timinor

D-sub, Is the nightmare on elm street the Anniversary clip? That file got mis-named but, it is labeled "The Anniversary." Bernhard at www.stoked.at posted a notice that those clips were up on his site. The thread is in the video forum. And yeah, I thought I was pushing hard. Those bumps were coming pretty fast as I recall...but I guess not.

Pinnacle is nice video editing software and very easy to use but you need at least a P4 processor, 512 mg of memory (1gig better) and some high faloot'n video card like nvidia.

The Mountain House Lodge which is in Aspen and close to the buses has a room available for Feb 11 to 18. It runs $154 a night and sleeps 2.

My Catek disks are 15cm.

If you go to: http://www.stoked.at/snowboard_freecarving_clips.html ...and click on "A Carving Moment" you'll see a video of a Nitro Scorpion in action.

I have some 163 Nitro Scorpions. I rode them new back in '93, '94, '95. They were sweet and held on any ice you could throw at them. I still have one that I take out occasionally as a rock board. It doesn't hold anymore and washes out on firm snow. I found that after riding a Scorpion hard for 75 days +or- it lost its ooomph and wouldn't hold as well. I think these are great boards but they get old and tired. I know your board is old but how many days does it have on it? Another question...Does a board loose strength just sitting in a closet?

What is the waist width, the side cut radius and how does it flex? Soft, Medium or Stiff?

Last year at SES in Aspen the Donek guy was adament about mounting symetrically on the inserts. He claimed the manufacturers knew where the "sweet spot" was and that was the center point defined by the inserts. I'm curious what others think about that. I've noticed some manufacturers center of inserts are the same as center of sidecut and others not.

Is your board...uh...past it's prime? Boards go dead. They hold on ice when they are new but then at some point in their life they lose torsional strength and can no longer hold on ice. They will still feel great on hero snow so you think the board is performing fine and you start looking for reasons why you are sliding out on ice. This is an application of the old rule: When all else fails, blame your equipment

I bought a bunch of those little brushy training gates which are perfect for snowboarding. Guess what? No one wants to run with me and no area will allow me to stick them in the snow.

Back in the 90's there was a snowboard city league at Mt. Bachelor. It died from lack of interest. Also at Bachelor they had Nastar and a coin-op course up every day. I used to get a coin-op season pass and ran gates almost everyday. It was great and I had a ball but the coin-op and Nastar also died from lack of interest. Recreational racing, even drawing from skiers and boarders, has very little interest and doesn't pencil out. 2/3s of the racing hill got incorporated into the park and...dare I say it...inner tube hill. The short lift that served the race hill was taken out. Unfortunately, the Mt. Bachelor story is indicative of the total lack of interest that currently exists in racing...for boarder or skiers. Yes, there are those of us that love running gates but too few to make it economically feasible. If you go back east or to the midwest, you'll find racing to be popular because the hills are small and the snow conditions are...uh...not as much fun as out west. People get bored and want to run gates. Out west...the snow is great, the mountains are big, the terrain is varied...no one wants to stand around at the top of a course for 2 hours waiting for their run. If you go to the area or race department with all the enthusiasm and the "build it and they will come" ideas about snowboard racing, they will look at you and smile but they know that racing is just not popular. Even ski racing is on the decline and struggling for survival. It is hanging on only because it is such a part of the heritage of skiing.

D-Sub said: That said...I'd love to play Augusta :)

Bumpyride said: I agree and will go one further. I support Augusta National in maintaining a men only membership...and any "women only" club.

Neil, A year ago I was at Copper and did a drop in with the local race group. I was disappointed. I got very few runs on courses and no useful advice...unless the importance of "re-hydration" breaks qualifies. From my experience, I would advise against making a special trip. Figure this: The local race group caters to the member racers. They have their training schedule for that day which may or may not fit your needs. Then figure in the weather and snow conditions which may or may not be conducive to gate training on that day. If you make a special trip and spend extra bucks it may be worth it...it may be a bust. You might make a special trip and end up listening to a coach talking more about his credentials than your progress racing gates. If you find someone in Aspen to hook up with and you can run Nastar, you can avoid a lot of hassles and spend no extra money.

Last year 3 of the 4 areas in Aspen had Nastar. I'm guessing the same this year. For $10 a day you can have unlimited timed runs on the course. They usually open the course around noon and are open for 2 hours. Each area has Nastar on different days. You can go to nastar.com and figure out which day to be at which area. You will get more miles of gates under your belt running Nastar than you will dropping in with a race team. It's true that the Nastar course is typically more "fall line" than a snowboard race will be but if you just converted to an Alpine board, the Nastar course will be a bit easier and a good way to start to learn the line and timing of alpine racing.

Two thoughts I learned from watching and listening to ski "technicions" over-analize technique. "Form follows function" and "The essense of this is not the 'position'. It is the movement to the position." All that being said, I say, "Who's smiling the most? That's the person who has it figured out."

I've seen a lot of real jerks abuse lifties and I'd say 100% of the time the lifty had incredible patience. I've seen other skiers intervene in behalf of the lifty because the jerk was sooooooo out of line. I've seen jerks yelling at the lifty on powder days because there was a 5 minute delay in getting the lift going...a circumstance that was completely out of the lifty's hands. Usually, what a saw in those jerks was a pathology that goes something like this: The guy or girl is an arrogant, condescending elitist that thinks they are better than everyone and deserve special treatment. They see the lifties as servants who are beneath them and they let them know that with belittling remarks and tones. I think if those types get a little harrassment, they deserve it...and I'd like to be around to watch.

Bobdea, Those are great stories. I was never lifty but I watched plenty of them deal with jerks. One girl I rode with used to carry little candies she handed out to the lifties. She always got the royal treatment. I'm guessing the flasher was always greated with a smile at your lift too.

If you get rid of a snowboard you don't like, it won't take your house.

D-Sub, I was going to post the pic on the "Calendar" topic but there was no way I could compete with your picture.

There are those on the forum that feel you have been permanently damaged by riding that asym... :lol: However, the reality is that the transition to a symmetrical should be smooth and painless. I made that transition back in 1993 and what I remember is not that the symmetrical board (Nitro Scorpion) was different or needed to be rode differently...it was just that the symmetrical board was better and easier. It was a positive and no "re-learning" necessary.

Randy, Injuries make you realize how much you truly love that sport. The good news is physical activity helps your body heal because of the increased circulation. The body also needs rest and recovery so that's the excuse not to overdue it. Savor those runs...You've earned them with all that rehab

If it's the wrong thread, why did you re-post the picture?

I have a 172 and a 178 Oxygen Protron and I really like them both. They are from vintage '02 or '03. I don't know if the new ones are different. The ones I have are solid, hold on ice and smooth. I compared them to different boards at SES 05 and the Oxygens held their own.

Actually, I like 'em both.