Simon
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Posts posted by Simon
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Klubhead,
Which model of Isuzu did you buy?
Here in Europe most Isuzu 4WD cars are already equipped with mud-and-snow tyres that should be enough for your needs.
20.000 yen for snow chains seems a bit high to me (mind you, I don't live in Japan). What do you have, 245/70R16 on the front wheels?
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Yeah, I wonder if it's possible to see swiss channels by satellite. Today's programs...
SFnetwork (in german)
06.00 Salt Lake Update
10.00 Salt Lake Highlights (with all the stuff of the previous day)
12.05 Salt Lake Update
16.55 Salt Lake Live
(Curling, alpine skiing, biathlon...)
22.20 Salt Lake Aktuell
22.45 Salt Lake Live
(Curling, alpine skiing, Ice hockey, short track...)
TSRnetwork (in french)
10.45 Salt Lake Highlights (with all the stuff of the previous day)
17:00 Salt lake Live (until midnight)
Curling men
Alpine skiing
K 120
Alpine Skiing again
Curling
Alpine Skiing
Curling women
Ice Hockey
Now that's a pretty complete coverage. Of course the ice hockey match is Switzerland against idontknowwho, but I'm sure they will broadcast semifinals and finals even if Switzerland is not there.
Anyway, I'm in Milan, but I have a house in Nendaz, a small village very close to Verbier (same domain). Well, actually it's not a house, it's simply a flat. Ok, not even a flat, it's just a big room, but it has everything I need to spend 3 or 4 days a week there, in winter: shower, fridge, bed, TV... I'm not sure all the forum can squeeze in it, but we can try.
Bring only beer & chips: the wine here is excellent and my cellar can satisfy the taste of everyone (traduction: there is a convenience store just out of the door and the selection of wine is awesome). How do I recognize you? By your famous brown snowmobile suit?
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The italian coverage is very similar to the US one. To be honest, in the past years the coverage was way better, with nearly all the events broadcasted live. This year, because of the different time zones, most of the contests are in prime time so, unless there is an italian athlete running for a medal, they prefer to broadcast fantastic stuff like soap operas or quiz shows and you have to wait at least 11pm to catch a glimpse of the action in SLC. I think another reason for this is that nowadays there aren't any italian athletes that can generate a media frenzy like Alberto Tomba did in the past years. When Tomba was skiing, everybody, and I really mean everybody, was glued to the TV and knew everything about the olympics. Now we have some good athletes in other disciplines, but they are no Tombas.
The sad thing is that the media directors, instead of saying "well, Tomba is not here anymore, let's focus on other events, like snowboarding, which has a strong following between the under-35", just said "Tomba is not here anymore, so the advertising revenues are really low. F**k the olympics. We'll broadcast only the events where we are nearly sure we can get at least a bronze medal". The result is that we got the fantastic opportunity to see live ALL the four runs of the luge (where the ital. won a gold medal) and we had to wait 1AM to see the halpipe contests (where the commentary was something like "now Ross pulls a... I believe it's a 540 or maybe a 720.. and now he... er... makes a very big jump"). The funny thing is that there are no luge courses in Italy and the Italian Luge Federation is composed of TWELVE athletes. Twelve. A huge following. Well, who cares? We won a gold medal, so let's put snowboarding at midnight or 1AM...
Swiss TV is a totally different matter. I don't know if it's in their DNA to be neutral, but the coverage is fantastic (at least in the french and italian part of Switzerland). They broadcast nearly all the events live. Of course the focus is on swiss athletes, but at least you got a chance to see everything, even if there are no swiss running for gold...
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Badmigraine,
most of the events at the Olympics are not judged. From a rapid count, I'd say more than two thirds.
The ice skating example was there to "prove" that the credibility of some judges is less than zero (btw, the losing couple was canadian).
IMO Kratter (haakonflip 7 bs rodeo 7 and a flawless 1080) and Nakai were way better than Thomas (fs air and bs air without grab... bah), but Thomas got the bronze (and if you've seen it on TV, a part of the public was surprised by the judges' decision, and they were in SLC, not in Cortina or Nagano).
