Mike Tokar

Having spent last night in a bar watching PSU finally prevail over FSU, I think your decision to quit drinking has a lot of merit. I love good beer, good scotch and good wine, but also recently invested in a soda maker, so I can make good seltzer instead. Chubz - good luck and hope to see you at Blue Mtn soon to let you test drive the 158! (i'll be at stratton Sun-Tues, so will try to get up there the following week) MT

That was the funniest thing I ever read on this forum. After reading that, I think that if Chuck Norris stared at Mr. T, he'd be so scared that he'd jump in the chopper with that crazy A-Team pilot guy and beg to taken away from "that round house kickin' fool."

hey buggs! rode stratton on friday, and it was like a mni eces in the am. the locals left early, but the pa contingent kept going despite early season fatigue. mid-winter conditions! get better and get out on the slopes! MT

My friends and I have been using 7.21 since getting together with YYZ Canuck a few years back. I could see changing if a higher frequency gave better range, but is there a geek in the house that can verify that? Stratton on Friday 11/25! MT

I'd be into seeing what's going on under the topsheet, with maybe just a simple Madd logo. If form follows function, then the purest graphic would be no graphic at all. Show me the core, carbon and glass under a matte transluent topsheet!

I thought it was cool, and wouldn't care that the joke's on me. (I still have my Safari and use it on sledding hills with the kids) If you're considering a counter-shirt, what about a carver cruising past the Trix rabbit riding on a picnic table with the obvious, "Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids"? I bet Cap'n Crunch could lay out a mean trench...

I mostly just mtn bike and do taekwondo in the off season. Despite that, I'm always amazed at how my legs feel after the first runs of the year. Sportlegs rule! MT

I did the speed weekend at Hunter Mtn, NY that Stan mentioned, and took 3rd place with 66mph on a coiler 196 in '03 (also did 56mph on my mtn bike that same day, 3rd place again, 2nd loser behind the same 2 guys). The hill they ran the race on was a little wimpy thing toward the bottom of the mtn, but they made a nice little starting mound to give you a boost. The rules don't allow you to turn in the course, and even though the board has a 7mm taper and a 17+m sidecut radius, it still feels like it wants to hook up when you ride it flat. As for stance angles, I'd keep them to what you find most stable for you. I ride with both angles the same, and with the angle dictated by the board width. 66mph didn't feel that scary, but it would be a lot more stable if you were allowed to just cruise down a few steep headwalls in succession and be on one edge or another. I think I could go faster more securely that way, but then again it could just feel faster because you'd feel some G's even if you're only making shallow turns. PSR - please post some details on the tuck! I've experimented with the basic hut tuck, and an 'asym' tuck with the lead hand on the lead leg and trail hand tucked behind, as well as both hands forward like the start of the 'swing-wing' fighter drill you taught me. I think that tuck is probably more important than wax for going fast, so please share the wisdom! Please bring the radar gun to ECES!!!! If we can get a carvers only trail, maybe we can get everybody to get the feel of how fast they're going when they just ride normally. I'd be wary of trying to pull off a real speed race scenario safely. It takes slope control and course prep that would take away from some of the fun. See you at Stratton on the 25th!!! MT

Whenever I think of WW1, this poem comes to mind: (sorry for the clumsy footnotes) DULCE ET DECORUM EST1 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares2 we turned our backs And towards our distant rest3 began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots4 Of tired, outstripped5 Five-Nines6 that dropped behind. Gas!7 Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets8 just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime9 . . . Dim, through the misty panes10 and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering,11 choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud12 Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest13 To children ardent14 for some desperate glory, The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.15 8 October 1917 - March, 1918 1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country 2 rockets which were sent up to burn with a brilliant glare to light up men and other targets in the area between the front lines (See illustration, page 118 of Out in the Dark.) 3 a camp away from the front line where exhausted soldiers might rest for a few days, or longer 4 the noise made by the shells rushing through the air 5 outpaced, the soldiers have struggled beyond the reach of these shells which are now falling behind them as they struggle away from the scene of battle 6 Five-Nines - 5.9 calibre explosive shells 7 poison gas. From the symptoms it would appear to be chlorine or phosgene gas. The filling of the lungs with fluid had the same effects as when a person drowned 8 the early name for gas masks 9 a white chalky substance which can burn live tissue 10 the glass in the eyepieces of the gas masks 11 Owen probably meant flickering out like a candle or gurgling like water draining down a gutter, referring to the sounds in the throat of the choking man, or it might be a sound partly like stuttering and partly like gurgling 12 normally the regurgitated grass that cows chew; here a similar looking material was issuing from the soldier's mouth 13 high zest - idealistic enthusiasm, keenly believing in the rightness of the idea 14 keen 15 see note 1 a To see the source of Wilfred Owen's ideas about muddy conditions see his letter in Wilfred Owen's First Encounter with the Reality of War. Notes copyright © David Roberts and Saxon Books 1998 and 1999. Free use by students for personal use only. The poem appears in both Out in the Dark and Minds at War, but the notes are only found in Out in the Dark. Copyright © 1999 Saxon Books.

