Strider

HEy guys(and gals), I volunteer for Special Olympics and a friend of mine is sports director for our state. We have been putting together a snowboarding manual for the National Special Olympics that will be posted on their website. We have the teaching progressions and race rules done and refined(I've taught for over 12 years and volunteered for 6). However, we have been looking for some good training exercises. This would include off season-dryland traing, and race training exercises. I searched the forums and pulled some good ones, but it is always nice to have more. The 3 types of races that the athletes compete in are superG, GS, and Slalom. If you can post a good exercise, written in a way that we can adapt to the manual we would really appreciate it. We will give credit in the manual to each person who suggests something that we can use. Here is a little more info from Bob about Special Olympics:------ Special Olympics offers sports training and Athletic competition to persons 8 years of age and up who have cognitive disabilities. The Special Olympics events for snowboarding are the Slalom, Giant Slalom and Super Giant Slalom. These courses are set up at a similar level of difficulty to what you might find at an adult NASTAR race. While it is difficult to characterize the abilities of a group of individuals with varying degrees of cognitive function and ability, most often adult Special Olympics Athletes have athletic ability that is similar to what you might find in a non-cognitively disabled middle school student. Of course there are Athletes who fall above and below that level within the program. Thanks for the help :)

Yup...just like the Nitro. My friend has a pair and the pins in the heel piece are set. Its not a bad binding at all, but I like the adjustments and especially the elastomers on the TD2 over the Nitro.

I talked with the regional Atomic Rep at a pro night the other day and asked him if they would continue alpine boards under the Atomic name. He wasn't positive, but he thought they would. Right now they are still producing alpine boards under the oxygen name for sale in Europe(according to him) and that when they get the Atomic name established better they will be making the Alpine boards under the Atomic name as well. The rep used to handle both the ski and snowboard line and now he is only skis, but he seemed pretty confident with what he told me. I haven't had any time to check it out more myself, but I did get the Atomic proform in the mail this week and no Alpine this year. :rolleyes:

Hello, My friend has a 163 Renn Tiger. Not sure of the year , but it has the black and yellow zebra stripe topsheet and is in really good condition. HE is mostly a skier so it got very little use. He has Nitro step-ins on it and will sell the whole package for $220. If you're not interested in the bindings post a price and I'll let him know. I can probably get pics this weekend if you want them.

Born in 1972. Skiing winter of 74 Boarding first time (softboots) in 1990 Hardboots for the first time 1999

Hey D-sub. My old roommate picked one of those up for $100 from a shop that was going out of business here. We were able to take off some off the guide fences for doing edge work and were able to get a snowboard on it. You have to do 2 passes to get wide enough to do a board. Now...it works fine for my rockboard and when I want to get a real nice base wlde for my p-tex work, but it took a lot of practicing on an old ****ty deck that we threw out when we were done. It is tricky to apply the correct amount of pressure and keep the board running straight. You also have to be careful about how you do the 2-passes so you don't get a small ridge ibn the middle. I did run an old Rossi Throttle on it that had a really bad concave base. It worked great to get the base and edges flat and at 0 degrees, but I had to do quite a bit of hand work on it to get the base back to decent carving condition after running it over the belt. I don't think I would ever use it on my true race boards as it is too hard to make sure you do everything right so you don't massively Fubar your base. Just realized after lookng at it that it has a stone as well. Probably a good deal, but still have to be really careful.

I learned to ride at Jackson Hole on a trip in 1991. I was(and still am) able to take anyhting on skis including a few drops into Corbet's. My snowboarding friends thought they'd "teach" me to snowboard by showing me how to weight an edge at the base of the tram and then up we went. After 2 turns right at the top where its almost flat they pronounced me profocient and took off. It took me 3.5 hours to get to the bottom, but by the bottom I could link 5-6 turns before slamming. That said, JH is one of my all time favorite hills. However, it is the only place where I still put the skis on for half of the trip. I haven't ever ridden my hardboot setup there because its too much fun ripping the bumps and trees and doing small drops. I think I could do that stuff on my hardboot setup, but like Enzo said its easier to hike and traverse in my softie setup, and I definitely rip the bumps better on the all mountain board. Anyway, it'll be a great trip as long as you can handle a lot of tough terrain on any board you bring. If not, you will be stuck on the 4-6 runs that get groomed right under the lift.

HEy all, I've been instructing for 13 years now and have had a lot of lessons with all types and ages. Most of the problems kids have do indeed stem form balance and strength issues. I child's head accounts for about 1/3 their body weight when they are really young(like 3 or 4) and adding a helmet makes it even heavier. this causes them to push their weight wherever their head is going. For instance, if they stare at the ground it moves their center of gravity infront and down. On skis this is not a really big deal as they can still turn and if in a wedge actually pressures the tips of the skis making it easier to stop as well. On a board it puts that weight right over the edge causing a slam, or a lot of work balancing on that edge. It is also much easier to balance on skis because it doesn't take as much strength to stand on skis and use 2 edges on the side as it does to balance or pressure the one long edge on a snowboard. My son started on skis last winter at 23 months and loved it for about an hour at a time. This year we're going to work on turning and stopping and rules of the hill. When he asks me to try a board we will, but I don't expect him to do well on it until he's a little older. It all varies among kids, but in general I've noticed that 5-6 is about the age when they can start to balance on a board and actually learn how to do it.

You guys are all killing us midwestern riders who will have to wait until sometime in Dec. to get first runs in. Good thing I got that longboard this summer.

I still freeride in my soft setup quite a bit, but prefer a really stiff board torsionally and in the tail so I can still rip with it. My all time favorite was a Salomon Freeride 164. I currently have an Atomic 167 that I really like a lot as well. They changed all the names for this years boards so I'm not sure which model it is now(was the one with the mugshots on it), but I can say that it has a lot of snap, good balance in the air and didn't cost all that much. I rode a Nidecker the year before based on my happiness with my race board, but it lost its camber after a half season and then was like riding on a wet noodle. Hope some of this helps.

I ride at Copper at least once every season wit ha bunch of hardbooting WI people. I'll let you know when we're coming this year as we like to spend a lot of time in the hot tub after riding drinking beer and talking about cowtipping :)

I'm really interested in that board. Do you have any pics of it or know what year it is? thanks. you can e-mail me direct at bnemke@tds.net

Once again you are all forgeting about the Device interface. First off, never have any problems in pow beacue of where the contact points are, and you can have snow under your boot and still get in. Clickers I found to be the worst at this because any snow at all on the plate makes it really hard to get in. With the contacts being on the front and back you get them where you want the pulling pressure, and the forward lean is fully adjustable with the quick adjusters on all the standard strap bindings. Anyway, its always hard to convert a person from one binding to another because of brand/style loyalties, kinda like the Chevy/Ford thing. Here's a pic below...points are at the front ond right at the base of the highback below the lean adjuster.

Our league is run with ski gates as well since it is still dominated by skier teams. As most people above said the start is very critical. You need to be setting up high for all the turns as compared to the line that skiers take and it all starts at that first gate. Riding an edge, even if it is only a little bit and not a full on carve is very important for speed, and for getting your body in the right position for the rest of the course. I find I can take them pretty close as long as I keep my hands in front of me and can always use the arm brush to knock them out of the way if I get too far over them; however, if its not a planned move it can really throw off your rhythm. I have taken them too close and broke goggles by taking a pole to the face, and once even knocked mysely silly because I ran my boot over the pole like you can do with stubbies, but the ski gates don't give so well. One other thing, you can take a gate much closer on a heelside because you can take it out with your shoulder/ass and not have it knock you over, while on toeside you tend to take it across the chest which can really knock you around. Keep in mind that these are only my experiences, but i hope it helps.

