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BryanZ

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Posts posted by BryanZ

  4. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Good God, there for a minute I thought you were talking about turns. I had to read it twice before I got it. Ok.

    I have never had to stand on my glove to accomplish this, but it would work.

    One thing about turning long boards is you have to start early. If you get it going down the hill mach looney and then redirect that energy to the side you can definitely cause double pants crapping.

    I have been pounding this for the last couple of years too. When in doubt. Retract. Bumps. Retract. Hooked up and don't want to be. Retract. Ice. Same thing.

    And by this I mean quickly pulling your feet towards your butt. But if you don't stand tall(er) at some point you have no place to retract to. Hence the idea of movement up and down, weighting and unweighting in a rhythm.

    YOu can turn just by using board rebound and very little retraction, one way is passive the other active. I like driving the bus. :biggthump

    yes I am being way too passive on my board, that board was definitely taking me for a ride.

    By weighting and unweighting, do you mean like unweighting the board at the start and end of a turn and weighting the board hard in order flex it?

  5. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    one thing that I did notice a few times that I'm curious about.

    When I'm going quite fast and try to do just carve on the edge....not getting low at all. It seemed like many times I would lose my balance and almost fall to my side....my body angle would get a lot lower and my board would suddenly just lock in a turn.

    I couldn't duplicate it on my own, it happened on accident a few times. Scared the crap out of me as I was usually going pretty fast when it happened.

    Is this flexing the board?

  6. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Don't mind Divebomb. Same as you, I think he's a good guy, he just comes off wrong sometimes. I know I do too.

    Glad to hear you getting after it.

    So you going to something smaller? If you can find something in the 173-77ish AM, softer, easier to flex and just a tiny bit wider, I think you would have a ball.

    Your Reactors don't work as step in, I don't think. And at 6'4 you might love this board after a couple outings. Nate was right on about the subtlety of it.

    You'll get there.

    I had a great practice when I first got on my 197 in slipping race courses heelside and toeside. Learned a bit about balance doing that.

    Yeah that's about the size I'm going to be hunting for, I have to do some research on which boards are softer. I definitely like the board, it's just that I feel like the entire learning process is accomplished at 50mph. Mistakes are too painful on this board lol.

    I did see a couple people on this board had 195+cm boards. I have no idea how you get down any trail that is not 300 feet wide.

  7. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Not to hijack or anything, but how much does manipulating the board have to do with leg strength? I'll be on an F2 as well, and this is making me think about the stiffness and how it might be a problem for me at this point.

    I've been hitting the gym hard for the last two years, I do a lot of squating mainly for snowboarding.

    Somehow....I don't know how, I gave my quads a workout under my own body weight. I would highly recommend getting a couple sessions of squats under your belt before you go. I would have been toast if I hadn't been going to the gym.

  8. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    If you need to check your speed, try staying in the carve until you are going back up the fall line. Once you feel like you're at a comfortable speed then transition to the next turn. Definitly learn to skid for emergencies though. Harder to do with more edge gripping the snow. If you put some split in the binding angles (more angle in front than back) it will help with your knee pain. Keep at it and it will get much easier.

    I thought about doing this...

    I think the problem is that I haven't learn to "flex" my board as you guys call it. I was letting the edge control my turn radius. A when I'm letting the edge control, 16 meters radius makes a 105 foot circle...And that is what it felt like on the slope. Needless to say I spent most of the day stratching my head on how in the hell you guys make S turns. Mid-day I concluded that it was because of my GS board and I quit trying. I guess not...I definatly have to work on making tighter turns.

  9. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    hi BRYANZ

    DIVEBOMBER's suggestion (and your intention) of getting a shorter learning board is a good idea. you need a shorter and easier to flex board for crowded days and icier runs anyway and so much better if it does double duty as your learning board.

    sounds like you made more progress than most people do after their initial outing so i wouldn’t worry about the big sidecut on your board. most beginners initially turn using mostly just the sidecut but eventually your skills will develop to the point were you can alter your turn radius by actively bending the board. for an athletic 200 lb guy (sounds like you from your descriptions of your riding) it should be no problem. a shorter board for crowded days and icy runs AND FOR YOUR NEXT FEW LEARNING DAYS is still a good idea but don’t sell yourself short by getting rid of your 16m sidecut f2. keep it as you will master it a lot sooner than you think. the pre-integrated-conshox f2’s from the late 1990s early 2000s were the stiff ones that required breakneck speeds in order to work properly. your 2006 believe it or not is a lot softer and easier to handle—you will realize this once you get a few more days under your belt and graduate from the shorter board that you intend to buy as a learner.

    as for the floppy rear bail on your td1s just use a rubber band to keep it in an upright position and keep a few spares in your pocket. if you thought questions about what kind of board you are riding was annoying just wait for people asking you if the rubber band is the only thing holding your foot to the board lol. i learned of this rubber band trick from a post about 10 years ago from former bomberonline member CMC--best tip i ever got. i'm still using a rubber band on both my pairs of td1s for the last dozen years lol.

