Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
#11
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
ORIGINAL: Herr Monk
I was just wondering what else in folks lives reminds them of riding a Harley, or at least the relationship has to the more "typical" version of the activity.
There are a few I can think of. For me the biggest other Harley-like ativity I do is telemark? Anyone else do this? It is to downhill skiing as riding a Harley is to Riding a Crotch Rocket. In telemarking, for those of you unfamiliar with telemarking, you ought to check it out: http://telemarktips.com/ . They are both old-school, hardcore and more rewarding because it takes more work to get into and good at. Both Harleys and telemarking are limited in their potential for speed and performance by physics (i.e. an aircooled V-twin and a metal cable for a binding can both only make you go so fast), it takes allot more skill, time and energy to get the performance where you really want it, but when you do it's many many times better and more rewarding than a plastic fantastic imitation. They both tend to have a large population of old guys with ZZ top beards, bear is never far away at the end of a run, and the goal is to get into the wilds away from it all, although every once in a while it's fun to hang in a crowded area and show-up the Aspen/BMW types, on your archaic technology.
Oh, and most importaintly the Chicks live love 'em both...
Any other activities you all engage in that are a result of that same part of your personality, to get away from crowds and the plastic fantastic of modern yuppiedom? I'm always looking for new ways to get places less efficiently
I was just wondering what else in folks lives reminds them of riding a Harley, or at least the relationship has to the more "typical" version of the activity.
There are a few I can think of. For me the biggest other Harley-like ativity I do is telemark? Anyone else do this? It is to downhill skiing as riding a Harley is to Riding a Crotch Rocket. In telemarking, for those of you unfamiliar with telemarking, you ought to check it out: http://telemarktips.com/ . They are both old-school, hardcore and more rewarding because it takes more work to get into and good at. Both Harleys and telemarking are limited in their potential for speed and performance by physics (i.e. an aircooled V-twin and a metal cable for a binding can both only make you go so fast), it takes allot more skill, time and energy to get the performance where you really want it, but when you do it's many many times better and more rewarding than a plastic fantastic imitation. They both tend to have a large population of old guys with ZZ top beards, bear is never far away at the end of a run, and the goal is to get into the wilds away from it all, although every once in a while it's fun to hang in a crowded area and show-up the Aspen/BMW types, on your archaic technology.
Oh, and most importaintly the Chicks live love 'em both...
Any other activities you all engage in that are a result of that same part of your personality, to get away from crowds and the plastic fantastic of modern yuppiedom? I'm always looking for new ways to get places less efficiently
did the tele-mark thing for many years in upstae NY. worked the olympiv mt and had the pleasure of cuttng tracks in the early dawn.
#12
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
ORIGINAL: faber
Whoa!.....free-heeling is like riding a Harley?
That's an odd comparison.
I don't know a single pinhead who rides a Harley, and I know hundreds. (You obviously do, Herr Monk--first one I've heard of). Most drive 25-year old Subie wagons, with a black lab in the back and some old ice-climbing gear on the seat with crushed wasabi peas on the floor. I ski with quite a few "ridge hippies" and these guys are soooo mellow and real co-op types: granola-crunching, Nalgene-toting, hemp-underwear-sporting, vegan-jerkey-chering, neo-hippies. A few even ride bikes to the mountain/trailhead. I don't know a single one who would ride a motorcycle--harder to haul all your extra Backpacker's Pantry to the food bank for Thanksgiving.
Don't get me wrong. I make fun of everyone, especially myself. I was a collegiate racer who still skis like I think I'm racing and also skis AT (and XC). My backyard fence is made of old skis. I'm another type of ski town stereotype, always complaining about each year's
"freshman class," a man-child always talking about the old days before our hill was "discovered." But pinheads....
I ski with these guys and love sharing my homebrew with them, though I can only take so many 40-minute versions of "Dark Star" on the iPod-plugged stereo on any given day. The only two-wheeled vehicles they have for the most part are twenty-year old mountain bikes with $400 forks, and some PVC tubes for the skis
And your analogy (tele:alpine::HD:sport bikes) I don't think works. I've seen some pinheads shralp pretty hard, and I've seen plenty of (alpine) gapers in shiny new Volkls, or whatever, who can't snowplow out of a lift line, yet buy season passes every year.
Maybe BC skiing vs. park & pipe skiing....?
But if your general observation is on the experience and the rush....I see your point. For the way I ski, and the way I ride, the rush is different. But I love the feel of wind in my face and watching the ground speed by.
Whoever said that thing about stretch pants.....I guess you haven't skied since 1983.
Whoa!.....free-heeling is like riding a Harley?
That's an odd comparison.
I don't know a single pinhead who rides a Harley, and I know hundreds. (You obviously do, Herr Monk--first one I've heard of). Most drive 25-year old Subie wagons, with a black lab in the back and some old ice-climbing gear on the seat with crushed wasabi peas on the floor. I ski with quite a few "ridge hippies" and these guys are soooo mellow and real co-op types: granola-crunching, Nalgene-toting, hemp-underwear-sporting, vegan-jerkey-chering, neo-hippies. A few even ride bikes to the mountain/trailhead. I don't know a single one who would ride a motorcycle--harder to haul all your extra Backpacker's Pantry to the food bank for Thanksgiving.
Don't get me wrong. I make fun of everyone, especially myself. I was a collegiate racer who still skis like I think I'm racing and also skis AT (and XC). My backyard fence is made of old skis. I'm another type of ski town stereotype, always complaining about each year's
"freshman class," a man-child always talking about the old days before our hill was "discovered." But pinheads....
