FTA2R

I studied and traveled throughout spain for 6 months. it sounds like you want to visit either a smaller town or even a resort (the coast) Madrid is not low-key (although can be relaxing) and I don't know the "Barcelona beach scene" enough to comment, but it's a tourist destination for sure (and rightly so). r u sure u want to make big leap across teh pond and not see the sights? Speaking from experience, Southern Spain (Andalucia, specifically Granada) is def. more laid back, and you may enjoy Cadiz (very southern tip), especially during Carnaval (if you want a cool "local" party). Personally I agree with Jack, start out with the big ciites, either Madrid or Barce, and then you can proceed to a more relaxing destination. (the coast or the south). of course it's your choice... In the north, San Sebastian in the Basque region is very cool "local" destination. Also consider The Algarve (Southern Portuguese coast) We drove from Madrid to Lagos, Portugal- beatiful drive, and a very cool little (primarily summer) beach town. Pamplona (ROTB) during the second week of July is a big, famous party and not low-key. i'm sure you know that. preparing your own food is not the way to go if you want to sample local. eating out at least a few times will do the trick. Spanish cuisine was the one thing many of us were not fond of, however. Prague. was just there in sept, 2nd visit. very cheap and a beer lover's paradise. city has a cool dark / gothic feel to it and tons of history. the "tram BO" in Prague will give you plenty of "local feel" (or should i say "smell") hahah. (sorry to our Czech carvers here). many hotels there do not have AC, which means you may have to keep the window open. this can be a major problem when trying to sleep if your hotel is near a tram line or a busy street. this happened to me and sleeping was frustrating, to say the least. as a general statement, Spain will have more tourists. if you want to spend a little more $, go to one of the Norweigan fjord towns and spend some time there. very relaxing, very few toursists. may get bored, though...I have the name of a place if you want. go during summer. email me if you want more info...

that happens enough here, lol. i personally find it interesting to compare different SCRs and overall lengths, and occassionally waist width (esp. with an alpine board) and a stiffness rating (if there is one). Other #s I ignore. Lonerider, this may be silly question, but why is your smaller Donek harder to ride than your Rad Air? Stiffness? thx,

curious re: general thinking of "equivalent sizing" b/w an alpine board and FR/FS. IN other words, "if one rides an alpine board of this length / stiffness / style, up to what length FR / FS could one ride?" any one of determining? seems easy, yet hard (b/c of different variables) ex: I ride a Donek FC 1 163, 10 M SCR. Looking at this Burton Board's specs, the SCR is clearly not as big, yet I do not weigh 160 and the overall length is longer. I know this is just a suggested rider weight, and experience and application must be considered, but what's the general consensus? 166 8.48 530 296.1 296.1 1295 160-210 lbs. / 73-95 kg. Medium / Large anyone want to formulate some "theorems" here? (ex: riders with Freecarve boards should feel free to ride a FS/FR board up to 10 cm longer than a FC board)

hey, this is sweet....i'm sure a bunch of people know about this, but i didn't know you could customize your board this much...they even have the old Safari design as one of the templates. Sean, you got some competition....this is not cheap though! ps what's with the little plastic metallic spinning thing on someof the new (burton, I think) boards...this is for show only right? play around with this... http://www.series13.com/

when i need the family pinball machine, my beloved Lucky 7 (williams '78) serviced? dude wanted way too much here....we sold it

was offered it in spain and other place but never really had the desire to try it. upon arriving home from europe a few months ago, some loser customs agent at dulles airport asked me, "did you have absinthe" to which i answered "no" - not like it was any of his f'n business what i do outside the US. Then he goes "good, it's illegal" what a complete idiot. so what we he have done if i said "yes"? this guy would be a perfect American victim for Borat. maybe he thought i was trying to bring it back.

LOL Gleb re: Russian gas mask, that's nutty wearing that thing...what were the reactions? (other than "WTH!") LOL Skully. I read Bode is developing a jet fighter style helmet.

badass helmet. i have an old jet figthter helmet that barely fits my head, the real deal though, i used to joke i'd wear it for a run, also has dark built in visor. anyone "jet fighter style" helmets out there with visors (that aren't actual jet fighter helmets?

where are you riding in DC? I ride in Southern PA ("SoPA"), about 1.5 - 2 hours north of here, depending on destination. a few VA resorts, and 1 md resort, but general consensus is SoPA is the best for day trips (1 card gives us access to all 3 diff't resorts) How can you Tbone a kid who is uphill from you? If he hit you he would be the Tboner and you would be the Tboneee. And vice versa. he was uphill and i was turning / traversing toeside (to the left) and we collided. he was fine, my new Donek chipped, though. Someone earlier mentioned "that guy" who comes out of nowhere when you turning heelside- that can be scary. as we all know, we have to be very careful b/c we make wider turns. i'm curious though, who is technically at fault when a t-bone incident or other similar collission happens. carver is technically in front, but is going across run, softboarder / skiier going much more down the run.

