SunSurfer

Time to get this thread back on track. Have had the pleasure of borrowing Pat Chouinard's Thirst Superconductor (175?) for the afternoon. It was built for about my weight, about 180lbs. I rode my 2017 Coiler Nirvana Energy Torsion+ 174 (12-14m SCR) this morning which has about 30 days riding on it as a comparison. The Thirst has a slightly wider waist but there was no problem putting it on edge with my standard 58/62 angles. Once I had got acquainted with it on the greens, it was off to dark blue runs to put it through its' paces. Riding in flat light with light snowfall on chopped up groom the Thirst gripped well, came round almost as fast as the Donek MK, and made easy work of speed controlled carving on steeps. I felt more confident riding it in those conditions that I had my Coiler in the morning. The Coiler with its P-Tex top is a stealth board. The Thirst is like a 2 stroke motorcycle, it roars in the turn on hard pack, it rings when you drop it on the snow before you click into your bindings, it resonates with every touch. Help me! It's now 5pm, and I'm onto my 3rd can of Sprite, and I'm still Thirsty......

Absolutely agree.

As we discussed in your original thread about setting up your BBP, generally the starting point is your normal stance distance set symmetrically about the centre of the plate. Set the interaxle distance so that the front axle is as above, and the rear axle set symmetrically relative to the front axle about the centre of the plate. That will generally have the rear axle under the heel. I don't know of any reason to have the rear axle offset forward in the way you describe, but I'm always interested in logically presented arguments for new approaches.

Looks fine to me. The key thing is not to get the joint between your big toe and foot significantly forward of the axle.

Some of it is muscles getting used to doing it again, but what I've written about above is primarily technique change. The foundation has been riding out of the soles of my feet.

@slopestar Me too, I had difficulty walking to the bus and needed meds to dull my aching quads that night.

@daveo I learned to do this initially on a long Green relatively constant gradient slope. For me, steeper slopes are not helpful for the early stages of learning/trying a new technique. As we've chatted about off-forum I face forward along the board on both sides of turn. I suspect I still use a bit of "knee drive" but the sensations I'm more conscious of are in sides of the soles of my feet. On screen I've recorded it as an almost instantaneous change, in real life it takes time, and there is an overall direction of improvement but lots of wobbles on the way.

Been riding in lumpy chopped up soft snow for much of the last 2 days after overnight snow each night on my 174 Nirvana Energy T+. Normally this would have left me very fatigued but consequences of the riding out of the soles of my feet have been new things I've learned. 1/ I've learned to "soft" carve in this snow on the Green and gentler Blue runs. It starts with a much slower gentle lean into the turn, rather than trying to press in the edge, and the turn is a much larger radius. Touching a hand is not a good idea as it catches and pulls the whole arm. But with the board actually carving rather sliding sideways at all the whole feeling over the lumps is much easier. 2/ As I continued to carve like this I became aware that my hips and knees were now functioning as a much more effective suspension system. The knee and hip joints were bent a little, the muscles were gently tensed but were able to bounce with the bumps without significant strain. I used to say "my knees don't see like they used to" but this was like they'd just recovered good vision. Not ideal carving conditions, but I feel like I've begun to learn some new skills for dealing with lumpy conditions. Very satisfying and my quads were much less fatigued than I would have expected from a full day in those conditions on a board without a plate.

Hope you don't relax everything too much.

@sphynx And 56-57cm is not out of the ballpark. I'm similar proportions to you, long legs & shorter torso, but only 182cm tall. I'm currently riding a 56cm stance, having gradually stretched out from 50cm a few years ago, and noticing significant improvements (linked to a number of other changes recently made). Have had a conversations with a couple of other riders on the forum who are 190+cm and it seems board and isolation plate designers are not including this sort of physique into their standard designs. Had a custom Coiler Nirvana made for me at the beginning of 2017, middle stance distance on the inserts was 54cm, board will allow a 60cm stance.

@LeeW Had you looked at whether they would fit the new pattern tongues that make getting in and out much easier?

Found it again! Now the sensation has evolved from just the toes/ball of the foot to much of the side of the foot so that at times even my heels are pushing against the side of the carving groove. The feeling is much the same both sides, just swapped sides of the feet.

Group of us at Buttermilk today, broke up after lunch after tearing up the slopes below the main lift from base. After lunch I ride the Tieback chair by myself. I'm tightening up my boots when the next chair arrives and an older skier slid along side. Actually make that grumpy older skier. GOS: Those THINGS make DEEP GROOVES in the SNOW. (said as if he owned the snow in question) Me: Yeah, we don't skid our turns.....we carve them. GOS: Silence, a pause, then poles away from me.

I used to race middle distance track (800 & 1500m). When I'm "hard charging" I mean that I'm going at race pace in terms of quads muscle effort, not a pace that can be sustained for 30-60 minutes on end (training pace). I don't have any issues with my breathing rhythm at that level of effort, having regularly exerted myself at that level for the last 50+ years. I also train for my snowboarding, a recent bike workout involved 1400m of hill climbing at average 1: 10 gradients. Hopeful doesn't cut it. Riders wanting to ride well will deliberately develop strength and stamina in order to maintain accuracy and duration of performance.

VO2 max measured with anything apart from a formal cardio-pulmonary exercise lab facility is going to be based on so many assumptions as to be almost worthless. Hard charging carving is anaerobic exercise, with oxygen demand exceeding the ability of the lungs, heart and bloodstream to supply oxygen to the involved muscles.

Probably torture your knees too! Hardboot in duck stance with no canting is a recipe for "sitting on the toilet" all day.

CM, where was that? In Snowmass in 2017 I had a similar experience, older gray haired female skier commented "You are poetry in motion."

Secret to a long life: Always breathe in after breathing out. A deep breath in and holding it is commonly used for power activities involving powerful contraction of the abdominal muscles. The breath in tightens and flattens the dome shaped diaphragm muscle between your chest and belly. Not really a recipe for relaxed carving. When you are relaxed your body does its' stuff automatically. You don't need to remind your heart to beat, nor, unless your ex-girlfriend is a vengeful water sprite called Ondine, do you need to remind yourself to breathe.

http://alpinesnowboarder.com/the-norm-part-i/ This article looks like a good next step. And maybe SnowyTom's video with over 400,000 views.

And the brotherhood and sisterhood you've found extends worldwide.

This is surely the winter for retorts mentioning a certain female Czech snowboard racer.

Translation = Sold (so there's no confusion about the two wags posting above )

Nothing to stop you mixing a set of red and yellow BTS springs, or indeed putting a hard stop in the direction you want limited movement. Hard skateboard truck cushions might do the job without being absolutely rigid. Experimenting with stuff can be very informative for the observant.

If it was radioactive then probably a nuclear medicine scan or PET scan. The indicator used depends on which bits you want to highlight.

Gadolinium? Unless your MRI @daveo was organised by the GRU. The discomfort of the the IV access being put in depends very much on the skills of the person doing the task.