rschneid

Rode today at WhiteTail. It was once again, fabulous (was not expecting it to be any good, with a Rain Forecast and probable large crowds). There was no crowd, No lift lines and no rain. Great carving conditions. At multiple points the ski patrol joked about my board and 'running radar' on me. I think this is because it stands (shines ) out. Rode with BadBrad on Saturday for some runs, he turns some really great tight curves on his board. Also saw Zoe. No Hardbooters today, except me. Rich S.

Ok, I am sure that there are better ways to do this, but here is what I did. 1. Found some Turtle Chrome Polish in the garage and used that, as follows: A. polish on cloth B. rub in small circles until cloth is loaded up with black gunk and swirls on board are black, switch to clean side, keep going until entire board is covered in black swirls. Rubbed with a fair amount of force. C. Wait 15 minutes D. Rub/buff off (when cloth gets loaded up switch to clean side) 2. The above got me part of the way there but not all the way. Was not a mirror finish. So went on line and found good stuff about Metal Master Final Shine. 3. Did the same thing as above with Metal Master Final shine 5x. Each time I did it the board got shinier and shinier until voilla, almost a perfect mirror. Also I completely ignored the decals, just went right over them. Did not seem to make much difference. They are a bit dirty looking now and I have to touch them up somehow or replace them. Prior is sending me a quote on a decal package (or maybe I already bought them and they are sending them to me).

Yes I will be at WT tomorrow (Sat Jan 5). I will arrive right around 0810 or maybe earlier. I will be on my metal Prior Rich S.

Ok here it is, this is as close to a mirror as I can get it (which is pretty damn close!)

Ok, 1. I apologize for that horrible picture that I posted earlier. Its embarrasing the light of recent events. I used Final Shine Metal Polish and after 4 polish/buffs it came up to a true mirror shine, I will post a pic later. So anyone who cares, the Prior Metal will come up to a Mirror Perfect Shine if you spend the time. 2. I rode today at White Tail. A. the Conditions were the best I have ever seen there. Packed Powder. It was sweeeeeeeeeTTTTT! B. My board stopped both skiers and boarders in their tracks twice! The Bling factor of a perfect reflection is very high. C. The ability to reflect the sunlight into skiers eyes is a whole nuther fun event. (not while they are skiing though) 3. Where are all the WT HBs? Noone but me there today. Conditions beyond belief going to waste... Rich S.

Pokkis, when you say 'our metal 163' what board are you referring to? Rich S.

Al, where did you get your graphics? I like the chick on the front and DEFINITELY the 'keep off' on the back. Rich S.

Al, I saw the original post on Sunday, and went into the garage to see what I had on hand. Turtle Chrome Polish. So I tried that and it works ok. But I still don't have a perfect mirror finish. I mean whats the point of this if not perfection??? So now (after using the Turtle Chrome Polish) I have done some research and I think I am going to try Metal Master Easy Cut (good stuff on this on the web). Don't ask me if I know what I am doing - I don't. see http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-cleaning-polish/ I have yet to ride it in its new polished condition - so no comments from the peanut gallery. I am going out Friday/Saturday. Rich S.

Ok here is my entry in the 'How much time can you waste on your WCR contest'. Rich S.

Ok I am very interested in your results. My WCR is looking a little bit worn. What polish (does it make any difference)? What should I try to avoid? Rich S.

I have mounted td2s on my nidecker megalight62. I weight 200lbs and stand 6'2". I have been carving (or at least leaving some really deep slices in the moutain) with it a lot lately (30/35) and having a great time. I usually only use it when conditions go downhill (like today at WhiteTail in PA). Anyway I realize that it was not designed for this use (abuse) but it hasn't broken or cracked yet. So seems like the stiffer project 164 would be even better.? Rich S.

Mark are you definitely going?? I was there today (saturday) and it was great and I am feeling a little thin, but if you are going I am going! Rich S.

Ok, so I needed a tune up of my board today at a nameless resort (don't want to get anyone in trouble). So I take my board in and the guy behind the counter takes it feels the edges and says 'Impeccable'. Then he looks at the bottom and says 'needs wax - come back in 30 minutes'. I come back in 30 minutes and he hands the board across to me and says 'no charge - that is the best board that has ever come in here. We consider it an honor to have been able to work on it - go and play!' Woohoo!! Rich S.

I was experimenting with my binding settings on Sunday at WhiteTail. I now know what heel out is – its very bad.!! This was the sequence. The heel takes load by riding on or thru the snow The middle of the board is levered up riding on the heel The tip of the board angles down and in (because I am exherting turning pressure) The tip heads for china and sharply up hill The Rider catapults sort of up and in to the hill The Riders CPU immediately overloads on Extreme pain, confusion and anxiety Moral of the story - don't try to set your angles such that the boots hang way over the edge of the board to test what everyone else on this board already knows! OTOH this experiment prompted me when I got home to carefully go thru the process of mounting my boots at all kinds of different angles and finding out where TO and HO actually started and how severe they were at different angles. Interestingly I have zero TO and HO with my angles set to 47 deg, which seems to be about the average for the low end of whats considered commonly acceptable. So based on this I am going to try 47/53 next time out and see how that goes on my my Prior. At 40 deg I have about 8 deg of OH, which I may also try. It seems unlikely that I actually ever get up to an 82deg lean. I was also experimenting with my Nideker (not carving board) which I have mounted up for my hardboots and which I have a much easier time carving. I think for that one I had set overly aggressive angles because I thought it was 'the right thing' to do. But I am going to set those down from 28/32 which I was riding to 20/25 (because I can with 0 OH) and see what thats like. Anyway comment and ammusement welcome! Rich S.

