"Edog" wrote

Someone stole my 6 year old Glissade 168 longboard (now called big gun)
and I am very sad.

A freerider -- back issues keep me grounded.
150lbs, 5' 7" (170cm, 68kg)
9 years riding.
A Baker boy.

Off the runs, where I do most of my riding, the Pacific Northwest
offers two snow conditions: Fresh with crud and no-fresh with crud,
where crud means bumps with textures ranging from soft to ice commonly
in the same run. Oh, yes and I love riding in crud.

Any comments? Better Ideas?

Puzzling... I'm not a Baker boy, but I spend half of my riding days there.
If anything, for Baker,even on powder days, I want a shorter board. Too
much steep tree runs, really narrow chutes and bump fields that I simply
can't miss to have a long board. For powder days, it'd be nice to have a Fish
or something reeeeally wide but still reasonably short (like 27+cm waisted
board). For the rest of the days, I'd want something still reasonably wide,
with really tight freestyle-like sidecut, with very good edge grip, not too stiff,
but light and strudy. I just can't imagine what I'd be doing at Baker with a
big board.

Well, in fact I can. I destroyed my 160 Nitro Shadow last week (FUBAR
edge, ~5 inches of delam and the edge looks like a corkscrew - and
I don't have a slightest clue on how or when it happened!), so I had to
take PalmerChannel Titanium 164 to Baker last Saturday. I had Nidecker
Carbon 860 bindings mounted, I was told it's a classic BX setup.

Well, two things: first, I just don't have the strength to lug this monster
around on anything but smooth groomers, and second - it sucks big
time for riding gnary steeps, chutes and trees. Duh! What's actually
surprising, I didn't have all that much fun with it even on smooth
groomers. Yes, the edge grip is unbelievable, but I had a feeling that
I'm riding on top of a freaking freight train all the time. This kinda surprises
me, but the better I get, the more I want to be on a softer board, with softer
boots and bindings.. And I'm a pure freerider, never touched a rail yet.

Also, as unbelievably solid and comfy the bindings are (they truly are
amazing), they grip so well I just didn't have the range of motion that
is requred for bumps, steeps, trees and rocky chutes. Even if I loosen
the bindings, they still hold way too good, too restrictive.

Another surprise was that I got so used to duckstance I couldn't ride
more typical BX ~+25/+10 angles anymore. Had to go back to duckstance
even on this board, felt much better that way.

Oh well, I guess the whole BX setup will just go to eBay, and I'll be in for
a new Nitro Shadow, or maybe I can find an old Burton Dragon somewhere.

So... Mr. Edog, what the hell are you doing there on a long board? I'm
really interested to know - your riding style, what runs are your favorite, etc..
I'm heavier and taller than you (165lbs, 5'11"), and yet I have a completely
opposite idea of what's a good board for Baker.