I ski with these guys and love sharing my homebrew with them, though I can only take so many 40-minute versions of "Dark Star" on the iPod-plugged stereo on any given day. The only two-wheeled vehicles they have for the most part are twenty-year old mountain bikes with $400 forks, and some PVC tubes for the skis
And your analogy (tele:alpine::HD:sport bikes) I don't think works. I've seen some pinheads shralp pretty hard, and I've seen plenty of (alpine) gapers in shiny new Volkls, or whatever, who can't snowplow out of a lift line, yet buy season passes every year.
Maybe BC skiing vs. park & pipe skiing....?
But if your general observation is on the experience and the rush....I see your point. For the way I ski, and the way I ride, the rush is different. But I love the feel of wind in my face and watching the ground speed by.
Whoever said that thing about stretch pants.....I guess you haven't skied since 1983.
#13
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
Glad to hear that there is more than one. Here in the northern Rockies, we typically only see one kind of pinhead.
I also learned to tele in the service (Army Ranger), with no poles and a 60. I thought the skis were too soft, but understood they were more of a trekking ski than a true carving ski. As for me, I grew up racing alpine: SG, GS, and SL (when I was a kid, there was no DH in our league--insurance!!). So, it's what I still do. I ride GS race stock in the BC and on-piste. Just what I'm used to.
When I go BC, I like AT bindings, which is free-heel (kinda) for the skinning; heel down for the carving.
MRG is an awesome place to ski. Been there a few times, I always try to work it into my eastern trips to Stowe and the Bush. Free-heeling there is, well....respectable! Core!
FWIW, I'll ride with guys on BMWs, sport bikes, Harleys, etc., and I'll ski--and do--with bump freaks, pinheads, bootpackers, and gatebangers. One of my regular BC partners is an old pinhead who knows snow and avvy-savvy better than anyone else I know. But he is an old-school ridge hippie.
Do you guys skin at MRG or wait for the single?
I also learned to tele in the service (Army Ranger), with no poles and a 60. I thought the skis were too soft, but understood they were more of a trekking ski than a true carving ski. As for me, I grew up racing alpine: SG, GS, and SL (when I was a kid, there was no DH in our league--insurance!!). So, it's what I still do. I ride GS race stock in the BC and on-piste. Just what I'm used to.
When I go BC, I like AT bindings, which is free-heel (kinda) for the skinning; heel down for the carving.
MRG is an awesome place to ski. Been there a few times, I always try to work it into my eastern trips to Stowe and the Bush. Free-heeling there is, well....respectable! Core!
FWIW, I'll ride with guys on BMWs, sport bikes, Harleys, etc., and I'll ski--and do--with bump freaks, pinheads, bootpackers, and gatebangers. One of my regular BC partners is an old pinhead who knows snow and avvy-savvy better than anyone else I know. But he is an old-school ridge hippie.
Do you guys skin at MRG or wait for the single?
#14
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
Faber,
the chairs; we go more for the party and having a great time. Last time for some serious skinning was Jan '06 in Colorado; spent 3 weeks in Isabel and Pike Natl Forests. Mon-Fri in thebackcountry, weekends at Keystone. Even summitted Pikes, not recommendedas something to do in January.
[IMG]local://upfiles/14271/0D16E81976164CC889304614EDC15387.jpg[/IMG]
the chairs; we go more for the party and having a great time. Last time for some serious skinning was Jan '06 in Colorado; spent 3 weeks in Isabel and Pike Natl Forests. Mon-Fri in thebackcountry, weekends at Keystone. Even summitted Pikes, not recommendedas something to do in January.
[IMG]local://upfiles/14271/0D16E81976164CC889304614EDC15387.jpg[/IMG]
#15
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
Interesting thought. For me, the connection is closest to drift diving. Instead on floating on a motorcycle, you're riding a drift current. On the other side, you watch out for cagers. In the water, you watch out for things that consider you lunch.
#16
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
Nice to see there are some other backcountry skiing types here. Supposed to be a dry winter in my parts... Good for the bike, bad for the skiing, but at least I can enjoy it either way
#17
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
I guess downhill skiing is sort of close, in that I'm outside, more or less on my own....
But at least in skiing, crashing isn't so tragic.
There's plenty of folks telemarking at Heavenly, and one of the guys I work with does it, but it sort of looks like work! Of course, so is hiking halfway back up Mott Canyon to get my skis after I have a yard sale....
But at least in skiing, crashing isn't so tragic.
There's plenty of folks telemarking at Heavenly, and one of the guys I work with does it, but it sort of looks like work! Of course, so is hiking halfway back up Mott Canyon to get my skis after I have a yard sale....
#20
RE: Riding a Harley and skiing, e&
That's a sweet image, Khyber. I can almost feel the cold smoke sticking to my face. We don't have that kind of altitude in Montana, but we have scads of BC. Most of my BC skiing is pretty straight-forward and lazy: park at a trailhead, skin in/up for a few hours, and try to get a few laps in before heading back. But at least once a year, I go on a six-day trek with some friends right around the north boundary of Yellowstone. It ain't Alaska, but there are some sweet lines back in there.
Judging by this thread's response, I can see that a few of us are getting keyed up for ski season. It's the only way to deal with the end of riding. Time to dust off the Greg Stump videos.... Hope to see some of you guys over at TGR.
NWS/NOAA is forecasting a moisture-intensive La NiƱa this winter for the PNW and northern Rockies. BRING IT ON!
Judging by this thread's response, I can see that a few of us are getting keyed up for ski season. It's the only way to deal with the end of riding. Time to dust off the Greg Stump videos.... Hope to see some of you guys over at TGR.
NWS/NOAA is forecasting a moisture-intensive La NiƱa this winter for the PNW and northern Rockies. BRING IT ON!