Shoulder And Fitness

My shoulder is improving, but kinda slowly. Just about all of the symptoms have dissapeared now. Trouble sleeping looks like it's going to hang around for the longest; lying on my front can cause discomfort in the morning.

According to the doc, it's probably a good time for me to start strength-building excercises. I know that many of you would advise going to a physio, but for now I'm going to start with some real basic shoulder excercises and stretches; see how that goes.

Which brings me on to fitness. Unfortunately there seems to be a trend developing over the last couple of years: I start thinking about fitness a couple of months before I'm due to go snowboarding. That's bad. It never used to be like that.

Anyhow, I've started cycling to work in an effor to add consistent excercise. It's only 4 miles each way, but on a rusty old BMX (thanks James), with some killer hills thrown in, I end up with a not-so-bad workout. I feel better already.

I also found a snowboard-specific excercise plan, courtesy of Pro Ride Snowboard Camps' news letter. As with most excercise plans, I suppose, you won't find anything ground breaking there. But it's good to know that people who know what they're talking about have put the plan together - and targetted it at snowboarding. Plus, the home-made balance board is cool - I might try that!

Sooooo Good!

I saw this (Torstein Horgmo in Northstar Park) over on P.Wikberg's blog - but had to post it here too. It's soo good. I'd like to visit a mountain with a park like that...

Fernie: Cornerstone Lodge Review

During the 2007/2008 season, we stayed in the Cornerstone Lodge, in Fernie, Canada (BC). The Cornerstone Lodge is in the actual resort, rather than Fernie Town, which is a bus ride down the road. I don't know the exact price that we paid for the 6 person appartment as we booked as part of a package holiday; based on what we looked at around the time, I think the Cornerstone is middle of the road for the in-resort accommodation. Prices are available on their site.

First off, and probably most important, I thought the location was excellent. Perfect in fact. The Cornerstone is situated right between the two main lifts that take you up (Elk and Timber Bowl Express), and right next to the beginner chair (the Deer). When you step out the door, you can literally be at any of the three lifts in under one minute. Awesome. and depending on what side of the building you're on, you can look out from your balcony to see if there's a queue on a powder day, which chances are, there won't be!

What's more, you have both the Griz Bar (after-shred-beers-and-nachos) and the ticket office immediately outsite the lodge. There's also a restaurant and coffee shop on the ground floor of the building. Tight.

If you want on-the-hill, true ski-in, ski-out, the Cornestone is the best, it's right bang smack in the middle.

If you want to be in Fernie town however, it's obviously no good. Personally I'd rather have the mountain right on hand; first on the lifts on a powder day. Sure there isn't much happening in the resort - but I prefer to spend bus-time on the evening and not when there's good shredding to be had!

The quality of the accommodation was good - especially in the rooms themselves. We had 5 people in a 6 person appartment, which had the typical 2 bedrooms plus double sofa bed. I don't often like this configuration becuase who wants to sleep in the living room? That said, there was plenty of space.

The bedrooms were nice, spacious and comfortable; good storage space and nice bathrooms. The hot tub was ok - just what you need, soothing and relaxing - but nothing like what's on offer at the Lizard Creek Lodge. Think indoor health club hot-tub, rather than outdoor luxury, steaming tub, while looking up at the stars. But then again, I think the Lizard is way more expensive...

The only slightly weird thing is where you check in. There isn't actually a reception in the Cornerstone - you use the reception at the nearby Griz Inn. It's no biggy - as long as you know what you need to do. If you don't, you can end up walking around in the cold. It also helps if you're in a group so that some can stay with the luggage so you're not hauling it around!

To summarise - if I was going back to Fernie I would stay in the same place. To me, the location was perfect, it was reasonably priced and good quality. What more do you need?

Early Season Last-Minute-Deals

Just recently someone mentioned to me that there are some pretty good last-minute deals going with Crystal Ski. Naturally I had a browse over the weekend, and, they weren't wrong!

Flights and accommodation for £149 is pretty good - as are the destinations (Mayrhofen, Tignes, Cervinia). I think the deals on offer here fly mainly from Gatwick; maybe one was from Manchester also... It's tempting if you're looking to steal a week early season; I wish I had the spare time (and a little extra spare cash!)

I've never been on a Crystal Ski package, but I have been on two others, and they both turned out well. Looking at some of the snow reports, it seems Cervinia and Tignes already have some decent riding available and there's more snow forecast. If it keeps up there could be some high quality, cheap, early season shredding...

Injury Update

I spent a little over two hours in the hospital this evening, waiting to see a doctore and then to get an x-ray. It's been around a week and a half since the shoulder-slam, and the end of the collarbone has been feeling weird.

