BadBrad

On my Prior 4WD I tried just a little rear heel lift and some front toe lift, and it felt comfortable, but my heelside turns were wavy, like the board was being twisted. I then added some more lift and inward canting on the rear foot and the heelside turns became smooth again. On my narrower boards with a steeper stance, just front toe lift and rear heel lift works okay, but I feel more comfortable with just a little bit of inward canting, especially when I widened my stance width.

I'd recommend a big sandwich.

That does look like some good shoulder protection. I've never had any issues with ribs, though, and that looks like it might be too much there and inhibit the "waist pinch". Let us know how it works.

I started wearing the Demon shirt last year. I was mainly looking for some shoulder protection since that is what I keep hurting. Most of the armor available is based on motocross gear and they protect the shoulders from the top, but many don't seem to have much protection from a side impact, plus they are really expensive. The Demon shirt has plastic shoulder cups and pads that do provide some side impact protection, and it is fairly inexpensive. The names in the Demon line are so similar that they get confusing -- Flex Force High, Flex Force Pro High, Force Field High. Mine is the Flex Force Pro High, like this one with the ugly graphics: http://www.xsportsprotective.com/demon-flex-force-pro-upper-men.html Only $48 if you're small. You can also find it other places like amazon and ebay. http://www.buy.com/prod/demon-forcefield-snowboard-body-armor/q/loc/17250/203121991.html Edit: Looking at the listings now, this particular model may no longer be available. They make other models, though.

Any new news on ECES?

I could probably manage the 1-hour a day workout, but how hard is it to follow the nutrition plan? My wife is a very picky eater and has the food preferences of a 5-year old (hotdogs, ketchup, mac-n-cheese, etc.), and whenever I try to serve healthy meals she doesn't like them, so it has been hard for me to stick to healthy diet based on vegetables and some low-fat protein.

Best feature on my house is the screened in porch. I have a nice wooded back yard and a nice brick patio with a pergola, but the heat and mosquitos often kept us indoors. With the screened porch we are able to enjoy our nice yard and view a lot more. And even on a very hot a humid mid-atlantic summer day it is quite comfortable out there with the ceiling fan on. A glass sunroom that can be opened up into a screened room would be even better and extend the season for the room and keep out the pollen in the spring. I am actually buying a new house now, but couldn't get too picky about special features. Our main criteria were good schools, nice neighborhood, and a garage. It does have a screened porch, a hot tub, a finished basement, and a nice wooded lot. It also has a pool, which I don't really want, but we'll see if it is worth the maintenance hassle and cost.

I almost hate to say it, but I think that Margaritaville is a good inexpensive tequila, suitable for mixing a good margarita and cheap enough for mixing up a pitcher of margaritas. For sipping, though, I like Herradura anejo. El Tesoro is also good.

For people with small boots, the TD2 with a TD3 second board kit looks like a good option. That's exactly the setup I have, not because my boot is too small but because I wanted a second board kit and suspension kit for my TD2's.

I am just about to finish NROL Fat Loss I. It seems that most folks go to Fat Loss II next, but I think I am going to Strength I. My goals are to both lose fat and gain strength, so I figure I'll alternate between the fat loss and strength workouts. Terryw, which diet did you do? I made some significant changes to my diet, including eating more fruits and vegetables, stopped drinking sodas, stopped putting sugar in my coffee, and avoided most baked goods, but I still didn't lose any weight. I trained for and ran a marathon and an Olympic-distance triathlon, and I was quite fit, but still didn't lose any weight, even though I have gained about 30 lbs since I was in my peak triathlon condition in the 90's. It was very frustrating. Then my wife wanted to try the South Beach diet. I was reluctant since the low-carb diets didn't seem like a good choice for an endurance athlete, but I agreed to try it. I did Phase I for 2 weeks, and it was really tough for a few days, but at the end of the 2 weeks I did lose most of my cravings for sweets and lost a few pounds. I have since slipped back into some bad eating habits, but plan to start a modified South Beach diet again soon.

That's kind of the way I feel. At moderate speeds a small scr can make nice tight turns, which is great for controlling speed and for maneuvering on the small crowded local slopes around here. If you don't put it as high on edge it will make bigger turns, so it seems to do everything well assuming you ride at moderate speeds. At high speeds a bigger scr will provide more stability and allow a good rider to make big laid-out carves, but you need a wide, uncrowded slope for this. For a struggling intermediate like me, a big scr tends to just throw me into the woods. My board with the biggest scr is 11m (on a WCR metal), and I don't think I'm ready for anything bigger than that.

