Intro and first day on a Donek (looong post)

"corbeau" wrote

For me, one wave is more a more intense experience than a comparable run
down the mountain. However, quantity and consistency more than make up
the difference for me during the stormy winter months.

Hehe. Check this out, for example (off-topic material):
http://www.redbullkingoftheair.com/action.php

I can't say snowboarding is just something that keeps me going through
the winter, but I'm definitely looking forward to steady summer winds even
after our magnificent trip to Whistler..

"corbeau" a écrit
A trip to do
just that next season has pushed
out a winter trip to Hawaii...

:-O

You're *really* pushing it, dude!

@lex

For me, one wave is more a more intense experience than a comparable run
down the mountain. However, quantity and consistency more than make up
the difference for me during the stormy winter months.

Yeah, I haven't gotten a taste of the ride surfing yet. First time I
hit the coast out here with some buddies we rolled into the beginner
spot on a thursday evening durring a storm. There was a storm hitting
and pretty big swell... really waves way to big and sloppy for us to
be trying to learn anything on but we went out there anyhow. It was
really something paddeling around in green water, all this mist and
fog, and just surrounded by forest that runs right up to the beach...
I don't know how to describe it, but I can tell there's magic there.

In article ,=20
says...
=20
"corbeau" a =E9crit
A trip to do
just that next season has pushed
out a winter trip to Hawaii...
=20
:-O
=20
You're *really* pushing it, dude!
=20
@lex
=20
=20
=20
More like getting outvoted by the rest of the family...=20

It's all good, clean powder or warm water reef breaks. Either one beats=20
VAS TokeLand Jetty or Cascade Concrete. Dying to do an Indo boat trip=20
but the S/O gets seasick when it's more than 6 inches.

C.
--=20
-she ain't revved til the rods is thrown

corbeau wrote in message m...

confidence than the other board. This was especially the case on the
blue runs. Everything just felt connected, no twistyness at all. I
like the board a lot now and will probably enjoy it even more with a
slight base bevel and detuned tips.

The base bevel will definitely help you. I tried for all my willpower
to get used to 0/0 bevels on my Donek Incline 155 and couldn't do it
and broke down for the standard 1/1 bevels. I had it detuned twice and
rode it for 7 days before giving up and getting the edges done and it
was noticeably better. Like you said, the board doesn't like to skid
(i.e. go slow) and that just made controlling speed over steep/icy
section, especially moguls a little bit of a nerve racking experience.
With the 1/1 bevels, the board is only a little annoyed at skidding
around, but no longer throws a "tantrum" when I'm trying to skid
around on hardpack instead of pointing down the steep.

I'm less sold on the Freeride bindings. Given my limited knowledge,
they seem like killer bindings, very stiff, bombproof construction and
the tilt/cant feature is super cool and comfortable! The only criticism
I have of the Catek Freerides is with the straps - they arent up to the
standard or the binding IMO. However, I'm not a tweaker at heart and
these things are a tweaker's binding. Starting in my late 30's, I'm
_never_ going to be a particularly advanced boarder. I'd just like to
be able to run the blues with confidence and get down a powdery black
every now and then without resorting to skidding sideways. So for me,
KISS is a good motto. I may change bindings to one of the stiffer
conventional strap systems.

I'm been told that the heelcude/strap are a little "rough" on people's
ankles... I have the Salomon SP4s myself, how do they compare? I wish
the top strap of the SP4 was attached higher. I don't really like
tweaking because tweaky would consume me and I like not thinking about
it once it's set. I'm looking at upgrade to the SPX Pro in the future
maybe.



One thing - I was using the Donek last night with my wife on her first
try at a blue run (Alpine, Summit Central) and the Donek does not like
to go slow. It was hard (for me) to turn going slow and skidding down
the hill while ecouraging her was downright painful. I'm glad I have
the other board around for when I'm fooling around going slow with the
kids. Although in a couple years, I imagine there's no board made that
will let me keep up with them...

C.

Like I said before... go for the 1/1 bevel.. or .5/1 bevel that Mike T
is doing on his Donek. It is *much* more controllable at low speeds. I
was with a group of intermediates and it was quite annoying until I
had the edges done, then it was pretty much like other boards I've
ridden although better than some of the boards of comparable stiffness
(saying that is is not to bad considering how stiff a board it is).

I have the Incline and with size 8 (mondo 26) feet I had to get riser
plates to get the full range of angles I like. With the riser (Palmer)
it is very nice. Also... because with the topsheet... I have noted at
least 5 decent topsheet chips on the edges and while they aren't bad,
they are worrisome as its chipping more quickly and severely than any
other board I've ridden.

--arvin

(Arvin Chang) wrote in
om:
..

Like I said before... go for the 1/1 bevel.. or .5/1 bevel that
Mike T is doing on his Donek. It is *much* more controllable at low
speeds. I was with a group of intermediates and it was quite
annoying until I had the edges done, then it was pretty much like
other boards I've ridden although better than some of the boards of
comparable stiffness

Ha.. I tried to get the Mike T special on my new Incline and
was met with really wierd looks and more. After a long conversation,
the details which I've forgotten, I just did the 1/1 they are used
to doing with a little bit of detuning as well.

I'm still getting accustomed to the board. You can definitely
feel its more stable at speed (which hopefully doesn't lead to
overconfidence!) but I still occaisonailly get hung up a bit
when it switching to heel edge..hard to describe but its almost
like the front of the board is digging in more than the rest..
or more so than I was used to with other boards.

I've only had opportunity to do bumps one day (I avoid the ice
boulders). I think its going to be a matter of working the
legs more I did on my old (softer) board. I was able to make it
down a local double d a few times.. not the most fluid of runs nor
without the obligatory 'oh f*' wiepout, but not total embarrasment
One thing for sure..slow+bumps+stiff does spell wipeout!

mike

I just put the 1/1 bevel on mine this weekend. I also a cm or so right
around where the sidecut ends. This is my first time playing with
bevels and I'm surprised how much impact on board feel it can have.
This definately made the board a lot more loose, a lot more inclined
to skid around.

Should be great on steeper stuff and in trees... but I'm not sold on
it yet. I liked how the 0/0 tune tracked straight and smooth when you
bomb with it... I'm hoping I'll adjust to the new feel and be just as
cozy making lazy bombs.

"Mike T" wrote in message .. .
I tend to stick to the things I do well (deep powder steeps, tree
riding,
backcountry, basic jumping, ect...)....no more pipe, no more 15 foot
gap
table-tops, ect...

Same here... although I never was any good at the pipe and never did gap
jumps

There's no reason why one cannot spend a lifetime advancing in just the
areas jaycb74 mentions above. If that gets boring, try some hard boots
and an alpine board. Alpine can be an extremely technical discipline,
and I've found that it really helps my soft-boot freeriding as well.

Mike T

I'm seriously considering the hard boots and an Axis for next
season... Right now I'm in a cast up my thigh, with a shiny new
titanium plate, three cubic centimeters of bone graft, and many screws
in my tibia right at the ankle. If I was in hardboots I might still
have broken the leg, but the ankle joint would have been protected. I
actually have been considering the Axis for a long time, but the
accident reinforced the idea.

-Jules

--
http://learning.snowboarding2.com

"og" wrote in message ...
Wide boards are hard to turn. How big are your feet? I'm a size 9 and prefer
no more than 25 cm waiste. Currently I'm riding a 24.5 waisted and it's just
about perfect.



Donek wide boards are not hard to turn. I have a Wide 161, it turns
very well, probably due to its torsional stiffness.

Of course, if you don't need the width, don't get it.