neil sunday

how often do you ride? shin bang goes away when you ride a lot sometimes... i doubt it is the cant plate- most likely an improper boot fit.

yup. hertel... good in high humidity conditions... comparable to a SWIX CH10 i think. as bordy said-- for good wax, get a good job! and phil has an excellent point about dried out baords. once boards come back from a stone grind, i normally will wax a stick about 6 times befoe it hits the snow again. this rejuvinates the dried out base. a hot box treatment is good for them once in a while as well, if you have the resources for one.

I have done extensive time testing to compare SWIX and HOLMENKOL waxes of "equal" quality. These brands are by far the most trusted on the world cup circuit-- look at the schooch brothers, marc iselin, doresia krings, Urs Eiselin, Antii Auitti,seth wescott, etc... Other than Dominator (official wax of the US SNOWBOARD TEAM), most all other waxes are lower level. Purl, OBJ, etc may be fine to use for recreational riding, but not on your investment of a high end alpine setup. More inportantly than which specific brand of wax you use, is how you use it. become familiar with a line of products and then test, and research how to properly clean your base, apply wax at the right temp, apply the right wax, how to scrape, and brush, etc. this willl make you a more proficient racer. check out hte following for tips on waxing: www.swixsport.com www.holmenkol.com If you felt Swix CH6 was slow- it was probably just off for the snow/air temp. Brushing is a way to remove wax from the structure of your base- making the p-tex more effective at removing suction (water) from under the board. Brushing is done with a variety of different stiffnesses in the brush. soft brushes are used for very expensive flourocarbon overlays. a medium brush works for just about all your mid temp range waxes... a "hard bristle brush works for colder waxes, and a brass bristle / combi brush works for removing oxidization from the base, and for really cleaning out the pores of the base. you can use brushes very efffectivly simply by "brushing" in a straight line from tip to tail, overlapping alll brush strokes. usually 10 strokes per area, then move across or down the board. keep certain to brush in a straight pattern, especially at the end of the brush stroke when most beginners tend to curve the brush, as there arm is straightening out. A roto brush is a great tool, and any coach should save there pennies to get one. i have multiple different roto brushes to remove waxes from 6-8 boards per race. it's nice when you are in charge of the tuning, as all the waxes on the kids baords are a certain brand (all the same) this prevents contamination of your expensive brushes from other lower quality junk wax that will clog the brushes. Good Luck in your tuning. may you reap the benfits of good wax and good brushing!

Yeah Strider! If you're getting hit with the tall boy from the panel- ride on! you're charging it, and wearing the panel... Good Luck finding padding for any of that action! Just be careful in the Nastar gates... ride a wide line- it's worth it! take it easy!

RED makes impact shorts that i have used with great sucess... i use impact shorts if i am training with an injury or a large bruise that i just dont want to take any chances on re-injuring (sp?) I use leki shin guards, and that takes 99% of the impact. if you are getting hit in the thigh area, it is probably a temporary thing that will correct itself as you take a tighter line. scott shinguards work well if you have smaller legs. the leki world cup guards are great for those w/ bigger calf muscles. reusch, invicita shinners are all pretty flimsy. KEKA carbon fiber shinners are nice- but you better kick a$$ or you'll just look like a world cupper wannabee. i think "SCUFF" from this board has a couple seasons on them, and my kid i coach in vail rides them. check out any equiptment from POC. it's pricey- but that is some top notch gear- not sure whether they have thigh/butt protection, but possible. --- as for running skier gates, i would recommend STAYING AWAY! they are so dangerous for snowboarders. they wrap around you, hit you in the face, dislocate shoulders... all things i have experienced myself or seen. skiers dont actually push the gate away from them- they simply position themselves so the gates brushes past on either their pole or arm/head.

i was at RT last night with a total of 7 hard booters. we trained GS gates from top to bottom of exhibition. we will be out again on saturday from 8 until 12:00noon. I am going up tomorrow (fri) to free ride. peace.

I work with young riders/racers all the time. I coach and train at Ski Roundtop in Harrisburg, PA and Vail, CO. Ski Roundtop, PA is where we could do something. Email me for references to set up something if you would like. You will not be disappointed. Regards- Neil

the pics are from shop. but the seller is not bola. i just spoke to him. if you don't know, don't just post b**l sh*t.

