xy9ine

wooooot! awesome performance from jj!

nice boarderchick graphic on the apex board; refreshing change from all the utilitarian monochromatic kesslers, etc). alpine boarders can have fun too!

because nbc owns the us broadcast rights perhaps the canadian ctv live feed is blocked (unless you use a proxy). dumb that nbc isn't doing live broadcast (on the most part). the ctv live online feed has been great.

think i might try fintechs next year. anybody use just a rear, or would the flex differential between the two bindings be too weird (using td3s)? also (agin in ref. to td3's), is the conventional rear bail the same as the step in front, or do you need a specific toe bail to go with the heel? cheers.

the same clothing issue arose in dh mountainbiking. though skinsuits demonstrably improve times on fast courses, they were perceived to negatively affect the image / marketability of the sport (in favor of more mx inspired baggy kit) by most of the racers (top guys, such as the current world champ vociferously opposed them). as such, the race governing body followed suit & legislated against skin tight clothing, and i believe has a similar 'pinch' rule in effect. the image vs performance issue as an interesting one for sure. necessary for the growth of 'fringe' sports such as these perhaps?

had a wicked long weekend at apex. there was a nice dump thurs night with ~8" of accumulation. friday was deserted with never more than a handful of people in the lift line. wish i had brought a more appropriate board with me for the trees (just had my wcrm), but still had huge fun ripping fresh lines all day. preface: last season was my first on the modern hardware, and apart from one day, was limited to night runs at cyps, and generally crappy (icy / choppy) conditions. regardless, managed to get a feel for the gear & new technique. saturday & sunday was a revelation. no new snow, but heaps of perfectly groomed hero cord. holy crap, now i know what these planks are all about. fully cranked trench digging is amazing; the board just hooks up, pulls sweet g's through the turn & shoots you into the next. sooo much fun. amazing the cornering speed you can maintain (even on a moderate slope) with a clean carve. even loved checking out the clean 'c's in the snow from the chair (big gaps between carve lines is just rad). i'm totally jazzed. so good, i'm amazed more people aren't doing this. sweetness. actually saw one other hardbooter up there (on what looked like a metal topsheet wcr); never managed to run into him on the ground though. my old burton mgx's are trashed however; rode in pain most of the time. will have to replace those for next year. love the prior though. spectacular carver, yet still capable in varied conditions (chop, pow, bumps). very forgiving of ragged technique. very nice.

so the balmy vancouver weather continues, and they've now resorted to trucking snow in (from 2 hours away no less). awesome. can only imagine what all this is costing. http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/story/2010/02/02/spo-cypress-weather-olympics.html

a couple pix as of the 27th. black mountain: mogul / ariel run: bx course:

indys are now on the nemmy. nice low & fun setup (vintage baseplates w/ longer kingpin & dual venom barrels). been riding in the rain & crap this winter, but with a quick hose down it still looks new (ish). hustler had an unfortunate incident with a car, so will soon be reincarnated as a mini.

pics! no, it's got a wider (25.2mm) hammerhead nose tapering to a standard(ish) tail; ends up just slightly wider at the waist.

yep. poor thing is gathering dust currently...

noooo! i USED to think i was special...

guess that's it. cypress officially closed now till after the olympics. wow.

on top of winning a nemesis on a radio contest, just picked up a huster from the rayne boxing day blem sale. half price, with just a minor graphic misalignment. quite a departure from the nemmy in regards to flex, but a fun carver (esp. w/ the indys).

this season is looking a bit of a wash for me so far. have yet to pull my board out of the bag. bit of a shame, as i was really getting a taste for the new hardware & real carving. amazingly fun when conditions are good, but days like that seem to be few & far between (locally anyways, esp. given my sporadic opportunity to get up). on the bright side, mountainbike season is full on still. no hiatus due to trail snowcover this year so it seems. had a great ride on fromme today. just booked a weekend @ apex for the end of the month, so will get a few turns in before season end. cheers guys! perry

just got an unplanned hardware upgrade - won a local radio station contest & picked up a rayne nemesis (coincidentally what i was planning on buying next year). radness. surprisingly nimble (given its 8" longer than anything i've ridden previously) and stable. the dropped deck rocks, & i've been able to slide the thing a bit. good times! can't wait to put some miles on & advance the skills. newb question - the stock bushings (transparent red on randal r2's) seem super loose from my perspective. not bad when carving, but twitchy when pushing. i read the duro is 92, and most people seem to run softer. is the looseness / perceived instability something i should just get used to, or would replacements be recommended (i'm 165lbs, for what it's worth). advance thanks!

haha - we did exactly that w/ the kids today. tourist mode. beautiful day, but bulletproof. didn't feel too bad about not having my board with me. kid was stoked about riding the gondy.

awesome. looks like a perfect all mountain play board. very nice.

shlong-ized the oldschool deck (24" w/b). seems to work decently for my meagre talents. having fun in the back alleys.

actually, the king of the forest race sounds like good times. and totally appropriate for aged newbs such as myself. might have to check that out next year.

that's awesome. and i thought i was getting too old for new tricks like this. odd that a bunch of us of similar-ish demographic are picking this up at the same time. serendipity?

we're not in a huge hurry to get the kid on snow yet (seems allot of work for a short session), though he's keen on the concept & surprisingly adept at pretty much anything he tries athletic. will see how the winter fares. would like to get out for a dedicated board session at some point, but time is limited, and my primary thing is mountain biking, so that almost always wins when i do get outside. got some streets & alleys with nice gradients in my neighbourhood that i session evenings though. keeps me entertained for now. thanks for the offer; one day the planets may align.

just turned 3. no, haven't had him on any snow sliding apparatus apart from a sled. i imagine he'd be keen though.

yeah neat shop in a ghetto locale. wasn't sure my car was going to make it down that minefield of a road. the landy switch looks good. nice & low for easy pushing / footbraking. looks versatile. how's that rayne (i'm assuming it's a demonseed) working for you? it's a big deck.

love the tandem riding! my kid would def. be a willing accomplice (on his push bike). grade looks about my speed for my oldschool deck. i'm going to wait till next year to see if the skating thing sticks before i buy new gear. i dropped by landyachtz for wheels to replace the 20 yr old 'thane - they've got some sweet hardware. my antique board w/ new rubber (classic 80's graphics):