Gecko

BTW Josh thanks a bunch they arrived Tuesday and were installed shortly afterwards now I have to sit and wait until snow season starts..........

can be had in the Bomber store. I just bought a set of 413's which for a beginer seem to be nice boots. My wife and I have the same size foot so as a test I tried her Salomon Ski boots in my Olympics and all I can say is OWWWW...the tongue/upper cuff of Ski boots is really uncomfortable on on a snowboard. Now is the time to buy used and or last years gear at a discount...

Mile High Skates I am in no way affiliated with this guy (I live in Japan) but this guy is cool and he's one of the few guys selling longboard gear who will ship to an FPO. I ordered my Randels RII 180's and my Abec 11's from him...BTW they are mated to a 45" Vision Cutaway Pintail Very cambers and carves hard...awesome board though a bit rough turning on flat sidewalks...hills no problem. Seismics are good though pricey (especially trying to figure out spring weights) RII 180s are so stable in deep carves. Peace

a few Quotes from the add that I remember...since I threw the magazine away after less than a day "least used part of the edge" "Turn's like a skateboard" "makes ice feel like powder" or shreds ice I'm not sure "Stable in an icey pipe"

while cruising the buyer guide of TransWorld Snowboarding (it was a gift from my unknowing family) I came across an ad for the new Libtech Magna Traction board with a serated edge...like the Flamberge swords of old. It has 7 bumps in the edge between the feet...I have always thought that the edge was supposed to be one long arc...this thing is a true compound radius sidecut with 5 .3M radius arcs added into the mix. I certainly wouldn't want to tune the thing, though I doubt it would ever get tuned...this thing screams jibber board... first lunchtrays now after a bunch of other bad ideas we have the serated board

some things to think about PACK LIGHT... the cheapest place to fly into will be HongKong and then take the hydrofoil over to Macau (about $20) carrying lots of bags is a hassle. Taxis are relatively cheap (as compared to Japan where I live) the HK Subway is OK but not as convenient as it could be. I know HK much better that Macau so my info is slanted that way. I have, at home, a very good hiking guide book that I got there (I did one hike in March) I'll post the name of it tonight. Shopping is best price wise (IMHO) in Kowloon which is across from HK by the cheap ($.40) Star Ferry. Stay out of the Buy Me Drink Bars in WanChai...it'll just cost you too much money for in my (married) opinion too little. There are two bars in that area that I did find to be nice, Devils Advocate (pretty much a pub) and Dusk til Dawn (nice place with very good live music). Food is what you look for you can find American style restaurants (Outback, Fridays etc) but that will cost you. I ate street food indian in Kowloon that was amazing and less than $2 for more than I could eat...same for the chinese food. Stanley market is another sight to see/shop. If you have someone special Pearls are a great deal in that area. outdoor is also a better deal there than in the states added info the book is called "walkers companion, Hong Kong all year hiking". It's in both english and chinese ISBN 988-201-605-7. however you are only likely to find it as an import (I couldn't find it on the USA Amazon

that part of China is rather south...the weather should be about the same as when I was there. Pleasant, 60-80 depending...I wore shorts in early march. As for money there are cash exchanges everywhere in HK, Kowloon & Macau...you can also get money out at any ATM machine, of which there are plenty

I was there at the begining of March for a day (I was staying in Hong Kong). English is common (though not as common as Chinese), lots of good shopping, camera's and other electronics, good food, surprisingly very good indian food in addition to chinese food. I had a blast and wish I had been able to spend more time there but alas the navy only gave us so much shore leave.

I skate pools and ramps when they can be found and street ride Yokohama and Tokyo on my 24" cruiser....I just put pegs on my cruiser so I now have something new to learn and play with

Back when I was building boards for Flite Snoboards we solved the stretch problem by using 250lbs (or 800lbs) test Kevlar kite string ( I also fly a stack of Flexifoils)...we'd go to the beach early in the morning in august and pound a nail into the asphalt and measure out the radii we wanted and mark them on a piece of mylar then back to the shop we'd go...

