JakeW.

-1 I disagree.

+1 Now you're speaking my language!!!

I guess I just don't get the fascination with it, but to me the body dragging EC style is just sloppy semi-controlled crashing.

That was the worst guitar solo I have ever heard! Congrats on the 25 years of riding!

This kid is f***in' awesome! He does a lot of the tricks that Nathan Fletcher and Christian Fletcher were doing 15 or so years ago, but in his own style. Very impressive!

What is "the movie?"

Glad to hear that you will be at SES next year! We rode together at the SES in 2001 (with David, Johann, Rex,...). I'm going to try to make it out there for SES next year. We'll have to crank some turns and launch off of everything!

I'm shocked that so many carvers ride unicycles! I don't unicycle, but I do ride bike trials. They should start a summer version of the SES for biking, unicycling and skateboarding. It seems like we all do at least one of those sports.

My old Rossignol test boards were foam core, and they were some of the nicest boards I've ever been on. Unfortunately they don't sell race boards to the U.S. market any more, but the some of the last race boards they made had cores that consisted of a mixture of wood and two different foams.

As far as the growth of the sport, I can only speak for myself. I know that what got me into hard booting was riding with Will Garrow! Anyone who sees Will ride in person is bound to be interested in the sport. Not only does he COMPLETELY tear it up on the groomers, but he also bridges the gap between alpine and freestyle. I think a lot of people who watch someone carve on a race board find it very intriguing, but view it as a very limited discipline. Seeing someone arc amazing turns, arc amazing turns switch, throw 720's in the pipe, bust huge grabs in the park, et cetera, opens people's eyes to the limitlessness that is possible on a carving board. Since not everyone will be able to ride with Will in person, the best growth for our sport (in my opinion) is people tearing it up on their local hills!

Nice pic of BobD! It's good to see a carving photo in which the rider is not dragging his hands in the snow!

I have been riding TD1 bindings for the last 10 or 11 years, and I am a BIG FAN of them! I gave my last pair of TD1's to a friend of mine who is starting to get into hard-booting (he rips by the way). I don't know much about the TD2, TD3, or the GOLD DIGGER (if they still exist), except that they are suspended bindings(?). I was wondering what the difference is in ride quality (and strength) of those bindings versus the TD1? Do they still have metal-to-board contact, or do they sit on elastomers? Is there anywhere that I can find an exploded view of any of the newer TD bindings?

King Crimson- I'm 6' 2" as well. I never have any trouble getting into my bindings, probably just because I'm so used to a super wide stance. One downside to my stance is that it's hard to find boards with inserts wide enough. You may have experienced that since you run a wide stance as well? BlueB- I don't have any pictures of my setup at the moment, but I'll try to post some on here soon. It's a pretty strange setup compared to most of the ones I've seen over the years.

I rode pretty much the same setup a decade ago that I ride now. The only major difference is that I ride stiffer ski boots than I used to ride. For me personally, I'm not concerned with cant or lift because I ride (23in wide) flat front and rear and I don't like wider boards because with high stance angles you don't need extra width. I'm well aware that most people would not like this setup at all, but I've stuck with it because I do like it.

*The benefits to ski boots, or more specifically ANY stiff setup...* (I think I just remembered why I stopped posting here 8 years ago)

The benefits to ski boots, or more specifically a stiff setup, are primarily power and responsiveness. A stiff interface will respond to your body movements faster than an interface with a lot of flex. A stiff interface will also deliver more power to your board. I can understand why some people would not like riding in super stiff boots, but the reason I started using Bomber bindings to begin with was the stiffness, and I still use the TD1 for the same reason. I understand that something has to give at some point, but I would much rather have the board give than the binding give. Binding failure crashes are usually much more unexpected and painful than board failure crashes.

If you are going to try it, I would use T-nuts for mounting the bindings. I don't know how you are planning on doing it, but I would not drill and screw the same way you mount ski bindings. There are very few things in life that suck more than losing your front binding to board connection at a high rate of speed!

I'm sure the sidewinder is a great binding for someone who likes lateral flex. Personally, I ride stiff ski boots because I don't like lateral flex, and I ride with TD1 bindings for the same reason. If I break a board, at least I break it with a setup I like. I'll sacrifice longevity for ride quality any day!

It's all about what works for you and your individual style. I've been riding in ski boots for 10+ years, and I like them. I have never tried snowboard hardboots, only tried them on. I find them to be too soft for my taste. I currently use Rossignol Power 9.1 boots (unmodified) and I LOVE them!

"ECES back again." ??? I've been out of the loop for quite a few years now. What happened to the ECES?

Come ride at Whiteface! She's local and spends a lot of time on the hill.