Freeride board recommendations?

"Dmitry" wrote in news:ErSXb.322262
$xy6.1557362@attbi_s02:


"Mike M. Miskulin" wrote

Can you talk more about your mogul technique? And does it vary
depending on soft/hard bumps? Steepness? Narrow trail?

First off, I think that trying to ride moguls makes you a
much better overall rider. Moguls teach you a lot about

Others have said this as well.

bent only a little. The key here is to keep as much weight on the
front of the board, because otherwise you just won't be able to
use it to turn - the board needs to grab with the front part of
the edge. When I hit the top (front) side of the mogul, the board
is pointing almost perpendicular to the fall line. Make a very
deep squat, absorb the energy of the impact with the mogul. At
that point the upper body is still traveling along the fall line,
so I almost "go over the handlebars". With knees bent and weight
way forward I slide the board off of the top of the mogul, and
then jump to unweighten the the board and rotate it in the air to
point at the top of the next mogul, changing from heel to toe
side or vice versa in the process. Loop to the beginning of the
paragraph here, until too tired or reached the end of the mogul
run

Wow.. this is a lot different than the 15 mins I spent in bumps
at Brighton a few years ago with an instructor. His deal was to
basically ride mid way up the sides and steer with the rear foot.
So it sounds like you are making jump turns the whole way down.

I think the hardest thing (for me) in bumps is looking more than
1 or 2 ahead.. always find myself looking to close and down.

I picked up a Salomon ERA this year and it is a terrific freeride
board, I've owed several boards over the years including a Burton
Custom Limited a couple of years back. The thing I like about the ERA
is it is unbelievably solid. It's quick edge to edge and very smooth
and quiet. The stablity is great. The only other board I've had that
was close was a Burton BMC but those has some quality issues,
delaminating and such.

"msegal" wrote:

I've got a 2000 Burton Custom 160. I'm 6 foot, 175 pounds, so my board is on
the small side for me, I suppose. I'm looking to get a new one that's a bit
bigger when the spring sales kick in. I freeride (not really sure how
freeriding differs from all-mountain, but I certainly cover the whole
mountain--everywhere but the park). I'm thinking of getting another Custom
or a Custom X, but maybe I'm not being that creative here. If there's a
better board out there--say, the Burton T6 or Salomon Definition--I'd go for
it. More to the point, I'm wondering if the high-performance boards from the
top mfgs--Ride, Salomon, Nitro, Burton, Palmer, etc.--differ that
significantly. I mean, the main complaints I hear about Burton are more
political than qualitative. Do certain brands have unique qualities?

"Cary Paugh" wrote in message
...
I picked up a Salomon ERA this year and it is a terrific freeride
board, I've owed several boards over the years including a Burton
Custom Limited a couple of years back. The thing I like about the ERA
is it is unbelievably solid. It's quick edge to edge and very smooth
and quiet. The stablity is great. The only other board I've had that
was close was a Burton BMC but those has some quality issues,
delaminating and such.

"msegal" wrote:

I've got a 2000 Burton Custom 160. I'm 6 foot, 175 pounds, so my board is
on
the small side for me, I suppose.

Thanks, everybody. Sounds like I'm cut out for a stiffer board, though I'm a
little skittish about the comment that stiffer boards are trickier in slow
areas. (It's been a while since I've had to fret about doing one of those
neck-snapping slo-mo cat-track crashes.) One last question (bear with me
here): I've read some of the posts regarding sizing a board to one's height
and weight, but if stiffer means faster and longer means faster, then it
sounds like I don't necessarily need to get a longer board if I'm already
upgrading to a stiffer one. For the past 9 years, I've ridden 160s and have
been quite happy with them. I'd hate to have to completely overhaul my
technique. Then again, some guy on the lift suggested that you have to work
harder with shorter boards--that they cause more leg fatigue--so maybe my
technique could use some overhauling. Any thoughts on what the ideal combo
is for fast, stable freeriding?