    Nice I didn't know there was a clear cut difference in the way you are supposed to turn.. I was definitely riding the sidecut and not flexing the board. That would explain why I had a lot of trouble controlling speed.

    My td1's are right in front of me, and I dont see where to put the rubber band..care to explain more?

  10. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    I can see why your knees might hurt. I don't know if this is the same for most people, but if I'm riding mostly with my legs extended (like most do when starting out), I need around 5 degrees between the front/rear bindings (like 55F/50R). If I'm riding mostly knees bent, butt close to the board, I need the same angles front/rear. But standing tall with the same angles front/rear feels really weird on my knees. When I had about 4 years experience (alpine) under my belt, I got one of those boards, and I could hardly turn the thing. I was used to the 182 version, but man, I had a hard time with that 186.

    I'll definitely try that, I just figured the closer the angles were to my old setup the easier it would be for me to adapt. At 59/59 I had a little overhang. I highly doubted the overhang would effect anything first day out

  11. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Um, are you kidding... dude, you need a smaller board, and have someone more experienced take a look at your set up... or you're going to hurt someone, maybe even yourself

    did I say I was kidding? any signs of me laughing? no there isn't...dude

    the word "Belligerent" comes to mind.

    now wheres that "how to use the ingnore list" thread?

    this was your post in another thread, what happened to that...why don't you look up that thread on how to use the ignore list, and put me on it

  12. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Welcome to the club.

    Alpine can be a serious addiction.

    I'm not trying to flame here but I'm wondering if you still have the same sentiments as in this thread http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=24361 after your first day out.

    I literally bled (from my own doing) on my first day out on an alpine board. I've been hooked ever since.

    And as for the bindings, I say go for stepins if you can. I loved mine at first click.

    yeah step-ins are definatly going to be my next purchase...that thread was funny. I still feel the same way about a regular board. Definatly not on this board. Alpine boards are definatly a danger to other people on the mountain. It is much more difficult to make an emergency evasion or stop.

  13. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Great review! It's getting me really excited for my first time on my own alpine board. It's an F2 as well; 171 Speedster RS I picked up from a fellow member. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

    Glad to hear your first day was...adventurous. :D

    cool man, yeah I saw you were looking for your first board the same time I was, I think you actually made an offer on the board I bought. Be glad you went with the smaller one.

  15. My entire experience:First day on an alpine board

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Litte bit about myself, I've been snowboarding for 20 years in Vermont. I was never much into freestyle, mainly just high speed carving. I definatly could not take my ability much further with the snowboard I was using. I decided to do some research on alpine boards. I came to this forum and I was drooling. A few weeks later I had my first setup.

    I'm 6'4 about 200lbs, my setup is an '06 f2 speedster (184cm, 19.5cm waist, 16m scr), td1 standards, and an older pair of 4 buckle burton reactors. I am very glad I listened to the forum about boot sizing, I was very comfortable.

    My mountain:Blue Mountain, in the Poconos, PA.

    Conditions:crowded, but it was about 65 degrees out, many people were in t-shirts. Snow was very soft, almost no ice until about 6pm.

    The first thing I notice is how difficult it is to strap in, I had a hell of a time getting my rear foot hooked in. I reluctantly take off onto a crowded green trail. My muscle memory from my old snowboard tried to complete a turn....useless, I fall right over. I get back up and start skidding side to side to try to get a feel for the board. I quickly find out that this board is TOTALLY useless at low speeds. So I'm about 500 feet down the run so far and I decide to pick up a little speed. I lean into a turn.....I lose my balance a little bit and lean too far. Normally I would be on my ass because of this, but out of nowhere, this board catches an edge and locks hard on a carve like it was a roller coast on a steel track.....and I'm headed for the edge of a trail. I had to jump transition to get out of it. Without prior snowboarding experience, I would have been in the trees surely injured. Regardless, the "oh ****" face was quickly followed by a huge grin.

    So here I am....500 feet down my first run, with my heart pounding, I get a rush of excitment as I had no idea what an alpine board could do. All my doubts about my new purchase were out the window and I was on a mission to take control of the new board.

    After I take a breath, I am back at it. I spend the remainder or the run taking it slow trying to get a feel for the board.

    About 5-6 runs later I'm confident I have the board figured out. There is a major problem though that the rest of you beginners should listen to. Don't start out with a big board like mine. I heard all of you say it, I just said ok, ok, ok. Deep down I was feeling a little cocky, like how tough can it be. The problem isn't really that it's more difficult to carve given perfect conditions. It's that you cannot make this tight radius carves on a board like this and it is very difficult to control ones own speed. Here I am on this green slope, It was actually perfect to learn on, but I had to go break neck speeds to have any control of this board. I felt a little dangerous to others and decided I had to move to a more advanced trail. The problem was I had already tempted a steep slope on the board. Handling a board like this on a steep slope is definitely not something for a novice. You just reach lunatic speeds, and it's almost impossible to slow yourself down without skidding. The board does not like to skid at all, you can't just scrub speed with a flick of the tail.