frequently a real issue at my local hills. especiall frustrating to see the clueless (at least newbs have an excuse) just sitting in slopes, in essence, stationary human gates. i suppose that's somewhat better than a lot of moving people?? i've had collissions (nothing major, but at fair speed) and t-boned a kid who was coming down hill (he was uphill) and chipped part of my Donek (luckily it was easily repaired). no doubt about it, we have to really be paying attention. i think it's one of the golden rules in Carver's Almanac. i'll sit on the side of a slope upwards of a minute sometimes if it means i'll have the slope to myself. on the other hand, riding in crowds forces me to work on tighter turning and looking ahead. just like so many other activities, gotta watch out for "the other guy" and a great reason to wear a helmet. some of the real long boards i think would be suicidal on some hills here, even the blue ones- theyr'e just too crowded. with all the bikers here, i imagine having a keen sense of your surroundings is nothing new. easier said than done, sometimes, of course.

funny

i have limbo video, that's it. Scott--- not sure if he's even riding still...

walked out , it was freakin long...neither my friend nor i wanted to stay over an hour, which it certainly seemed like it was. saw the monoski segment. i agree, there shoudl be a hb'er segment. monoski wipeouts would seem bad. i liked "ride" better. some cool songs, though, and the mogul skiiers are amazing, esp. considering they fly!

i got this shirt, worn it one time ever (for MAC Trax). it is def. worth my than $2 guy. i do not think it's easy to find.

of CMC doing it. it's awesome. he lifts the board up a bit with his legs to complete it. i imagine that's quite a bit of force applied.

papparaiser said: just a big florecent sticker that says "get outta me way" LOL LOL clever! i also like "Do not touch, Stay away. Touching this equipment Can Hurt or Kill you" from fleaman.

no one said anything about being gay. where were you when the dude was posting pics of the tandem hardbooters? re: gay, my track record (of women) speaks for itself. :D ps do you pay extra for the happy ending massages over there in Thailand? pps dont' see Borat..there's a scene in the movie where he's naked w/ another man. therefore, he must be gay.

@ Jack's post. the lack of teenage idiots certainly helps to keep things somewhat civil. of course we embrace the few teens that are here. d-sub, in the spirit of this thread, i would give you a big hug if i could. :D

it was funny, he has some big cojones for pulling some of those stunts. one problem is that some of the funniest scenes are not that surprising b'/c they're in the TV preview. most outrageous scene involved the mortgage bankers (don't want to spoil it). you'll know when you see it. enjoy.

does a real light rider like myself need to replace burtons, if at all?

great pic, i'm chuckling.

i have one of the dvd's from a few years ago. i'll sell it to you for a few $ is you want. email me through the website

"are about 5'5, 300 lbs white chicks that look and sound like something that should be on a best of Jerry Springer DVD and they think they're hot" this is a much broader NATIONAL problem. American women in general think they're so hot. through extensive travel and a semester abroad, I feel confident in saying that in general, American women are in the bottom half of the BIBLE (Barry's International Beautiful Ladies Encyclopedia). of course there are attractive ones, but i frequently have experienced a disproportiante amount of 'tude in comparison to the overall physical package. and then guys act nice trying to impress them. HA...do the opposite they'll like it! of course i'll probably marry an American, but would love a european or S.American

co worker told me 'bout this... :lol: :D

easy to compare different models of the same brand. equivalent models of different brands is harder to compare and different models of different brands even harder. Experience with the boards and what people (in your weight range) say should help. "one man's stiff stick is another's noodle" hahaha now that sounded scary but you the gist, it's all subjective on his alpinecarving.com site, Scott Firestone says the Donek FC has nearly as good a hold as race boards. Sean did soften the FC line starting last year though (I think), and then there are teh Olympic upgrade options...so, a ton of variables. educate yourself as much as possible, as your local hard core riders, and i'm sure you'll make a good decision. demo if possible (consider yourself lucky if you can) ========== just to spice teh discussion up a bit, what really interests me is "how do stiff freeride boards compare to some of the softer alpine boards?" i heard some of the new boards are getting sorta stiff. Anyone wanna do a little freeride - alpine stiffness comparison. for instance, maybe the "stiffer" freerides are comparable to a Burton Alp Flex? maybe even an Ultra Prime.... what i'd really really love to see (and i'm sure others would) is the weight recs for some of the popular older boards (all Burtons, Burners, etc.) Some of the history buffs might know?? Derf???