tufty

Because at the point where you are seeing them, it would be dangerous or disadvantageous to pump. They have already reached what's basically terminal velocity, moving about out of their tuck to pump is going to cause more drag, and slow them down. That's why ski racers only skate at the beginning and end of the course as well. Watch downhill ski racers. They start, not by using a flat tuck, but by skating. Generally speaking during a race they are busy trying to get through the gates without smashing themselves into a million pieces. And then at the bottom, *some* will skate for that extra boost through the line, bearing in mind that the downside to that happens later and the game is played over hundredths of seconds. For 'us' it's different. I know that I am far from running at the point where aerodynamic drag makes an appreciable difference to my speed. And we're talking about using this at speeds well below even that - on the flats. Simon

Fouled up my back yesterday with my @%^&)@ softboot setup. Pulling my boots on in the carpark, if you can believe that. Went out for a gentle run with the #1 son anyway (after all, I already had the boots on), but only the one - I could hardly stand when I got back. Which meant that I couldn't go out on the planned full-moon snowshoe trek last night or out carving today. Instead I'm stuck in the house drugged up to the eyeballs. And there's the rub. My 'soft' boots are rigid (K2 clicker boots) enough to be a total arse to put on, but so floppy on the piste that you still have no control. My Raichles are easy to put on, no 'heaving' required, and give lots of control on the piste. And if you want them floppy, you could always not buckle them up :) I've tried a lot of soft combos, and I've never found any that are rigid enough on the piste. And I've never found a hardboot that I had to pull a frickin' muscle to put on. Simon

Depends if your base is in good nick or not. Unwaxed base and / or wet snow, and you're looking at grinding to a halt in very short order unless you run on the edges. Ditto very cold snow - the way you reduce the modulus of friction is by applying pressure to the snow and making it melt, when it's really cold you need to apply a lot of pressure, so running on the edges will, I believe, make you run faster (running on the base in such conditions just leaves a bunch of sharp ice crystals grinding the wax off your base) I think it's a question of technique. I have to admit I'm not terribly good at it myself, but it can and does happen - remember, every time you make a carved turn you are accelerating, just perpendicular to the direction of travel. Simon

Indeed. It seems that it's the approach taken by some shops, too (looks wistfully at the massacred edges on his burton) Simon

I've never had skiers who don't want to ride chairs with me, I guess I'm not the average park monkey (and having a resort jacket helps too, I think). I'm also on skis quite a lot, always offer a pole to boarders having trouble in the flats (and have been saved a few times on that myself). Here's a vaguely funny one: Last week, I was blasting down to the carpark, ski school snake blocking the route on the last 'wall' that I would have used to get a comfortable speed to get back, so stopped and then trickled down well away from them; of course this left me on the flats with very little speed. Skier dude came past, offered me a pole, but I figured I had just enough speed and said no thanks. About a hundred metres later, I overtook him in full tuck mode, and offered him a tow, causing much laughter all round. Had a coffee with him when we reached the little cafe on the carpark, really nice guy. Simon

RicHard, you are a star. Beautiful. Just plain beautiful. simon

RicHard. Any chance of getting a high resolution version of the 'corduroy' shot? [edit]1920x1440 or so would do me very nicely[/edit] Simon

Personally, I don't ride with music. It interferes with my concentration, and given that I'm often the only one on a hill (getting up early and being friends with the patrol boys...) I quite enjoy watching the sun coming up across the alps in complete silence. Best days are when there's a 'mer de nuages' and all you cn see is the peaks poking through a sea of cloud. magical. That said, I'll take the opportunity to pimp a friend's music, http://www.hiddenmusic.co.uk/. The 'hidden rulers' ep is available for free, legal, download now, and 'protect and survive' will be available to buy soon. Nice ambientish stuff. Simon

Exactly. That said, my bits of cutting board are angled, because I'm a perfectionist and a geek. They didn't need to be, but I enjoyed doing it. Dremels are for girls, though. You don't want a dremel, you want something like this plus plus plus and the job's a good 'un Simon

http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=10 Europe existeth not, I note :) Simon

Not sure about the newer ones, but mine are 3-part. There's a square mounting plate that bolts to the board with the usual set of mounting holes, needs short beveled m6 bolts with washers, kinda like a freeride binding. The 'base' plate mounts on that, it has a completely cut out circle that sits on a lip on the mounting plate, then the circular angle disk sits on top, also holding the 'base' plate in position. Basically, you set the stance position with the mounting plate, then the binding angle is set independently using the circular plate on top. crapscii graphics required, I think... angle -===T============T===- binding =========-- | | --================== mount ---===+=T========T=+===--- -----------------------+--------+------------------------- board | | ---------------------------------------------------------- Which sort of explains it. Maybe. There's various rubber dampers in there, too, but as noted, they are a kinda 'hard' bindings to ride.

