Ray

The Gladiator report has to wait a little longer, have to ride it first... ;)

chooblaykhan, i see that i write something up as well... just need to find some time to do...

Hans, yeah the Psycho, 175cm and a 16.2 cm waist… nice and sexy… :D I actually became such a fan of these boards that I changed my (almost) entire quiver. No regrets at all for the money spent (life is short). The most beautiful craftsmanship I have ever seen… Ray

Checked the USPS website, and it looks that the guy in my post office is wrong. Or just had a bad day due to all that holiday shipping... He told me that 79inches was the max “combined” number, but it’s actually 108inches with max length of 79 inches. So that should work. Back to the post office…:D FedEx was $135... Thanks for the quick help you all!

Have you ever shipped a board from the US to Europe? I am trying to find a shipping company who actually can ship at a reasonable rate. UPS and DHL are asking about $190. USPS does not accept the package at all, to big :( Any suggestions? Thanks Ray

My 0.02 (Euro) In my opinion it’s simple. If you order a custom build board, with a solid (black or whatever) top sheet, or a beautiful design you care for, it should be perfect (well almost). It should be 100% free of manufacturing problems that make the board perform worse and about 98% (in my opinion) free of visible design mistakes. Hand crafted boards will most of the time have some minor issues, no matter how much you pay for it. If these issues are acceptable to the owner is up to them of course... but I am actually curious now if there will be a pattern here… Not telling a customer about an issue, even though they know about it, makes me wonder Everyone is different, some of us care about color, design and perfection and try to keep their boards in great shape and others just ride and don’t give a rats a$$

SOLD

June next weekend :D YEAH BABY

have fun you guys! Have to skip due to Christmas party

Brad. Bail bindings with DeeLuxe Indy boots

isn't $0.002usd (two zeros) waaaaay less than $0.02cdn (one zero) anyway If the USD should fall to such an exchange rate we all have a problem

have to try this stuff too Randy. Thanks! What also helps a lot is to start using the Stair machine starting October for 45 - 60 minutes 3 times a week :D If no Stair machine, I believe in Spinning/Cycle classes as well. But only if the instructor in mean. This stuff gets you ready for the season...

My $0.002. The entire last season and the last 5 weeks I experimented a lot with some different combination possibilities. I tried: TD2 Step-in w/ Indy and UPZ TD2 Regular w/ Indy TD2 Regular w/ Burton Fire, Ice and Indy Catek Step-in w/ Burton Fire, Ice and Indy F2 Titanium Step-in w/ Burton Fire, Ice, Indy and UPZ’s F2 Titanium Regular w/ Burton Fire, Ice, Indy, UPZ’s and Northwave .900 And to make a long story short, "I" liked the softer bindings with the medium-stiff boot the most. So basically a bail binding with the Indy. I found the step-ins to stiff for "me", especially in terms of lateral stiffness. I believe that this had also to do with my body-structure/weight. I think it just makes sense, that a guy with 180lbs. or more bends the bindings easier than a guy with 170lbs. or less. Now the question is, do you want, or like the bindings to bend and if so, by how much. This is what I believe. The harder you ride (especially under not so perfect conditions) and the lower you lay it down, the more flex you want/need to get from your bindings. I believe that people who are not in the 180lbs+ range should give it a try and directly compare/ride step-ins and regular bail bindings under the same exact conditions. Off course, it also plays a big role what your riding style is. When I was just cruising, I had no issues at all with the stiff to very stiff set-up. But as soon as I started to really bend that board and squeezed it and layed it down to the max, the softer bail binding was way more comfortable to ride but even more important delivered much better edge hold. This probably due to the fact that most of the energy gets absorbed in the bindings and not in the boot/legs... back to Phil's theory. But again, I am also not the tallest and heaviest guy (5'7 / 170) and this is just "my" experience I like to share.

The boards (extreme series) are custom build. The Terminator (165/17.1) is a combo of carbon and texalium mesh: <img src="http://tinypic.com/px27t"> The Gladiator "Zylon" is not displayed. It's basically the regular Gladiator shape (175/17.1), but build with Zylon! 17.1 is not really to skinny. With my boot size (26) I ride 63/60 If you want to talk skinny, look at the Black Death II (173/15.1) :D I post some pictures once I have it. Ray

Looks like we need to organize a little MES :D Maybe split between Mammoth and June mountain. June would even be better, less people and better grooming

After successfully testing my Virus Terminator I had no choice but adding a fourth (and hopefully last) carver to my quiver. Waiting for another Virus. A 175 Gladiator Zylon (17.1 cm waist as well). From what I learned about the construction of this beast, I am really excited to ride this puppy. Well, just another week or so…

Do we agree that the biggest carving event this season will be the SES ? Man, am I looking forward to carve it up with all you people :D Aspen is just such a great place. So I would like to start here what the EC forum did very well. http://www.extremecarving.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=955&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 Add a new post with your name on it and continue the list on and on... Lets' see how many we will be. Maybe you also want to add how many boards (and which) you bring ;) 01 - Michelle 02 – Fin 03 – Brian (staying the week) 04 – Ray (staying the week) 05 - Your name 06 - …

Still available

Great that you found this place. Agree, let's have a great time in Aspen. Looking forward to meet you. Where do you usually ride? Ray

I would like to educate myself and really understand / learn what makes these MADD’s so special? Is it the material, the specs, what is it? Can someone please enlighten me. Many thanks! Ray

So who else will show this week?

Anyone in Whistler between 12/23 and 12/29? I would like to ride with you guys! Ray

Yeah Baby! GOOOOOD catch ;) Happy for you Randy!

In Mammoth as well... sounds pretty nice to me :D

Thanks for the link! I had to try as well, cool :) <img src="http://tinypic.com/mn3g3"> This is a picture of my VIRUS Terminator Custom... A combo of Carbon and silver Texalium mesh...