Justin A. Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 How about thursday LOL. We went up to bretton woods today, and it was great. They only had 2 runs open, but they were variable enough from run to run to still be interesting. The snow was a mix of 'taters and hardpack, which made for some good carving after the first runs of the season. Boy am I tired from dealing with the chop though. Overall, it was an excellent day, too bad you missed it. Just so you know, we're all going to be up at cannon tues-thurs of next week, and probally stay another night and hit Attitash's free day on friday. Again, any other carvers are more than welcome to join in on the riding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 Thanks for the invites, but really the only time I go to NH is for the races...it's just too long a trip with Sugarbush five minutes away and Stowe/Smuggs and Killington less than an hour. I have a pass at Sugarbush too so I'm a weenie when it comes to paying elsewhere - bad enought the entry fees I have to pay for the CVT series races ($90 per day). I'll be training for the first weekend of races 12/16-17 next week too...I guess I consider this fun?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 LOL Touche. I hate paying to go elsewhere when I have a pass too. I don't blame you at all. Especially with the haul from 'Bush. Good luck with the training! Is it 2 run format that you guys do or is it st00ped PGS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 Almost all the regional USASA SL/GS are single set, two-run format, but in my opinion often too short. Scott at the SVT series ran a Dual GS last year at Bromley, but it was timed for the official results, not KO PGS format - then they took the top 16 racers afterwards in a KO PGS format just for kicks. The Nationals were timed paralell courses for the age groups, but may have been PGS KO for the Open Class - they've done that in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timinor Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 I'm coming late to this thread and want to go back to the original question about race format. My experience goes back to the early 90s. Snowboard racing was commendered by the USSA ski racing coaches and organization. They mindlessly set GS and SL courses exactly like ski racing courses. It was ridiculous. I remember a World Cup GS race at Mt. Bachelor. It came down Thunderbird run which is bowl shaped on both sides. The course was set down the middle and did not use the terrain. It certainly did not showcase what can be done on a carving board and actually forced riders to do a sliding turn to control their speed in the steepest section. The slaloms were set too tight to be able to carve a turn. I was in shock to see that. There was so much terrain to use and banked turns and opportunities for controling speed with traverses instead of sliding a turn...the people running those races had no idea what carving a board was all about. When my buddies and I first started carving we got some bamboo and set a course down a run that had lots of terrain. We had learned to carve on that little hill so we knew how we liked to layout turns. We set the course just like that with some banks and longer traverses and variety. We had a ball and did that all afternoon. Some people saw us from the chair and told us that it really looked cool. Since then, I've never seen a snowboard race even come close to capturing what a hardbooter can do. The unfortunate thing is that most snowboard races make hardbooting look like something that can't perform as well as skiing. As far as crowd appeal goes or TV interest, it is as if you took a road racing motorcycle to the Indy 500 and wondered why it was boring to watch. What a carving board does best is layout a complete "C" shaped turn and come completely out of the fall-line. The racing courses should express that. Sadly, they don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 A really nice banked GS would be way cool - great perspective on a whole different idea about racing snowboards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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