No.2

I now have 2 Oxygen SuperCrosses the Red And Black one is a later model, slightly stiffer in the nose and tail. I know it has had a lot less use but it has visably less camber. Just wondering which one to keep. When I bought the older silver and orange one the guy in the shop went through his whole stock and picked out the one he thought was stiffest. Maybe thats why the old one has more camber. I have also had Cateks mounted on the old one for most of its life, I wonder if they preserve or even add to its camber? (it does seem to be high right under the binding possitions)

Thats final starting to make sence Jack. You can use you foot leaverage to boost your shin leaverage and the only foot leaverage you've got at 90 is though suppinating and pronating which is obviously a lot weeker than dorsi/plantar flexing. Am I on the right track here? As far as rideing goes maybe I'm doing some thing odd 'cause I feel more comfortable flexing into my boots and pulling my toes up rather than boosting the shin leaverage by pushing down with my toes on toe side turns.

I've had a few issues with unibombers as well. One bolded me clean over and sent me air born, backwards down a black run, broke my helmut, took a chunk out of my board and left me very sore and battered. Then proceded to tell me that I was all over the place. I told him it is called turning and something he should learn about. By the time I did that BoarderCross comp I was rideing with a broken arm, 3 sprained fingers, well bruised hip, tweeked neck, partially torn tenton in my sholder and a cracked rib. I've since bought a UFO Scorpion The best chest plate you can get I think and some Sixsixone Pro Bomber shorts, some Knee pads And a full face helmut. It seems OTT but I hardly notice when I'm wareing it. I think the ultimate Body armor is Dianese Shuttle Race Apparently if you are built like an Italian i.e not ridicluliously long arms like me these things are super light and cumfy. I realy rate body armor now, thinking the crustations were on to something.

Coming in to summer and wondering what to toe behind my boat. Single slalom ski or wakeboard? Any one tried both and can tell me which is closer to apline boards? Also if wakeboarding are there any that are better carvers than others? What do I look for deep fins? Sharp edges? I'm totally new to this so any advice would be helpfull. Had one go on a wake board and thought it was pritty close but never on a single ski.

Thanks again Rob for your lovely evocative analogies. I'm sure you must be a great coach. :) Genius they say is making the complex simple. In this case however I'm kinda interested in a bio-mechanical explanation as to why having your toes to the nose increases effort. I can feel that it dose and intuitively I can appreciate that it dose now I just want to know why it dose. I'm sure this will help me under the subtleties of the mechanics of this really quite odd sort of semi sideways way we go down hills. My previous theory was that it doesn't mater weather you push on the side of your boot or the front of your boot you were still pushing the board over from about 35cm above it and therefore there shouldn't be any increase in effort. But there is so now I need a new theory. I hope that explains more of what I am actually asking here. Any one an expert on bio-mechanics?

Hey thanks serious for doing this I've been wanting to do the same for a long time. (I've got wide feet and had to butcher my 325s to make them fit.) I even have some 26 Thermo's ready in waiting. My Q is do the 26 UPZ have the same size cuffs as the 27s. It might be writen on them. (You know how the Raichles have the same cuffs and tounges for 25 - 27.5) My feet are exactly 269mm with my full weight on one foot, heel against the wall and standing on a ruler. How long are yours? Just trying to see if I could make a 26 UPZ fit. So long as they have the same size cuffs of course. Thanks again for shareing this. Jas

Hey Joel. My thoughts on boots is that you want to have them as stiff as you need for the G's you are pulling in a turn and how bumpy it is. The harder I ride the stiffer I like my boots cause they'll feel flexy when you're really railin it any way. If I'm just cruzing I definately like to back them off esp. if it is bumpy. My guess is that with your new board and bindings you might find your rideing gets more aggressive. It's amazing how much stiff boots help your edgeing when your pushing hard. If the weather is a bit warm my 325s with raised cuffs and boosters start to feel soft. If it were me I'd be saving my money for some new boots. Unless you are really light of course, Say less than 145??

