Ray

Thanks! How long is the ride from Albany, NY airport to Stratton?

What is the best Airport to fly in (Coming from LA) if I want to go to Stratton Mountain? Thanks! Ray

Who else will be there? Would you know about any good shops (who know about our carving stuff) to visit in Whistler? Dave, hope to find you! Any particular runs you are at most? Thanks Ray

Do you go to Mammoth at all? Go, and see Corty at Footloose! He should be able to fix you problem. http://www.footloosesports.com/index.shtml I would recommend to call and talk to him first, he is very busy and you would need an appointment. Good luck! Ray

Any of you have some input about Telluride? Friends of ours asked us to join, but I would like to know how good the grooming/terrain for carving is. How would you compare the grooming to Buttermilk/Aspen (That was the best I have experienced do far...) ? Thanks in advance! Ray

the infection continues :D Tell us how it rides please Ray

But we met so many ;) Next time we make sure! See, you are my size and ride even with a little wider stance...it's not the stance... Yes, I have the Superfeet Corks. Don't really know if there is something better which could make a difference. Would be great to get some feedback from a coach, or someone who has a similar problem. Ray

Hi Jon, Last season, I thought the same and tried almost all different ways of cant & boot combos, nothing did improve this issue, not even a bit. That was also the reason why I had so much stuff for sale. Only thing I learned was that I like the softer binding set-up the most. What I did not do, is to narrow my stance to much. I really like a relative wider stance… I am 5’7 and use about 18.2. That is not really extreme, but for my height pretty decent I think. The soreness is mostly on my front foot. The foot I use most to control… The thing is when I start riding I immediately feel how my toes and heels put pressure on the edges. I control the edge pressure a lot with toe/heel pressure… Another thing is, if I ride under “perfect” conditions, so the perfect groomed stuff with good “fresher” hard packed snow, these issues are almost not given. Last year at the SES, no real big issues at all due to the great conditions we had. The worse the conditions, the choppier it is, the more work, the more soreness. The saying, “ride hard when the snow is soft, ride soft when the snow is hard”, maybe might apply in my case as well.

Hey, I am a casual now, that was about 12 years ago. Over all the years, I lost most of those hard gained muscles :( What's'left now is just theory...

Barry, Little bit more background. Started BMXing with 16, raced semi-professional for many years, added weight training at the same time…when I was done with BMXing, I kept the weight training and went to a very advanced level. After moving from Europe to LA, trained at Gold’s in Venice with several of the Pro bodybuilders and actually even helped some of them with their contest preparation/diet. I know Arnolds books (actually know him for 15 years now, but that’s a different topic). So that is also why I am getting a little frustrated. I think I know a little bit about training and nutrition, but can’t figure out what happened. What I mean with what “happened” is, that this thing (getting so sore) happened over the last years…actually I think it began when I started my new job 6 years ago where I sit 10 hours a day. I guess that just messed up my entire system. From Mr. all day active to Mr. sitting 10 hours a day and go to the gym to get a quick 45min workout done… When I said that I get so sore in my pecs, that is after a break and than going back to the gym and doing a full chest workout, you know, 4 different exercises, 4 sets each… back in the old day, I just got sore, now it feels almost like inflamed. I don’t want to blame it on age (just yet). What should I say, I am 37 and when I look at our older fellow riders here, I better be quite. Hey Tim (Tuthill) you are 60+ now, how are you doing in regards to all this? Any soreness? Please tell me that you entire body hurts like crazy after a day of hard riding ;) Totally forgot to ask you this morning when you called. Ray

