neil sunday

Sharples- Best thing to do is give me a call on Friday to see if we are training that weekend. right now the conditions are pretty poor. in two weeks it should be much better... feel free to email me at neilsunday@aol.com and i'll shoot you my phone number. --

spend less time figuring out your ultra tech lifters, and more time riding cutting boards under your feet! ask anyone who actuallly rides them- cutting boards are perfect. but they will not instantly make you into a super-carver.

Drangonsword- I'm glad you enjoyed the day. i am one of the coaches at Ski Roundtop, and would be happy to have you down to practice anytime... we train monday and wednesday nights from 6 until 9 pm. occassionally we train on weekends. (actually- most weekends)... Glad to see some new faces on race day. ps- the girl riding the deeluxe indys was tara brady. she's an athlete on my team that is back from injury from last season. the last time she raced was at the usasa nationals in angel fire, where she got on the podium! she's way fast! -take care. Neil

Phil- excellent advice. the same as Anton gave me. I'm putting them on Snowpro's today!

Phil- I was riding my donek thursday night. will be up there saturday and sunday. hope to see some of you. i'll be riding the red 182 Donek, snowpros, orange head boots.

SW- The Roundtop crew wishes your lady the best in a safe and fast recovery. Getting back on the horse is sometimes the toughest part. I only hope the love of hang-gliding will overpower the fear of a freakish accident. Best of luck- Neil

Being from Pennsylvania, I will tell you this. Philadelphia is an extremely litigous "mindset." The medical malpractice cases there are treacherous to the doctors in PA... It is truly ashame, but leave Nidecker and the companies alone. THat's maybe why we pay $50+ for a lift ticket IN PENNSYLVANIA!!!! damn.

Man, US SNOWBOARD TEAM Gettin' it done! Jewell, Mac, Thorndike, Warren and company ride like no one else... line and angulation is totally confident...

compared to sb323 or burton fire's - Head Stratos Pros are miles above in performance. i think they are miles ahead of the raichle af 700 even, which i rode for the past 3 or 4 years.

greg- that was me, i was trying out my Head Statos Pro boots... I'm going to be training gates today (fri) and saturday at ski roundtop in prep for USASA nationals at Copper. Thanks for the invite. i'll be interested in riding with you guys next year for sure... --- neil

Chubz- I was riding at Blue yesterday for the first time ever! I like the moutain. Nice and steeper than most terrain in PA. I'd be happy to let you take the coiler for a spin- it has an asymetric core in it, and i'm regular footed, so i'm taking the 50% chance that it will work. let me know.. Neil

I'm 205, and ride a 163 Coiler WCC, TPL, 7.9 stiffness (bruce's scale) High speed stability, arc turns real nice. just put binding lifters on it, and it's almost impossible to "skid". need to "feather" it once in a while inthe race course, and really need to focus to get the board off edge..

i've used Ginko for three weeks prior to travelling to any altitude above 9,000 ft with excellent sucess. (2) 40mg tablets in the morning and (2) 40mg tablets in the evening. just make sure to ride or train for whatever you will be doing at altitiude at your current heigth, so you can make any adjustments. with me the only side effect i experienced was a slight "heady" feeling the first two times i've used it, and a little weird taste in my mouth when i'd take the pills. it prevented altitude sickeness, along with taking care of yourself at altitude.. minimize the alcohol intake, and i slow all my movements down a bit (i.e. walking, stairs, lifting) these things seem to keep the energy for when you need it. even if it's just for the mental "piece of mind" i'd do it. then there's no second guessing..

I totally agree with the last post. Just get the heel of the board and and enjoy the ride.

to make sure the sole of the boot didnt become effected by the lifter, i raised both the heel and toe pieces. this results in an increase in the ability to get the board on edge. i will say, be careful when first trying it out, as the effects are immediate and rather dramatic. it took me four to five days of riding and race training to get comfortable on the setup. i suppose you could taper the thing, but i personally wouldnt risk the boot hold down properties of the current binding system.

Take a cutting board and bandsaw it out... Drill out hoels for your screws, and order stainless bolts to compimetn from a hardware store. I just raised my TD1's and used 10mm of lift.. Had to order stainless 8mm X 30 mm screws with a 1.25 pitch. Total cost of lifters for me was about $16. Well worth every penny..

I attended Klug's camp and rode and trained with Anton Pogue and Ben Fairchild. In 3 days I learned more about racing style and general riding than i would have in 3 years. The very next year after his camp I made it to the podium at usasa nationals for the first time. it's well worth every penny in my opinion..