To be clearer - towards the end of last week the regular pain/bruising/difficult-movement started to subside. But I've been left with a shoulder that's really painful in a few positions only; and it's a strange pain, like it's on the bone. Well, at least that what it feels like to me.

So I thought I'd get it checked out - just in case.

Well, nothing's broken or fractured which is good. Man, am I a bit of a hypochondriac or what? That's twice this year I've been for an x-ray to check on a snowboarding injury, and twice there's been nothing broken!

The doctor suggested that lump on the bone/around the bone could be a resurgence of a previous shoulder injury a few years ago; my left shoulder is gonna be weak in this area he thinks.

Still, it's on the mend, I've got a good range of movement, so I've just gotta wait for it to heal - then I can go shredding/skating again...

New Shred Stick: It's A Lib Tech!

I bought my new board this weekend. It's pretty sick; I like it a lot.

You might have my previous post which listed the 8 boards I was considering. From that collection, I'd made a short-list in my head: the DH, the Skate Banana and the DC MLF - and maybe the T1, but it's hard to find.

Well the board I bought isn't from the short-list; it's not even from the long-list. So how come I ended up buying it?

Because I wanted to!

Each year my local snowboard shop has a slightly different line. Some board manufacturers are present each season, but some come and go. You can always find a Burton for example, and they like Nitro a lot; a couple of years ago there were quite a few Rome options, now there are none.

When I made my first visit about a month ago, I was hoping that there would be some boards from my-list - given the option I'd prefer to buy here and support my local shop, they're worth it. Well they had the skate banana, the DH, and even the pro-model version of the T1 - but none of them in sizes that I wanted.

I couldn't help but notice they had a wide selection of lib tech boards: the skate banana, the Jamie Lynn, the trs and the t.rice. And they all looked so good; just oozing quality. Plus it was the first time I'd seen the magne-traction edge-design in the flesh; and a rocker design also for that matter. I was drawn in.

I waited for a few weeks as there was a chance they'd be getting the 152 skate banana in, and that's the one I wanted. But after going back a couple of times I found myself considering both the Jamie Lynn (154) and the Travis Rice (153).

It was the third visit, this weekend, when I had the cash in my pocket, that I decided I want it. I bought the Lib Tech Travis Rice, 153.

It's probably a little stiffer than I was after and it's not a true twin (it's a directional twin) - which is something I normally insist on. Plus, there's usually something that holds me back from getting a pro-model; like, it's designed for the pro, rather than the general rider... But that all went out the window. I just wanted to buy it.

153 is a perfect length. It's got magne-traction and a rocker-base, both things I'm keen to try (although I accept I might not like them). I really like the blunt nose, it's got great stance options and it feels like it's got lots of pop. It feels like a good board. The 20% off that was on offer this weekend didn't hurt either!

I can't wait to shred on it. In the meantime, I'll just prop it up against the wall and look at it...

New Dakine Luggage: Split Convertible & Tour Bag Review

For a while now I've been intending to move away from having an all-inclusive, wheeled boardbag (e.g. Burton Wheelie Locker), to using two pieces of luggage: a regular case plus a smaller board bag.

I've now completed the transition, pairing a Dakine Tour Bag with a Dakine Split Convertible. Despite having more first hand experience with Burton luggage products, and being impressed, I opted for Dakine for 3 reasons: 1. price, 2. availability/choice and 3. confidence in their products.

The Tour Bag is considerably smaller than the Wheelie Locker, but as you can see, it still holds a lot of stuff. In the picture above I've got my board and bindings, my boots, my lid, snowboard pants and jacket, some impact shorts, a change of street clothes and a few other smaller things like socks. This is going to let me keep bulkier items out of the case as well as distributing the weight - think airport weight limits and their cost structure for extra bags.

The Tour Bag is well padded so your board is going to be safe. Plus there are separate compartments for boots and bindings - though you can use them for whatever you want. These separate pockets have waterproof lining, so they're good for anything that's wet and needs packing.

The smaller size (and cost) means no wheels - but I reckon these are designed to be used in addition to another case (most likely wheeled), so the shoulder strap fits well - wheeling two items can be tricky. It's going to be in the region of 10 - 15kg, so carrying over the shoulder shouldn't be a problem.

The Split Convertible is one of the larger cases available at 120L. I'd have been just as happy with the more common Split Roller, but I was able to pick mine up in a sale, which made the change worth while.

