Guest tdinardo Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Well, my new ride arrived yesterday evening and I figured I had to pass along what happened. This ended up being a bit longer than I intended - actually, it turned into a book…. I ordered up a Donek 191GS and some OS2’s from RJ at exoticboards.com a few weeks back when RJ was cleaning out the attic. Killer deal and great service. I had RJ send the board directly over to Mike De Santis at PTC to put a proper tune on it. It was well worth the extra shipping and time. It’s a true Death Stick – speed like I’ve never seen on snow before. I got a call from a buddy yesterday morning, before the board arrived, telling me that their City Racers team was down a man and asking if I'd fill in as an alternate that night. City Racers runs PGS with skiers and boarders running at the same time. Idiot that I am, I decide what better way to check out the board than by racing it. So the board shows up around 3PM and I tear into the package like a six year old at Christmas. I inspect Mike De Santis’ god-like finish, mount up the Cateks (what a work of art those things are), and install the fresh Intek heels in my Stratos Pros. Set the angles and cant (57/54 angles and 2 deg toe lift, 7 deg heel to start out with) and head off to Snoqualmie West. First run I make it about 15' before I catch an edge and bif. (Note to Self - grow a brain and remember to detune the tip of the board next time DumbA--!). Let's try this again.... Get up and start ripping. The conditions were glacial hardpack and really crusty (the locals were complaining that it was cold and icy and I chuckled – once you’ve ridden Stowe when it’s covered with boiler-plate with a -60% wind chill you don’t complain about crusty conditions and 30% temps with a light breeze). Whoever did the grooming didn't do the best job overlapping their passes, so there were a bunch of wicked ruts. I started laying into some nice carves on a pretty un-ridden area just at the edge of the night lighting. Man is that board fast! Scary fast. The edges were perfect and sticking like glue. Got to the bottom in the blink of an eye with a sh*t-eating grin on my face. This ride is truly evil. Back at the top for one more run before I'm supposed to race (yes, as I said, I'm an idiot...two runs to figure the board out before I race it). This run I turn it up a little. Carving some 18M turns and going top to bottom faster than I can blink. I can see getting into some real trouble with this ride if I'm not paying attention.... Up to the course start. I found out at the top that since I've not raced with these guys before they require qualifiers before you can race. Won't be running for points today, but they'll send me down on two qualifying runs. So be it. They queue my opponent, a skier, and me up to start second (thankfully I got to run the course un-rutted for the first time out). We lined up and dropped into the course. I was able to hit the first five gates pretty well and took the advantage getting a bit of a gap going. About halfway down the course I almost blew out but was lucky enough to be able to recover and get back in control before the skier was able to catch up. Tore through the rest of the course without issue. Ended up beating the skier by about 3 seconds. Sweet! Back up to the top to meet up with some of my buddies and see how fast they're working the order. Found out there was time for another run to get a better grip on how the board works. Off I went. I picked a line down into an area that looked lightly tracked. Picking up speed and carving some turns I decided to try and tighten up the radius to see how well the board responded. Got four or five turns in and came across a nasty rut from overlapping grooming runs, caught an edge, and before I could even think about it I was about 6 feet in the air flying backwards. This was going to hurt! I landed on my back and slammed my head hard enough to see stars and blow my Oakley Mambos to pieces (What a bitch...those things were 10 years old!). I slid a solid forty feet before I stopped. Thankfully I was wearing my helmet – I’d have been out cold without it. I got up and limped my way to the base and ran out to my truck to pick up some replacement prescription lenses and a pair of goggles before heading back up for the start of the next run. Made it to the start with a few minutes to spare. Next run we swapped courses and dropped in. This run I almost blew out in the same section of the course that I did on the first run. Ended up having to ride switch past that gate and lost a boatload of time letting the skier get ahead. I couldn’t recover that much time and ended up getting beat by a couple seconds. Bummer, but considering I’d never ridden the board before getting there I was pretty happy with finishing both runs upright and being able to end the day with a few beers with friends. Winning one race was way better than I was expecting to do. This board gave me one of the most enjoyable days I’ve had ridding in a long time. If you get a chance to grab one Donek’s race boards jump on it and send it off to Mike before you put it on the snow. You will not regret it. I’ll post some pics of the board and the base grind sometime this weekend. It’s truly a thing a beauty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ-PS Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 I'm psyched to hear about it Tom! No a--clown on this one!!! After your great review I'm gonna have a hard time keeping my mitts off of the other Donek before it's sold! Have a great rest of the season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 I landed on my back and slammed my head hard enough to see stars and blow my Oakley Mambos to pieces (What a bitch...those things were 10 years old!). Glad you're OK. For the glasses, I had the same model, Mumbo, before they called theme M-Frames, bought in 1992 or 1993. The frame was breaking in two in the middle, so I went to the Oakley service center (I'm lucky, it's not too far from where I live) and showed it to them. They replaced if for a fee of 50$CDN (taxes included - the fee was because the model is not current) so I got a new frame to replace my old one. Unfortnuately (should I say fortunately?), my lenses (I had a grey and a yellow) did not fit, so they also replaced the lenses! So, in essence, I paid 50$CDN for a pair of new 2005 M-Frame and an extra lens. So the Oalkey customer service is top notch in my book! You might want to contact them for yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted February 11, 2006 Report Share Posted February 11, 2006 Glad you're OK.For the glasses, I had the same model, Mumbo, before they called theme M-Frames, bought in 1992 or 1993. The frame was breaking in two in the middle, so I went to the Oakley service center (I'm lucky, it's not too far from where I live) and showed it to them. They replaced if for a fee of 50$CDN (taxes included - the fee was because the model is not current) so I got a new frame to replace my old one. Unfortnuately (should I say fortunately?), my lenses (I had a grey and a yellow) did not fit, so they also replaced the lenses! So, in essence, I paid 50$CDN for a pair of new 2005 M-Frame and an extra lens. So the Oalkey customer service is top notch in my book! You might want to contact them for yours. Rock on! There's an O-Store about 20 minutes from me. While I only have one side and half the center piece (I couldn't find the rest of them as a result of the yard sale). I do have another lens though. I'll bring what I have left into the O-Store and see if they'll hook me up. I really liked those glasses! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derf Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 Rock on! There's an O-Store about 20 minutes from me. While I only have one side and half the center piece (I couldn't find the rest of them as a result of the yard sale). I do have another lens though. I'll bring what I have left into the O-Store and see if they'll hook me up. I really liked those glasses! :( So did I. The new ones are a little different. The frame goes further behind the ears, which make them hold even better, and is more solidly built. The lens tint has changed very slightly: the grey lens are more blueish and the yellow are a little bit less yellow. Still great glasses. The only downside is that I have a case that fits with the old ones but not with the new ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tdinardo Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 So did I. The new ones are a little different. The frame goes further behind the ears, which make them hold even better, and is more solidly built. The lens tint has changed very slightly: the grey lens are more blueish and the yellow are a little bit less yellow. Still great glasses. The only downside is that I have a case that fits with the old ones but not with the new ones. Cool. I'll head over there tonight to see what they say. I'll post the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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