FTA2R

props to SRT ("the 'Top) for not closing last year. I've told others you hold your snow the best. Hope to see you soon, Phil. Barry

yes, we here in the mid atlantic are aware that 12,000 ft mountains covered with tons of snow exist. not everyone can afford to go out there or has the vacation. Scott, you are coming to a realization that I accepted at teh end of last year- our season is short and if you're a serious MA rider, if conditions are good, going every weekend is important. Luckily Dec was decent and I got in a few trips. The thaw last year occurred later in the month and temps were warmer. If it gets too bad, perhaps our resorts will shut down temporarily, like they did last year. We can't control the weather. At least you didn't get crazy sick like I did and have to cancel a 3 day trip to Snowshoe, lose weight, and not be able to ride for weeks due to illness. anyway, it'll work out ok. Take your pic, slush or ice. And yes, I do think that when you look at it objectively, Mid Atlantic is the worst ski area in the country (of course I still love our local hills) =)

awesome!

I see many boarders wearing them wrong. Seems to me it's crucial to wear them right, they can't be on you in "relaxed" mode. I think carvers are a bit more in tune. didn't wear one in college, back then (96-00) not many did anyway (and I didn't carve), been wearing one for at least 3-4 years now, use the same helmet for skating parking garages (yes, it's very hot in summer but I deal with it). Had a few collisions with other boards in college, nothing serious, but it makes you think. Lastly, with my earbud rig, I can still listen to music while riding with helmet (w/out one of those audio helmets)

saw one at our local hill and he was amazing to watch. very inspiring. Making pretty good turns too. Had never seen that before. Was totally unassisted, too.

just b/c i got the shot a week before i got sick. i've had the shot before, but never the flu. anyway, now i'm dealing with something called Reactive Airway Disease, which explains my asthma like coughing attack. it's fairly common per my doc, basically just the mucous membranes are very inflamed and any exercise really triggers a bad coughing attack. so i have 2 different types of inhalers prescribed to me. it's a temporary asthma like condition. needless to say, i am still sidelined. many people sick in this area, esp. with a stomach flu.

careful with the cold. Take care of it first. I last rode on 12/20 and started feeling bad on the way back. Developed into full blown flu (I had teh flu shot week earlier, never actually had teh flu before), had to cancel a trip to Snowshoe, unable to go out for NYears, and now I'm still dealing with an awful cough which could be bronchitis (going back to dr). I had some kind of asthma like "coughing attack" last night after playing 2 games of ping pong, had to get some emergency prescriptions called in. tons of people in this area are sick. Luckily conditions aren't great here now, but if I miss too much of the season I'll just have to go out west! I've taken so much medicine in the past 2 weeks I feel qualified to judge them, lol. Theraflu works pretty nicely. Doesn't go down too easily, but the hot liquid is soothing. Barry

i'm not familiar with cant shims for ski bindings but i'll check them out. the circular cant goes up to 7 degrees, i prefer that one, but it's obviously much wider. how would the coin idea work? not too crazy about it (although thx for the idea) - seems silly to spend over 700 for a board and use some coins, lol. maybe i'll just break down and get the TDs. how much more do the TDs weigh then than Burton races?

These plastic cants are pieces of crap, but the Races are fine for me now. 1. how many degrees is the wedge (non circular) cant? 2. Is anyone mounting the circular cant (I prefer this one) on a Donek FC 1 or any board 18cm WW or smaller? This is what I have and my bindings are in the 2/3 inserts and the circular cant seems to overhang a bit. So I just rode flat. I know I could grind it down, anyone done this or have any ideas (I know I know, get TDs) anyone else dislike Burton cants as much as I do? Any (safe) homemade cants? === Barry

the post is from N. NJ. Neil, have you ever been to Jersey? Are you familiar with the attitudes and types of people that seem to exist in large groups there? (esp. in the shore areas). Calling it "interesting" is about the nicest thing I can say. A disproportionately large number of idiotic meatheads reside there- they are beyond dumb (in every possible way) no offense to the NJ riders, i'm sure you're all cool. these guido meatheads from the shore (Belmar) and NYC area, half of who are on roids, all very obnoxious, and can't go anywhere w/o at least 3 gold chains. I'm speaking from experience. When I was at Syracuse they were inescapable, all thought they were so cool (I'm still not sure why) These are guys who go over 20 foot jumps simply b/c all their friends do, even though they're not qualified. just let him be. i can only imagine the complete lack of courtesy (and common sense) where guys like this ride. Fortuneately I hit Hunter Mtn on during the week, so I didn't to say hi to Bruno and his 10 followers.

i saw that Trucker Lady stomp pad online...looks very cool, how does it work though? decently?

no need to get a the giro if you don't wanna spend money /buy a new helmet. I think I posted pics several months ago of my homemade duct tape buds behind the foam of the Beori I wear. volume is decent, buds stay in the helmet year round now, too much of a pain to put them back in. One reason I wear the underarmour Skully cap (like NFL style) is to keep my ears closer to my head b/c adding the buds does decrease the space somewhat (depending on how tight the helmet is to begin with). i experiemented with diff't types of phones in diff't configurations and found this to work the best. Lot of people don't even realize i'm listening to music (guess they must think I'm too cheap to buy a new helmet and just use duct tape to hold it together)

thought .doc files would have their contents auto displayed. hopefully this will work...saved as gifs

ok, so i'm having fun with one of the itunes features when you can easily create these lists. I have some calm stuff thrown in here, not just stuff to get me pumped up anymore. anyone have any other suggestions. other riders post your playlists... ~$ding mix for 12-17-05.doc

oops.

