Colozeus

So i just swapped the dgss spring system and installed the stock upz spring/lean system. Honestly, i'm not even sure why i went with the dgss springs. I don't even EC. That spring system was severely limiting my setup and the way i drilled the holes, my back ankle was stuck in too of an upright position. Now with the upz system, on my carpet, i locked my rear boot into the most forward click which gives me quite a bit of forward lean. My front boot is locked in the second position I believe. This has almost eliminated all of my back leg wanting to fight the board. I'm at an 18" stance width now. I tested motion on my back ankle since it's locked in such a forward position, and I don't feel this will be a problem. The springs on the upz system still give me plenty of travel. I actually feel like they give me more than the dgss green springs. I think I originally installed those springs because i was hell bent on EC'ing and I read somehwere that you needed these to EC. oh boy. I'm gonna leave this as is until next weekend when I get to try these new settings again. That being said, I'd appreciate people's thoughts on how far forward they lock the rear foot. I think I have even read of some folks just riding in walk mode. @Corey Didn't I hear you once say that you ride with your rear fully locked forward? I know you ride with 6/6 lifts. I might also have to do the same.

Interested. Sending you pm.

At least with my tube, the bigger outer shell has two holes where you can feed the regular lock through. The second hole is useless do to the spacing of the holes on the inner tube. I just drilled another hole once i had it locked and i use that for the cable lock. I have a suspicion that most times, they just slip the TSA "your bag was inspected" paper into the tube without actually opening it.

yeah, i'm going to start doing this as well. sidenote: DFW is horrendous in dealing with oversize luggage. There is always some BS issue that delays it or you have to walk 2 miles to pick it up somewhere else.

ditto, i had a guy in aspen come to my hotel room and 3d scan my feet. Footbeds were 3d printed and also made to account for my flat feet and over pronation. Best money i ever spent. All foot pains were eliminated.

This past weekend, TSA couldn't figure out how to close it properly. The didn't even put the locking pin back in and just secured it with my tsa lock and the halves were pretty far apart. It was pure luck that the lock didn't fail. I found the locking pin inside with my boards.

Yes, he was a little bit close, but he's also a very good rider. (better than me) We did talk beforehand and i did mention that i wanted some close up follow-cam footage. We will be more careful next time.

I'm going to try this next time.

yup.

Mine didn't come with any velcro straps. It only came with the clip on handle.

Some little dude in skis at Eldora this past weekend "that thing is so cool, is that a board that lets you ride it like a pair of skis?!".....after a brief pause i said, "suuuuure". I also had multiple slip and sliders tell me "that's a sick board, bra"

Just curious how those of you with a sports tube pack multiple boards. I usually travel with at least two boards. I usually leave the bindings on and i'll place a folded towel, lengthwise, under the first board with bindings facing up. I'll then sandwich my second board on top with bindings facing down with my pants and jacket in between. This works ok but still results in some "slop" and movement inside of the tube. I think the ideal thing here would be to build some type of foam cutout with slots for the boards so it's held snug in the tube. Other alternatives would be to remove the the bindings and place them inside of a snowboard sleeve like the ones Bomber use to sell; the only issue here is what would you do with the extra space?

I got back from riding at Eldora last night. Conditions for the first two days were soft with 1-3 inches on top of groomed. The last day had the best "carving" conditions. I didn't make any other changes to my setup since the conditions were very variable from day to day and i was also focusing on showing my friend how to ride and carve in his soft boot setup. I will say that the changes i made to the springs and cuff canting had a positive effect. On the flats, i feel more centered on the board and a lot less pirate legged. My rear leg still fights the board a little bit. i also focused on keeping my front leg bent during heelside carves. I was able to do it but it required a more forced crouching before initiating my heelside turn. (possibly due to muscle memory that i've built with a more straightened out leg.) I'll most likely be riding again in two weeks, hopefully in better conditions. I'll play around further with stance width and heel lift. I would say that my other foot can get to about 2-3 inches forward of my longest toe.

ok, i made two changes 1. i loosened the nut on my dgss springs on both boots which basically caused both my boots to have more forward lean and feel a little bit looser. 2. Canted both boot cuffs inwards about 2-3 degrees (best guess). I now feel more centered and relaxed on the board while standing on my carpet and the gaps that i posted in previous pictures are almost eliminated. I feel like my back leg is still fighting a little bit to come closer to my front leg, which probably indicates that i need to shorten my stance width maybe by an inch or so. I will get to try these settings out tomorrow and report back. I will also test shortening my stance width by an inch and see what effect that has. Last on my list will be to try 6 degrees heel lift vs 3 on my back leg. (i have a feeling this will make the biggest difference in mobility due to my janky left ankle.) Wish me luck.

i'm in the process of trying out some of these changes on my local carpet. @Beckmann AG With regards to my back ankle dorsiflexion, the most forward i can bring my knee without my heel lifting is just barely past the tip of my toes.

Thanks! It's a modest blue at the beginning then gradually flattens out to a more mellow blue. If you go to this video(not my video) at about the 8:10 mark, you can see the pitch at the beginning. This is where most of my vid takes place.

This was taken from https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/common-hippopotamus/ My guess is that it has to do with stumpy legs. lol

Thanks! One day I'll ride as good as you!

i might try that if i can find the parts.

I'm not using the stock system. This is an aftermarket system. the DGSS. But, i didn't know these were available. thanks!

kind of, but you sacrifice spring stiffness. in theory i could go get my own custom size springs to set the lean however i want. It is definitely not as adjustable as the stock systems on UPZ or deeluxe.

Just tried with my liners. It feels the same way. In fact there is a little bit of a gap on my back foot between my calf and the liner towards the outside edge. Seems like my biomechanics are fighting the boot.

No, i have an aftermarket spring system. No lock. It's the DGSS system by @DRUPI This is the same stance i would be using while just going straight on the flats. Knees are bent but back knee is a lot more bent than front. Pretty much the same stance you see me in at the beginning of the video. I'll try carpet carving with my liners and report back. I don't generally feel quad burn, but i have noticed, at least on my first day of the season, that i was getting a bit of quad burn on the straights after a run and that i would have to force myself to redistribute my weight more towards the rear to eliminate it. I use to have quad burn back when i was 3 toe 3 heel lift. Now i'm 6 toe and 3 heel.

Ok, this is interesting. This might be part of my problem. Below are pictures i took of my feet inside the shell with only the footbeds and locked into my board with equal weight on front and back foot. (or at least what feels like equal weighting) Front boot: my front leg is up against the back of the cuff. Rear boot: my back leg is pulled in towards the center and up against the right/front of cuff I think this might explain why i have the propensity to weigh the front of my board? This at least explains why it sometimes feels like i have to fight my back foot a little to get centered on the board. And i can only imagine that this results in my foot shifting towards the outer part of the shell, even if slightly, to help compensate. I really don't have any room at all to move around in the liner. It is tight all around. Perhaps i need to play with inwards canting? Should the goal here be for my "pegs" to be centered inside of the shell when doing this exercise? @Beckmann AG

@Beckmann AG I reviewed the video in slow motion while applying your commentary. This is great insight. It also reminds of something that happens to me a lot on heelsides. A lot of times throughout my riding, i'm not sure on what exactly is happening, but i end up slamming my hips and hands into the ground before the carve is fully established. And it's not a reaching for the ground first kind of slap, it's more of a angulating the board way too fast and falling down to the ground in a sitting position and then recovering the carve from all the lost speed and getting way in front of the board. Does that make sense? Also, i was examining my boots yesterday, and i remembered that in an effort to bring my front boot to a more upright position with less forward lean, i sinched down the spring on the dgss mechanism. This has resulted in a lot less forward and aft movement being available on that boot vs the rear. I'm not sure this is actually a factor since some folks ride without any spring mechanisms on their boots. Like you mentioned, it sounds like it's more of an issue not having enough forward lean which can aid the pirate leg. I will try out the empty shell footbed test today.