Pook – very nice little video that! Most enjoyable!

Thanks for not broadcasting the location on an open forum – those trails have become a bit controversial recently especially with the increase in use.

In fact they’ve been sabotaged on a couple of occasions of late with bricks, rocks and logs etc placed across the trail so go steady on some of the blind corners.

Black is black. anything else is shades of gray

Not necessarily …

“When a white horse is not a horse”

Disco Black is indeed a ‘nice sparkly black’ … bit like a subtle suntan lotion with glitter in it … but in a good way! :lol:

Here’s a snowsports example:

a snowboarder has a tendancy to bring their trailing arm round to the front of their body resulting in a degree of upper body/counter rotation.

In order to rectify this an instructor may get them to pretend they are squeezing a tennis ball in their hand as they are riding along so that they become ‘aware’ of where their trailing arm is. (sometimes known as proprioception)

This technique won’t correct the bad habit overnight, however the individual will be more aware of it though and keep practising the above technique on a regularly basis until it becomes second nature and they no longer bring their arm around.

Maybe skills coaching is the way forward for teaching learning techniques rather than actual skills

There’s more than a grain of truth in this I reckon. Skills coaching won’t necessarily make you a riding god overnight. What it might do however is provide you with some knowledge based experience & techniques that you can put in to practice again and again until you get your own riding groove dialled.

Coaching teaches a “right” way to do things, when they only correct way to attack a trail, is how that individual rider wants to attack it. IMO

Not entirely sure I see what you mean. I would say that a [good] coach/instructor will help facilitate a learning environment in which the individual can discover their own method of ‘attacking a trail’ – granted there will be some basic principles.

After all we are all physically different and learn in different ways so there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong way … just various methods that can be employed to help someone achieve their personal goals …

Interesting discussion.

My personal take on this is that mountain biking has now ‘reached a certain age’/maturity/development and like the life cycle of other outdoor actvities, once the early pioneers & adopters have carved a path there follows a period of popularity as the activity gains public acceptance.

Clearly there is little or no instruction for the early pioneers as they are the ones blazing the trail, but once the public acceptance increases, the rest of us who aren’t ‘natural athletes’ and need to put the requisite ‘10,000 hours’ in to reach a modicum of skill level

… or we pay for coaching/instruction because:

– time is short
– we want to steepen or ramp up the learning curve
– we are currently frustrated with our current skill level and want to progress.
etc …

Within the snowsports industry it seems to be perfectly acceptable and indeed commonplace in both Europe & North America to have instruction in order to address these shortcomings as for most people the time on the snow is somewhat limited and many people want to maximise their enjoyment and progression.

… anecdotally the exceptions to this often seems to be the British who seemingly take some stoic pride in not having ski/snowbard lessons and perpetuating their bad habits. (I’m not sure why this is but there seems to be a similar reluctance within mountain biking, although I think things are beginning to change a bit and the concept of ‘coaching’ in order to improve your enjoyment is becoming more accepted)

With very few exceptions almost all of the very best snowsport participants I’ve met have undertaken some form of instruction or coaching at some point because a decent instructor can:

– provide a clear explanation of desired goals and achievements
– de-tune a demonstration so that the maneuver can be broken down into sections
– facilitate an appropiate learning environment
– determine what ‘learning styles’ an individual may have and tailor the course accordingly
– provide relevant feedback

Sure, some of your mates can do all of this (although many can’t) and given enough time you would probably figure most of it out for yourself, but even then you might not – until someone points out the error of your ways:

I thought I rode with my elbows quite bent and relaxed until I saw video footage that proved otherwise …

So I would say no … skills courses aren’t the latest ‘must have’ accesory … but [a good one] can make a big difference to your riding enjoyment!

The missus has a pair of the women specific 5:10s and a pair of Vans that were re-soled by Feet First with Stealth Rubber. She prefers the re-soled Vans as they aren’t quite as ‘clunky’ and they dry out a lot quicker.

