kipstar

Funny, because Redbull comes from here in Thailand originally, where it is strictly for truck drivers and labourers to give them a hit of caffeine and sugar; the European version is carbonated, but that doesn't justify the price difference; we pay around 25c for a can of redbull; and what does it retail for in USA?! Crazy. If you are serious about most sports with any aspect of endurance, it doesn't take much to figure out that sugary junk drinks like gatorade (well, ok that one is alright afterwards), sprite, coke, redbull and so on do almost nothing for performance and instead tend to dry you out more and slow you down while giving you a nice spare tire. D-Sub; take inspiration from your Pride and MMA heroes. They don't eat or drink for pleasure; they do it because their body needs it. Just try to force yourself to buy a big bottle every day, and drink in parts until it is finished every day. I wouldn't worry too much about the plastic and all that; compared to drinking coke or mountain dew you are already about 100X better off. Same for laying off the fast foods. But hell...$2 for a bottle of water???! They are taking the pi$$ surely; it should be much cheaper than coke or similar; it sure seems hard to eat/drink healthily when all the basic foods end up costing more than their junk food equivalents. Out of interest; who returns to the base lodge for, er, urine relief? I usually either find somewhere in the trees or somewhere off the runs. Is that what you lot do, or do you go to the bathroom?

hot logical. nil camber and the base was bowed so the edges were higher than the middle (like a boat). Whole sorry affair took about 40-50 days of riding on that piece of junk. But other than that, my other boards all look pretty decent with much more days on them than that; I think that year of hots were all junk; another guy broke 6 in 1 year.

I made this same transition a couple of years ago, and prior to that was a die hard ski boot raichle flexon user; have had a few pairs of snowboard boots, but always felt they were too soft. Thing about ski boots is you can just lean against the cuff, and round you go onto the toe side. But with the snowboard specific boot, it is much softer, so when you do that, the boot flexes away, then the board doesn't go up on edge, and you think, these are junk I cannot turn anymoere. But....stick at it, and think about riding more like softboots, where you kind of lock your calf muscles and that makes sure your board is rolling up onto the edge under your toes; heelside is much the same. And for me it was only probably 2 days, and I started to think; ok this isn't as precisely good in perfectly groomed snow as ski boots, but in everything else, it is just a lot less work. I also had prepared the boots but altering the RAB mechanism to stand a bit more upright; had indys with the race tongues; to emulate a ski boot - however now I would probably not mind riding a much softer boot than the indy. Stick at it, try to get your lower calf muscles working to lock the ankle on toe sides (sorry I cannot explain it well, but someone else can) and you might start to enjoy it a bit more.

Well in USA/around the world where you have the ability to patent a sideways swinging motion use of a swing as a 'new work', and where a New Zealand boat was sued for using the concept of a canting keel (which was first invented in USA almost 100 years ago, and where it has been used in racing in NZ since the 1960s) which is apparently also patented, it seems like you can patent anything. (The boat, Maximus, ended up settling). Whether it will stick or not is another thing. I think Libtech claimed prior art (sorry, not thinking straight, I studied IP law a Loooooong time ago) as they had done the 3 holer (ooooer) 10 years earlier, with a slightly bigger footprint. Anyway, stupid idea, 4 hole is better. Why? Because you get an extra hole :-) at no extra cost. That's right, an extra hole for no money now, absolutetely free. Send no money now I REPEAT SEND NO MONEY NOW. We'll bill you.

i hadn't thought about getting on and off... thanks for that video. I am definitely not about to try this, that looks far too difficult! Hard to believe you are 60 mate, you look a lot younger (other than the tuxedo shot) and this, at least to me, seems to involve a level of athleticism that most youngsters don't have!

seems far too crazy and too much hard work for a youngster like myself; I think I'll stick to 2 wheels for now :-) But yes, would guess larger wheel would make life easier to a certain point and faster; what is the drawback of a larger wheel? Is it harder to balance is it?

good jack M. Article somewhere in the articles section that explains why locked together knees is not so good. For me, I still kept the inward canting, but have a much wider stance; makes for a bigger sweet spot to stay centred and work from :-) I also feel more stable in choppy conditions without ending up falling backwards or forward; as I only ride a little bit per season, getting the groove fast is important.

classic :-) Very cool. How fast are those unis/ I take it that you must be miles behind the road bikes on the flats, but do they go ok in climbs?

I'm doing it next year provided it doesn't collide with the yacht racing too much; welcome to join me; I gots the transportation, hotel and all that sorted. The other guy from work is in it; hard bit with the heat, but I guess florida is much the same. Plus then I get to see your fancy bike. Do it Kent!