To make bigger turns with a small SCR you just don't tilt it up as high on edge, right?

Thanks for all the inputs. The bike shop has a lot of used bikes, so I was thinking that I could get a good used bike for less money. Here is their inventory, which is huge -- you can sort to just mountain bikes. http://www.bike123.com/used_bikes/used_bikeslist.php?cmd=resetall

Woodruff key, perhaps? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodruff_key

Well, I ride some pretty rocky terrain and have back issues, so I figure that I'll get beat up less on a full suspension bike. Plus, I have some store credit to spend. I already bought my little boy a bike with part of the credit, and there is nothing else I really need.

I sold my old triathlon bike for a store credit, and I'm thinking that I'd like to use the credit to get a full suspenion mountain bike. I used to read all the cycling magazines and was up to date on the offerings, but I haven't kept up in the last several years. I have a nice hardtail that I built up in the early-90's when I was doing some mountain bike racing. It has a titanium frame and I built it up with some very nice lightweight components. It's getting old, but still rides great. For a full-suspension rig, I'd like something that is reasonably lightweight and is a good climber. I ride technical singletrack that includes riding over logs, crossing streams, and steep rocky climbs. I don't do high-speed downhill runs and I probably don't need a lot of suspension travel. I need to keep it under $2000, and preferably under $1500. Any recommendations?

Nah, that'll buff right out.

So what the boot height above the board end up at after you install the cant disk, baseplate and toe/heel blocks?

I was thinking the same thing about the spring housings interfering with the boots. Most of us set up our angles so the heel and toe of our boots are at the edge of the board, which means they will be overlapping the plate springs. If the cant plate and baseplate and toe/heel blocks put the boot above that level to clear them, then it seems that you will be very very high up off the board. I'm sure Fin has this all figured out, though. One thing about elastomers is that despite their disadvantages they do have some inherent dampening, where springs do not. The mountain bike suspensions that use coil springs also use shock absorbers. What sort of damping will the springs have in these? Happy Fun Plate sounds like something on a Chinese menu, doesn't it?

Cool stuff! Fin, do you get requests to do design and manufacturing outside of the snowboard community? I just visited a local company (in Maryland) that builds underwater vehicles and related systems, but they also have done interesting projects for others like the Smithsonian and Disney. I asked how they market that work, and they said that the customers just call them. I guess it is known that they do design and manufacturing of precision systems. Similarly, I have an uncle that owns machine shops that make precision components for the oil industry, but he has expanded into other area like making cylinder heads for racecars. It seems that if you can do CAD/CAM and have a CNC milling machine there are lots of opportunites for lucrative work. Regarding the bar between the plates, where do you put your foot when getting off the lift? Do we all need to learn to balance on one foot? Keep up the great work, and thanks for sharing the process with us.

I understand the US and Canadian ski teams have jackets with the d3o stuff built in, but I have not seen them available to the public yet. Also, at SES08 I rode the gondola at Aspen with some German skiers who were wearing jackets with the stuff (I'm pretty sure it was d30) built in to the shoulders, elbows, forearms, and back, so maybe they are available in Germany. They did say that the jackets were very expensive.

And it should come in the colors of the outfit in Sinecure's avatar.

I'm afraid I can't help much with the d3o stuff -- it is too expensive for me. However, for some decent protection that isn't too bulky or too expensive I like the Demon Flex Force Pro High top. Currently on sale for $55, compared to hundreds of dollars for the d3o stuff. http://www.xsportsprotective.com/demon-flex-force-pro-upper-men.html It seems that most body armor has shoulder pads designed for impact from the top, but my shoulder hits have been side impacts. This top provides protection when you fall on your shoulder or are hit from the side. It has foam padding, plus removeable hard plastic inserts for the shoulders, elbows, and back. I mainly wanted shoulder protection since that is the only thing I seem to hurt, so I remove the plastic inserts for the elbows and back and just rely on the foam padding for those areas. I hate the graphics on it, but I wear a coat over it so it doesn't really matter. Brad

Allee, that's impressive. I weigh 15 lbs more than you, and I'm a guy, and I can't lift nearly as much weight as you. I'm working on it, though.

I was doing pretty well for awhile. I did the NROL break-in workouts plus Fat Loss I, but then we decided to try to sell our house, so all my spare time has been spent doing house projects. I'm also working crazy hours and have a 21-month old son, so it's been tough to squeeze in workouts. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll be able to make exercise more of a priority again. Of course, if we sell our house and move, then there will be a whole new list of house projects, but at least they won't be as urgent. Brad