utahdeafcarver Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 I reviewed the FIS Equipment Rules and was surprised to see that hardboots are not specifically outlawed or banned from boardercross. I was told they were. Did I miss something? If they're not officially banned, what's the general consensus on using them in FIS sanctioned BX competitions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 IIRC only square-tailed boards are disallowed. Current course design makes hard boots uncompetitive though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpletiesto Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Why does it make them uncompetitive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guido591 Posted February 13, 2015 Report Share Posted February 13, 2015 Because they have deemphasized carving and placed more emphasis on pumping and jumping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted February 15, 2015 Report Share Posted February 15, 2015 Hardboots are obsolete in a successful racers quiver these days. Courses are not conducive to hardboots at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 Why does it make them uncompetitive?Banked corners take away the carving advantage. Huge jumps and transitions that require pumping require the freedom of soft boots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmatic Posted February 16, 2015 Report Share Posted February 16, 2015 (edited) Don't merge the labels! FIS is not allowed to hold boardercross. FIS has "Snowboard Cross" races which is SBX in short form. Boarder-X and Boardercross are registered trademarks and runs are way harder and are dedicated to true snowboarding only, not to skiing like on FIS! It can not be compared to what happens on FIS childgarden-area courses. Even if it was open to every-one, Boarder-X and Boardercross had been a hard battle by six riders at same time on course, doesn't matter what kind of boots. Just because it was an open and not a private party race, like FIS do it. Open means no childish rules, quotas, qualifications, homologations, photographers priority lists and so on, like on FIS imperium. Open to every-one means you pay a start fee (US$ 120) for to join e.g. SWATCH Boardercross® World-Tour-Finals. You need a helmet, thats the only rule. And they recommend: some skill riding a snowboard can be helpfull for sure. Thats all! . and again we see 6 rider on course Edited February 16, 2015 by snowmatic 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Stevens Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) Buddy above... You're out of it. Ya, maybe FIS isn't the crew you want running snowboarding, but saying a modern SBX course is a "child-garden" is pretty dumb. They're f'in gnarly. Going even farther into crazy-land, to say that ISF and Swatch tour courses from the last century were more challenging is, well, crazy. The only race that took it to the next level (too far, if you asked anyone out of the top 10) was X Games and their last jump from a few seasons back... A "normal" track until the final straight, then a jump that saw a few racers carted off under soneone else's power. To the OP, setups are stiff for softboots, but not hardboot stiff for the mentioned reasons. Square tails were eliminated for safety. Edited February 17, 2015 by Rob Stevens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utahdeafcarver Posted February 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks all! Just as a point of reference, I was the only hardbooter in the USASA Nationals (40-49 age group) SBX last year and took 2nd. I won the time trials and had lane choice all the way. The four-man final was not easy competition at all. I'm aware of the square-tailed board limitation and used a stiff Volkl XXX all-mountain board (probably 10 years old!). I used my standard TD3's with the softest e-ring (yellow) and Deeluxe hardboots (stiff but with quite a bit of flex). With this said, wouldn't it be fair to say that rider skill has much more to do with it than a softboot setup? I had no trouble pumping and jumping in my regional SBX races last year (the courses weren't "Nationals" level but they weren't "child-garden" either), nor at Nationals. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but we all know people have done all sorts of freestyle tricks in hardboots, some even taking the AASI/PSIA tests in hardboots. Appreciate all who have shared their views. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danger Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Haha. Thats cool. I will try that in 4 weeks. I go BX riding with Snow School to renew my teacher stuff. And there -- I also will try BX with Hardboots... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 I remember the first Olympics SBX finals in 2006 where a guy in hardboots led most of the way, clearly faster, gets passed (off camera) by Seth Wescot, who then protects his lead by clearly interfering with the faster guy about to pass him on the inside line by turning his board sideways across the course (1:49) and then continues to block near the finish by drifting across the faster guy's line. "Interference" I cried, and then realized there are no rules for boarder cross, it's a free-for-all that is not about who's fastest through the course. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxUcCTfFVk At least short track speed skating has enforced rules about passing and interfering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drschwartz Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 It's a dog eat dog world out there. Same thing happens in surfing, if you get out in front the guy behind you has to look out for you, not the other way around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigwavedave Posted April 5, 2016 Report Share Posted April 5, 2016 It's a dog eat dog world out there. Same thing happens in surfing, if you get out in front the guy behind you has to look out for you, not the other way around. The surfing analogy works for recreational riding as it's similar to the skiers code, but surfers aren't racing. Many other race competitions that put several racers on the same course, at the same time, have rules for safe/fair passing and right-of-way. SBX doesn't seem to and doesn't seem to care, which makes me much less interested in it as a competition. I suppose it's like NASCAR and people watch it for the crashes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aracan Posted April 8, 2016 Report Share Posted April 8, 2016 I suppose it's like NASCAR and people watch it for the crashes? Certainly seems that way. I stopped watching SBX or whatever you want to call it when I realized that it's basically a gladiator fight - putting young people on a course and base much of the suspense on how close they are to getting hurt. Last winter I was at a resort where a larger ski-cross and SBX competition was being held. I rode the gondola with two young riders, one of which told the other about how she was going to race even though she had trouble bending and unbending her knee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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