Unicorn Poop

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Here's something I wrote a while back after my first track day... There really is nothing quite like the moment of stark clarity when you're on the brakes coming into T1 on perimeter. Time stops, everything around you ceases to exist, and you become one with the bike. The HRC brake pads clamping down on the 320mm rotors become an extension of your finger and every part of the bike works in harmony with every cell in your body to haul 600 lbs. of man and machine down from 155 MPH using nothing more than ~15 square inches of rubber. Diving towards the apex, the feeling of gravity sucking you down into the seat and tank seems to last forever as your knee puck lightly bounces and grazes the pavement. The full Ohlins suspension works with such perfection that you don't even know it's there, effecting the feeling more of being on a couch than on a motorcycle. Rolling on the throttle as you exit T1, you feel each power pulse of the angry twin increasing in intensity and frequency. Each intake event can be heard occurring mere inches from your head as the enormous Wiseco pistons greedily suck air through the TurnOne carbon fiber airbox. Going WFO, you feel the forks top out as the rumble turns into a bellow turns into a roar and the pounding, mountainous thrust teleports you to the next turn. http://<wbr>www.millermotorsportspark.com/<wbr>downloads/maps/<wbr>MMP_Facility_Map_High_Resolutio<wbr>n.pdf

My personal speed record is somewhere between 170 and 180 at the end of the straight on Perimeter (same config they ran WSBK on) at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. Things slow down. In your mind, you're so far ahead of where you are, it feels like it's taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get to the next turn. I find myself going "let's go, let's go, let's go, faster, faster, faster" despite being on a 160 HP, 400 lb. bike. As far as things on the side of the road becoming blurry, they actually just disappear. You're so focused on looking as far ahead as you can, waiting for the braking marker, thinking about how many gears you have to go down to set up for the turn, ect ect ect... **** on the side of the road (course) ceases to exist. When I'm in a full tuck, I don't see the grand stands, the tower, the start/ finish line, pit out or anything else. The only thing that exists in my world at that time are me, my bike, and the next turn. To be honest, race pace on the track is more relaxing than 30 MPH over the speed limit on the road, and I *really* have to watch myself if I go ride on the street the day after a track day because things seem sooooooo sllllooooooowwwww on the street.

Oh BS that's a "girl bike." A couple of the guys I ride with have those and use them whenever they go squid hunting. Many a 1000 has fallen to their SV650's. If I wasn't saving my pennies in hopes KTM releases the SuperDuke 1290R this fall, I'd have picked up an '03+ SV650.

Thanks for the info. Like usual, I probably won't be informed of the change 'till the week it happens, so put me down for a definite maybe and if I head up, I'll just get a room at the Super8.

Do they do military/ veteran discount passes? Also, due to the date bump, I may not make it. I currently work weekends, but that's supposed to change in "late March/ early April." If it were still on the 21st, I'm sure I'd be able to get there, but now it's going to depend on when they switch me over to a M-F schedule.

Likewise! I'm sorry my schedule is so difficult to work around. If not this year, then definitely next year.

Grip tape works great to protect your board, tear up their bases, and prevent them from going too far up your board.

I see three possible options. 1) Go back to the old board. 2) Turn your bindings more. 3) Run what you got and ride accordingly. *edit- adding a plate will have a bigger effect on how the board rides than turning your bindings more, and I see that creating more problems than you think it would solve.

haha... I place full blame on Steve P for getting me hooked. It's a tremendous board, that which I have not even begun to explore the corners of the envelope of (and probably won't for quite some time), but it does have me wondering, "what would a 210 or a 220 be like...?"

On my Kessler 168, all I ever got was questions about what kind of bindings they are or why they're turned like that, and lots of "cool board!" On the first day out on my Coiler 196, hilarity ensued. A patroller cut the line to ride the lift with me because he'd never seen a board bigger than his skis. Cool guy; we ended up talking about motorcycles the whole way up. Some jibbernaut asked, "hey bro, why's your board so big?" I hate being called bro. I replied, "to destroy all groomers; why's yours so small?" He was on the ball: "To destroy all terrain parks!" We laughed, rode up the lift and talked alpine. One liftie working the top came out of the booth to snap a picture the second time I came up. A teenage girl asked me why the board was so skinny and when I told her it's because it's a raceboard, she said, "oh, so it's like skiing." No child, it's nothing like skiing. And lots of people grinning and pointing while shaking their head and muttering to their friends, "that's nuts..."

Today was less than ideal. Flat light, lots of chop, chunder, crap and heavy powder on top of groom. All I can say is holy crap. Holy freakin' crap. This thing is like the Honey Badger- it just don't give a sh*t. It's beefy, powerful, composed, stable, damp, rock solid when railed through chunder, monstrous edge hold, and I could almost bend it as tight as my Kessler 168. This one's a keeper. *mind blown*

I like the part where he almost hits two skiiers and says it's the most amazing sidecut he's ever ridden. :rolleyes:

The board arrived today in an almost comically long box. The UPS guy said to have fun skiing, to which I replied, "It's actually a snowboard." He looked at the box, glanced at me, returned his gaze to the box, shrugged and said, "huh... well, have fun." For anyone down the road reading this and contemplating the purchase of a board from Steve, do it. If anything, he understated the condition of the board; it's very well taken care of and the two small dings are hardly noticeable when it's on the ground. He's a stand up guy, easy to work with, very knowledgeable and knows how to pack a board right. I'm actually going to save the box and sheet in case I have to ship a board in the future. I'll post up tomorrow after I've had a chance to ride this thing.

If you can get a house down to $60/ night per person, that sounds like a plan, otherwise I'll live the dream over at the Super 8. Hammer out some dates for when you want to do this and I'm in.

Awesome shot! Since I like to analyze stuff, would the uneven wake of snow coming off the board be an indication of chatter? I'm not trying to find fault; rather, just understand things a bit more. :)

Awesome! I'll let you know when it arrives.

Possibly interested in coming up for a Friday evening- Sunday afternoon deal because I'm only 265 mile away. What's the cheapest room within 45 minutes of the hill?

Apparently one person hasn't sipped the kool aid yet.

With alpine snowboarding, the artwork is not on the boards, but on the snow.

Thanks, Steve! If you ever get down this way, you have visitation rights. I can't wait to rock the softies set up duck so I can hit the back country with it.

Thanks, guys. Tom- good eye, that's exactly where it was taken.

This was a kind of spur of the moment shot at the end of the day up at Powder Mountain, and I figured I'd share.

Thank you to all who have posted. Looks like I'll be buying some gear this weekend. :)

After a particularly nasty getoff this past Monday that has affected my ability to do my job all week, I'm considering measures beyond just a helmet to prevent future owies. I'm wondering if anyone uses body armor jackets like what are used in MX racing. Example: http://www.motocrossgiant.com/Fox_Racing_Titan_Sport_Jacket_p/10050-001.htm