I'm not saying there is a conspiracy or anything like that, but I think that MAYBE there was some sort of pressure on the judges... I've seen any kind of stuff in the past Olympics (especially in boxing events), that I cannot exclude some kind of fixing.
But, of course, it's only my opinion. And, as Peaker says, it's no big deal. The top six rocked.
(btw, when Austrians do it in skiing and Aussies do it in swimming, there are no judges involved. The faster ones win, and that's it).
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Hmmm, johnboy, let me think. Maybe because most of the other Olympics events are not controlled by judges? (and the ones that do stir ALWAYS controversy... look at figure skating yesterday). Or maybe because TV networks/ski-snowboard companies couldn't care less of curling, luge, biathlon and other events?
I'm not saying Powers, Kass & Thomas are crap. Matter of fact, they kick ass. Ross Powers was simply perfect and he deserves the gold. But a sweep... Hmmmm...
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...and this has nothing, I repeat nothing, to do with the fact that they were in the US (and one of the judges was american and snowboarding is nowadays the #1 winter sports over there and...).
Giacomo Kratter 4th? After THAT second run? Yeah, right.
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Don, have you tried Level gloves? I've bought a pair of them 5 or 6 years ago and they are still perfect. Other stuff:
board: santa cruz/joyride
bindings: ride/drake
boots: airwalk/DC
goggles: oakley
What else? Ah, of course...
drink in the flask: Cointreaux
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Lama, good resorts in France are:
- Meribel (Les 3 Vallees)
- Tignes/Val d'Isere
- Avoriaz (Les Portes du Soleil)
I would definitely skip Les Deux Alps (crap skiing and too many italians
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I think that, like 99% of things in our lives, snowboarding is better when done with other people than alone. Three reasons IMO:
1) You have better chances to improve your riding style when boarding with friends that are on your level or even better. They can give you tips, spot a better line when riding in the backcountry, teach you a new trick and...
2) ...they can save your ass. Imagine this: the sun is shining, there is a lot of powder, you duck under a rope, hike for 20 minutes, ride in the middle of nowhere and... suddenly you fall very hard and break your shoulder. Well, something like this has happened to me and, believe me, I was more than happy to hear the voice of my girlfriend a couple of meters from me (she went to call for help because I couldn't move).
3) It's simply more funny. Snowboarding is a joy and I like to share that with my friends. Matter of fact, I remember the first time I went to Hokkaido: there were TONS of snow. First thought when I arrived there? "Geez, I really wish my friends were here to see this".
Just my opinion, of course
ps: sorry for my poor english
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Milan, Italy.
Since I have to go to Japan 3 or 4 times a year for work, I always bring my board with me and add 4 or 5 days of vacation to the trip.
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Whoa. My man Giacomo Kratter from Italy is in there as well! I still can't believe he got invited with Terje, JP and the rest...
It should be a really good event.
Gigi Ruf is an awesome rider from Austria. I think he was on the cover of TWSnowboarding a couple of months ago...
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I agree with Barok.
I use Drake F60 and Ride Brushie on my boards and I've to say I'm really satisfied with both of them (IMO Ride bindings are better than Drake ones, but most of the people I ride with prefer the F60...).
I'm not sure about Burton Customs: my girlfriend used them the last season and one of the straps broke after only 20 days of boarding. Maybe it's only bad luck, but I think they are cheap bindings... too much plastic. I would avoid them (and step-in too).
[This message has been edited by Simon (edited 25 November 2001).]
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Like Wizz... I was a skier, but the first time I tried boarding 8 years ago I became immediatley addicted...
Boarder all the way.
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Ivo, that's interesting. I was thinking about doing something like that... Which places did you hit on you trip and how much did you travelled?
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Well, it's not that difficult to find mushrooms even in august, if you go to some clubs in the Shibuya area...
))
chains vs tires
in Snow talk, trip reports, Japan avalanche & backcountry
Posted
I think the Mu is known in the rest of the world as the Rodeo. The tires you got on your car (like everyone else already said) should be ok on nearly all the roads you're going to drive in the next months: at 245 the tires are quite large (which means less stability on icy/wet roads), but with a mud-and-snow pattern and 4WD you shouldn't worry about putting snow chains on.
Plastic chain?
Er... Did you buy a set of Spider Spikes or what?