As it happens though, the convertible design is actually quite handy. Both sections can be used separately, so you can down-size to a smaller setup; although I'd say it's more practical to use the bottom one, as it has the wheels and the handle. If you're using the bag in it's completeness, I'd say it's unlikely that you'd ever want to split it up at the airport so that you can check in two separate bags, as per the Dakine blurb. However, you might find splitting it up handy for squeezing into a restricted space, like a small car for example...

The bottom part of the bag is a single, large compartment. The top bag, as shown above is split into three main compartments, plus the two sticking up on the top; all good for organising your gear.

My one question is the coupling of the two separate bags; they are joined with 4 large clips/straps. Although I haven't used the case in earnest yet, say, taking it through an airport, it does feel sturdy and durable. I don't anticipate any problems and I'll report on this after the first proper use.

Price: 2 bags vs. 1
Personally I much prefer the flexibility of a case and board bag vs. one large wheeled board bag - but does it cost more? I've only owned one of the large do-it-all board bags, the Burton Wheelie Locker, so I'll compare the price of two separate bags against that. The Wheelie Locker retails at around £170. The Tour Bag sells at £40 and the Split Roller 120L at £100 - making the pair £140. If you want the Split Convertible specifically, it's another £30, I think, which is quite a bit more: I'd recommend sticking with the roller as I'm not sure the convertible design is worth it.

Those are full prices though. One of the great things about getting a Dakine bag is that there are plenty of them around. Do a quick search on google and you're almost certain to find one in the sale. I got my Tour Bag for £28 and the Split Convertible for £80 - so a pretty good deal!

Castleford Shred

We headed to Cas' last night for an indoor freestyle fix. It's been a long time since I was there last, and I haven't ridden since I was last at the Chill FactorE, when I slammed pretty hard on my back. Probably a little rusty, and out of shape... I gotta do something about that.

The drive down there was a bit of a set back; we got stuck in traffic and ended up being over an hour late - leaving us just under 3 hours to ride. Not good when you have to pay for either 2 hours or 4 hours on a freestyle night...

Or not! We were hit with a pleasant suprise when we arrived - you can now opt for a 3 hour ticket at £30 (2 hours @ £25 and 4 hours @ £35). Bonus! It's probably been like that for ages, but hey, when was the last time I was there? Things were starting to look up.

And the set up - it was pretty fresh. OK, so the kickers were rubbish, but a good indoor kicker seems to be the exception rather than the norm, and I've known that for a while. They had the long flat (10m?) rail out, which is always good. Plus the long box and a short down rail. Both the flat rail and the box are ride on (if you want to), but the down rail was raised so you need to ollie on - the proper way.

There was also a rather nice spine/jib setup, with a huge, fat pipe serving as the coping - for want of a better description. A picture here would have been cool, but I didn't take any cameras - shame.

Despite being a while since I've snowboarded, I did try a few things that turned out quite nice. A half cab to 50-50 on the long rail; I made my first attempt at that and then all the ones after didn't measure up. A tight little frontside 3 mute; small, but I liked it 'cos I've never grabbed mute on a front 3 before.

Mart and I put the spine-jib to good use. I don't really know how to describe it, but my best effort was a frontside rotation to press/boardslide along the pipe and a 270 off, landing on the other side of the spine. That jib was real fun all night long.

I'd been hoping that the small amount of time I've been trying to do frontside boardslides on my skateboard was going to help me out with getting something frontside on a rail/box. My inability to do front-boards is in my opinion (and probably most others), a major failing. I feel like until I get this down, I suck on rails. So I want to sort it out.

I had marginal success on the box, but nothing worth writing about (ha!). I really do need to file my edges down, mind. Even if it's just to stop me thinking about it - 'cos I caught quite a few heel edges while sliding backwards, not good. Luckily I wasn't going fast enough for it to be a problem. It wasn't until I unpacked my bag when I got home that I found the file that had eluded me earlier on when getting all my gear ready. Bummer.

I'd spent a bit of time on the side-kicker-rail, which is the first of it's kind that I've tried (I think). Just a 50-50 was daunting at first. I tried some board slides, getting some contact before dropping off again. I decided that I wasn't committing enough, so towards the end of the session I went for a full on, rail-dead-central-between-bindings, boardslide. I caught an edge and went head first to the landing, fast. My left shoulder took all of the impact, and I was immediately aware that it was a nasty slam.

Memories of James' broken collarbone came flooding back. Luckily for me though, it only felt like I'd broke something, as far as I can tell everything is still intact (whimp!). Boy did it hurt though. It's pretty damn sore today, stiff, and I've got a lot of restriceted movement - although I did manage to drive the car, moving up the gears is ok, but changing down is hard.

Still, at least I committed to the rail :)