pogokoenig

That's not the only thing you get from a Chu!

Second that! I'd rather have my board broken, than my leg. Next to that, I'll stick to my statement that plates (as constructed nowadays) will disappear from the freecarving sector in a couple of years. You have to sacrifice too many benefits for just a marginal improvement.

Is it on the outside of your shin? You cannot really figure if it is the muscle or the bone? If both yes, better watch out! Runners have this quite often when overtrained. Hardbooters can get that as well. I had that 4 years ago and I ignored it for too long. At the end it turned out to be hairline cracks in the fibula, that resulted in a total crack. The only thing that really helps is resting. You better consult your physician. Besides that I now train my shin muscles as well and I have softened up my set-up by throwing out step-ins.

1. My buddies, who brought me to snowboarding in 1993, were snowboard instructors and carving maniacs. I could learn it properly from scratch. 2. I started together with a friend and my brother. We had a kind of a competition from day 1 and it is still going on. (i was the slowest to learn but no need to say that I have outrun them for lightyears :) ) 3. In 1997 passed two consecutive 8 days trainings for instructors - back then it was very alpine focussed. This has given me the theoretical background and the training to translate any situation on the terrain into snowboarding - regardless of styles and techniques. 4. in 1998 had a long weekend's training with a trainer for blind skiers. That was an eye opener - literally. 5. After alpine was deemed dead, getting in touch with great people through internet communities like FB, BOL and EC. This has very much opened up my riding after years of doing my "own" stuff. That was around 2005 and 2006.

What a beautiful piece of work! I am really excited about it. The best thing is: We can all be proud to be part of the sport that is so perfectly and passionately presented in this magazine. Where can I sign up for the 2012 issue?

Me 2. I made the experience that plates can be fun when you have lots of space. You can just rail Mach 3 and switch off your brain. Once it gets narrower I felt that I needed to step on the brake and interrupt my run. The speed feeling is just awesome but it almost felt a bit scary in some situations. The handling of the board gets more difficult. You might also feel a better edge hold. On my opinion modern boards do not have issues with edge hold at all - regardless if glass or metal. Thus, the extra edge hold is more a "good to know, that you have it in case you need it". Because of the extra comfort the plate delivers I tend to say that it might form bad habits. Riding a plate and working on riding technique at the same time can be tricky.

Back from SES! Thanks for the great week.

:lol: Heard that a hundred times during SES in Aspen. I wish I could trade with you guys.

Snowboarding in Slush is like vanilla ice cream with a cherry on top. In case there are nice big slushy moguls it feels like an extra scoop of chocolate chip cookies. I love that.

That's Richard on a 165cm Virus Nightmare. One of the german gang. Pretty fast guy.

Alexis, da man with da monstercam. Awesome pix! Thanks!

Ace, You da Man. Thanks very much. Great Pix!

What the #�*%k was that? Came home yesterday from the best week of snowboarding I ever had. (And there were many.) There were these perfect conditions and the great atmosphere that made me falling in love with Aspen. It was very nice to meet the carvers from all over the world. A great experience. It was all very easy, relaxed and driven by fun. That was my overall feeling in general. The people in Aspen seemed to be very open and interested in "our" riding and in our boards. I had so many interesting and funny conversations, I could fill the "lift line" thread just by myself. Just two of them: Shuttle bus from Aspen Meadows to Ajax: Bus Driver: "So, you guys are are carvin' it up there today! I am a carver too. My name is Bob. I would love to hit the slopes with you guys today." Very nice experience. Bob, if you read this: Go out there, and carve it up. On Ruthie's we have passed a couple. I guess they were both in the mid 70s. It was in the afternoon and we made a stop to catch breath. They directly skied into our driection and stopped right above us. I expected them to complain. It might have been that some fellas came too close while passing. The only thing, the man said:"C'mon guys, now you give us a show! I want to see more of that riding." Saving money for 2013