Sinecure: "Local Indoor Slope" Yeah thats on of the few good things about living in Auckland, New Zealand where the only mountain is 4 hrs drive away. nigelc: One things that PSR told me a while ago was to lift your toes to help you flex into and trust the boot. And Kent used to go on about stearing with and following your feet. :) My ready to launch routine is; clip in, activeate core, body centered and relaxed, start rolling, eyes closed, deep slow nose breathing, lift toes, flex into boots, a few stomping olies, eyes up, big picture... and SEND IT! BTW are you the same nigelc1 that is selling some land in Whangarei? Based in Auckalnd? If so we should go rideing some time before all the snow melts. :) Also Moa, another AK based carver just bought a BRAND NEW 180 Roit SuperCarve!! I'm so jellous! I can't even think of a better board on our hill for tall guys! Phil: Yeah the wider the board for the same angles the less leaverage over the board. My Q is why dose it feel like there is less leaverage when you are doing, as you say, suppinating and pronating. And it feels like more leaverage when you are dorsiflexing and plantar flexing. Theoretically the height of your boots if they are stiff should dictate you leaver arm and not as Joel sugests how close you toes are to the edge esp. with stiff center mounted bindings like Cateks. Right. As I hinted at the only thing I can think of is some thing about the height of the next bend point relative to your COG. Hips while suppinating and pronating and knees while dorsi/plantar flexing. Knees lower therefor you get some kind of lever assistance because they are below your COG??? Can some one explain the mechanics of this?

People have said it, I've never belived it but then I tryed it and now I'm confused. "Reduceing your stance angle gives you more leverage over the board" I allways thought that this was rubbish as all that mattered was the height of the top of your boots above the board when you are all locked in. Weather they are side ways or forwards shouldn't matter esp. if you have stiff bindings like Cateks etc... Right. Well in a recent trip to our local indoor slope, trying out different boards with moa from here found that: F2 Silberpfeil 61F 57R easy enough to angulate. Coiler 177 AM wider with same stance nedded, as expected, more effort to angulate. Oxygen SX BoarderX board, wider still with same angles even harder to angulate (from memory) now switch the angles on the Oxy to 9F 5R and WOA suddenly the thing is a feather weight! Still haven't figured this out. The boot tops were even lower with the sideways stance as I was using my old Proflex bindings not my Cateks. But angulating the board was just so easy. Is this some thing to do with the relative heights of the next joint up... ie. knee for a sideways stance and hips for a forward stance?? Can some one help my brain out. I get the feeling my whole understanding of stances is about to change.

Opps... To clarify. I was talking about the last big jump before the final jump she went down on. Might have been clearer to say she was grabbing the previous jump for stability but..... yeah like you say tweeking a method... There sure must have been stuff behind the scenes for that reaction at the end and for there to have been any need for a PR spin. After all it's BX isn't it? Arn't you allowed to say something like hey I was just goin large for crowd and slamed, bummrr, ah well, still got the silver huh! I was just keen to see some good BX racing haveing just done one. To be honest it annoyed me a bit. Trying to spend as little time as poss on your edge was driveing me crazy. Still variety is good for your rideing right? Still keen to see some good footage of hard booters BXing.....

Just remember to lock tight the 5 studs. And use some sort high density foam or in my case rubber to augment board flex. That set up was for Proflex bindings the 4 bolts are counter sunk underneath and glued in place. It is 7000 series alloy which is a bit of an over kill but it's only about 4mm thick. You could drill a few holes here and there if you wanted to lighten things up some. What ever you do don't tap into the alloy. Some stainless tapered nuts could be counter sunk in to the base if you still want to use the bindings std fasteners.

DAN you are the MAN! Thanks. :)

Thats definitely one bandwidth sharing way bobdea. www.sendspace.com allows the seeder to UL only once and then allows and unlimited number of downloads with no further load on the sender. No emails are required and no sign up just Up Load and then you get a unique link to post. Coincidently Max file size is 300 MB. So perfect. And the link will stay up for 7 days after the last activity so potentially indefinitely.. Great for posting rideing clips as well.

Awsome thanks Derf. I'm keen to see it again while I recover from all my broken bits. Any one got it? Less than 300MB eh ... www.sendspace.com ??

