permeated

Happy new year!! I didn't have time to do too much experimentation using the above advice before Christmas, and no video I shot turned out usable. And somehow I ended up in the Norwegian mountains... After starting this season out by goofing around with softboots in fresh powder, I spent the last few days riding and tinkering with the alpine setup. As expected, I had terrible pain in both feet after the very first ride down to the lift. Instead of changing the same old variables, the major things I have tried is narrowing the stance width, and removing material from the footbeds where the pain is. The last few runs yesterday I had the following setup: - Front: 50° / 3.5° toe lift / 1.5° outward cant - Rear: 50° / 6° heel lift / 2.5° outward cant - 18" stance (centered on my Madd 158) My quads were burning terribly, I didn't seem to properly commit to heelside turns (too much weight front with a hard time finishing the turns, and no pressure felt on the cuffs), I had plenty of washouts on both heelsides and toesides, and I picked up way too much speed for my own liking... But at least it was all without pain in my feet! Holy crap is this sport fun when you don't have that as a distraction! :D I almost feel like I could go even narrower with a bit more outward canting rear and maybe a little less lift, though I worry this might be awkward and unstable considering my height? Careful now, it's very likely I'll take you up on one of those offers... Thanks!

I am continuing this discussion here, since everybody seems to have moved back. :) http://lucidcarving.forumotion.com/t41-binding-setup-with-poor-lower-body-mobility Quoting mr Beckmann: Do my ankles collapsing to the medial side as soon as I bend my knees also indicate "loose medial feet"? No imaging on the hips has been done, though I am planning on it. I'm drawing all my conclusions from hurting my hip on the very first 90 degree roundhouse kick I ever tried to throw, as well as needing to have my heels on 1.5" plates to even think about keeping upright when squatting. Doesn't seem normal. So just enough outward cant to free up the ankles (which for me seems to happen around 3 degrees rear, 1.5 degrees front), and no more? Unfortunately, the only variable left to adjust (foot support), is also the most difficult and expensive, and requires knowledge that doesn't seem available where I live or ride. This is why I was hoping to find some remedy in changing the binding setup, but alas it doesn't seem to be working... I guess I could always try switching from Deeluxe to UPZ, though I know this too probably won't fix anything. :) Widest I've gone is 18.7" at 50/47 angles. For reference, I'm 6'3, and my legs are about 36.5" from floor to groin / 21.6" from floor to mid kneecap, Any wider and I don't think I will be able to get my rear boot into the binding after getting off the lift, even with intecs... Thanks!

As others have said, definitely get a Khiro Wedge Kit. Those overpriced pieces of plastic are really worth it if you are even remotely into pumping, and if you like tinkering with setups (which I just assume everyone on Bomber does :)). You need wedging/dewedging to make pumping efficient, and the kit lets you find the angles that work best for your gear and technique. A difference of a single degree will be noticeable! You can definitely try some things with your current gear and a wedge kit before ordering completely new stuff. I have spent many miles on Randals front and/or rear, and they are definitely a good geometry, especially rear! (Disclosure: I currently ride Don't Trip Poppies on a gbomb deck and Indeesz+Randal on a Subsonic Pulse). Try dewedging the rear to a final angle of around 27 degrees. I find this to be a good middle ground; you can try a lower angle for more power, and a higher angle for more surfiness. Wedge the front to a final angle of 58-60 degrees. You can go as far up as 61, but somewhere above there it starts feeling weird. Know that wedging like this changes your leverage over your bushings. You should be fine with the stock Randal bushings rear, however for the front you should probably invest in something squishier - I have found good results with Reflex bushings (at 180 lbs I use lime=80A). What width are the hangers? If they are 180mm they are a bit too wide for longer distance and uphill pumping - try flipping the wheels to simulate the feel of a 150mm hanger! If the hangers are 150mm, try flipping only the rear wheels to simulate a 150mm front/125mm rear! This will hopefully help you in deciding what width to choose for your next truck purchase. The Bennet Vector is considered one of the best cast front trucks for pumping, and you won't regret ordering one. If nothing else, it will let you experience the huge difference between a TKP and an RKP front. Just remember to replace the stock kingpin! It is quite prone to snapping in half when you least want it to... Once you have found a front truck you like, the next step would be installing a spherical. COM 6T 3/8" is what you need, should be less than $10 each. Adding a spherical is like going from softboots to hardboots - an absolute must for anyone looking for power and precision! Much less slop in the system, and less wear on the bushings too. It's very simple - just drill out the kingpin hole with a conical drill bit and fasten the spherical with a good epoxy. Just remember to be careful, LDP tinkering is very addictive!! Hope this helps! :) /Dan

