Protective Gear

[photodad2001]

Please at least tell us that your kids wear helmets...

Tex. I'm not even sure how to present this. Apparently we both have a lot in common... and we both are two worlds appart. Maybe more the first than the later. I'm not trying to butt heads, but at the same time there are differances that perhaps I am too proud to let go. Can we agree to this or are we going to continue to squable over subtle differances or acknowledge that we both carve... go fast... and get called "fags" from the jib monkeys on the lift?

And "Yes"... I bought my kid a helmet... but like her "old man" refuses to wear it.

[bobdea]

Tex. I'm not even sure how to present this. Apparently we both have a lot in common... and we both are two worlds appart. Maybe more the first than the later. I'm not trying to butt heads, but at the same time there are differances that perhaps I am too proud to let go. Can we agree to this or are we going to continue to squable over subtle differances or acknowledge that we both carve... go fast... and get called "fags" from the jib monkeys on the lift?

And "Yes"... I bought my kid a helmet... but like her "old man" refuses to wear it.

lead by example....................

[No.2]

Very interesting tread. This d30 material looks interesting. I wonder if it is as non Newtonian as it claims?

This is what I'd be into;

Bottoms; The CW-X stabilising compression pants with Auto Sensor fabric d3o pads sewn in. http://www.cw-x.com/ss/products/mens/m_insulated

Top; The Adidas powerweb golf compression top made out of the CW-X Auto Sensor fabric (Next years CW-X tops will have a similar stabilising web as these Adidas tops) again with d30 pads sewn in. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3164667

That way you have compression for added veinus return, (Less burn) Stabilising webs for muscle vibration protection. (Greater endurance and control at max output) The webs also help posture when out there on the edge of control. The intelligent nano tech modified fabrics that control body temperature at different exertion levels and have anti bacterial silver in them. Plus a non Newtonian padding system that allows complete range of motion but freezes and distributes load on impact! Just what I've been looking for. :)

At the moment I'm wearing the rather bulky UFO Scorpion https://www.adventure-spec.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=104 and 661 pants.

Quite a bit of hassle but hilarious the last time I got bowled buy an out of control skier straight lining the race track. He didn't know what hit him. (he hit) ;)

Actualy make mine a one peice, wind and water proof and I'll take two in BOTH colours, fluro yellow and pink with "Hardbooters are Homospaiens" on the but.

[carvedog]

I ride aggressively. My issue is with cat tracks and flat areas and always falling the same way in hard boots at slow speed. At speed, on edge, on a slope, I rarely have a problem. I never have issues in soft boots. I started boarding on Dec. 1 of last year and hard booting in Feb. All my hip and shoulder problems started after Feb. At slow speed I seem to catch an edge on my hard boot setup a lot. I don't know why. And I don't do it a lot, but when it happens . . . it hurts. OTOH, I can tuck and roll very good now, what with all that practice.

Rick

While not trying to discourage you from wearing some protective gear, the fact that you are having issues on the flats points to a more serious problem than the thickness of the padding you want to use.

If you cannot ride comfortably on the cats there is some body alignment, boot alignment or binding issue that you need to look at.

Trying to address crashing on cat tracks with padding is a little like putting a band aid on a torn artery. It may help but you will still have all those sudden deceleration type injuries that you can't pad away.

[rhaskins]

Seriously, it is weird. I can ski at full speed, jump, carve, single D without any issues and do the people slalom on the slopes at high speed without issues. On a soft boot setup, I ***NEVER*** have any issues and I ride Duck stance on my twin and a forward stance on other boards and I ***NEVER*** have any issues. I put on hard boots, clip into my AXXESS and at speed can carve around with *minimal* issues. Those minimal issues are always emergency stops when I get someone that just has to dart out in front of me, or when my attention wanders when I am tired at the end of the day. My instinct on emergency stops is to put my board sideways, and my AXXESS just has a lot more stop in it than my soft boot boards so sometimes I crash in an emergency stop. Something to do with the longer edges.

But I am a pig on ice at slow speed in hard boots. I have changed my stance slightly, changed my angles, put more cant into my rear (right) boot, unlocked my boots, got a BTS system, all to no avail. I have plumbed the depths of bomberonline and The Carver's Almanac for setup/stance/riding information. But I still crash more consistently at slow speed. By that I mean on a typical all-day session, 6 to 8 hours, I will fall once or twice. Not trying to over-detail you, but when I fall I just crash into my left hip, I never go over to the right. And these slow speed drops (crashes) are so fast I cant believe it. It is like an edge crash, which it probably is, but it is just so fast I can't analyze it that good. I was so beat up on my left hip at noon on March 29th (last open slope day) from crashes over the last 4 weeks and a couple of crashes that morning that mentally I could not take another crash and switched to ski's for the rest of the day. The effect was cumulative - I hurt my hip for the first time on March 1st and then about once or twice a week thereafter landed on it. I have talked to everyone I could about technique, and changed things around, but still had the same result. Pads to alleviate or reduce the point loading on my hip would have made all the difference I think.

So, my bottom line is that a little pain isn't gonna keep me from boarding. When I broke my leg at the top of Buck Hill (not a big hill by any means), I got up after a few minutes and skied down. Tibual plateau fracture I think it was called when they diagnosed it 3 painful months later, but that is another story. I may have a technique problem, I may have an equipment problem, I may just suck and may never get the hang of it, but until they pry my snowboard off my cold dead feet I will .... sorry, I forgot what I was doing there for a moment. I got me a Donek FCI and a Razor to explore the possiblity that my issues may be equipment based. New boots also. I have both hard boot and softboot coverd with my new Donek's. I have been fairly systematic about any changes I make, adjusting cant, stance and etc. and riding each change for a couple of hours before I make another adjustment. I just need to protect my hip and to a lesser extent my shoulder so that I do not have beginning-of-the-season injuries that will nag me the whole season or force me to switch to skis. I never fall on skis and never fall on soft boots, so those are my fall-backs. (never means hardly ever, ya know?)

A benefit of hard booting has been to my skiing. With hard booting I have committed to the carve, laying out over the snow, facing into the turns and ignoring the possiblility of a crash. That has really increased the learning rate and my skill at carving, such as it is. Now, when I switch to skiing, I am much more aggressive and, for lack of a better term, lively on the skis. I wasn't that much of a wuss before, but now I literally have no fear, just cold, calculating nerve. I owe that to hard booting. I am addicted to hard booting. I really want snow. Now.

Have to run, my longboards are calling me to the asphalt slopes.

Rick