Any one remember where that clip of an ex gymnast turned alpine rider doing back flips amoung other things off really small features might be. Saw it a couple of years back but not since??

That is just sad. She was grabbing the last big jump before for stability but...... what can you say. She was riding great. I'm glad I saw it.

Thanks D-Sub. The one of Isabel Clark is prity good. Man those courses look mean. Which one is of Jacobellis? Forgive me but I couldn't seem to find it.

Straight to the nub as usual master Jack. :) I'm better at a cross under, body down the fall line, feet turning under my body thing than cross through which would explain why a more hip rotated stance may have helped me initially on steeps. And why a more neutral stance demands more body integration from me. I'll focus more on following where my feet are going. Actually here's a question do you initiate with your head or your feet? P.S. Gota rate sendspace.com, totally free, no emails required 300MB max file size and the link stays active for seven days after the last dl.

Hi Guys. I've been as sick as a dog recently. (Didn't stop me entering a BX comp though :) But still no carving video. So I thought I would at least put up a small old clip on the F2. It's with the old flat front foot stance, crusing with the boots in walk mode. So you can see who I am at least. http://www.sendspace.com/file/59ln8q I'll try to get some thing more worthy next week. Take Care. Jas.

Does any one know where to find videos of BoarderX racing? I can't seem to find any thing worth while. Tryed Google and Google video, eDonkey, G1 and G2 and DC++ hubs. Maybe I'm searching in the wrong language. BX is bigger in Europe than the US right?

Hey Rob. The Canuck Connection eh! Canadians are fast becoming my favorite species. (Sh!t I wonder if that is one of those things you just don't say in an American Forum.. Sorry ;) I haven't how ever hooked up with Christian and Steve. Are they over here!? Canucks I have met here are Mel and Anne-Marie from Toronto. Both stick racers and Mels a Rugby player, Wrestler, some times hard booter, theres a Gord Manuel connection there as well. Jackson, Groomer extraordinair "Dude man, in Canada we just groom from tree to tree. Here I just don't know where to stop" I've never seen grooming this good on our hill before. And 'Becca a pint sized plate head with an enormous board. She's done the November race camp with Steve and Chris twice and recommended it to me. I'm kind of tempted but I'm not sure if I'll enjoy race styles as much as I do freecarveing. But then any thing is good for your riding right? Especially hanging out with those two. Couple of clarifying Q's Rob. Toe side or heel side? Got my stance centered along the board. I'm guessing I might be using the wrong terminology when I say longitudinal offset. I mean offset across that axis not along it. ie. front foot shoved toe side, rear foot -> heel side to help accommodate the skew from a flat front, heel lift rear binding set up. I also raised the rear binding and lowered the front to help with this as well. Point 3 is just gold. Thank you for that. Spot on. I am astounded at how helpful typing about snowboarding has been for me every time I have posted here. Every time an epiphany. You guys seem to have a sixth sense. And yes fair call Jack, I do tend to get ahead of my self at times. I wouldn't, however, have tried to teach my self to snow board online with a old asym in a country where it is / was super uncool if I wasn't a free spirit that liked to push the envelope. Having said that norms, eyes closed and focus stuff are usually all I do for the first run. Which takes a lot of self control for me especially when the conditions are perfect. I'm really keen to post a clip. If this head cam doesn't work I'll sort something out the next time I'm down. Cheers all. Jas.

Hi Chris. I'm in the north island. email me at cattz at orcon dot net dot nz if you are comming up this way. Tis a great season this one :)

