philfell

I've broken far more boots than boards, but have broken a few boards. Most of the boards I've broken were ridden very hard and had many races on them so I wasn't that surprised when they finally said enough is enough. If you ride a product hard enough it will fail eventually. I think that racing and training gates increases the failure rate of equipment. When you are freeriding you don't encounter the chatter and ruts that you do in a race course. To make a short list of boards that have broken on me.... I mainly ride F2 product and have broken a few G.S. boards under the front binding, and a few Slalom boards behind the rear binding. I've also severly twisted a Donek Sl board, permantly bent a Volant and an Oxygen. Like I said I'm not claiming the manufactures are makeing crap boards (maybe the Volant a little), these boards were raced on many times and these things happen.

Any board will go as fast as you let it go. If you point a 130 and a 200 straight down the hill you'll get to the bottom of the hill a virtually the same time. Where the size of the board comes into play is the feeling of stability at speed. Other factors come into play as well like flex and damping, but as a general rule, the longer the board the more stable it feels. So when a board feels more stable it allows you to ride faster and still be in your comfort zone. You also have to factor skill level into how long of a board you will feel comfortable on. I'm 5' 10" and 150, I feel comfortable on virtually all size boards as long as they flex properly for me. To find the right length board think about what size turns you want to make, and pick a board with a sidecut radius that will do these turns. Keep in mind your weight so you don't end up with a board made for a 200 pound person, and be honest with your abilty so you don't end up with a board that's beyond your ability to turn.

If the only thing the softer e-rings do is dampen the binding more. Why would you even offer a firmer e-ring? Why would you want your binding vibrating more?

I really like the pic of Greenwood doing the big method. I might be mistaken but that green sidewall looks alot like a Louis, not a Donek.

I ALWAYS carry my boots on!! I've never had a problem with it, and I fly with snowboard gear multiple time a winter. Of course you have to limit what else you carry on, but I pack them in a back pack that fits within their specified size for carry on item, I've never heard of an airline enforcing a weight limit on carry on items only size limits. How would an airline know how much your carry on weights anyway? Trust me carry on your boots, boards and bindings are easy to bum off your friends, boots are not. Another plus is taking your boots out of your checked luggage takes some weight out of what your checking in so your less likely to get dinged for an overweight baggage charge.

I will be at Breck, but we have a USASA race in Idaho on Sat. so we'll be traveling on Sun. then racing at Breck on Mon. So we won't be doing any training in Breck, just a quick in/out race. Email me at pfell@pcsbt.org if you are going to anyother races and we could totally combine training.

So we should never talk about Catek bindings or Coiler boards on this forum because Fin dosen't sell them? Fin has always been great about keeping this an open forum, that's one of the reasons so many people come here and make purchases from him. It is open honest and if any one has questions they can get an answer that isn't bias from a business.

It's a free enterprise world, the north american suppliers don't always have everything you need in stock. It give us another source to aquire gear that might not be available in north america. You maybe didn't ask for the information, but I'm sure that there are many that find it helpful. Let others make up their own mind, sit back and enjoy that your vote on admentdment made a great "contirbution" to our nation.

To the other Phil, you're right when I said a wide stance on a short board will make the board so it won't carve well. Of course you can still carve the board. I was trying to make a relative point that each board has a sweet spot where your position on the board make for a balance between ease of control while still maintaining a board you can rail anywhere. Personally when I raced Sl, I had a slightly wider stance than on my G.S. set up, because I wanted to be able to put the board anywhere I wanted to in a turn and not be overly commited. I could still carve most of the course, but not as easy as I could with a narrower stance. To RCrobar your thoughts about canting are right on if you ride with the fundamentals that you describe. As most people here know I don't advocate that way of rideing, but many do. I prefer to drive my board with imput from the core muscles of my body, the hips and legs, and not my shoulders. Your ideas are well thought out for the type of riding you do. To Kent, I feel like such a moron not mentioning lift in my original post. I usually talk about cant and lift as one, because I use them in combination to seek proper alignment. But as you mentioned they are in fact different, but can be used either seperate or together. I'm surprised that no one else pointed that out. Thanks.

Stance width and canting should be looked at as different issues, you should set stance width based on comfort in combination with how your board works (a short board with a wide stance doesn't carve well, and a long board with a narrow stance is hard to control). Canting should be used to keep you body aligned ie put your hard boots on stand like you are on your board and bend your knees like you would when riding. Your feet don't stay flat. You want to cant your bindings so that when you bend you knees you will be standing in a natural positon with no imput going into your board, this gives you freedom to do what you want on top of your board without having to fight what your boady naturally wants to do. Personally I'm 5' 10" and ride with a stance width of about 19.5". I couldn't imangine riding a stance as narrow at 17" without feeling like I was trying to walk on a tight rope.

The grooming in virtual land looks fantansic, I know a few resort that could learn a thing of two.

Last Apocalypse race board I saw was the one Shred described, it was at the U.S. Open in '93 I think. But to answer your question yes your board is old, probably not fifteen year unless its the asym model, but if its a symetrical shape it's probably around twelve. My advise is if this is your only board ride the hell out of it and not second guess it. If you have other board to ride hang onto it for a conversation peice.

Why do they have a picture of Klug in the Olympics, he dosn't ride UPZ boots or snowpro bindings or Goltz boards? And the racer on the far left pic apears to have old Rachles' for boots. It would be nice if they actually used their own product in their advertising not just takeing any random race photo and putting it on their site. www.upz.com

In my opnion, you can find boards out there that are adaqute, but could still be improved. There are also binding choices that will get the job done, I somewhat disagree with what many here think a binding should do, but there are options out there that cover the whole spectrum. Now to my main point, the boots out there suck. I see world cup riders on ten year old boots (klug, greenwood, and rosie to name a few) because there isn't anything better out there. When you see high level riders using cut up five gallon buckets and medical grade plastic designed for splints and cast to modify their boots something needs to be done. I've broken ten times the number of boots than I have bindings and boards combined.

I travel with my snowboard equipment alot. I use a Dakine wheelie bag 185. It has stood up well to abuse. The biggest issue right now I see is that airlines are starting to be stricter with their weight limitations. Most snowboard travel bags that are built to withstand airline abuse weigh close to ten pounds, so that limits what you can put in, add a couple boards, boots and bindings and you are hitting the overweight charges and your bag is only half full. Remember when you pack to try to spread out your weight between various bags, I always carry on my boots, (boards and bindings are somewhat easier to come by from friends or those who frequent this site and live close, but finding boot is a pain). When packing my board bag I put down a layer of clothes usually my jacket and snowpants, then my board on top, this give another layer of padding between your baby and the monkeys who toss your bags. Happy travels.

D-sub stated that all pro athletes are way over paid. I know world cup athletes that have to sell sausage at state fairs in the summer in order to get enough money to buy new equipment. I know a lot of pro athetes, in numerious sports that barley make ends meet. But as far as mainstream sports, PGA, NFL, MBL,....... I'd have to agree with you. When the money a rapiest make in one game is enough to feed multiple families for a year, I find that horrible.

Sorry I left you hanging for so long, if I were in your shoes I would get the 58 for SL and the 73 for G.S. Are you by any chance from Mt. Shasta, CA. the school you describe sounds a lot like it?

I skied a few times at a ski area in '88, but the same winter I was crushing the pow at my local golf course with my black snow. Started to snowboard with my k-mart boots in '90 (my feet were so small I only could heelside slip because I would fall out of my bindings if I went to my toe side.) Started "carving" with soft boot, flex bindings, and a PJ 4.9 in '92. Went to hard boots in '93. Started skiing a few days a year again in '97.

Betsy still lives in VT. She pops up from time to time at east coast events with a few kids she coaches, Tara lives on a ranch in Nevada with her husband, Jerry Masterpool, and her kid or maybe kids. Kirs J. I've seen anouncing various events here and there.

first qusestion is, what is you experience on hardboots. Second question is, what are your goals for the season (freeriding, raceing, looking good for the ladies, ect.)....

CVA??? Do they even have snowboarders anymore?? They kind of lost the way after Greenwood.

There are some instructors at Park City Mountain Resort who are qualified to teach carving/racing on hardboots. But you can't just buy a group lesson ticket and expect to one of these instructors, you need to purchase a private lesson and request an instructor with hardboots.

I haven't ridden one of these yet, but I know many world class ridders who swear by them. And yes these riders have ridden boards from all the other custom board makers as well. Taking what these riders have to say about them I would put these boards in very high regard.

When setting a course consistancy, rythem and flow are extremely important, espically since most of the events we race are almost all parrell. If you haven't set alot of courses it is extremely helpful to have a rope with the meters marked on it (22m is about average for G.S., and 10m-12m is average for Sl). The problem with a rope is that it gets tangled and you need an extra person working the other end so it ends up taking longer than it should, but it is helpful your first couple times out. The easiest way is to set on skies not a problem if you are coaching, but if you are setting for your own training this probably isn't mush of a option unless you ride in ski boots. With skies you are get around the hill easier and use your skies to measure the distance between turns (have one ski across the hill and one in the fall line like and upside down T. Touch your drill to the snow next to the tail of your ski, then slide down untill your tip is next to the mark in the snow the mark the snow where your tail is now. Repeat until you have your desired spacing). When I set on my snowboard I usually do the splits (put my back foot in the snow slide my board downhill, one split, bring my rear foot back next to my board then slide my board downhill, two splits, etc.) You don't know exactly how many meters your spacing is but you know the turn are similar and you can make rythem changes easier. It's really hard to just "eye ball" your spacing, you usually end up with a course with no rythem and isn't fun to run. The best way to learn is to just go out and set and run your courses you'll find out what works and what sucks soon enough.

Core workouts are excellent for snowboarding, as well as streching. I think people go to the gym too much to prepare for the season and they forget about their cardio fitness as well and their core and flexibility. It's still early July focus on getting a good solid base of cardio before you hit the weights. Move toward light weights with high reps early next month (2 sets of 15-20 reps) twice per week, while continuing your core and cardio. Move to three days per week in Sept. and add weights (3 sets of 8-12 reps). Don't just focus on legs in the gym try to get a total body workout, using pushing and pulling mucsles. By late October add some power lifting to your work out one day per week, while continuing you full body the other two days in the gym. This is a greatly simplfied plan but it's a good place to start if you have never done much dryland training for the winter.