I don’t think it’s really a motion you can train for. Let me explain where I get sore first. After riding for two days or longer my outer calves, my feet muscles, basically all stabilizing muscles from the knee down get sore to the point that I don’t really know if I am slightly bruised or just sore. Yes, I go to the gym and train a lot, I do the stair machine for 45 minutes, heavy leg presses, calve machines, you name it… Here is the thing, if I don’t train every day for some time, I get sore really bad in all my muscle groups. I.e. my pec’s (after a nice chest workout) get so sore, I can’t even hug my wife without crying like a little baby. My body just produces so much lactic acid, it’s not normal. And my nutrition is what I think really good, I drink tons of water, eat all the healthy stuff, take mineral subs… I think because of the unique iso-tension we need in our feet and calf muscles (to put pressure on the edges) that my body is just going nuts and produces all that lactic acid there. The harder and longer I ride the first day the more sore I get the second or third day… I just need to ride every day I guess Ray

Mike, Found em. It's the Arnica Montana, right? So you take some of the 200C, and if needed a couple of the 1M's. @ 160 pellets per dram vial, that should last a bit... Thanks!

Thanks guys! Randy, very interesting, thanks! SportLegs that is. I just ordered it... you guys convinced me! Will also try the arnica gel... but Mike T, what are "pellets" Next week I go to Whistler for a week, good way to test.

I was wondering how many of you pop a couple of them (or others!) before you go riding? Especially if you go riding for several days… and let’s say the morning of the third day you are REALLY sore. Do you take a break or pop some? I tend to sore big time after two days of riding hard… and hey, don’t want to skip a day if the conditions are great… :D What are you doing?

kamran, what did you order?

Hello Henry, I think he best way would be to rent a car and drive up to MM. Should take you about 4.5 from LAX. http://www.mammothmountain.com/plan/getting_here/ Have fun!

Because of “another” Christmas party, which I have to attempt Friday eve, I decided to leave LA Saturday morning at 3:30AM and drive up directly to Mammoth/June to hit the slopes. I just told some people here in my office about my beautiful plan, and they all think I am nuts! I might be anyway, but in this matter I think, boy it just snowed over 30 inches the last two days, the snow will be PERFECT by Saturday. How much better can it get? Naa, they just have no clue what they are missing.

Randy, you MUST come to the SES ;) Ray

My feeling is that if you get one of these 17cm boards custom build for your specs, you get something really special. The board "might" be more than you expect, maybe to agressive at first (now I sound like all the other people who talked to me...) BUT, once you have it down! You will be a happy camper. How many years are you riding plates? How many days per season? Agressive, or more the cruiser? Steep angles, or more in the 50* range? I did the same thing, just ordered without ever riding a Virus before... Ray

kamran, The currency conversion really sucks right now. Hit me also pretty bad. I visited the Virus facility as well. NICE ;) They have several boards already made, but am not sure if these are customer orders. I would have him make a board "for you" anyway, much better :D If you order, it takes about 4 weeks. That's it. Ray

Jim, Man, I wish you a fast recovery. Hope you can hit the slopes soon again. All the best! Ray

This is also a personal preference, but I currently like 0.5° of the base and 88° for the sides (so -2°). The 0.5° is enough to eliminate unwanted board bite and 88° delivers some good edge grip. Again, it’s all comes down to personal preferences. Ray

... the colder, the longer it gets... that makes the 175 ride like a 185 LOL. They built a view of em already... and work very well as far as I know...let's hope. yes, as the top sheet... looks really darn cool...

Great, Tantalus, Psycho and Gladiator are all 175cm. The Psycho has a 16.2cm waist. Depending on your boot size the angles "might" get to steep. I ride a M25 shell and get about 63/60 with the 17.1 waist. Some of the boards are not on the website. Just email Frank@ VIRUS-Snowboards@t-online.de and tell him what you are looking for, he will help you. Shipping is about 90 Euros i guess. Ray

Sean, thanks for your help! You are right they all keep the special rates “under wraps”. I checked with our company rep and got totally different rates. I also went back to the "main" post office (with a printout from the USPS website) and had no problem at all this time. Certified and insured... Country Conditions for Mailing – Netherlands Size Limits, Letter-post: See 243.2 Air Parcel Post: Maximum length: 79 inches Maximum length and girth combined: 108 inches