I was at WhiteTail PA on Saturday and 3 other hardbooters showed up. Zoe and Mark (both on this board) and Mike whom I learned a lot from. He is a Korean here to get a business degree. He says that there are typically 2 to 3 HUNDRED hardbooters at any given resort in the East(FAR) on any day. That was an eye-opener for me as naively I thought that Hardbooting had its genesis either in Europe or in the US. To give credence to his claims he was a very good carver and is sponsored in his native country. He also says people pay up to $3000 for decks over there. Makes me wonder about the lines of equipment that are being made over there that we know nothing about. Anyway I thought 4 hardbooters at WhiteTail, which is a fairly small resort was pretty good. I was also at WhiteTail during the rain on Sunday and I was the only hardbooter there. Rich S.

Hey they are blowing snow and its going to snow tomorrow, maybe Friday will be my first day out. Any DC Metro riders going out Friday, Saturday or Sunday? Rich S. Germantown MD

It was on the long arcing turns that I was getting my greatest speed. Something really cool about arcing across the slope at hi -speed. Coolth factor raised several notches by crossing just in front of my teenage dauger, who is normally totally un-impressed by anything I do (give her allowance, pay for college, etc...) but on this occasion I could hear yelling 'way to go dad!' Wierdly my non-teen daugher just looked at me and said, "you're not low enough dad!" she has seen way to many carving movie clips.

Ok I am a believer. On day 4 of my 7 day trip to Steamboat, I got exactly the right conditions on Tomohawk (very easy blue run) and was carving the place up. But even more fun I was going a zillion miles an hour. I was passing (with plenty of space to spare) other skiers/boarders like they were standing still. This was a totally new and wildly fun experience. Grin would not leave my face (fortunately no bugs or they would still be stuck in my teeth) . I don't like the idea of falling and would normally control the throttle to minimize the damage on crashing, but the control that is built into carving has let me way increase the throttle. Woo Hoo. Now my carving technique probably sucks and I am not down that low butttt it was the funnest boarding ( including skiing) that I have ever done. Period . go 178 Prior Metal WCR!! Its only sad that I did not get to this point until the very tail end of the season. I am not all sure what would happen if the slope were full of poeple all moving at that speed. I think it might be just a wee bit spooky.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in here - I got my equipment and have ridden 2 days on it. Day 1 was a learning experience in how to control a board in alpine rig, Day 2 was initially a struggle to learn how to get the board over on an edge an hold it there and to STOP doing the ingrained habbits that were leading me to skid turns. On day 2 I went up to Roundtop PA and let Phil work his magic on me. He spend a couple of hours working on me. It took some time for whatever he did to seep past my skidding habbits. However, by the end of the day I was having a blast and carving turns - it does feel great!!!! Thanks everybody! Rich S.

I am heading up to White Tail Sunday. There will probably be at least one other hardbooter there as well. Rich S.

I am going to WhiteTail Saturday 24rth. I am not in hardboots yet. Stuff is due to arrive in about 8 days. I am transitioning and will be working on carving Saturday Morning. I am riding a distinctive Nidecker Megalight162, silver. I am 6'2" and if its cold will be wearing a ridiculously orange glow in the dark hat. I will be on the easy chair when it opens and will probably walk up the green slope around 8 for a warmup. Anyone hardbooter who will wants to give advice on exercises etc.. I will gladly take it. Rich Schneider

What do I know? next to nothing. I have no baseline upon which to judge anything. Soooo, some people said go shorter, some said go longer - I took the average I think. The whole process, for me is really a gigantic effort in guesswork. I can't demo anything anywhere - Period. So I need to rely on everyones advice - sort of like designing an airplane by committee - it would never work - ooooops wait wrong analogy- well anyway I will have a better idea in about 2 weeks. Estimate is about 9 days to arrival. Than I have to go thru the setup, mold liners etc. etc.. Hopefully this setup will work for many years to come. Looking forward to 7 days in Steamboat April1 thru April 8. Rich S.

Prior Metal 177 225ts td2s (step in) Probable delivery in 8 to 9 days +-

Thanks everyone for your comments and reviews. I talked with Michelle at Bomber yesterday and my order is getting processed. Hopefully I will see my stuff in about 9 days +-. I have been riding my soft setup at 36/30. I increased the angles from about 28/15 (4 weeks ago) after taking a lesson from Phil at Roundtop. Is there value to increasing the angles again to say 43/38 in preparation for my alpine setup? Will it make the transition easier or are the boots and board so different that there is no good reason to do this? Rich S.

Ok so maybe it wasn't the steepest grade and ok so maybe it wasn't the most objective criticism, but when my skiing daughter said "hey dad you are really carving! those are some deep trenches!" I was really happy . It did really feel cool, I was cranked pretty far over and they were really deep cuts in the blue green slope at Whitetail. Nearly ideal conditions there this morning. So I continued with my total focus on laying trenches. Getting there slowly, wondering how much of a difference hardboots, plate bindings and a carve board will really make (note I am NOT trying to start a flame war here, I am just realizing that with each new day at the slopes I am getting more and deeper trenches on progressively steeper slopes) - Still on my soft boarding gear. !!! Rich S.