The seller of the Kessler is not Bola. KST technology is something that not even the best in the industry can match or understand. We tore one apart this weekend to repair it, and there are things that are not in normal boards. If a Kessler is right for you, you don't even need to ask what makes them different or what's behind the science.

www.fis-ski.com

left course was all blue panels / right course was alternating blue/red panels.... it was dual gs set at 22 meters. sam was beating me 'cause he's on his kessler! hahahah....

Temp b/w 225 and 250 for 13 minutes. one liner at a time.

Hee's a rather biased article about snowboarding, but at least sam and myself got the front page of the pocono daily record! http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080107/NEWS/801070330

Gerry Lowe hooked me up w/ a Hot Logical when I was younger too! Cool dude, as I remember.

i'll let you know after tonight what the situation is at Roundtop.

Give me reasonable offers. Our racer needs $$$ to keep it going.

you're telling me that i can set a course and ride straight to the pub? man- i'm racing and training in the wrong area.

the man who holds the drill seldom carries the bag!!! oh noah, perhaps we can sit down and write a book of wise tales someday in DFJ's honor...

Noah- oh man. If i knew you were running the show, I'd go do my local NASTAR race! hahaha. Just kidding bro! Happy New Year to you as well. Dave It looks like you've got great options all around, as Noah is no joke. Everyone have a fast, safe race week. Hope all is good up north for you Noah. Later On- time to go wax. Neil

Dshack- I had the same problem with the HEAD STRATOS Pros, and went back to riding my Raichle AF 700's. I'm now on the Deeluxe track 700's w/ BTS, and can't be happier. You may want to reconsider riding them if they just dont fit properly. The Head boot isnt really any better than any raichle or deeluxe to have to go through all that modifiying just to make it rideable. I found them (STRATOS PROS) to be too stiff, even when I adjusted the forward lean WAY forward on my rear foot. Good Luck, and remember- Life's too short to ride w/ boot pain!

This weekend we will be having two dual slaloms at Camelback and two dual giant slaloms on sunday as well. these are legit races, and i'll be doing the setting. you can still register on site. www.snowboardseries.com we usually get 55 or so racers. weather each day is good, with a high of 40 on saturday and 42 on sunday.

These were by a rider on my team. She used them for two seasons on her GS board. Intec heels have some wear, but nothing to be unexpected. the rest of the bindings are in great shape. All proceeds help an athlete trying to make it from the usasa to ussa circuit. TD 2 Step Ins 6 degree rear cant 0 degree front all necessary hardware included. $250 plus shipping to lower 48. email me directly for inquires. neilsunday@aol.com

Michelle- I'll be out to Vail on the 13th through the 18th of this month. I'll be sure to give you guys a holler' and check you out. My Track 700's with the BTS feel like bedroom slippers, and lately it seems like I wear them more than any other shoe in my closet! We have a Mid Atlantic USASA qualifier this week, so I'm in PA with my team. AJ will be riding solo this week. See you soon! Neil

Thanks for the kudo's Mike and Lee! I just picked my butt up off the couch, after a five day training camp with our kids-- we have to prepare for the first Mid Atlantic Snowboard Series Race (www.snowboardseries.com) this coming weekend. Our team is riding very well, and we just converted a 13 year old ripper to an alpine board. After four days on an alpine setup, he has gotten about three seconds faster per run (when compared to his training mates). It's times like these that make you still want to coach! We're supposed to get some snow tonight, and Ski Roundtop is making snow again starting Tuesday! Maybe we'll have some of those mud spots covered! Happy, Safe New Year to all, and see everyone on the hill soon enough.

A thing I havent seen mentioned here yet as a way to bend the knees, is to drop the hips into a heelside carve. By lowering your hips into the turn, you have no choice but to bend your knees (assuming you are angulating and not inclinating your turns). On toeside turns it is harder to "drop the hips" as you are not merely "sitting" into the turn. This require more effort to lower the hips while maintaing a rather upright and straight back, as to avoid breaking at the waist. On a side note- is your back boot adjusted to have more forward lean than your front? this helps as well. by making sure the rear boot is more forward than the front puts you into a better riding postion from the start. The stance is a little wide, IMO-- but a wide stance is easier to bendthe knees, compared to having a stance than is too narrow... Good Luck!