Vision HotRod 44"Pin, Ran/RR Homemade 56"Pin, Indy215/AB11 Roskop 32" Indy169/Spit94 Natural Koncepts 33" JAGK/Spit 101 (pools) Natural Koncepts 33" JAGK/Spit 95 (ramp) Element Natas 32" Indy169/Spit 99 (street) DeathBox TMag JAGK/Spit 95 Only one Snowboard at present my quiver of 3 was stolen Flite 163

I exercised the old "you have a subscription to Martha Stewart, I have this" ploy...strangely this worked for all 6 magazine that I subscribe to;) It isn't however my most expensive subscription that honor belongs to Lenswork however if it's as good as folks say I may write it off too as a work/training expence (being a Photographer does have it's advantages) :D

The Chutes at Mamoth are do-able with I remember carving them on my Frestyle, in powder...once they became ski'd out well...kickturns were all that worked. I never did Climax usually I was in the Cornic bowl and Scotty's or droping Hangmans, Wipeout and Dropout

I received, in the mail from Amazon, Sean Sullivan's new book "Lines" today...Given that Sean was a Transworld photographer it is still an amazing book. Little to no hard boots, a bit more old school with more powder and backcountry...however my favorite passage in the book s where he is discussing the Hatchet's and states that TB2 is still his favorite Snowboard video (mine as well) ...the Imagery in this book is amazing and obviously highlights a bulk of his career (in quality not quanity) Sean definatly like Backcountry as there is a bunch of good photos of that, less Air thankfully and lots of pretty lines drawn in the snow by boarders...I recomend that everyone at least take a look at it...it is definatly better than Blower and much easier to justify, -$20, vs Blower and +$40. There aren't any really Good Snowboard Photobooks, unlike Skateboarding, yet but Lines is getting close.

The Hard part there is not leaning far enough forward..yet not Pearling either:D I dropped in twice back in the early 90's; I'll always remember F$^#$% up the first one and thinking, "this is the end"... the second one wasn't perfect but looked (and felt) much better even if my heart was beating faster than a speedmetal bass...I don't think my balls are big enough to do that anymore:eek:

I know exactly when I sprained mine...and it was over a decade ago...it's still painful at times:mad: Time isn't a cure but it is a good reducer of pain

you have a couple of options. You could modify you boot or probably smarter (if you are not tool savy) have a professional modify it for you. Another choice would be to build up the outside of the liner with foam...I have seen kits for this availbile in snowboard/ski stores. Personally I would try this first before any cutting/drilling on my boots

Not sure if it's the one but I was never fond of the lift that went over/beside Stump Alley and Mammoth...it did that up/down thing

fresh legs and good conditions...At the start of the day I can do everything I'm supposed to to turn properly (when I set my mind to it anyway) as the day progresses I seek smooth and easier terrain. By the End of the day my legs are usually thrashed enough that the only thing I can navigate with any polish are green circles...It all comes down to Practice. I pretty much start the day on the steepest groom I can find (baring a powder day) and let the conditions dictate where I go.

can't say much about those places having never been there but I rode the Snowcats at Grand Targee and loved it...

while I've not rode a Burner I have some time on a Split tail...they do ride shorter than their true length because the tail is (alot) softer than the nose ...this does make it a bit easier to slide out the rear (not always what you want)

Wow I didn't know you could get your body layed out so close to the ground like that (said by a skier that I technically work for back in the real world of the Navy)

There is always an hour or so spent in the Onsen to lossen up those trashed out muscles...oh yeah y'all don't have Onsens Truthfully I go fine a nice green circle and practice slow carves

I remember a week at Stowe while I was in Collage when the Temp didn't rise above -20F and it was blowing hard 20-30MPH they only had the main mountain open and only 2-3 lifts at that ...still the 100-200 people that were there enjoyed perfect snow between warming in the lodge

Part of the TW problem is that they are based in SoCal...where every brat thinks he can be a Pro Skate/Snow Boarder a'la Shaun White...The odd thing is that RideBMX (I have raced and street-riden a 24"BMX cruiser since I abandoned MTB's to the technology race) hasn't been as effected by the TW effect as other sports. This could be because the "Core" BMX audience is spread out accross the US and SoCal doesn't have as much to exert it influence on... As for the Future of Alpine and the Olympics...Remember BX is set to hit the next 5 ring circus next time , lets hope the Course design doesn't end up like something out of the Xgames downhill BMX(So dangerous that Pro's were getting very hurt)...I personally would like to see a (Paired maybe) (super) Super G replace Slalom but that's just because I have never really liked Slalom and I have always had dreams of Blazing down a mountain on a BIG BIG (+200CM) raceboard