Board Doctor

Daytime running lights are actually mandated for vehicles in many countries. Cyclists often use a flashing light and it does get your attention... https://www.bikeradar.com/features/6-of-the-best-rear-daytime-running-lights

Anyone use a flashing tail light on their helmet? Like you see on bicycle/motorcycle helmets?

I’m VERY interested! I just don’t race and don’t have the expertise to have anything to add. But may I ask, how ‘early’ is the early edge angle? Its been getting icy and I’ve been trying to keep turns tight to control my speed (even just on steeper blues)… but too much, too soon and I feel like it slips because I’m not engaging much of the effective edge. I’ve been trying to develop this skill, but maybe I should actually just ‘slarve or die’? (Which is generally my default approach).

You can’t be fully compressed when you’re moving your board and legs under your body at the transition. You extend as the board goes out and around the apex. I’ll also add that I feel most vulnerable at the transition when I’m unweighted and I haven’t set the edge. It’s best to have some room for additional flexion to ‘absorb’ uneven terrain. (I failed to do this on the weekend and still feel sore!).

If we’re talking really steep terrain and you’re trying to limit your speed, that’s not how I do it. I heavily weight the nose and get that bending into the turn first. If you’re on a directional all mountain/freeride board with some rocker in the nose it’s super easy. Once that happens I hammer the rear knee forward and put pressure on my rear binding through the arch of the foot. This decambers the board to follow the nose before you develop much pressure in the turn. As you naturally build pressure, you just ride it through (with increasing edge angle), then towards the end of the turn the board will want to release that stored energy, but I try to hold it decambered a bit longer, maybe even get onto the tail, and try to keep the radius tight. If I’ve got the terminology right, I’m doing cross though turns… keeping my COM fairly tight to the board around the transition so that it’s quick. I have more extension at the apex as the board takes a longer path than my body. These are some of the most fun turns for me.

Jack M, I presume that you're Jack Michaud? These are some great articles! Can I ask a question about Cross-Through? https://nicholaswmin.github.io/alpine-carving/articles/cross-over-under-through/article.html The way that it's defined in this article seems to be similar to how I ride, a combination of cross-under & over (more of a continuous spectrum than either boundary condition). For cross-through, the skiers seem to say that the COM should move strictly left to right and not up at all. Now people use the term down-unweighted. Can you clarify these terms?

Honestly green runs are the worst (though cat track returns can be bad). People with absolutely no skill will bomb them... and then you'll see them start down a steeper blue with trepidation. It's probably the same people that drive 80 in a 100, but then still drive 80 when they hit town and the limit is only 60kph. On the slopes there doesn't seem to be a lot of policing, it's pretty chill. This ain't no country club either.

Super foggy today, so I had my Freecarver 6000 on a green run (which are supposedly slow runs). A skier BLASTS past me. At the bottom I hear him in the lift line saying that there was a snowboarder cutting back and forth that he just had to get past. I was a couple people behind, but contemplated saying (yo dumbass, green runs are slow runs!).

I had the magazine as well... I'd love to get a framed poster now. Here's a slightly higher res image that I found somewhere (it was a while ago):

BTW, if you like the lateral drive of the XV, you might want to grab a pair while you still can. Next year their moving to the XF chassis design (with the side bushings), though it’ll be carbon. 24/25 catalogue: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j5qvWORy5OuE9hpRYw065Fbp079ZKt_0/view?pli=1

Oddly they only seem to offer them in regular. If they offered both I could see stores not wanting to stock them, but direct from Flux should be manageable (well, maybe not for North America).

Well this is interesting, in Japan they offer a combination of bindings. MF-01: https://wx2shop.jp/?pid=174364354 MF-02 This is the second edition of the FLUX Manufacturing Program, which started with the aim of creating bindings tailored to each type of sliding. This model is a binding that is especially effective for regular riding, and was created to suit the gliding style of Lead Osaka manager Takumi Nakajima. It was created with the advice of rider Mr. Hirama from the original binding that started as a You Tube project at the store. For his riding style, which involves gripping the snow surface with the surface rather than edge-to-edge gliding, such as powder or ski slope cruising, the MF-01 is based on the concept of operating with the front foot and allowing ease of movement with the rear foot, just like the MF-01. The key point was a more playful finish with a combination of parts different from 01. The left binding, which is the forefoot, uses CV, but the high back uses soft flexible SR material. This is a new part set for the MF-02, and CV's unique high heel cup maintains high maneuverability underfoot, while providing freedom around the calf for ease of movement. did. The right binding of the hind leg uses a DS base + XF footbed like the MF-01, achieving both ease of movement and speed of turning. For this reason, the MF-02 has adopted an SR highback for even greater ease of movement. This left and right combination achieves the highest level of operability, support, and range of motion during powder riding. This model has high maneuverability at low speeds and does not have the pressure of a high back, reducing stress when traversing during powder hunting or passing through dense tree runs. This binding is perfect for him, as he often has the opportunity to skate in various fields with other riders, such as through the store's You Tube project. MF-03 is the CV-LTD MF-04 is the SR-LTD

Jones Freecarver 6000, the 154 with a 6.5m SCR, 26mm SCD… it’s a lot of turning. It seems to be happy carving at 30 kph, you don’t really want to go over 40kph.

I may have spoke to soon... 10 laps today and my lead leg was hurting. The CV are very heel biased though, so I moved the front binding 5mm closer to the toe. It worked a lot better and the pain disappeared. I left the rear binding more centred though so that I don't get toe drag. Do people ever stagger their binding position like this or is this really weird? It's not wrong if it works right? Initiates the toe side better and holds that edge better. With all the leverage of the highback it doesn't seem to affect the heel much. I've resisted skate tech until now... I've always thought that they engineered the flex in the wrong direction, but they actually work. I've got the Mercury on the Freecarver 6000 now and it drives the toe side much better than the flux did. Heel is almost as good.

I picked up a Korua Trench Digger and now I've got the CV's on that... It's also a great combo. @crackaddict I've been to Revy a few times, but only once in the last 5 years (since we got a place at Big White). I enjoyed your secrets of carving vid... I'm looking forward to part 2! And yeah, it'd be cool to shred.