I should probably add, and the forum won't let me edit, Construction for the 'Force' model is the same as for the 'race' bindings as opposed to the current range 'base' model which is one-part moulded and non-adjustable. That said, proflex bindings are going cheap as chips these days, 100 bucks for a pair of low-range snowpros is too much. It's maybe worth it for a pair or recent 'race' bindings, they have beefier bales (6mm as opposed to 5 or 5.5). Simon

Not sure about built in cant, I have an older set of snowpro race bindings (picked up unused for 10€ harharhar) that are flat, but I have heard talk of built in cant on some of the newer bindings. Cant and lift adjustment is a question of unscrewing the entire toe and / or heel assembly and shimming using either the supplied shims or bits of cutting board (with appropriately longer bolts as necessary). It's not too hard. Simon

Oh, damn. Now I'm gonna have to go buy one. deeluxeflow's story has just given me flashbacks of seeing a friend smash his jaw to a billion pieces due to having a 'wind in your teeth' non-full-face bike helmet. Simon

I don't. I probably should. [edit] I don't actually know why I don't ride with one, I have nothing against them at all, and it makes sense. When I'm hairing about at mach umpty on the bike, I wear a helmet, after all. I think I may go shopping. Simon

http://www.espacenet.com/access/index.en.htm would be a good place to start

Quitting's either hard or easy, depending on how hard the hooks are in. As long as you're not starting the morning with a hit of hard alcohol, you will probably find it relatively easy physically (maybe a few days of odd sleep patterns but probably not more than that). Mentally it may be harder - going to bars and ordering soft drinks is kind of odd, as is being with a group of people who are absolutely hammered when you're sober... and there are always the "glass of wine to decompress when I get back from work" moments to deal with. Still, I'd say it's a whole load easier for most drinkers to stop than for most smokers (I've stopped both, several times). I found it quite important to be _able_ to stop when I wanted to, after too many weeks in a row where you find yourself still in the bar at 3am every day and having to get up for work at 7, you start asking who's controlling who, after all. Enjoy the experience, you may find you stay on the wagon for good, you may go back to moderate drinking, but don't let it get you so hooked you can't quit: I know 2 people who physically can't stop drinking, and who don't stop shaking until the first bottle of the morning is empty. Both of them lovely guys, but both killing themselves glass by glass. At the current rate, I'd give neither of them more than a couple of years to live. Simon

That would probably work if it was due to overlong screws or freezing, but if it's corrosion on the inserts themselves what's causing the bumps is still going to be there, so it's going to be somewhere between tough and impossible to clamp them flat. Worth a shot, I guess, though, as a Renntiger makes expensive firewood. What sort of corrosion is it? Rust, or bimetal reaction? It seems odd to me that Völkl would use rust-prone metals in something that is liable to get wet and stay wet, hidden under the bindings (whether you put the board away wet or not). I don't know how Völkl are about these sorts of things, might be worth contacting them and asking if there's anything that can be done. Complete insert replacement might be do-able, but liable to be expensive. In any case, I'd personally be very cagey about the possibility of core damage, especially given the hammering we give planks. I've seen bindings rip off before, and the results are not pretty (to say the least), even on a freeride board. Simon

1.4 or thereabouts. "brisk" No, that's a pissmelling, like "color" (should be "colour"), "flavor" (should be "flavour"), and "softboots", which, as any fule kno, should be "hardboots" ;) Simon

Here:

Yep, kinda how I feel about it too. I seem to spend quite a lot of time on skis at the mo, taking the 5 year old out (he'll be boarding later this year), what generally happens is that I leave my parabolics at work so have to grab whatver's hanging about in the garage, usually my 2m05 straight skis as they still have some edge and base. Of course, the boy only wants to go skiing on powder days, so I find myself hooning about in untracked powder on completely non-parabolic planks that are enormously long. It's a hoot. Hell, If I could find some _really_ old skis that I trusted not to fall apart instantly, I'd take them out, just for laughs. Simon

Here a dyke is what keeps the water in a river or drainage channel. I guess a butch dyke would be one that's very tough. With studs in, or something, maybe. Yeah, I'd imagine that's what happened. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bum a fag from my brother in law :) Supposed to be going out for a day's hardcore boarding today, but it's -17c and that isn't giving me much incentive... Simon

Hey Rob ebay Germany is probably the first place to go for used boards, http://sport.search.ebay.de/_Alpin-Boards_W0QQcatrefZC12QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfltZ9QQfromZR10QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ59752QQsotrZ2 Alternatively there are quite a few euro mail-order places that will help for new gear, Blue Tomato in Austria seem pretty good, http://www.blue-tomato.at Where do you ski/teach? I'm based in the French Alps, could hook you up with a few shops over here on a hire-to-buy basis (and if you've size 44 feet, I could probably hook you up with a pair of burton boots for very-not-very-much-indeed). Simon

Or the refcontrol plugin. Gets rid of that irritating imageshack frog, too. Simon