Hey! So I'm the swede with the hardboots. Thank you so much Art for showing us around, taking us in, and feeding us. Surviving the cold nights in Big Sky would have been quite a bit more challenging in the car... Out of all the resorts we visited, Big Sky definitely had the best conditions, terrain, and vibe. Hope to be able to come back there sometime! Also, for me it was especially nice seeing one of those monoskwals in action! ;) Season is now over for us, we managed 20 days on the slopes in total. We finished with 5 very nice days at Mt Bachelor where I saw two other hardbooters from the chair, though unfortunately I didn't manage to catch up to them. Today we reached California and got our pumping longboards out. Looking forward to experiencing all the nice things we heard about the place..... I hope to meet more cool people from this great community in the seasons to come! /Dan

I actually kick a football with my left foot... Screws with my head even more! :D I may be wrong, but every book on technique I've read has said that you should move your weight from front to aft throughout the turn, at least at more advanced levels (which use more angulation than inclination). Could it be that due to the angle of the slope, feeling like you are centered on the board actually means you have the majority of the weight on the rear foot at the end of the turn? Well no not really, I know that part is technique related and can be improved. My purpose is to find out the inherent strengths and weaknesses of "opposite stance", to see if it could be worth the change. You see I have a similar problem to two_ravens; Basically both my knees/legs are twisted a few degrees to the right. This means that when I ride regular, my toesides are very powerful, but my heelsides are pretty bad. When I ride goofy, my heelsides are good, and my toesides are bad. But, due to heelside being a more difficult turn, this means that when regular I have one strong and one weak side, and when goofy I have two equal sides. This makes riding goofy feel much more symmetrical and flowy, albeit more difficult overall. This is why I'm trying to figure out if it's worth putting in the time and energy to make the switch, and if doing so lends other benefits to my riding. :) Thanks to all for putting up with my crazy-talk!

Very interesting! Did you guys find that it took a long time to adjust to your new "opposite stance"? When you encounter difficult situations, do you ever feel your bodies wanting to revert back? How is your switch riding now?

I'm centered on the sidecut at my desired stance width like that. I guess I'm just paranoid since reading that "OS2s break titanal boards"... But yeah, I'll probably strip the inserts from tweaking stuff before I'm at a level where I can actually overpower the board like that. :D

Sounds like a good idea! Yeah the plan is to be centered at first (I never liked being setback on my softboot boards anyway), however the setback is quite big on both boards (like 40mm). Think I can mount the front disc like the right one in the picture below in order to gain a few mm? Or will that apply weird pressure on the inserts or board?

Hi! If there is anything I love in life it is theory and analysis, especially when it comes to fun stuff like boarding! When combining over-thinking with riding exercises I find that progression can happen really fast! Lately though, something just hasnt added up in my mind... This post is probably gonna sound super silly, and hopefully someone can be help me understand where my thinking goes wrong! So! I am a regular footed rider. I put my left foot out when being pushed, push a skateboard with my left foot on the board, slide left foot first on a wooden floor, put my pants on starting with my left foot on the ground, etc etc etc. However, the more I think about the theory of snowboarding I have learned, the more I am starting to question whether my left foot should actually be my front one when I ride my snowboard. To me it seems like the universally most difficult part of a turn is at the bottom/end of the turn. This is when all the forces combine to try and pull you out of the turn, leading to fun problems such as chatter or skidding on the heelside. Now, if I have understood everything correctly, at the end of the turn you should have moved your weight aft on the board, having more weight on your rear foot to really dig that edge in. This is where my brain runs into problems. If it is the case that I, as a regular rider, have my greatest stability and balance using my left foot... Isnt it totally weird that I, during this most critical part of a turn, have most of my weight on my right foot? Am I not at this critical point relying mostly on my weakest foot for balance? I realize that when learning how to snowboard, initiating turns properly is very important, and riding regular when you are regular helps with this. But once turn initiation is good and the difficulty becomes turn complition, couldnt riding regular actually be holding you back as a regular rider? :p What would happen if a regular rider simply changed stances and starting riding goofy, until the point of being equally proficient both ways? Would turn completion become better at the expense of turn initiation, and would this lead to a more "symmetrical" riding experience with better flow? Sometimes the right movement you have to do to achieve something is very counter-intuitive to the body, but once you do it often enough and feel the difference, the body realizes and accepts the movements. Could it be that riding goofy is actually the right thing to do for a regular rider, and that spending the time (several seasons?) to re-wire your brain could actually help you in the end? If there is someone here riding for example a skateboard regular but a snowboard goofy, what do you figure your reason is for doing this? Am I being totally ridiculous here or what? Please dont hesitate to point out all the flaws in my crappy theories! No need to be humble. :o Cheers! /Dan

