy of stopping by for a free beer before TRASHING MY PERSONAL INTEGRITY on the board. Something by the way I would never do publicly to anyone on this forum. I might do it privately, but not publicly and even not privately without contacting the person and finding out what they were all about. I guess you feel superior even to George W when it comes to having the right to judge others even if you can not pronounce thier names. Still My hand is open ....stop by for an IPA. GWS

In the early sixties. Studebaker Avantis, were routinely tested by the factory for safety and handling at over 170 mph ,Hawks at 160 + mph and super larks at 140+ mph. In the early sixties no Ferrari or Porche or any other street car was factory tested for safety at those kind of speeds. Class C at Bonneville was over twenty MPH faster than even an unlimited class Daytona Cobra. so Studies still rule and still hold the world records ......stock ....40 years plus later...................... P.S . you can by a 150K$ AMG benz sedan that will tie a 40 year old Studie in 1/4 mile but it still cannot compete at the salt flats. 40+ years later.......... As to the double over head cam four valve per cylinder cross flow head high rpm v8 design. like BMW and AMGs newest engines in 2007: check out Studebaker's 1954 262 CI enigine with the same, putting out 387 BHP natuarly aspirated (in spite of Studebakers already lead in super charging) at 7700 rpm in 1954 When mercedes and bmw were still only making six cylinder engines. GWS

Steve you are old enough to know we had REAL muscle cars in HS in the sixties. By 1967 I had acquired from a family member, a 62 Studebaker hawk that was purchased in 1964 as a dealer demo used by the dealers son. It had been upgraded to full factory R5 twin supercharger pure stock street stock status. This was a hemi and goat killer with over 500 HP at the rear wheels. Consistent low 13s/108+ at the drags, once in a while a high twelve at 110.This next clip is a lowly R2 single blower 289 lark. Listen at the end for the time. An R3 now with factory rated 335 bhp but tested at the pure stock muscle car nationals 386hp on rear wheel dyno (studebaker always underrated their engines buy using the big three rpm points when Studebaker all gear drive cams were good for 1000 to 1500 more rpm than mopar or gm engines.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXJAKMr9HwY&NR=1 Now a nice black (mine was red on red) 62 hawk almost like mine but with stock 289 high performance engine. Note Studebaker from 53 on all dual exhausts were extreme low back pressure high flow. Hawks were extremely low, lower at the roof than a Camaro or Mustang but on a 120.5 inch wheel base. How about a regular 289 non supercharged Lark? and last but not least the sound of a stock Studebaker (with only) Single SuperCharger Running r2 base line supercharged automatic neighborhood drive stock including exhaust. Note: In 2000 and 2003 privately owned 1963 Studebaker Avanitis (2 of them) took back the Bonneville Salt Flats title for fastest street stock class C cars. First in 2000 at 203 MPH and then in 2003 at 213 MPH. The Avanti by doing this still holds the world record in street stock class C 40 years plus after it was built. BTW in 1963 the plain SuperHawk R2 was underrated by the factory at 335 BHP and top speed of 153 MPH. Thanks for listening to an old guy digress. hope you all enjoy the vids. Grandfather wolf:D

:( Hummmmmmmmm,, 14 years old and you want to have someone else buy your "race" boards and boots. So at age 14 one still does have many opportunities to earn money. Oh I get it you want to follow up on your racing potential but still hang around the park and spend your money on park equipment. At your age I (now 57) had three lawnmowers running all day every day in the summer with three other kids working for me PT.. I paid for all my racing gear. That was how I got the lawn care jobs. That was how I got the lawn care jobs............................................ I had a well scripted outline of courses in school, PSIA East, and NSPA, clinics, detailed info on the costs to get to races and clinics and the cost of equipment and replacement equipment. I already had found a small sports shop in Hartford,CT that would give me an unconditional replacement personal guarantee for the season if I raced on the then new to the USA Elans from Yugoslavia. Found a similar deal in Winsted,CT for Dolomite boots. I was also able to contract for the next winter, by doing this both of my snowblowers and both of my best friend's snowblowers with the same team of 12 and 13 year old workers. My mother typed up the brochures for me and I had them printed at a local print/copy shop. This was in 1964/5 (no computers yet). In the late 80s and early 90s before he was twelve my son found ways to earn his money for race skis by helping people with computer things. To get to the national level in any sport takes a total commitment. If you want to be a racer be a racer. If you want to be a park rat be a park rat. Even in AASI and CASI there is recognition of separate paths to the highest levels of snowboarding. I started snowboarding on soft boots (actually LL Bean Swampers) while still skiing. When I committed (1995)to hard boot snowboarding on a Burton Race board I quit both soft booting and skiing for 8 years . That is how long it took to feel totally confident about taking the race boards down anything from a snow making blow out ice river next to the trail to powder, to gates, to riding fakie, to teaching beginners and even teaching ski lessons on a race board. My young friend if you are going to do this you have to plan for school studies. Make ups, how to fit lessons and studies in between practice and workouts and gym time. And then family time and then personal time. If you have not figured out how to deal with all of the things you are going to have to, literally a "double plate" every day, How can you go to a parent and ask for total commitment and time support from them to get you to all the meets and clinics and training sessions And then to school as you will always be late getting there or leaving there. You want sponsors get your act together and then try the uncommon approach. Become a Veterans advocate at your local vets center or VFW post or American Legion post. Raise awareness for vets and vets issues and add public speaking on vets issues to your daily plate and you might be a veterans sponsored racer. Include working with your local MT's handicapped ski and snowboard program. If they don't have one have the Vets help you start one. Not to discourage you but it is a big thing to tackle. Ask any current or past Olympic Athlete. You can always contact me privately for help or advice and contacts if you need some help with them. GWS:D

Antrim is 15 miles away from here (Bradford) I just found this thread. Maybe I can sneak out of chores tomorrow and buzz over. GWS:(

brother boris are these things like my 4 year old dynastar omecarve 10's in 172 with a 13 meter sidecut, but the variable flex can give you 9 meters in push pull turns? Note I tested John, our double, snowboard and ski full cert school director's 164s? first. Got mine on pro form from him and then found two other ski instructors got them and almost immediately were selling them. One other ski instructor won a pair in raffle and she was selling them too. Tried for three days to get Martha (the raffle winner, and level 3 cert since 1978) dialed in on them to no avail. you either shorten your ski poles five inches and lay them over like a Donek carving board or give up. And if you do that............ Then the semi gated annual top to bottom extreme downhill race (steep 1200 + vertical on trail switches to follow the fastest line to the bottom.) at Ragged is an average of 89 to 94 mph plus in the top seed. you are always on edge and always ahead of the skiis. That was the actual range of speeds by six skiers on the omecarve 10's, and no I did not compete that day( had good tipping all day family private on carve boards). On the other hand a week later when ski director took us to the top and the six pack stalled we were late for line up. I followed John down the race run with out any gates or slow down chicanes, and pulled into the bottom 30 ft behind. Only 5 of the other 8 instructors we had at the summit made it down to line up that run. Johns time was the 94 mph average btw. So I do not know how fast we were going that day,late for lineup. My Protegee snowboard student now snowboard director Said John and I would have blown away the competition in the race. I normally do not like to go fast .......just like to pull lots of G force. Yes!!!!!? GWS