Sharkey

thanks guys. I think what i'm hearing is making me think I haven't put the effort into getting this thing up to par. I remember High school, tuning my skis once or twice a week, and i've probably only done my new board twice in one year.... cheers. oh, and the dimples are, uhhhhh, in. The screw thing I read about before assembling the board.

I skied on our HS team, as did my sister, who is now the head coach. She has seen my gradual switch to boarding, and now hardbooting, and we've talked a couple times about HS level snowboard racing. Her thoughts are the same as what i've seen above. I think there's three major issues: Having enough kids that want to race boards, having parents that want to participate and help, and having school support. I think i've listed these in order of importance to get a team going. Hell, even with an established team in our little West Michigan town, there's hardly enough kids that want to train for 2 months and then ski every day during the week for 8 weeks. And ski RACING has a pretty good amount of exposure to casual skiers. Most casual boarders only think about freestyle when the word competition comes up. What has been, sort of, decided, is to start a club first, and then once the kids are captive, expose them to gates and racing. That's a little easier when you're in control of the gates and equipment. Our plan was to have the club kids meet about 30 minutes before race practice is over, and just sort of see if anybody takes to it. With some support and information from people that DO race, it could probably get going in a couple of years, Even if at just a club level at a bigger hill closer to a city. That would bring adults into the mix, which would help. My hope is that this year goes by, and one kid buys an apline board. Then 2 next year, up until we can get some sort of 'all conference' group together in 3 years. ....Maybe it takes 5 years, who cares. If it makes a few kids stop sitting in the top of the terrain park on their asses, i'm all for it.

I have a pretty dated education on ski tuning, roughly 12 years. Maybe the bases of current skis and boards are different, but i'm not sure. Last year I bought an F2, and it has the dimples in the base. I can assume this is another attempt at limiting the 'suction' factor. Anyway, I've waxed this thing a few times, but the base isn't really absorbing any wax. If I recall correct, we were told that a base will actually allow material (wax/dirt/etc) in over time, and every time the base heats up these pores continue to open up. The wax will sort of fall to the bottom, and the dirt and junk will more/less float up, and then it (hopefully) gets scraped off. Is this true? My friggin base will show white with wax after a couple hours, and you can see where it gets scraped off on the snow. It leaves it in a very "dry skin" like condition. Am I not taking enough off during scraping? Not heating up the base enough? I use alot of brushes and have all the equipment, but for some reason this thing just doesn't seem to be the same as what i'm used to..... ???? If it matters, I have ZERO issues with performance, and am pretty happy with it on most days, no matter what wax i'm using.

I was at Wendys the other day, and airtran has coupons on their drinks. Something like 64 for a round trip ticket. That's alot of drinks, but it's still a pretty sweet deal.

As far as Michigan goes, I really liked MM. I was up there for a high school regional a few years back and it seemed like a pretty big place. It's snowing down here (Grand Rapids area) today too! WOOT! No stiction though.... :( My hopes are to be riding somewhere in lower Michigan by 12/17....

I want something that is going to be faster and a touch stiffer than my Siberfeil. I'm currently riding last years model in a 168. Last year was my first on plates, but I feel pretty good about my riding, and i'm about 195 in full gear. Any opinions on this being my next board?? I'm interested for sure!!! Sharkey

I like this one. My F2 has a big groove down the center, so I needed something that wouldn't let snow get packed in there. The spikes grip pretty good IMO. http://www.demonsnowboarding.com/pr_6005.html

I've been skiing for about 17 years. Roughly 12 years ago, at the tender age of 14, I bought a Sims Freeride Ace from a local guy who was a rep for them at the time. I had to work for a couple weeks doing labor work for the 200$. The guy gave me some Kastinger Piper Mid mountaineering boots and it already had bindings, which were setup goofy, with something like 35-25 angles. I rode this setup until last year...... (boots were hella tight ) However I never really got into it until a couple years ago when I got bored of the low slope Michigan hills, stopped ski racing, and decided to take up boarding again. After adapting my riding style based on the board/boot setup over the years, and already being a descent GS ski racer (carving was understood as the only way to go) carving this old rig was a natural reaction. My friends noticed that I was about twice as fast as them and said I should try an alpine board if I really wanted to ride like that. I bought a 168 F2 last year, and it totally fit the riding style that I had learned to live with based on my previous equipment. Now after getting used to having the support and tunability, and hardboots that don't kill my feet, i'll probably never ride in softboots again. It's great around here because the hills are so flat. Jumping on a nice blue run and carving ruts top to bottom at a nice and slow pace using the whole hill is fantastic.... Doing that on skis results in, ohhhhh, about a 4 second run and 3 turns. Thanks for Bomber for being around to sell me some sweet equipment. :D