Scott, While I've never been on the lift with the snowmaker next to me like that, I've ridden through trails while multiple guns have been blowing and I know that the are extremely loud and snow will go into every uncovered "hole" around your body. I recommend the full head cover fleece baclava so you have no exposed skin. If you're wearing a helmet, noise should be bearable, but being a former pro musician, I'm sure you're familiar with a few types of insertable ear plugs! send us video /pic of your next ride through when the guns are on!

hahah, good one. still stuffing your co-workers boots with snow?

so in my case, our season is really only dec - mid march, and being mid atlantic, freakish warm spell is very possible. in addition, i have not been training like i should have since july. (I'm taking a break from krav maga, which was good overall conditioning and great cardio), but I've definitely improved my strength and overall cardio in teh short time i have been conditionin. my point is I don't have a long time to see the dramatic improvements that months (or longer) of working out (or whatever) will generally yield, and sportlegs is, to me, at least worth a shot. plus I don't have big, strong legs to begin with. I have a feeling I will be much better next time out, sometimes muscles just need to be "reactivated" I guess. Scott, I will respectuflly disagree re: equipment and technology and character of athletes. you do not need to be a world class athlete in order to benefit from technology advances in gear. Many people overestimate their abilities that's human nature, but some boards will hold an edge better than others, etc. I can't comment on the thermals but I have no reason to not believe any of the fellow BOLers who claim they work... re: athletes, although I'm only 27, I would think most agree that athletes before my time had a LOT more character. of course teh lucrative deals and endorsements weren't so completely ridiculous, team LOYALTY existed, and athletes were much more of role models. Cal Ripken was the last of a dying breed. now many (not all) of them are sell out cry babies who complain when they are asked to wear a suit off the court, coordinate elaborate dances after scoring a touchdown, go to the highest bidder, talk trash about their own teammates, act dumb when asked about 'roids (schilling, mgwire, and palmeiro are pieces of sh*t!) and lastly, although many of them went to college, I'm not sure how many of them actually learned anything in college. that being said, i admit I watch NFL. many sources to blame, including us, the public...that's a whole 'nother topic, though. === Barry

why are you not allowed to use a square tail? is it considered "too fast" or soemthing? ps anyone watch skier x? pretty fun to watch that, too... === Barry

forum hierarchy is a bit primitive, esp. considering the large amount of traffic / activity. More specific structure would probably make for a better user experience....

Scott, my non expert opinion... if they are the super thin liner socks i'm thinking of, maybe they are actually too thin. Have you tried some standard snowboard socks. they are still relatively thin, but the better ones have more padding in specific areas. I prefer non wool myself. socks can be expensive, but good (and warm) ones are necessary IMO. sides of ankles, perhaps it has to do with you angulating more, thus applying more pressure to those areas. again, more padding there *may help to alleviate. until you get more padding there, may wanna not crank the boots so tight.... === Barry

seems to me several people here swear by sportlegs. I'm going to give it a shot. Phil's post makes sense, too.

forgot to mention I was riding with rear lift and cant (3 deg. , that is "Burton degrees, lol") so this may have added pressure to front thigh. glad to see I'm not alone. Unless it happens again, I'm not going to worry. Toward the end of the season last year I went 4-8 hours riding fairly hard. Of course our hill are only 600-1000, but oh well. so I think that as I bend more at the knees, it is usually more exhausting. basically like doing a long set of squats of decent weight. just seems riding plates is much more tiring than softies. --- Barry

issue #1: leavin the bathroom to take my first run, the f'n mouthpiece of my camelback breaks off and falls on the bathroom floor. This happened 2 years ago 'cept it was when i was riding and i got soaked. local shop didn't have replacement parts so I had to go w/o camelbak, which sorta sucked. issues #2 (main problem): main problem was despite general and heart rate conditioning (via recumbent life cycle), my legs felt like f'n jelly after a few runs. I'm gonna try the sportlegs, but i was pissed. I have to think not being nearly as hydrated as I normally am had something to do with it, but after a nice lunch, I felt a lot better (and basically stronger) and finally started to "get my groove back." inside of R (front) thigh still gets worked much heavier than other leg/thigh...is this thigh burn being worse in front leg normal? anyone else take 1/2 a day to feel "back into it?" maybe i'm just being too hard on myself, first day riding since beg. of June....also, how long does everyone ride w/o stopping? I felt like I was being schooled by the little "mountain" we have here. cambelbak users don't make the mistake I did...bring at least 1 replacement valve cap eveyr time you ride. MAC guys, ran into Ronnie from the listserv at Tail...had no idea he was in our group, but I tracked him down and we chatted. conditions were nice, not a lot of people either.

sweeet! is this a secret ploy to get Fin interested in you designing custom software for him or something like that :lol: