KingCrimson

Did you just use Mammoth, MLK weekend, and lonely in the same post? :p I'll be around but I don't know if I'll want to deal with the crowds

Since your pain is happening at the top of the cuffs, it sounds like you're really fighting your stance. From what I generally see, shin bang usually happens a lot lower- people loosen the top buckle(s) and strap to get a more forgiving feel, and end up with the tongue digging into their shin unevenly. TD1s destroy the hell out of your shins. Just generally they aren't adjustable enough and they are crazy stiff. I don't know how much money you want to put into solving this problem, but new bindings could certainly make a world of difference. Also, ask around on the norcal forums for help with your stance. What kind of boots are you using? Have you seen a bootfitter about this yet?

Then why do you use them? Or hardboots at all? Cranking high edge angles and getting your center of mass as low as possible is, in my opinion, the essence of hardbooting. Hardbooting is very compromising- you give up a lot for the ability to crank the board to 90* Personally, I'm not hardboots if I want to do low angle carving and ungroomed riding. Softboots are definitely a better option for pretty much everything except groomers and gates..Don't get me wrong, I love riding plates everywhere and I think it helps my freecarving and racing when I ride bumps, steeps, trees, and chutes on my race boards but the fact of the matter is that softboots don't knock you around and transmit every little bump. I can't say I've ever been riding steeps and bumps and wished I had poles..but I've lost count of the number of times I've wished I had put softies on that morning. I don't mean to come off as adversarial, but I feel that in recommending poles you're propagating what is essentially a hindrance to someone starting hardboots.

At times, the scene sucks. The Village, which is a sort of outdoor mall with bars and restaurants and condos, is the epicenter of the powerhouse resort feel and it's BAD. That said..Pretty much everywhere else in town feels pretty down to earth. Most of the locals are pretty cool- the kind of people that you're worried about just couldn't stand living here because we are SO freakin' isolated. Yes, there's crap like the 2 massive base lodges that lend a wannabe Aspen feel, but at the same time there are high speed quads littered all over the mountain. I really don't think the scene will bug you at all, and like Neil said, it's easy to avoid

Im 6' 2" and too lazy to measure my inseam but Im somewhat lanky. On my new school slalom board, 21" seems to be the happy medium.

I dont know of any hs races at bear but they are either weekly or pretty close to weekly and I think it rotates between here and maybe Shasta?

Neither of my broken raceplates were transparent, or particularly old for that matter. Over the course of the last week I've ridden TD2s, a TD2 in the front and a TD2 lower with TD3 sole blocks on the back, TD1s, and Sidewinders. The TD3 blocks made the binding feel considerably stiffer which is what I assume to be a product of the lower stack height and the through-bolt on the bails. SWs with blue all around feels WAY stiffer than my TD2s with yellow pads (though I dont know how much the pads really were doing given that the cant disc had all but completely punched through) but they take the edge off well in bumpy chattery crap like the GS I ran today. I dont think they are the end all binding yet and I feel that the raceplates soaked up bumps way better. Laterally if the sidewinders were any softer I don't think I'd like them, but they dont quite provide enough cush in all directions. My heel is aching like crazy from one particular chatter where I came straight down on the binding and got very little absorption. I want to try yellow rings but I have no idea what that will do to the lateral flex. I think what makes raceplates soo awesome to ride is that you have a few degrees of slop but the binding bottoms out on the topsheet and provides solid response. I also think that when that happens, you're levering that poor center disc all over the place and that's why the area around the teeth cracks and fails. Sidewinders are good, but I think they need the progressive feel. I will say I think for freeriding there's probably nothing better than the SW. I can imagine a Coiler AMT or something similar (like the OPs board, but ive never ridden one) with yellows all around would be a friendly, cushy ride with a tremendous lifetime on the bindings. Racers are often on very fresh bindings, not 10 year old raceplates. I know its going to be a LONG time before I start worrying about my SWs. I might like the raceplate ride way better, but after a handful of scary releases, I'll put up with the inferior ride. Sorry about the horrible prose, I typed this on my phone.

Its not bigger, but you should ask the athletic director at rim of the world and get into HS racing. I help with the mammoth high team.. Its a good time and the races are frequent.

My Tommy has 162 205331 stamped on it. I always figured the waist was 20.5 from that but it just measured at 21 and clearly your waist isnt 33.2! I think you'd have to contact Sigi Renzler somehow. Either way, have fun with it! My capped Tomahawk was a very durable board, i gave it hell and it was a riot to ride.

I dont know nothin about June, but 2 months into the season and ~32 days I still haven't come close to getting bored here. Lots of killer steeps and bumps and windbuff. There are lots of good groomers too..if you're into that sort of thing. ;) The ritzy feel does drag on me, but the awful LA scene does subsidize it for the rest of us!

AFAIK its just the length and then a serial number. None of the numbers in the longer string suggest specs or anything.

Does anyone know the history of hardboots being molded with Intec style heels? Was it Burtons step in system that established it, or did another brand predate them with the standard heels?

Last weekend I broke a shoulder bolt on my TD2s in a medium speed heelside. They aren't even close to a decade old..the following day I watched a friends toepiece rip off his year old F2 titaniums. I also have broken two raceplates. At your weight I would definitely ditch those burtons and get TD3s. Im a bit lighter than you, but even at 20 pounds less I would consider plastic bindings of that age to be ticking time bombs. Be safe!

There are two routes, you could pop the vist on both boards or he could ride a hinge plate on the Gs board but I wouldn't ride one on a slalom board..rather than pouncing on any plate you can find I would make the decision for which plate makes more sense..for example I have a kickass slalom board but my Gs gear isn't new at all, so buying a hinger for me would make the most sense.

It might be good to decide what kind of plate your friend really wants, there's a big difference between the way the various plates on the market ride- a lot of people prefer a vist on a shorter board and a hinge plate on a bigger deck

have fun racing out there. This my first season not racing since 2009-10 but I dont have the funds to race and my back is injured now too.

you mean you're hoping I get a chance to ride your pow stick

I've been in san Diego the last two weeks and Im heading up in just a few minutes. Is anybody in town?

awesome picture! Riding MH at night is otherworldy

I found in riding the same board back to back with and without a plate it was much less tiring and generally easier to ride with the plate.

Mammoth. ;) But really..I like MH a lot. ride with Lance if you can this season. There are lots of semi-wide, semi-steep groomers to ride there.

I see a head and some snow..what are you seeing?

Or the way skis are being used. I can't access the page, but if that's as compared to 20 years ago, freestyle injuries could change that dynamic.

Oh I forgot about the slalom. I bet it won't happen

come here next weekend