    This peticular mountain has night skiing. At around 6ish the crowds dissapeared and the snow became very hard. This board loved the conditions. You need to be a lot smoother for the ice, but I was amazed that if I just commited myself to a turn the board would just hold. By 9PM, I was ripping up a double black (I have no idea how this run is labeled a double black, it's a difficult blue/easy black in my book)

    One thing I was not even able to come close to doing is laying out. I was not able to come close to getting as low as you guys do. I presume I'm going to have to study proper form for this. I was mostly out just enjoying the massive grip my board had that I wasn't used to. I had a lot of problems with bumps as well. You are just forced to go so fast with this board, and I am not good enough yet to handle large ungroomed bumps.

    Couple things I really disliked. I have never had knee pain in my life. My knees hurt by the end of the day because of the awkward stance you need when you are strapping in. Getting your bindings locked in while sitting in the snow is no easy task. You are forced into this very awkward position which was painful on my back leg. Maybe it was my setup. I'm using 6 degree cant on the back and 3 on the front. My boot angles were about 59/59.

    Falling. This board is very dangerous....Falling was extremely painful. Unless it's just because I'm not used to taking spills, I am pretty bruised up now. The board just mangles your body if you take a hard spill. My softboot setup seemed like spills were just easier on your body for some reason, I don't know why.

    I finally see why people don't like crowds with these boards. These are not boards that you just flip and flop all over the trail dodging things left and right. When describing the riding experience, words like razor, laser, rail, scalpel, etc come to mind. When you turn.....you turn. An accurate analogy would be; snowboarding is to rally car driving as alpine boarding is to formula 1 driving.

    I have never been a man of many boards, I don't think I've ever owned more then 2 boards at a time during my 20 year career. I can easily see owning more now. These boards are much more precise and when they are meant for a specific task like giant slalom, they are doing just that. I am definatly going to have to purchase a board with a smaller turn radius, the f2 is just rediculous to learn on.

    If you are someone who craves attention, then this is definatly the board for you. I think I had a conversation with pretty much everyone I got closed to. I could hear a few "holy ****s" from the lifts as well. I was almost annoyed by the end of the day. If I had a dollar for everytime I heard "what kind of board is that?" I would have purchased the resort and kicked them off of it lol.

    All in all, I had a blast. Alpine boarding is everything I hoped it would be and exactly the style I was looking for. I can't wait until next season so I can try it in VT.

  16. Blue Mtn Updates

    in Southwest Northeast

    Posted

    Bryan

    Not much night life at the mountains. blue does however usually have some happy hour stuff going on at the lodge up top. For night life, the resorts are fairly quiet at night form what I know, you would need to head south into the lehigh valley. Bethlehem Brew Works is a good place to start, but..........

    if you stay in Easton, which I suggest if your buddies want to got out and actually have a fun time on Saturday.:biggthump, there is a Holiday Inn Express there (25 minutes from Blue), fairly reasonable rate (some other less clean hotels in the area too. and take a cab downtown (3 miles), center circle of easton has about 6-8 bars/restaurants within 100 yards of each other and they all have different themes, from sports bar/dance club (Drinky Drinkerson's) to martini to cougars to straight up drinking bars, plus spoiled Lafayette students on Dad's plastic. I would say its the highest concentration of close bars in the valley, other areas require cabs place to place

    If you can spend some cash, I recommend Sette Luna for food and drinks. Its 1.5 blocks from center circle. Get the Chix ceasar salad and any of the wood brick oven pizzas.

    I will however strongly advise you and your friends to not wonder too far from center circle, eAston is not the hometown of Ward Cleaver and our murder rate is up this year, NOT JOKING

    Whereever you go, DO NOT drive, take a cab, the paper is filled with DUI listings everyday and they are not shy about enforcing it.

    If you are staying north of Blue toward Route 80 and need some gentlemen entertainment. The Grandview, let me repeat, the Grandview. It may be out in the sticks of the Poconos, but they carpool smokin hotties from NYC. only there once and 95% of the girls were 8.5 and higher. There are alos some new casinos in the Poconos off of 80 (Mount Airy, nice place, but only slots, plus crowds from NYC and NJ).

    thanks for the low down man, I think we might do that

  17. Blue Mtn Updates

    in Southwest Northeast

    Posted

    hey guys, which mountain has the best night life? looking to have a fun weekend this sat, me and some buddies are coming, just don't know where.

    I care most about the mountain, they care most about the bars

    what's a good place to compromise?

  23. Stroke at 21 years old

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    wow, I don't know you or him, but I just read the thread for the first time, that is great he is doing so well. Not only did you not lose him, he's still got everything upstairs!

    Nobody should ever see their kid pass, I'm glad you didn't have to. Good luck

  25. TD1 problems

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Anybody have any tips on getting some of the allen bolts out....they are such soft aluminum and are stripping. what do you guys do

    I'd like to try a torch to expand the surrounding metal, but that's too much heat too close to the board for my liking.

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