I was an army infantry officer from '85-89. Got out just before Desert Storm. Thanks to all you guys that served and are serving. MT

I agree with everything csquared posted. Since I first heard about Bomber bindings, they had the well-deserved reputation for being high-quality, strong and durable bindings. I hope that there is an alternate solution to litigation, and that our contributions go to the injured rider. I understand that any one of us could be in that same situation as a result of participating in our great sport. Good luck to both parties! MT

I ride Blue more often than other PA hills because it's closest with the most vertical (1080'). I'll normally go Thursday nights or buy the half day morning ticket on weekends/holidays. Yes, you can get discount tickets at Acme markets, and they have them in PA, too, but sometimes you can find better deals and coupons on line if you're doing other than a normal all day lift. If you're planning on doing something regularly on weekends, Elk may be a good choice, as it's also about 1000' and has fewer crowds due to it's further distance from Philly and NYC. You can hit that pretty easy from WV also, it's just going to be a bit longer drive on I-81. The other Pocono hills are hardly worth the trouble because they're only around 600-700' and seem to be more crowded, but if you hit them on a weekday, you're usually OK. Don't even bother with Blue or other Pocono places (other than Elk) on holiday weekends unless you'll only be there for the first hour, as the crowds are ridiculous. Glad to hear Holly is OK and will be riding this season. Hope to meet you in PA, so drop a line if you're in the area. Think snow, MT mwtokar@earthlink.net

Sorry to hear about the crash, but thanks for posting about the wobbles, and thanks for the great advice in response. I agree about keeping the weight in the front to prevent wobbles, but I also like to keep a little 'edge pressure' to one side or the other. It seems like if you're turning the board one way or the other, even slightly, it helps keep things under control. 66 days until first runs! MT

If you don't have it or can't find it, any citrus degreaser should do the trick. WD40 should also help. I'd get a thin blade screwdriver and pry up where possible and squirt the stuff in. 69 days until my season starts! MT

It would be interesting to see how many guys that had the split tail (188 and 197?) versions broke them, and of those that didn't how much they weigh. I loved the board, but it only lasted me about 4-5 days on the hill. If I had the money, and Bruce was taking orders, I'd ask him to make a split-tail Coiler with the adjustable aluminum pieces that support the tail. MT

I can't believe I missed the auction. $66 is like giving that classic thing away. I'll have to tune in more often... MT

Pictures soon?

I'm not quite 230lbs., (just a few burgers and a pitcher or 2 away) but if you ordered it with a normal flex I could be interested. Do you recall if Bruce made it stiff or flexy for you? If there's a stiffness number on the sidewall, I could compare it with my friends AM 172 and get an idea of stiffness. Please post or drop me a line when you can. Do you have a price in mind or are you taking bids? Thanks, and I'm sorry carving didn't work out for you. Mike Tokar mwtokar@earthlink.net

Ominous words: "Things will start happening to me now" Stay away from cans, MT

Bigfoot/Snow Blade bindings will usually work with SB boots, and come in handy for getting around with kids, terrain park maintenance, etc. MT (increasing my post count - how many to get past "groomer grommet")

It sounds like that listing agent was a greedy ba$tard. In real estate as everywhere else, some people are unethical, some people are not. For every horror story you hear, there are other good people playing by the rules, sometimes winning, sometimes not. My wife is a Realtor, and even though it means less $ for her she doesn't do dual agency, meaning that if someone contacted her regarding a property she has listed, she'll refer them to another agent to represent them in the transaction. Would you want your lawyer also representing your adversary in court, just because he's already familiar with the case? Good luck hunting for a place. MT

I've used a leash on 2 of my 3 kids. I wouldn't think of using it all the time, but it's nice to be able to pull in the reins and stop them from going into a tree. It's certainly not a necessity, but made things easier for me for the first few times I had the kids on 'real' slopes and didn't have the patience to hang out on the school hill or feel like paying for a lesson. Obviously, the kids have to learn how to stop themselves, and if they're used to the braking coming from a parent pulling a leash all the time, they won't learn, so I'd leave enough slack so they have a real sensation of skiing on their own. If you want mine, I'm done with it and will send it your way. You'll probably be done with it after 2-3 times on the hill, and can pass it along to some other parent. BTW, using a leash on a skiing kid while riding a board is a bit tricky. I have an old set of Bigfoot skis that clip into my snowboard boots. They work well for riding backwards and all the other maneuvers you have to do when out with the kids. Good luck. MT

I'm intrigued by this thread even more than the OT 'men are from Mars, Aisling is from Venus' one. As far as my prediction regarding 'Will it float?", I say it will float only because I'm an optimist. You can't keep an old monitor down! BTW, on Letterman, don't they just drop the object into the tank and let it work itself out from there? If I'm wrong and it just stays down, I'd request the test be conducted like on the show. It's kind of mean to dunk the thing first and hold it underwater. So, when will you post the actual answer for those of us that have quicktime issues? MT

The ad is funny, but it's not far from the truth. I had the chance to use a demo Blur for about a month, and it was amazing. I felt like I could catch people at will, and I'm normally one of the slower pedallers in my group. I normally hate climbing, but on the Blur I was loving it. I love technical stuff and downhills, and it made them even more fun. It seems to just wants to jump over obstacles. The only downside is that I had to give it back after I finished building my replacement Cannondale. (and I've been a loyal Cannondale guy for more than a decade) If you can afford to get it, get it. Enjoy!

Don't blink! They grow up quickly. See you at ECCS. I'm assuming that because your daughter had the courtesy to be born in the off-season that you'll be able to put on another great event! Must have been a great Thanksgiving... MT