No, thanks, I just ate :-) How about Scotland? If you like Whiskey, it is da bomb. pretty too in the summer. Portochello I think it is called is a nice boaty place. Alternatively, go somewhere cool like Aussie or Kiwi. Cheaper, more fun, and lots of sporty stuff without hordes of people.

You will not believe this, but I managed to come 2nd in the National Thai championships in the sprint Triathalon, open mens division. I got a trophy, photograph for newspapers,and so on. I managed to acheive this without riding my bike on the road at all in the last year; spending about 4 sessions in the pool, and a lot of running. I came down with a cold a couple of weeks prior to the race, which severely restricting training. What was the key to my success? Jellyfish. The lead group of sprint competitors (including the Thai national team) were the first in the water, and the same course was used for olympic length and sprint length with a single start and olympic course doing two laps. Right before the start, a few jelly fish must have congregated around the outside marker, and the lead group of swimmers plowed right into them. Sadly for them, most were stung in the face/shoulders (no wetsuit) and most either had to retire immediately and go to hospital, or continue competing with a massive handicap. By the time I came out of the swim, somewhat surprisingly in the 1st major group of olympic distance swimmers, I ended up being the 4th person to go out on the bike, which was a complete shock as there were about 100 sprint competitors in my devision, including several people flying in to do the Phuket triathalon. I then had a reasonable cycle, and near the turning point saw that the lead group of 3 were drafting (1 open, 2 juniors) which is legal; the next people behind me were the top 2 UK competitors here to do Phuket and doing the olympic distance; again drafting in a pair and they caught me right as I was going into T2. I then had the run, knowing that the 3 in front had about 5 minutes on me and without a chance really to catch them, since I hadn't actually cycled 25km in probably 5 years, and this had left my legs a bit tired. The next person behind me was 5 min behind, so i coasted into the finish with a 2nd :-)

Hey softbooter pussy boy Enjoy the Park while I am out carving it up on the slopes and in the hot tub with your mum* *or girlfriend, if she is not a total skank** ** hot skank ok, skanks need hardbooter lovin' too

after riding/racing in ski boots (modified) up to about 8 years ago, then not riding at all for 6 years, then returning, breaking my raichles and trading to Indys (which I considered with race tongues to be crazily soft the first time out, and now find kinda stiff a year later) I must say, no, I have not tried soft hard boots. That might be the solution. If the gear vacuums leave me some crumbs, I might see if I can do dat. But with only somewhere between 5 - 15 days per year, and 20+ hours of flying time each way to get anywhere near USA, last USA trip the powder was the low point, as Mammoth was chopped up beyond belief; that was the moment when I decided I would never again plan a trip with an aim of hitting fresh powder, if the choice of decently groomed or windpacked powder was available. Toss me the boots and the tanker, and I'll reconsider Bobdea :-)

Yeah, I think so. I vaguely remember my first 2 years riding soft boots in agony almost the whole time. Switching to hard boots was great, but in NZ north island deep powder within most ski fields is like knee deep at the absolute most, so race board asym even was fine. Mammoth was a step up, and then tahoe sierra cement a step up again. But after riding a few epic days in swallow tail type hip deep conditions, and having to do the walk of shame more than once (partly as a result of riding a nitro scorpion/nitro epic/hot logical perhaps :-) I figured I love powder up to knee deep on standard gear; deeper or choppier than that, and I'd rather not have to deal with it. But....sort me out a tanker, and I'll be willing to reeconsider. not sure my destroyed feet (with multiple broken toes and bones inside) can easily handle soft boots though :-)...maybe...maybe.... ;-)

Indeed :-) IN my defense, at the time I was 18, only had a nitro EFT 156, and to go heli boarding would have involved hitchhiking around 1500km to the take off point, then hitchhiking back. Broke student syndrome. But that said, I plan my USA trips around not hitting too much fresh snow. I've ridden in-bounds powder, I've hiked a few and I can honestly say....it isn't my thing :-) So...more for you guys!

you guys are true post whores. Well done :-) but I know D-sub is either self employed or full time watching UFC/fixing snowboards; how come your boss doesn't kick you in the nuts for spending so much time online? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7U7KLSW2Zs