Vans are a good choice seemingly, as long as the original soles aren’t split.

Hope that helps

I would echo much of what has been written here regarding the Blood. It’s a great bike that’s guaranteed to put a big grin on your face. It’s definitely a ‘winch-up’ kindof bike and I’ve done the Glentress Black and Innerleithen Red XC routes on it a few times and the downhill bits were a proper giggle.

[For me] the Blood probably is at it’s best though mucking around in the woods. My 2009 model has gone the opposite way to this years spec from Orange: Shorter stem, 160mm Lyriks, double-ring & bash and I swapped the RP23 for the 5th Element Coil from my old Patriot [as I can’t afford the CCDB yet]. It certainly isn’t an ‘all day, all-round do everything bike’, but it’s great fun and I love it.

The cable routing is perhaps not the best and you need to keep an eye out for rubbing especially with the rear mech gear cable hose when riding in gritty mud etc. Some careful heli tape and zip tie placement solves the issue though.

@ Samurai … Ouch!! How did you do that?

Padded shorts are a great idea as well. Once you get into sliding (e.g. Coleman or ‘shutdown’ slide) on a longboard your body position and therefore your center of gravity are pretty low so it’s not that far to fall …

… just make sure your knee joints are warmed up and do plenty of stretching exercises to try and stay flexible

Not sure if it will help ease some of Mrs Blobby’s fears but helmet, gloves and knee pads are definitely recommended – especially when starting out.

I got bitten by the longboard bug a few years ago and I’m in my early 40s.

I absolutely love it. It never ceases to put a massive grin on my face.

Check out Lush Longboards[/url]
Find somewhere flatish and smooth to begin with and learn to footbrake

… and as a bonus it’s really helped my snowboarding! :-)

I’ve had the Kyle Straits and now use a pair of POC knee pads. Both are absolutely fine for all day riding apart from the odd really hot sweaty summers day [remember them?]

Both have also saved the skin on my knees on numerous occasions and keep your knees warm in winter! The newer POCs have protection on the side of the knee.

… but then I drive a Peugeot Partner and also have an Orange Mountain Bike so you might not value my opinion! :lol:

If you join ‘Snowboard Club UK’ (£15) you get a decent discount with TGIC.

The cover is quite comprehensive and tailored for snowboarders – could be perfect if you are only going for a couple of weeks.

This year though I’ve gone for an annual policy with BMC, despite having to pay additional premium for snowboarding because of limits imposed by the likes of TGIC & Dogtag on the total number of ‘winter sport days’ you can have.

Caution is advised though with some of the cheaper, price comparision/online holiday insurance types … reading the policy fine print often reveals that you really aren’t covered for very much at all …

I had snow tyres fitted (all 4 for £270) last month as a replacement for the Auto Socks I used last year as I’ll be driving to the Alps in March. I have to say I’m really impressed with them and reckon they’ve paid for themselves already – as having them on the car has made the difference between working and not working. The grip they provide on everything from lose powder to really compact snow is unbelievable.

What they won’t do though is leapfrog jack-knifed lorries or abandoned cars so it still pays to monitor the traffic reports etc and stay at home if conditions dictate it.

Feet First re-soled a pair of the missus’ vans with Steath soles – she actualy prefers them to her 5.10s as they aren’t as chunky.

As long as the soles aren’t split and/or cracked you should be fine getting them done.

So you got some to sell digby

sorry – they’ve already been given to a mate who has similar sized tyres.

I bought a pair for ’emergency get me home’ situations last year and they were great – they got me home in some pretty treacherous conditions

My commute is 40 miles so having something like these can mean the difference between abandoning your car along with everyone else or getting home.

Downside is you have to keep taking them off if your journey involves both cleared and un-cleared roads. can be a bit of a soggy wet pain after a few repeats.

This year I’ve got snow tyres! :-)

Those people who wanted to quit, did quit and have remained smoke free, how did you do it?

I smoked for well over 20 years. Climbing in the alps convinced me that my lung capacity wasn’t what it was and if I wanted to keep doing outdoor activities etc then it was time to do something about it …

There’s a quote from the 1991 film ‘Dead Again’ spoken by Robin Williams:

“Someone is either a smoker or a nonsmoker. There’s no in-between. The trick is to find out which one you are, and be that. If you’re a nonsmoker, you’ll know”

I realised that I was a ‘smoker’ – 20 odd years of addiction & ingrained behavioural habit’s doesn’t dissapear immediately. I just told myself that “I wasn’t smoking today” … and that was four years ago.

Give up if you can – it’s worth it! Some people can smoke for years with little or no ill-effect … but it will catch up with you at some point …

rode to work this morning with my Schwalbe ‘ice tyres’ on the roadrat as they apparently require 20+ miles of ‘bedding-in’ on tarmac before you take them off-road.

quite noisy … like riding over Rice Crispies. Quite frosty this morning but no serious ice to speak of so I can’t comment yet on how effective they are on ice.

Looking forward to the first snowy off-road ride!

I've got the 2009 Blood with 2009 Lyriks (160mm)
Great for all round riding & messing about including XC – have ridden it round the Peak District and the likes of Innerleithen Red & Glentress Black. Bit of a winch on the climbs but a real hoot-and-a-half on the downs

Tend to run the forks @ 140mm pretty much most of the time.

I let Courtney Love use my phone – she was very sweet & polite

… oh yeah … and if you are going for say six days, don't automatically buy a six day lift pass. You might not need a full lift pass for the bunny slopes and you might want a day off. Many resorts do half day passes etc. Don't be pressured to buy a full pass if going with a holiday company – check out lift pass options for your resort before you go

Agree with much of what people have said:

Lessons for definite. If you can get some before you go then so much the better, but consider paying for some one-to-one lessons in resort. the instructor should be able to give you some sound advice regarding binding angles, stance width and body position and what you learn first you learn the best so it's worth getting it right first time. If you are in resort you will get get some mileage under your belt quite quickly – in a snow-dome or dry slope there's often limited space on the bunny slopes so you spend a lot of your lesson unclipping and/or hopping back up the slope.

If you can buy some boots before you go, then so much the better. (hire boots tend to be pretty minging and ill-fitting) Get them properly fitted and wear the liners round the house before you go – it will reduce the chance of any foot pain during your first few days – and allow you to concentrate on your bruised coccyx! 8O

Goggles not sunglasses
reasonable waterproof trousers = dry bum
reasonable gloves = warm/dry hands
jacket might not be so important as it depends where & what time of year you go. If you're on the bunny slopes you probably won't be too far from shelter and you won't be heading up high/exposed. Also it can get quite sweaty when first starting picking yourself up all the time!
Avoid a wearing a rucksack – they tend to mess up your balance when learning and can be problematic on chair lifts for first timers

Gravity-Slave is spot on.

I damaged my knee (ligaments & meniscus) a couple of years ago. The key to a successful recovery I reckon is a good sports physio and being prepared to incorporate the exercises they recommend into your daily life. I still do mine regularly even now in order to try and prevent recurrence.

Whippersnapper – yeah – I know what you mean! If I'm starting on my heal-side edge on really steep stuff, I have to 'dip' my leading shoulder in order to initiate the first turn.

Initiate shoulders before legs.

Mmmmm … without wishing to get controversial, this is where bad habits sometimes start – it certainly did for me :oops: Whilst I concede that CASI do teach upper body rotation to beginers in order to get them started, intermediate turns avoid this as it introduces counter-rotation.

Although I do think that a degree of 'opening up' & 'closing' of the shoulder for turns can help – it certainly helped me with my switch riding.

Foot steering is definitely key though – especially for progression to riding in powder and steeper terrain.

I can definitely recommend Neil McNab's book 'Go Snowboard' which comes with a well made DVD – available from Amazon etc featuring the lovely Jenny Jones!

Having a lesson with a good instructor will mean they can observe your riding and make suggestions to improve your technique accordingly. We are all different and often require little tweaks here and there to help us ride with flow and grace.

Willard – definitely consider having a lesson when you get to Banff if you're struggling with initiating turns on a snowboard. If you learn the correct technique early on it's much easier than having to 'un-learn' bad habits later on.

In a nutshell it's all about the feet and the knees – which is where the binding angles and stance width come into play. You need to be able to pressurise the outside edge of your feet to intiate and complete the turns whilst maintaining a relaxed centered 'stacked' body in line with the board – looking in the direction you want to go whilst keeping a 'quiet' upper body.

Make sense? I hope so.

Option are great boards – I've had a couple of them (Option Redline) and they are smashing allround 'all mountain' boards. Often with quite understated graphics! they [used to] do 163W & 167W boards which might be worth a look. Not sure what's in their line-up for next season though.

What's wrong with grey cammo?

… it clashes awfully with my dayglow one-piece! :lol:

Your right about the people though – very friendly indeed!

Depends when & what you are after sometimes with resort area shops – late in the season and it can be a bit limited – My boots fell apart in Whistler a few years ago so I went into the Salomon shop there .. the guy didn't have the size I wanted in stock so he popped across the plaza to 'Showcase' to 'borrow' a few pairs … the only colour available in the boot I wanted in my size was the most awful pair of grey-camo. Still, most of the boot was hidden by trousers, binding and snow – but I still have nightmares about those boots … :oops:

Always found the Canadian shops very helpfull though …

Willard – Despite Banff being in the Rockies it doesn't get the same amount of powder as some of the other BC resorts, namely Fernie, Kicking Horse, or Revelstoke. Banff & surrounding resorts are often quite icy. Take your ski boots as well – just in case!

If you are off to Xscape then the TSA/Ellis Brigham shop should be able to sort your boot fitting out for you. I've always found the guys who work there pretty helpful.

Happy shopping! :lol:

Willard – where abouts in Canada were you thinking of heading?

Some of the Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) resorts don't offer the best snowboards to hire – often something like 'Head' with pretty crappy/unresponsive bindings. Often local shops will have a stock of demo boards you can try out but the cheapest places to buy snowboard gear will probably not be in resort but in the big cities like Vancouver or Calgary. Canadian dollar exchange rate isn't so good the past couple of years so don't head out there thinking you can snap up a bargain anymore.

Definitely check out what's on offer in the UK – there may be some of last years models available at discount prices. Especially if you are looking for odd-sizing etc. I've bought a couple of longish boards in the past from Snow & Rock at discount because they've been the previous seasons models. As others have said a mid-range 'all mountain' board should be fine to progress on. Top end stuff tends to be overly stiff for many riders. I reckon £250 – £350 is a fair RRP price range for a board.

I can't comment on some of the new rocker/banana technology boards that have come out recently as I haven't had chance to ride one, but it's good to see the snowboard industry bringing in new ideas – time will tell whether these are here to stay or just gimmicks. Worth mastering the foundations of riding on a traditional [directional] twin-tip with a normal sidecut & camber I reckon though.

I think the 'Arbor' boards look pretty good in an old-skool longboard kinda way, but this year I'm saving for a split board

That custom made Windlip ^ does look nice though. For full-on niche-city I think the boards made by 'Gentemstick' take some beating …

Definitely worth looking at a wide(ish) board then. You can get boots such as the Salomon F24 that have integrated liners which effectively drop your shoe size by a factor of one, but that's probably not much use if you are a size twelve.

Snowboard boot fitting should be 'tight' but not to the point that you get foot pain. The liners will pack down over time but if you are only riding a couple of weeks a year the last thing you want is crippling foot pain – which is the reason a shop fitting session is recommended rather than buying online.

