John Gilmour

Here's a clip of the recent Luna slalom jam- just one of the many races scheduled for the America's cup series. If you think alpine snowboarding is small - slalom skateboarding is even smaller. But a little more fun. http://www.skatems.com/vids/luna_byte.wmv Vlad won this race the previous year making him a bi-carver. This year he took 4th.... And if you think for one second that Alpine snowboarding is safer than slalom skateboarding....I'm living proof that it ain't so. ________ Buy Cheap Vaporizer

I have several sets of screws that will fit cateks for the recessed screws- and I believe Fin has bomber screws that will fit. ________ Nummi

You are correct...in one run of 170's....the very first run (They were labeled 168's because.......horrors...they are) those were 11.2 sidecut and we felt that at 10.5 they would be the perfect consumer GS deck- without sacrificing too much turn versatility that you would find yourself sorely missing the 158. I believe the re-releases will be 10.5..... as the boards were that were marked 170cm. Only about 3 decks were 11.2 cm sidecuts...and one of those boards specs ended up in a buyers guide spec sheet. There is plenty of overlap in turn radii of the 158 and 170- so you will always be able to choose the right deck for the job....and if you chose wrong, you probably will be able to deal with it for the rest of the day. ________ FORD MODULAR ENGINE

call madd mike 617-504-4344 ________ Volcano vaporizer

I got a particulary good deal on my car as it will also serve dual purpose as a coffin when I die- as I would like to be buried with it. Blitzen Benz 55k 1994- the velvet hammer ________ Colorado medical marijuana

I dug the "carving is a sport of tweakers" ________ Mazda Titan History

"John, Yessss I used to ride a pig G6 (still have it) but noooo not in utah at that time. But at Temple Mountain in Peterbough, (89-90-91) Rember the monday night series you and da cats at underground put together many moons ago? We have met and raced one another then. Also much later when you were beta testing Madds I was a Waterville guy(93-94-95). We and several others( Arvid Swanson, Billy Enos, Kildy, Dave Thimmal George Askavold) talked with you about board shape flex and sizes. My roomate and I begged for you to make something bigger then 180 for us. We were all riding Priors or Secert Teams at the time. Matter of fact I hid all my secert teams so you would not see them you know, young kid with Ideas of trade secerts. Ring any bells? P.S. I like the don't get even get madd line!" quote--------------------- -=--------------------------------------------- who's who....?? Bordy- I helped run Back Bay Bikes and Boards, you might be confusing me with a guy who ran The Underground Dave Olcott- he had the unfortunate experience of busting both his wrists- at teh same time....talk about a toilet paper quandry. Both our shops are Boston based. I left Back Bay Bikes and boards to do Madd. What I do have in common with Dave is that we both went to Boston University and tried to start the first snowboard Clubs at BU. However Dave is the first guy who got faculty support to make the club officially recognized. I Had about 8 members from 85-89, but without a faculty member who snowboarded....we never got funding or recognition from Student Activities Office. Later Dave and a friend of his with Long Blond Hair (forgot the name...perhaps Curt?...Not CMC) started having air and style contests and they didn't like the terrain that was built so they started designing the hits. From that Stimilon was born. (No Limits spelled backwards) I didn't race at Temple Moutain, last big races I entered were the US. Open Super G's + slalom in the 90's- though I had to give up my longer decks to teammates.. last Super G run on Standard at Stratton I ran on a 170 ...very icy and dicyn (speeds were pretty high on that course). I raced not so much to improve my racing- but to support other racers on our decks, and to show them that we had people at Madd who weren't afraid to jump into racing .....much like Tom Sims and Jake Carpenter used to do. I think the racers really dug seeing the owners putting it on the line like in the beginning. Most of the time I was more worried about other racers wax than my own set up or checking out the course. By understanding the race experience and working in the pits with the racers I hoped to be able to develop products that worked better in ACTUAL race situations for the racers. I had a great time. I'm sure I met you at Waterville...did you work at the shop at the base of the mt? I always liked riding with the Waterville crew- you guys represented the East Coast well....IMHO better than the Vermont riders at the time. Enzo- those crazy decks...I remember they had 2 p-tex platforms....I forgot the brand name though....we didn't make those....though I still am toying with the idea of having another 2nd edge embedded in the sidewall- or top sheet mounted. I also like ptex sidealls. Never summer has them.....some of those Never summer freeride decks outride some manufacturers boardercross decks for edge hold. Great boards. BJ Slater who used to make ICE AGE boards I think went to design for them at one time ...Great designer. I just trouble shoot problems within our designs/prototypes and introduce new concepts to execute. Though I have been working on specs for competition ready PGS board.