I have a wide foot and just left the Raichle AF700 For the Head Stratos Pros. I only have 5 days of training in on them, but I can tell you what I did to make them work. 1) raise the AFC Cuff all the way to the top, as the HEAD boots without raising the Lateral Cuff is about .75 inches shorter than the AF 700. Without raising the cuff, I felt like I was folding the boot over at the end of the turn, or when pressuring the rear of the board. 2) Crank the Forward Flex spring about 10 notches to the free up the flex. this will give you a good forward flex. this was one of the most important things i did. 3) add BOOSTER straps instead of the little, cheesy HEAD POWER STRAPS that come with the boots. BOOSTERS are so much nicer. 4) Replace the soft toungues with the GRAY harder ones. this make s the boots feel like it's got some "meat" to it. you will not fold the boots over during toe-side turns. All in all, though-- it's taken me 5 full days to even consider the HEAD boots worth it. the first four days I hated them. I wanted to replace them with my rotten, stinky AF 700's. Now, I'm almost happy with the HEAD boots. They seem more responsive than the Raichles.. The ThermoFlex liner of the Raichles was more comfortable than the liner inthe Heads, however it seemed a bit small for guys with big calf muscles. i had a hard time getting the thermoflex wrapped tight around my entire shin-calf. the Head liners with the tongues fot no problem, however- you may want to add padding to the tongue at the flex point , as this was a "hot spot" on my first 5 days.

DFJ and Phil Fell, It's Neil from Ski Roundtop, PA.. I see you guys each year about this time... I'm arriving in Coppper on Tuesday night. I'll check you guys out on Wednesday. Look forwardto see everyone... Even got a 13 year old and a 17 year old ripper tagging along. ---- Neil ps- Phil- I hear Jimmy R is Tearing up Park City. Hahahahah. I hope you're coaching him well. Firend of mine for past 10 years now....

check out the pic: www.skiroundtop.com we just finished a four race USASA sanctioned weekend. Sam B with a clean sweep!

they used DRAPERS DROP, which i am told was were the woman's downhill course runs through... i'll post pics asap, as i just finished four races this weekend.

I just got back from Lake Placid, where the starting temp of the day was around 4 degrees. Throughout the day I was probably 3 broken bindings- by World Cup racers in an extremley demanding course and snow conditions. These women and men were riding all sorts of bindings with combinations of metal, plastic and who-knows-what in them. Tons of Burton plates, F2 plates, Phiokkas, and every other binding made under the sun..

Just got back from the WC PGS in Lake Placid- I had the privilege of being a forerunner on a sick, steep, icy PGS course. Thanks BVG! Great course up top, and then 12-13 gates of steeps and scratchy snow. Will post many pictures tomorrow of setups unlike what we're used to seeing. More Kesslers than I ever knew existed. Great riding by Adam Smith who went into the finals round in fourth place, only to be narraowly ousted by .01 after a screaming comeback! Gorgone, Rosey and Kosglow rode amazing!!! Railed the turns like riding on groomers! That's why they're at the top! JJA was sporting a secretive looking Coiler on the first run. And another, but different one after qualifying. Bruce was building more boards and absent from the scene. The gates were set great for the hill, but very demanding- As soon as you'd shin/clear a gate, the next one was in your face with very little time to set up an initate turns. Oh well, my 2 cents. Time to go out and try to ride like a madman (or just like anyone from Europe).

I just reevaluated my Coilers, and decided I can get another season out of them!

Here's a story from a great friend and excellent rider: Today is a rough one gentlemen... Yesterday at the mountain (after Neil left) I took a few extra runs. I was taking my last run trying to "get it" one last time. The snow was firming up, nice and fast. I pointed it up top to generate speed to break the crust of the top layer of shoosh. All was going well. As I entered the middle section I adjusted my weight forward a bit to get that snappy feel from toe to heel. Snow giving in with every toe/heel side combination. It’s the feeling we all know. The feeling that makes you go to the chair instead of the car for just one more run. As I approached the second fall line I opened up the ride a bit. Nice big carves, flowing from toe to heel, and that’s when I saw it… about two turns away was the scorpion waiting for me, daring me, wanting me to come closer. I sent my deathstick into a nice heel side floater. Halfway through the turn I pressured too hard. I went to my side. Not wanting to give up on the turn I got my legs underneath me, adjusted and set the edge. I popped off the snow, the deathstick stuck it like its done so many times in the past. The scropion reacted the only way it knew how. He swung and caught me. The adjustment that I made was too much. It threw me into an immediate toe side cranker. I threw my weight forward waiting to be ejected to the back of the saddle hoping to ride this little pony to glory. I think I might have even let out a yeehaw! The scropion noted my smile and struck again. This time hitting the board and folding over the nose faster than you can say **** ***** loves the hog. My body flying in the air, realizing the scorpion had won, I braced for impact. A forward face plant into the crust, hood detaching from my jacket and flying over my head, googles around my neck and what felt like a broken rib. My MP3 player jammed my rib hard. I lay in the snow gathering my thoughts. What a rookie move. Overcompensation of weight distribution on a heel to toe combination always leaves more kinetic energy in the camber. I should have remembered that. How dare I leave the mountain with the score: Scopion 1, me 0. I took a couple more runs and let the scorpion have his day. I'll be ready next time.