That's a difficult one. Very hard to locate the errors without pictures or a short video. First of all: I assume your binding angles are 65° rear and 70° front (and not vice versa as you described). Then I would throw out all lifts and cants - just mount the bindings flat and centered (measured at the inserts). This is the best point to start with. This should give you some comfort in your riding but will probably need some fine tuning afterwards. Furthermore could you please describe what exactly is your problem while riding. Do you have problems getting on edge or are you more locked in the turn? Does it skid, chatter? Is it easy to drift? In general you could say: The narrower a board the more you have to let it go by itself. Especially when it comes to edge changes. The trick is to find the sweet spot; there is not much with fancy technique. Practical advice: Find a flat blue slope, well groomed, not too crowded. Do some of the carving-beginner exercises from "hardbooter.com" and try to get the feeling for the board. Once you have adapted: Go out and rip it. Oh, my girlfriend Edit forgot to mention: If your virus still hates you, you can leave it with me for disposal. I will only charge you a small fee.

BTW Hans: Thanks for the exercise with the bench jumps. You could show the link here in this thread. I cannot find it anymore. Meanwhile I am doing three sets with 22-20 jumps right after doing squats (3 sets 70kgs 20-15 repeats)

Since you are on a boat you might think about one legged squats. The moving of the boat adds the extra touch of balance and stability to the strength.

Me like! My prayers have been heard.

Virus factory is just round the corner. They also sell the UPZ boots.

In general your setup is a very good starting point. With a 15cm waist you should end up somewhere round 80°. Please bear in mind that the whole mechanics work differently with this setup. Thus you could think about reducing your stance. That should give you a bit more comfort. Just try it out. If the problem with your rear leg still persists, I see two options. 1. The binding has an inward canting. Throw that out. You just need toe- and heellift. Probably try riding totally flat in order to get a starting point for your setup changes. 2. In case there is no inward canting, put it in again on the rear foot - but - mount it the other way round, so that your rear knee is pushed towards your toe-edge (Edit says: Chris was faster and descirbed it as outward canting.). If you make pictures or stand in front of a mirror, you will see that this setup is able to correct and inward movement of your rear knee. This inward movement comes inevitably with the high angles and the resulting "face-the-nose" postion on the board. It sounds strange, but it works. Try it in your living room and watch yourself in the mirror. Do some carpet boarding in order to check, how you feel with it.

Thanks for that. It helps and it is about time: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/onmountain/reports/weather_forecast.cfm

A german posse is also showing up. Newton will be there for the third time, bringing a buddy. Next to that, I will come with two buddies. We will be staying the whole week. Where in the package can I tick the box for 20" of extra snow? For 20 years now I am dreaming about us american powder. Now as I finally make it happen, it simply has to be there.

Like that statement! I would even go a step further or two: Technique should also change with the terrain and can as well change with your personal desires. At this point we can talk about style. Style - to my understanding - is the personal touch, the rider adds to his riding. The way the word "style" is often used - also at the beginning of the thread - implies so many limitations and also leads to classifications of what is right and what is wrong. I often have discussions where people limit themselves to certain "styles", whereas I think this so called "style" is just one single riding technique which itself is derived from a much bigger and variable toolbox. At the end every riding technique is derived from that toolbox. The better you know the tools, the more you are free to develop the proper technique and finally your own style. I like very much the old-school riding in the second video. It looks like the guy has some fun and his technique is very close to one of the two techniques that have been taught to german snowboard instructors in the mid 90s. Shoulders only slightly move into the turn, you bend your legs during the turn and stretch them quickly for transition.

Pokkis, may I use that as a quotation once in a while?

Wow! Hans, thanks for that exercise. That's exactly what I was looking for. I am doing these after squats and cannot do more than 3 times 10.

Yes, but don't show up with this ugly thing. niceveeerynice My girlfriend edit says: The model year written on the virus boards is 2011 but this is the board porn thread for 2012. That means to me: 1. I need to check, what's written on my own board. 2. Frank sold us the leftovers from last year 3. Ray, Hans and probably myself have to get outta here with these boards.