Dan

BOR, short for "Bend Over Ratio" - a measure of the amount of ass-kissing/bending over backward you'll do to win a particular project or keep a particular client happy. "The BOR for that client is too high."

Uh-oh, Aisling threatens to derail the thread. :-) ...must...keep...mind...on...new...vocabulary....

this may be a purely local expression: I've been seeing people use it on a local skate site. As far as I can tell, it means "double gnarly," "gnarly injury," "extra gnarly s***," etc. Sample usage in the wild: "I wonder what kinda gnar gnar I'll get this time, i get something every time i ride hard..."

Wow, that was an amazing movie. Do you know where those guys were riding?

I'm pretty sure that some of those links above are still active, but here's one more. http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-bfc393eb46-aa2329ec14

Dude, I can absolutely handle the top 95% of that run. :-) It's the finish that gets to me: maybe 200 feet of steepish straightaway with a T-intersection and 3-way stop at the bottom. I only bail once per session - given how often I fell when learning to snowboard, I thought I was doing OK. Except for the minor detail of riding hills that are admittedly above my current level of skill, I'm really pretty careful: I let everyone else go ahead of me so I can use the whole road to carve off speed and I don't push my luck (i.e., no nosewalking or other fancy stuff). Thanks a lot for the tips on padded shorts - I will look into that. I'm not too shy about wearing protection; I just draw the line at full racing leathers. Besides, it's hot. Question about controlled crashes on skateboards: on a snowboard, I'd come to a heelside and just sit down and slide on my rear until I stopped. Can you do something similar on a skateboard? Is that the best way to do it? And you're right about learning to slide. That would make a huge huge difference. I'm worried about high-siding multiple times when I try to learn though - do you have any suggestions on how to teach myself?

Yeah, the problem is that I'm using inline skate pads that have open backs for better ventilation. They cover me fine for the initial impact but as I slide along the asphalt they tend to shift enough that I wind up with some skin exposed. Better pads would definitely help, but downhilling seems to be a full-contact sport for me. Sliding to a stop on my stomach last week, I got a pretty big patch of road rash above my hip (through a cotton shirt), and that's what got me thinking about a beefier shirt. I'd consider armor and/or but the sad truth is that I'd be too embarrassed. One of the 19-year olds I rode with last week was wearing flip-flops. (!) I'm already wearing wrist guards, knee and elbow pads and a helmet, as well as long pants, so I feel goofy enough without throwing on riding leathers on a hill that these guys ride in their sleep.

Has anyone ever used the <a href="http://www.dragginjeans.com/">Draggin' Jeans</a> line of Kevlar pants, jackets and shirts? Thoughts/impressions? I'm thinking their long-sleeved shirt looks like a good match for skating. My scabby elbows seem to think that my elbow pads don't give me quite enough coverage. I think I have asphalt fever - the summer version of powder fever. Never knew there was such a thing. Good thing that putting together a summer quiver only costs about 1/4 to 1/2 of what a winter quiver would run. :-)

More Gmail invites: http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-2d615b8850-ee1f6d8633 http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-7c0d1ffaf8-96571f17da http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-70a1504dba-cab72ea3f3 http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-ee7f8b7b7b-83a5f92d97 http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-d6467c340c-ec63cbab71 http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-4e56facd4b-cee8566cc0 http://mail.google.com/mail/a-ef17b4ec8d-dacd4899f3-7aca67d51a I think most Gmail members have way more than they can use (I had 50 until I posted these); let me know if these run out and anyone wants more.

You don't know the half of it...I just found that half my summer league Ultimate games are going to conflict with car-free Wednesdays on Mt. Tabor. Oh no! I have to pick between Frisbee or skateboarding? I bet now you really feel sorry for me. :-)

Scott, you're totally right, but what can I say - I'm a slave to fashion. I didn't want to freak out these longboarders the very first time I met them by bringing a Dirtsurfer. Besides, we were riding back up the hill in the back of a pickup truck: 5 people + decks in the bed of a small truck, so it would have been hard to fit the Dirtsurfer. Coleman slides are so elegant, and of course impossible on a dirtsurfer. I think I'll be splitting my time between longboard and DS this summer.

Hi all, just wanted to spread the gospel about <a href="http://www.eastsidelongboards.com/rollers.html">these guys</a>. They're riding the Zoo again on Thursday, and back to Tabor on Wednesdays after that (apparently they had bike races on Wednesday nights all through June). It'd be nice to see some fellow carvers out there!

I think I just had my first <b>real</b> longboarding session too. I hooked up with a group organized by a local longboard maker, and we rode this terrifying <a href="http://www.eastsidelongboards.com/photos/Fairview%20Run/FrameSet.htm">course</a>. It's the same course the Zoo Bombers run, for you Portland locals. My first couple of runs, I ran off at high speeds/walked the steep sections, but I rode more and more over the course of the session and my last couple runs I rode the whole course. HOLY S*** that s*** is scary! I can't slide, so the only way I could slow down was hard carving, which led to my one tumble: I carved hard enough to break the back end loose and it hooked back up again unexpectedly. It was minor, and I was wearing pads, but that's one pair of jeans I won't be wearing to the office again. FUN! Despite (because of?) the mortal fear, I had a freaking blast. At my fastest, I was probably hitting around 25, maybe a little more - in a section of the course where other riders were cracking 35. Oh well, I've got room to grow. Everyone was real nice and supportive w/ the noob - not so different from the alpine snowboard community, come to think of that. Man, despite the high risk of serious pain, this asphalt riding thing has some real possibilities. It's so much fun... It's like having amazing, porn-star sex with a beautiful woman whose 7-foot ogre of a husband works an irregular schedule. Crippling injuries and being forcibly separated from fillings aren't a question of "if," but "when," but there's still no way I'm going to stop. The only problem is that I can't decide what to ride next week: longboard, Flowlab, or Dirtsurfer? Decisions, decisions...

Hey Mr. T, sorry to hear about your close encounter with the automobile - I'm glad that you're OK. I was in a pretty similar wreck about 8 years ago, so I share your pain. "Even the most careful bicyclist can be surprised by a sufficiently stupid motorist."

Aww hell yeah! Kudos to Fin and the other folks at Bomber for ponying up for this.

Like the other dirtsurfers, I find this contraption encourages you to ride as fast as you possibly can. This is going to have a seriously negative effect on my well-being in the near future, but I'm already kind of hooked. I took it up Mt. Tabor in Portland, a car-free road that's got a decent slope to it. Rode the brake my first time down, then I went back up and rode it without braking at all, going much faster than I could have run it off if anything happened. I've never gone down that hill on any other deck without braking (or bailing, heh). The Dirtsurfer is just really confidence-inspiring: feels rock-solid at speed...even though I know better, I want to keep pushing it. It's such an interesting feeling, I feel compelled to probe the limits of the board's performance. I'm going to keep riding fast, try to lay out turns and try to figure out just how sharp I can cut it (the front wheel's range of motion is limited by the frame, so there's a pretty definite limit to how hard you can turn)...just the kind of behavior that leads to munching asphalt. Depending on timing, I may make it out to the Gorge this weekend: my roommate claims there's a 4-mile downhill around Mosier that his friends ride on longboards with a chase car. Wish me luck. I'll post pics of the aftermath (if any).

Has anyone had any good or bad experiences with shoulder protection for carving? I should probably look into that myself... took a hard fall onto my leading shoulder a few seasons ago and it took months to recover. Of course, I didn't see a doctor, on account of not having any insurance at the time... Anyway, I can see the wisdom of preventative shoulder protection - any recommendations.

I'm with lonerider. I'm considering removing/disabling the dead-man brake, but the calf-operated V-brake is my friend. The dead-man brake is a pain because it makes me feel like I can't adjust my stance/move my back foot when I'm riding. And how functional is it? If I fall off the board, it can't get that far without me balancing it. (And quite frankly, if I fall off the board, it will probably be because I high-sided or ran into something - it won't be rolling forward at that point anyway). Lonerider, what do you think?

Never mind, I got it: http://www.dirtsurfer.ca/manuals/DSAssemblyManualDiskBrake.pdf

Hey all, I feel kind of clueless here, but I can't figure out how to set up the v-brake. What/where exactly does the free end get attached to? Rode up and down the street outside my house with no brake tonight. Still feels weird, but I see a lot of potential in this thing. Thanks, Dan

Woo-hoo! I just got my Dirtsurfer GP from BigCanuck! I'll be up at Mt. Tabor on Sunday from 11-1 or so. If anyone wants to try out the DS, come on up. I don't imagine you'll have any trouble recognizing me.

Hokkaido! I had amazing days at Niseko/Mt. Yotei. When I was there (96-98), there were three resorts on the mountain, and there was a joint pass that let you ride all three. Only place I've ever ridden where it snowed so hard that our tracks were filled in by the time we made a lap; highly recommended. It's an hour or two by bus outside of Sapporo. I stayed at the pension "Fry Pan," which is awesome if it's still open. The owner was a former professional chef, and the food was amazing. Enjoy! Dan

Hi guys, My roommate is selling some used hardboots; check his ad on craigslist: http://portland.craigslist.org/spo/74235595.html I'm posting for him 'cause he doesn't have an account here - please e-mail him directly with any questions.

Don't know if it's off-beat or not, but Powell's Books is a must-see. The Portland Rose Gardens are decidedly not off-beat, but worth a trip anyway. The Burnside skate park is under the east end of the Burnside Bridge - definitely worth a trip. Microbrews! I like the Tugboat brewery (SW Ankeny about 1/2 block west of Broadway), Rogue and Bridgeport are pretty good too. Higgins is a (rather pricy) downtown restaurant that serves up "Pacific Northwest cuisine" and boasts something like 200 beers on their beer list. You can limit the financial damage by eating in the bar. Old Town Pizza is a cool old pizza place. I admit there's better pizza in town, but don't know that there's a place with better atmosphere. I'm no lily-livered vegan, but nonetheless Veganopolis is a pretty decent place to grab lunch. If you'll be here on a weekend, check out Fong Chong for dim sum. Sorry I didn't pull addresses for those places - if something looks good, Jason's suggestion of Citysearch is the way to go.

Phooey, I thought I could make it, but I'm afraid I have to bail. (Besides, it's going to rain...maybe.) I'm going to E3 on Sunday (YAY!!!), and don't quite have all my ducks in a row yet. Any gamers in this crowd?