This is why I ride the softie S/I called the Device Interface. Originally manufactured and marketed by Device, then bought by Ride, and finally sold to Oxygen after K2 bought ride. The contact points are under the toe and about 3 inches up on the back of the boot in the highback, right where all the pulling and torqueing forces are needed when setting and riding an edge. The piece that holds the contact points is a single piece of that is molded into the boot so it is very solid and can take a lot of abuse. The boot I wear has a great internal strap system on the liner(heat moldable) and a ratchet buckle over the ankle area to keep your foot pulled in nice and tight to the sole and back of the boot. It is almost as solid a feel as my hardboots when I cranck everything down and the performance is great. They are not widley used because the patent and design has been resold so many times. The best part is with the contact points where they are and the way they work I never have to worry about too much snow in my binding, they still clip in; although I do clean off the bottoms anyway if its sticky because it feels better on the foot :) I never did understand why all of the other guys used contact points on the sides of the bbot right in the middle of the foot, always felt that there was too much wiggle room at my toes when I test rode them.

Is this Volant one with the steel topsheet? Could you send a pic to bnemke@tds.net? Thanks.

Hello Jason, Glad to see you take the time and requests of your readership seriously. I happen to love the magazine. I have found the articles to be well written and the interviews and historical essays very interesting. I love that it is not all about jibbing pipe riding, and just assumed that there would be a carving article or two as time went on. It makes sense to me that there wouldn't be as many articles about this aspect as there are about freeriding just because the numbers are different, but I wish it could be otherwise. As a rule most of the carvers I know are super passionate about the sport and started riding in the late 80'2-early 90's and now have the money to spend on high-end gear and magazines if there is enough interest. I've also noticed that a lot of the younger kids at my hill have started to get interested in carving as well since there are now about 20 of us out 3-4 times a week at tiny little Tyrol Basin in WI. It seems that each year I get a couple more kids asking me where to get the gear and how to lay that trench instead of sliding all around. Part of that might come from them seeing me ride the pipe in plates and wonder what the hell those bindings are all about,but I would bet with more coverage this aspect of the sport will continue to grow. Keep up the good work and keep those ads to a minimum like they are now. Also, I loaned my first edition to a buddy and he tossed it after he was done so I was wondering if you sell the back issues, and if so how could I get one? Thanks for the good product, and I hope to see some carving stuff in there one day too.

Heven't tried R6-3 yet. Mostly played Battlefield 1942 and am still hopelessly addicted to CounterStrike and am waiting for HL2 to come out. If you ever play CS I use the name $trider there as well, or sometimes [TH]$trider or -=A][A=-$trider depending on where I'm playing :D

Thats a really nice set of pics...wish I had some more practice with my camera so I could get some nice shots like that!!!!

There is a great pic of a lot of counter Coldrider...looks like you're just surveying in that pica and not actually turning. I tried to stay out of the spin discussion, but here's my .02. As Cold said, you do need to push off something to get the spin started. Countering and bringing it back isn't efficient enough to get a whole lot of spin and also sets you up for a bad landing. It may look like the pros are spinning withoput pushing their board against the snow, but they just time it perfectly so its barely noticeable. Also, you don't need a huge push to get it going and once you do, countering the top of your body will accomplish a lot of fast spins easily. Now, beacuse you only need something to push off of for a tiny amount of time, and it doesn't have to be with much force, ity shouldn't matter if you do it off and edge, or a flat board. I can spin either way and I find it depends on what kind of jump I'm on and how I'm riding into it. Both seem to work equally fine for me and it really boils down to which I', more comfortable with.....switch spins I like to set my edge, regular I ride mostly flat, frontsides I ride in flat, backsides I set more edge. After watching many people in the park I think it boils down to wheta fits each persons comfort zone. I know 2 riders who both go huge and both look awesome and comfortable doing it and each has a different style coming off the lip...one guy rides flat, and one guy is always on edge. I wouldn't say either of them is better than the other, just differnt approaches. I haven't watched the pros that closely, and often times the TV is at an angle where you can't see those things, so it would be interesting to see if they predominantly use one way versus the other.

I'm not sure if you do this as well. I was taught to carve through the pipe wall (using the downhill edge on the wall, but the uphill edge relative to the mountain) which always seems like a great way to catch your edge to me, but I've found that it really keeps your speed up and boosts you off the next wall. That is actually what I was talking about when I posted. I'm not sure the sidecut radius has anything to do with this. I just find it easier to set that edge when I'm wearing hardboots whether its on my freestyle board or gs board. The main reason I get more boost from my race board isn't due to the sidecut, its due to the stiffness and extra camber the board has. When you decamber the racce board and let it snap back it gives a much larger "boost" up the wall than my freestyle board does.

Just wanted to say I started in softies and learned the pipe, jumps, rails etc. Now I ride hard boots even on my freestyle board and still ride the pipe, jumps and rails. In the pipe I actually find it easier to get more boost because I can hold my edge on the landing and through the tranny, flat, other tranny, and right up the other wall a lot easier. However, I have also noticed that there is a lot less room for error when landing because I don't have as much slop in my ankles to "take up" mistakes with. Rails don't seem any different, but I also ride with lower angles on my freestyle board. Basically my point is that you can ride any equipment as long as you get used to it and pratice until you're proficient with it. Sometimes I'll even take my GS board in the pipe when people tell me it can't be done or just for fun and it really boosts because of the extra camber and stiffness, but its also pretty easy to dig the nose in or catch the flat tail if I'm not being careful.

Dang it Jack..I expected more insight( and more post) than that. I actually enjoy reading your views on the sport and the technical tips...I was just poking fun at the length because my freinds are always telling me that I tell them too much and think too much about it. ;)

Hello Cindy, I am currently a level 2 PSIA skier and snowboarder and have been doing both for a long time. I started in 90 on a Burton asym-air and was big into learning to carve it. Once I figured that out, it seemed like I had to learn to ride the pipe and big air jump at our hill here in the midwest. It was mostly because no one was riding hard gear and to be considered "good" you had to be able to get out of the pipe and at least pull a big Method on the jump. After learning to do these things, I started really working on carving again and paying attention to what was happeneing and how to change it. At this time I started racing and found 1 guy who was riding hard plates. After a year or two he talked me into it and I never looked back, and even ride my freestyle board in the pipe with plates and hardboots now because I have so much more control. Amazingingly this made the younger kids notice my setup, and also my carves on the hill. I started to get a lot of requested private lessons to learn to carve on softboards, and alpine gear. Its been about 5 years since that time and we now have 2.5 teams of 10 riders on alpine gear for our race night, and many young carvers on hard gear. The big problem is exposure. Until I took my setup in the pipe the young kids didn't really notice the equipment or style. Also, the lack of places to buy the alpine gear hurts too. Most of the people at our hill rely on myself and a few others to buy gear from or to find gear for them on e-bay or Bombers site because they generally don't know what to be looking for. Fin has a great site with tons of info and once people find it they can have pretty much any question answered. I love the fact that there are Coilers, and Doneks, and many custom boards available because it really is the best way to get a board that works for you, but until there is some more media coverage(TV or Mags) it will be hard to get a big audience I think. Whew...that was like one of Jack's posts. Sorry for being so long. :D

For all you midwestern boarders out there looking to get a fix on some summer snow........ www.tyrolbasin.com They have something called a June Jam every season. They push all their snow into the halfpipe at the end of the season and then cover it with straw and tarps. First weekend in June they uncover it and cut a halfpipe and a big air jump. then on Monday night they spread it all the way down the hill and run a GS course. Not that fast or challenging, but for $10 its fun to go ride in shorts and a t-shirt.