From the look of Patrice riding the Swoard in the video the flex pattern doesn't look so soft. I think I could have a lot of fun on the board as I like to mix up the styles from time to time. The Prior 4WD looks great for even softer snow and pow-

Arvid Swanson, Billy Enos, Kildy I remember Arvid riding a Prior with taper back in the day. I still see Bill out there. I'm terrible with names and faces and always ask that people introduce themselves to me at minimum 4 times to hope that the name and face will stick. I only remember Arvid since it sounded like "Harvard"- though I doubt I could place his face. Enos I've seen many times as I have Kildy. We never made any really huge decks because the 180 Madd was a lot of deck and rode like a 197- which I felt was too much for the average consumers ability at the time. I always think its funny that when I see someone who has been carving for a long time and are at a high level now....about 10 years ago many were riding a G6 or a G5. Man those are squishy boards today....but I feel the missing link that newer carvers need to learn how to boss a board around as opposed to the other way around. Remeber the Checker Pig Rep. Andy Hirstanapolous (Sp?) he stopped selling Pigs and sold Electroluxes. I bought my first Pig as a Demo for $150. I'm sure the Swoard is way way way advanced over the G6 but I think people need boards like the Swoard in their quivers - especially to help in transitioning from soft booting to hardbooting. All quivers are better if they are bigger- gives the riders more options. Those G6 graphics were funny though.

Bordy- when you get some video footage up that would be great. BTW- did you used to ride a Checker Pig G6 at Brighton about 12 years ago???? Things I would like to see on bomberonline. Very cool if underneath your avatar you could click on a link to your video clips. That way when you are describing a movement to someone....they can actually see what you are talking about. Would be very cool if you could see the frames.....ie refer to frame number 45634 in a video sequence. IMHO vert skateboarding took a giant leap forward when video footage became available- my hope is for the same with carving. Also if you are trying to emulate someone's style it is a lot easier to have a video to follow that. For instance I might want to choose a person to emulate who was about as flexible as I was, about the same weight and height and age. Certainly we all have our own styles and develop out own riding techniques, but it is likely that someone who is a great rider and is 5'6" and weighs 210 might ride a lot like someone who is 5'7" and 220. Certainly a lot more like that than someone who weighs 155lbs. same goes for riding similar gear. I think we all log onto Bomberonline to become better riders and also help grow this sport and get the newer riders as good as possible as quick as possible...this particularly goes for the more experienced high level guys who are tired of riding steep bullet proof narrow terrain ALONE. The sooner we get everyone riding in a souped up posse' on a high level the better. Being on the right gear always helps - if you've got 4 inches of fresh ontop of groomed hardpack- I say ride the Swoard! If its only 1 inch ride the 170. IF the terrain is mellow and you want to EURO carve all day for the chicks on mellow terrain- the Swoard is the board. If Eurocarving suits your style- ride the Swoard. IF you have the unfortnate occassion of spending $70 on a lift ticket and find yourself on narrow trails in the East on Frozen granular don't get even....get Madd. Ride what suits your mood and conditions and fitness level.

Bordy- nice shots! BTW I've ridden in Utah- Snowbird, Brighton, the Canyons.. The last two had great carving terrain (Thought Brighton was a bit too flat- yet I think a perfect place to teach carving!)- but you have to know how to ride soft snow carving for UTAH- I prefer the carving snow in Colorado as I'm not really a Utah powder hound anymore, but I like the marriage laws in Utah enough to still make Utah the destination of choice. I have to agree that you are better off riding Euro style in softer snow and on wider decks. Square style in soft snow just builds too much edge pressure too quickly in the mush.......of course for ICE that is exactly what you want. Nice to see shots posted- digging in DEEP!. Do you have any video clips to load???On any deck?- It would be cool to demo both soft carving styles and ice carving styles for people. Does Maciek have any video footage? I'd like to see the New Jersey style of riding for dealing with Loose granular.

I'm not sure what to say. After my legs are healed up - we could go riding and you could show me your techniques. Did anyone get video of you at ECES? Who else rides with your style? But as a native New Yorker- I can assure you that a 600 foot vertical drop mountain in NY or NJ will not promote GS legs. No more than doing lots of reps with weights under 10lbs. will make you a serious power lifter. I haven't seen anyone race on Madds for a while as we stopped making them long ago. I'm not sure if I want to spec a new board for the race market and make it available to the freecarve market. I hate to see freecarvers try to ride a pure race set up all day- for most it is too unforgiving. I'll be the first to admit I don't have the conditioning of athletes who get 200+ days on snow per year. Realistically- seeing the gap in riding prowess between Weekend warrior carvers and World Cup riders I can't see benefiting the weekend guys.