Problem with freshie fun is that it is usually chopped up so you get 2 hours of perfection and then diminishing returns over the rest of the day. For me, ankle to max knee deep is great, can still ride a race board, deeper than that and the board is submarine, the wipeouts and subsequent remount is a pita and any runouts from runs often seem to end up with walking. Chalk it to lack of experience and riding on the wrong equipment. I remember a few years ago I won a day heli skiing and never used it; don't mind hiking for a run or two, but a day in waist deep powder is not really my thing. Best condition I ever found was at Mammoth, and saw it in Siberia Bowl Squaw and a few other places as well; fresh snow packed down with a wind going up the slope; wind packed powder. Firm enough to really ride it hard on a race board, but a little bit deeper, and also steeper than what you could normally get a groomer up. Scotties, Cornice, P1 - all great for that condition. But under fresh powder without the wind, these same runs wuold suck very very quickly. EAzt C0AZt oF aNdAmAN sEa :-) yo. It might just be me, but the standard of grooming at most USA resorts is miles beyond Korea or New Zealand fields; snow coverage, underlying terrain and technique most likely. The bumps and tracks and gaps all make for fun things to carve around. The death cookies...well...less so. :-)

A picture of all the types of dogs in the world, and insert a soft booter among them.

I like the skipping :-) The skateboarding big jump is pretty impressive, but do these guys always have to make such a big deal out of everything? The Feng Shui of the hill? The 'he is going to die if he doesn't pull off the grind' (which he doesn't and lo and behold he is fine). Friggin reality TV has made everything the biggest hardest most dangerous; can't they just play the jump, without the hype PR machine?

My colleague called watching the pagaent a tribute to the wonders of silicon and plastic surgery. Pink cell phone?! That is how it all starts; I has been proved.

Soft boots! ho! Good god! What are they good for? Absolutely nothing! or (this is something distinctly american, I cannot think of another country that would have bumber stickers like this) My son is an honors student. (But I disowned him for riding soft boots.) Do one like a Jesus fish, only instead write inside: Extreme Carving Fish Get carvin' Or tie dying. Hard boots and steep angles. Because that is what Chuck Norris would do. 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.**and get to do some extreme carving high faaaaive** Let's hug it out, you soft booting beeee-aches.

I think she looks pretty damn good. For the most part every time I go to USA, I never meet women who look even half this good. I need to stop hanging out at the buffet at Circus Circus perhaps? Quite a bit overweight, and probably needs to lay off the fast food :-) plus her hair isn't quite the same length on both sides, and it is possible that she has a freckle on her left hip, but all in all I am willing to overlook these small flaws....even though she is on teles. As for the 720 carve, as we say on another website, pics or it didn't happen. p.s. what does it rate?

Alpine snowboard = normal snowboard - baggy pants - chain wallet + more speed - no technique + (IQ of small child)^2 The Name is Boot. Hard Boot. In France, because of the metric system, this is called a Snowboard Royale. You know you can't carve on that park board silly rabbit, tricks are for kids!

Alpine snowboard = normal snowboard - baggy pants - chain wallet + more speed - no technique + (IQ of small child)^2

Side track alert for Bobdea. I used to work in the entertainment business as a model/TV host/actor here, so yes, I am VERY familiar with the gay community here, as almost all make up artists, stylists and fashion designers are gay (if male) and the number that are ladyboys (in Thai called informally katoey or formally sao prapaet sorng - the 2nd type of women) are maybe 20% of the total number of gays. I have a few friends in this category, but for myself, I stick to the women, not that there is anything wrong with that. It is, at least on the surface, perfectly acceptable to by gay in Thailand, and I'd say the number of gays here would blow most places out of the water other than gay hotspots like San Francisco or, er, TW snowboarding website :-) It is also perfectly acceptable to make incredibly un PC comments about gays and various other subjects, without people being offended. Thai language is kind of weird like that; I have been told but cannot confirm Spanish spoken in USA is a bit the same; you can be pretty direct and rude in good fun without offense. (I cannot speak it, so don't know if this is true). The katoeys themselves are breathtakingly beautiful in some cases; the usual comment by men and women alike is if they are too good looking, then they might be a katoey (ladyboy). Unlike drag queens, these people look like a really really pretty girl but for the most part I'd say I could pick out 99 out of 100. A person less familiar with Thailand might be able to pick out 50 out of 100. The big fake boobs, slightly larger hands and feet and stance are the giveaways, but not all have these. There are a number of katoey cabaret shows which do shows around the world. They also have all these big pagaents; actually pagaents are a pretty big deal here; almost everyone could name the last Thai woman to be a Miss Universe worldwide, yet I bet most people couldn't name that for most other countries? My TV show were judges for this show recently I think, but fortunately I wasn't the guy doing the judging, one of my colleagues had to. Check out the contestants, not exactly looking like guys in drag. http://www.misstiffanyuniverse.com/winner.php When you consider that Coke is a major sponsor for this event, you can see how mainstream being a transexual is in Thailand. It is rather different to USA or NZ in parts. So.... end of sidetrack; and let the flaming begin. I'll start. bob, you seem like a flaming heterosexual :-)