As a [very] general rule of thumb (or rather toe) your toes should be 'snug' up to the end of the boot liner … not so that they die and fall off but you shouldn't be able to wiggle your big toes. If your foot moves around inside your boot you will have less control over your board.

Hope this helps … happy riding! 8)

How big are your feet? Size ten boots or larger can cause overhang (how much overhang depends on your binding angles) so you might need a 'wide' or 'mid-wide' board.

Completely agree with some of the advice here about spending your money on boots in the first instance. Spend some time in the shops in the UK trying on different boots and wearing them round the shop to determine which brand/style suit your foot shape etc. Salomon for instance suit narrow feet whereas 32 and Vans are often better for wide feet.

If you are riding in some of the 'powder' resorts in BC then you could consider getting a board out there – riding in powder often requires a longer and/or wider board. I ride a 167 for this reason (185cm & 85Kg). However depending on experience a shorter board can be easy to initiate turns on. Finding the compromise for your personal level of experience is key.

Personally I would avoid any of the cheap ebay combos on offer and talk to the guys as TSA for example or your local independant shop. They can offer pretty good advice.

With regards to Air Canada and boardbags, there is no strict requirement for a hard box (although it's recommended) You may have to sign a waiver though. Air Canada changed baggage limits last year. Previously they wavered the outsized luggage fee so boardbags went free in addition to 2 x 23Kg bags. Now though the allowance is one 23Kg bag – additional bags cost $50CAN

I can definitely recommend getting lessons out there. The CASI instruction is really good and the instructor will give you useful pointers regarding binding angles & stance width etc.

Snowdome 'snow' is effectively crushed ice. Therefore you will need to wax your board more often than if you just ride in BC 'champagne' powder

I suffered a torn MCL & medial meniscus tear a couple of years ago… went to a sports physio straight away (by-passed the GP refereral) and did the recommended exercises & self-treatment religiously.

Back on the road bike within a couple of weeks and off-road within a month or so. Still try and do the recommended balance board exercises & stretching to reduce chances of further damage and avoid having to have surgery later (damaged MCL can seemingly result in ACL problems later due to joint instability).

All depends really on how bad the tear is and more importantly (apparently) how much small tissue damage was done by the subsequent swelling. I was lucky and got an ice compress on mine quite quickly.

Can't recommend going to see a quality sports physio strongly enough!

great gloves – just seem to get better the more I wear them and never bunch up on the palms no matter how sweaty.

Not cheap – but worth it I reckon.

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but, despite not having had any problems in the past, I certainly won't be flying with BMIBaby again if I can help it. Having paid extra for snowboard carriage (£18) I still got stung for £60 excess baggage [East Midlands to Geneva in March] as my combined baggage weight was [according to their scales] 5.3kg over the current allowance of 18kg per bag.

They are now strictly enforcing the £10 per kilo excess baggage rule which means a 31kg bike bag would cost you £130 ONE way in adition to the additional baggage cost of £18 for the bike. Your hand luggage can way up to 10kg though!

My snowboard bag contained only board, boots, bindings, shovel & probe and it still weighed 20kg according to them – I doubt I could pack any of my mountain bikes so that it only weighed 18kg …

Yep – decent bunch of guys who should be able to look after you.

Despite not having had any problems in the past, I certainly won't be flying with BMIBaby again if I can help it. Having paid extra for snowboard carriage (£18) I still got stung for £60 excess baggage [East Midlands to Geneva last week] as my combined baggage weight was [according to their scales] 5.3kg over the current allowance of 18kg per bag. They are now strictly enforcing the £10 per kilo excess baggage rule which means a 31kg bike bag would cost you £130 ONE way in adition to the additional baggage cost of £18 for the bike

My snowboard bag contained only board, boots, bindings, shovel & probe and it still weighed 20kg according to them – I doubt I could pack a mountain bike so that it only weighed 18kg and paying the excess baggage can make the total cost more than a flight to Canada!