Hey guys just got back from another epic two days. I even had to take the little shovel off piest into some 2 ft pow (thats as good as it gets in the North island) Just awesome and hero groomers every where thanks to a car crash on the road just behind us. About 40 people and staff on the whole mountain! I had a few quick hacks at my stance. More toe lift, less heel lift. Found it hard to get my boots matching. Hips were either over or under rotated thanks to the 325s "infinite" lean adjustment. This helped heaps with the kneeing out issue and my knees now felt a bit knocked. Put the rear back to 57 and that helped both the knock and the hips issue. Still got lots to fine tune (londitudinal offset, height and the lifts to match even boot leans) But life is defiantly easier now. I don't have to crouch like a maniac any more. I am wiping out on heel sides again but thats just when I'm not fast enough on to the back foot. With the old stance I could just whack it around and angluate and the upper body would already be there. With this stance I need to make an effort to get things in place other wise I block the turn and am on me arse. Toe side now feels much more inspiring. I'm sure there is a middle ground. Or maybe just more muscle memory to develop. I might try a wider stance with some cant as suggested by that link you posted Jack. Thanks for that. The point that Bryan raised about driving me knees out wards as inspired by the Separate Zee Knees article is valid. I think I may have been taking it too far. I had them so far apart that I could positively throw my self out of a turn by loading the board with a quick knee knock. By the way Bryan I'm based in Auckland. And riding on Mt Ruapehu. Whakapapa is the Hardbooters side and believe it or not there are more of us now than ever. I met a guy that rides sticks and also an all mountain Coiler! I couldn't believe my eyes. I never thought I would see one of those here. Nice website BTW He has a head cam. And to day was following me down a slope that was unfamiliar to me and steep and narrow enough for me to get a bit messy... good way so show up style issues I guess. But none of them turned out. Gutted. He thinks it was because the remote cam was getting too cold. He even put a glove warmer on it. But it got cold every time he disconnected it to save battery. Any tips for getting head cams working? All in all guys this has been very help full advice so thanks again. Time for bed, now where did I put that arnica. Cheers Jason

Wow thanks. You guys are awesome! With my boots locked up in this stance all I seem to be able to do is highly angluated carves. And when I'm fully pushing through them on steeps useing a cross under technique I'm knackered after about 12 turns. Strangly enough it is my back leg that burns. Maybe thats just what you get when trying to open up a softish 168? If I want to do any sort of heal side traverse or skiddies I have to flick the front boot into walk other wise my front quad dies a painfull and rather rapid death. So it seems the common theme is keep playing with it. Definatly locked front boot and not the walk mode, button around thing. Try a bit of toe lift, let my body get a bit more neutral and and watch the stance set back. And from Mike T see how my heel sides go with that set up. I know that the back knee down thing certianly helped me unblock my heel sides to the point where I am quite a bit more comfy on heel than toe. I'll see how it goes. Haven't realy looked at cant. I've been running 0 cant and just set up the stance width to suit my instep, hip width, stance angle combo. Am I on the right track here? I'm guessing a bit of cant, less heel lift and more toe lift (A la Bomber bindings) could solve my binding offset (offset from the boards longdiudinal axis) issue too. Or should I just use cant on longer boards that need a wider stance width? Also just wanted to say that Jack every time I see you on that early head cam video I am inspired. Sooo damn smooth. Is there any more where that came from? Thanks again guys.

Hello fellow carvers. Have'n an awesome season down under in NZ. Just got back from a solid 5 day session and have a few Q's. I'm Riding a 168 (the terrain here is pretty tight) F2 Silberphile 05 with Catek Stepins and modified 325s with Booster straps. I weigh about 78kg. -My angles have been 61F 57R but I keep dragging my back knee in the snow and feeling like my knees were very wide on my toe side. So I wound it in to 61R and felt better. Just wondering if this is a technique thing as well and / or it is is worth going pigeon toed as some have suggested. As I'm still a bit scared to angulate fully on my toe side for fear of loosing my knee cap. -I've modeled my stance on CMCs set up. Heeps of heel lift at the rear. Flat on the front and quite a wide stance width. The rear boot locked on 1 or 2 and the front boot in walk mode with the knob turned anticlockwise to restrict movement back but allow flexing forward. I found that with the Front boot like that I was slow on to my toe sides and scared to flex to far forward as I would keep endoing. So I locked my front boot at the rear boots setting +1 and this helped HEEPS. But my question is should I have moved my stance back on the board instead to allow more mobility on the board and just been quicker to feed the board through the turn? Kinda wondering if I might be Riding too much in the back seat. -Lastly any body done the November race training camp in Italy with Steve (The assistant coach to team Canada) and Chris. Or have any thoughts on it. Thoughts guys? Thanks in advance. BTW anyone coming to NZ this season?