Hey Chad,

Just wanted to give you a quick riding impression update. Had a few very fun runs with the Sideways board in freestyle setup (+18 front/ -9 rear) and I gotta say that it is a total blast. I was still a little worn out from yesterday, so I didn't go too crazy, but it is a very confidence inspiring board.

I did a quick run down miracle mile just to see how it felt, and it's really great just skidding around and relaxing. As planted as the tail seems when pushed, I was surprised how easy it was to just flick it around in the steeps. I really thought that the tail would catch or be hard to manhandle, but it came around very easy. Then when you put it on edge it just sticks. It really seems to go against the norm that a longish/stiff board is hard to just play around on.

The other thing I noticed is how well it seems to jump. Again, I took it easy overall, but it's very stable coming up to and off the lip. After a few smallish tabletops I did get a little cocky and took it off a pretty big one (big being a relative term, none of these 60' gaps or anything). I've never felt totaly comfortable jumping on my other board (likely due to me tightening the boots so stiff for carving making it overly touchy), but to use the words confidence inspiring again, your board made me push it a bit more than normal. Unfortunately they changed the face on this particular jump from the last time I did it a few days ago and lets just say I'm glad I was wearing a helmet. I ended up going pretty much vertical and came down the same way. I collected myself and went back up to do a couple of more runs. Little lesson here kids, check out a jump before you "go for it".

I took it down the steep and icy moguly section just before you get to the far east side of the hill (near lift 7) to see how it does there, and to no surprise it felt great. Something about the edge/sidecut/stiffness of the board, but I can't get over how well it holds an edge. I can load up the back and it just holds, and when you want to release the energy it does so in a very predictable manner.

Lastly I did some straightlining just to reafirm what I found the first day I rode it. It simply rips!! It's always hard to know just how fast you are going when you're by yourself, there is no way to gauge if what you feel is any faster than anyone else would go down a given run. I was able to catch up with a couple of guys that looked like they were hauling when I saw them from the ski lift. I ended up blowing by them on one of the steeper pitches (and they were not skidding). Since the board was so predictable and stable on edge, I simply let it run. Even though it wasn't the smoothest terrain (caught a couple of unexpected airs), I never felt like "Oh crap, this thing is gonna pitch me any moment". Since I don't really do any park type riding (rails, walls etc) I can't give you a report on that, but I can ollie it pretty well thanks to that tail.

Before I rode your board I rode the Coil again and just couldn't get that tail to stick heelside, whereas yours just stuck even with the freestyle softie setup. I can really lean back on my back foot on your board and feel the hold, but the Coil just kept skidding out. I'm sure a lot of that is my technique and Aaron will come up this week to ride with me and reafirm that, but I want that board to feel like yours. I went as far as measuring the binding setback on your board and copying that to the Coil. It appears that your's has a 3/4 inch setback from the center, and the Coil was set up as dead even. Maybe that will make a difference, but I didn't have a chance to try it out today, but I will tomorrow.

I did have quite a few people make comments and inquire about the board and the custom graphics. When I told them about it they were very interested in the ability to have the freedom to put just about any graphic of their liking on a board. A guy said "man, thats a long ass board, bet it's a pain in thight the stuff". When we got to the top we rode down together for just a little bit so I could show him how easy it is to to turn - he was quickly proven wrong. Then I left his little twitchy board in my dust as I rocketed away, gotta love it 8-).

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again, -Mike

Sidewinder Monoski

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Sidecarve Carving Snowboard

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V Series Monoboards

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