good one Neil!....but would any of us been able to tell the story from a bar? Or would we be telling the story from an ambulance? ________ TOYOTA SPRINTER MARINO SPECIFICATIONS

that dude is superhuman.....and a really nice guy as well. One of my favorite masters of disaster- he can pull out of nearly any mishap...simply amazing to watch, the guy simply never gives up....ever. ________ F-650

check the ski fast loose pass get lift tickets thread.....there's contact info in that. call wbcn for details. otherwise. jg repost of original thread lad to hear so many of you are interested in getting some night trips in at Wachusett! Since there were only a few of you who are able to attend tonight, we will not be having the bus pick up at BU. If you are going to grab the bus tonight, you need to call our BCN contact, Adam Moscatel, at 617-587-4682 and let him know you heard of this trip from BU Ski and Board. He will give you the details on where the bus will be picking up tonight. So to make this easy we are creating a page on our website for you to sign up for the trips week by week. We will be forwarding the names from the list to Adam on Wednesday mornings, so if you are interested get your name on before then! Anyone is welcome to attend, even non-BU or non-Ski and Board club members. Just as long as their name ends up on the list. The price is now at $15 lift ticket (even cheaper!) and $20 for rentals. You pay that night. The bus is only going Wednesday nights, but we are looking into other possible nights if people are interested. You can go on as many of these trips as you would like, or as few. Its all up to you! We hope many of you take advantage of this great offer! We will have the online sign up ready for next week so keep an eye on the website (http://people.bu.edu/skiclub). also a neat thing to note- I can get peoples name on the list if you don't want to take the bus and just want the cheap deal. That way you can ride from 4pm to 10pm instead of 7pm-10 pm. WHY WA? Well it rarely gets shut down due to wind. I have found myself at other mountains being stuck on lower mountain runs because wind has shut down teh gondolas- Loon, Stratton, Stowe etc... I always wonder why I would pay a lot of money and drive 3 times as far to ride a 600 vert drop 6 pack run. happy tracks ________ Vapir oxygen

I'd like to see a good progressive rate spring design in the boot. Also I'd like to see cuff that switch from left to right and can "flip" so a rider can make boots biased for goofy and regular footers. Perhaps just selling them with an extra set of cuffs would be best. For years I'm pounding my shin into one side of the tongue. ________ FORD AIRSTREAM SPECIFICATIONS

mike banker has the boards for those interested (617) 504-3323 Shaggy has them available for demo at stratton ________ Volcano Classic Vaporizer

617 504-3323 mikebanker@mac.com ________ LAMBORGHINI JARAMA SPECIFICATIONS

\ ________ Drugtest

shoe goo for wear spots gets my gloves to last more than 3 seasons. Keeps the parts that ussually get wet ...dry . SHOUT stain remover removes even the gnarliest odors and grime and the 423 layers of boogers on the snot patch. Gloves of choice??? Marmot Ultimate ski glove. Stays warm and dry- even when you put wet hands in it constantly. No removeable liner....but it never seems to get saturated....even when I ride in the rain. ________ Free Pron

mirror, Your comments are welcome, I like to hear what people have to say about our boards. Likely the FC171 is a better board for you and they type of riding you enjoy. I have yet to flex the reissue 170's and so I can't comment on how identical they are to the older ones. Ride the board that gives you the most fun. Some "competition boards" are not "fun" to ride at all. Our goal at Madd is to make competition level boards that still have a high fun factor and work over a wide range of either snow conditions....or turn radii. I tuned a 170 for Anton Pogue for a Banked slalom at a US Open. He had never ridden the board before and took a single 500 foot vertical drop run to accustom himself to it. He went on to podium at the event. As for the new glass orientation suggestions (I thank you for taking the time to suggest these- and your thoughts are very well organized) we tried several different types of glass and weaves and this is what worked out the best for us- though as newer materials emerge we hope to incorparate any new materials which give a noticeable improvement. Keep those ideas coming. much apppreciated. ;) also thank you to the moderator who reformatted my other post to be more legible :) to buy Madd boards call 617-504-3323