Hi again! Thanks for the advice, and sorry for late response. I actually ended up buying used stuff; Coiler AM-T 172 and MADD 158 with Catek OS2s from kumimajava on this forum. The stuff is probably too advanced for a noob like me, but then again I have read that titanal is supposed to be forgiving... With these two boards I hope to be able to practice both slalom and hard carving. I will definitely attend some kind of hardbooting event next season, and maybe find someone willing to instruct me for a day or two. :) About the OS2s... Does anyone know if it is "ok" to mount them in the most rearward holes of the mounting plate? Or should the binding be centered over the inserts? I want to mount the bindings as far forward on the board as the inserts will allow, but I dont want to risk breaking the board due to weird leverage... Cheers! /Dan

Hi there! Thanks for a cool community, I love lurking around here! I took up softboot snowboarding last season, spending a week in the Alps - mostly on my ass. This season I decided to take a proper softboot course, and spent 8 weeks in Whistler riding a little bit of everything (groomers, park, trees, powder...). When I started finding my edges, I quickly realized that carving is what gives me the butterflies. I switched angles from +15/-15 to +21/+9 and made it a mission to try and carve every single turn (and I really do mean every single turn) where possible. I considered skidded turns a failure! Sure riding powder was fun, and the trees were a cool challenge, but as soon as I got back on the nice groomers I felt right at home. By the end of my 8 weeks, I was doing pretty quick cross-under carves on the easier runs both regular and switch. I had problems carving on steeper runs, but Im hoping that will disappear with more milage next season. :) Naturally, Im looking at making the switch to hardboots. I will not be able to try any gear out before I buy, so I have tried to do some research on all this. However I am getting a bit lost, and now feel I need help from you experts. Me: 80 kg / 175 lbs 190 cm / 6'3 Mondo 27 Id like my first board to be pretty versatile and not too expensive. I want it to be able to hold a solid edge on hard ice, and nimble enough to tackle big afternoon moguls. Id like to be able to do an ExtremeCarve and hit a jump every now and again, and riding switch would be a good bonus. So far the closest I have found is the F2 Speedster GTS 166, but maybe the scr is too small (9,8) for EC, and the waist too narrow (200) for good EC and switch angles? The F2 El Diablo has a better waist (228) but worse scr (9), I can however get one very cheaply. Or should I maybe look for something more similar to the F2 Silberpfeil Vantage 169 (11 scr/220 waist)? Can you ride switch on a board with a flat tail like that? I want my bindings and boots to be something I can progress with and use for many seasons. For bindings Im thinking F2 Titanium Race (Sidewinders will have to wait :D), and the boots Im guessing should be stiffer ones such as RC10/HSP/DL700? Should I invest in a BTS/ACSS from the start? This turned out way longer than I hoped, but I really want to make my hardboot setup work from the beginning. I spent way too much money on different soft gear only to realize I probably cant get the power and precision needed to snowboard the way I really want to. :o Anyway, thanks for taking your time to read this. Any advice at all is greatly appreciated! /Dan Edit: Oh no, my forum title is "Skidder"! How uncool is that. Better post a lot!