(reply- The Madd 158 is a race ready slalom board. Anton Pogue was formerly kicked off the US team and got back on the team by winning World Cups Slalom events on the 158- Adam Hoestetter (Sims Fila), Jeremy Jones (Rossignol) also used the 158 in World Cup Slalom events as well as the US Open. The 170 however should be characterized as either a "Consumer GS/freecarve or a Hardboot boardercross deck) (reply- this would appear to be contradictory with both Adam Hoestetters weight (light about 155lbs) and Anton Pogue's size and weight (about 185)) (reply-narrow groomed trails with a few steep sections are where the versatility of this deck shines., I would prefer to ride the 170 out West (longer turns) and in Europe (mixed conditions) (reply- World Cup racers detuned the board to accommodate their preferences and snow conditions...it is far easier on race day to remove extra grip than create it) (reply- Again- Anton Pogues race results would appear to disagree with the above statement- my riding style would also likely differ with your assesment) (reply- freecarvers are most interested in holding an edge- racers will trade absolute edge hold for skid in order to shave critical hundreths off a course...the needs are not identical) (reply- the type of conditions (loose granular) and terrain Maciek is accustomed to at his home mountain in New Jersey might lead to develop a novel style that will not work as effectively in steeper terrain. Also with such short vertical drop New Jersey's resorts likely do not promote good conditioning of his legs- I do not recall seeing his style of riding- but likely CMC's style of riding will translate to most hardpack terrain regardless of snowcondition or pitch or length of the hill - this low slung compressed over the edge type of riding is what we have developed these boards for- the thrill factor on Madd boards is very high. Yes.....at first....it can be a super quadricep burner, but like anything else you adjust. Your body condition improves and adapts. My legs just buzz like crazy at the end of the day and that puts a huge smile on my face the whole ride home...ain't life grand?) (I would not reccommend a Madd board for a rider like Maciek (based solely on his body angulation from the Avatar photo and the lack of others referencing his riding skills, I think a forgiving wider softer freecarve board in the 165cm length would be appropriate for the terrain and snow conditions likely anything over 170cm would be too much board for a New Jersey mountain snow, terrain and his current riding technique) Really Smart riders ride what suits the terrain as well as their abilities, personal goals and style. No so smart riders hop on a unfamiliar carving devices, three days later place high in the world championships and then foolishly celebrate by maching into a set of trees crippling themselves for the rest of the season.

are those the dynafit tour lite extremes? About 3 lbs each- lighter than most soft boots. ________ Clear Trichomes

Vin will set you up with a softboot set up that will rail- if you are willing to exaggerate all the things you know about hard boots. You have to ride lower, twist more and throw yourself more into the turns. It really isn't a bad exercise to do if you want to improve your agressiveness which you can then transfer to your hard boots. Without allt eh extra leverage- you have to have more exact body positioning to trench in softies on hard snow. Does the know you are on hard boots or soft boots? No. IF you position your body correctly and hold it in the correct position you can trench pretty deep in soft boots. Believe it or not I think it takes more time to dial in your high performance soft gear than hard boot gear...but like anything, once it's done, it's done. So when do I ride soft boots? When I want to ride a little slower with friends. When the snow is too soift for hard booots, when it's raining, when there is pow. Todays highend two strap soft binding has soo much "push back" on its median strap that it almost behaves like a stiff plastic tongue on a hard boot- and of course the highbacks now are nearly as stiff as some softer hardboots. You can find boardercross decks that are stiffer than freecarve decks. Todays soft step in bindings can offer so much stiffness that the need to go over to hardboots for people with small feet just isn't there. I'd say Vin's set up is a rally car with nitrous. The rest of the carvers out there are looking for the f1 experience. Personally I find rally car racing (particularly winter rally) just as much fun to watch as f1. It all gets hairball so fast. Bordy brings up the interesting topic of carving on a teleboard. I thought teleboards were some wacked out missing link- like the duck billed platypus- until I tried one. I am very surprised that we don't have more carvers with teleboards that might just ride the telboard if it dumps 5 inches over the course of the day. I mean...some lift tickets are $70 you may as well get your fun factor as hgih as possible by riding the gear that can give you the most stoke available for the given snow conditions. The teleboard is a almost like an aquatic car with adjustable suspension on the fly. Whatever you ride....its just another way to bust your ass while having a great time. Would I ever give up my carving deck on a prefect chalk carving day for a teleboard- not a chance? No way. But would I run to my car to swap out my carving deck if it starts dumping- sure. Same thing goes if the mountin is overcrowed and the snow gets trashed- teleboard to the rescue, better that than scaping in softies. Huge dump hit last night- 14 inches of fresh- you know a big all moutain softie deck with great bindings and good soft boots is the call. Better than waiting in a ski house for 2 days for the groomers to flatten a track for you. Having a variety of gear just lets you ignore the weather channel and make plans and stick with them. The only thing that changes is whats under your feet. ________ MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

You just put a smile on the face of an old man in a wheelchair- unfortunately that old man in a wheelchair is me. I'll miss riding with you at ECES in Hard and soft boots. ________ Toyota Verossa History