Cold and windy at today’s Ski Bum race. Fast course with some big, across-the-fall line turns.

Disappointed in myself as I skied slower than my handicap.  A couple of reasons (excuses?) I think contributed to it.

One is I am just plain scared with my skiis.  I discovered the reason they felt like they haven’t been holding in hard turns and ice is I have been on the verge of pre-releasing the bindings.  Basically, when really pressured, the heels have been opening enough to let the ski flatten out and I have been this close to having the heels pop off.  Scary when you think of having a ski fall off at 35 or more mph.  I’m too old for that stuff.

Other thing is defintitely of my own making.  As anyone who follows this page knows, I am playing with my boots every time I go out to see what happens.  Latest modification was to adjust the cuff alignment a little more.  I pushed it to 1.5 degrees out on the left boot (from 1 degree) and 1 degree out on the right boot (from 0 degrees).  It felt awesome when I was free-skiing.  I mean, I was honking on turns like I couldn’t believe.  And it really did feel good.

Until I got in the course.  Then I was crap!  I couldn’t turn  worth a damn and especially couldn’t ride a flat ski.  I could never get my knees to move out enough to get the ski to track right.  As a consequence Dave said it looked like I was falling the whole time and that I was scared of committing on my skis.  I was!

So, tomorrow, Dave & I will closely examine just how the cuff looks in relation to my leg in different positions and stance.  I will probably back off the cuff alignment to the 1 degree on the left and maybe 0.5 degrees on the right to see how that works.

The point is, the Dodge Ski Boot is really sensitive to these adjustments.  Something we never experienced in a rubber boot.  But that is the learning curve.

Busy tomorrow.  Trip to St. J to fit Duffy with his boots, then back to Waterbury to spend time with PJ and JP to teach them all about our special boot press and some of the fitting techniques.

Anxious to hear from the boys in Europe.  Ski fast guys.

Stay warm.

Bill

Dave & I are putting a lot of effort into better quantifying and understanding the Dodge Ski Boot.  I know it sounds strange, but even with theory, sometimes things happen for reasons you don’t fully understand.  And, being kinda geeky, we don’t rest until we understand the reasons so we can better improve and apply the findings to the next project.

One of the things we suspect/feel is the Dodge Ski Boot is just plain faster when gliding (like in a wax race or on the flats for downhill.)  We don’t have the quantitative tests for it yet, (we’ll need to set up timing on a flat hill) but to our feet, it feels a lot faster.  Why?  Good question we’ll be digging into.

Dave will probably correct me, but I think it might have something to do with the Dodge being so much more sensitive and responsive to small corrections you make to your balance and the changing snow surface.

Follow me here.

The muscles in your foot are always firing to maintain balance.  Try standing barefooted on a hard floor.  You’ll feel it.  That’s normal and good.  If you could stand barefoot on one of those moving sidewalks in an airport, you would feel your muscles firing even more to maintain proper balance.

Now, if you have hard orthotics, place them under your feet on the floor.  You’ll likely feel a difference in the firing of your muscles, probably for the better, as your foot is stabilized.

Next, stand barefoot on one of those cushy exercise mats.  See how much more your muscles are firing to maintain balance, even with your orthotics.  And, you will notice the duration of the muscle firing is longer than the short bursts you felt standing on the hard floor.

I think this translates into footwear.  A soft, really cushy shoe or boot forces the muscles in your foot to fire for longer duration to maintain balance.  But even more, because the feedback is dulled by the cushioning, your muscles are always chasing your balance point, or playing catch up.  So, you get more out of balance and your muscles have to fire harder and longer to compensate, until you either move to a new position or fall down.

If you’re in a high performance shoe/boot that doesn’t dampen the feel, your muscles are able to react quicker and with less effort to maintain balance.  So you don’t get out of position and the corrections are slight.  Translate this to a ski, and that means you glide faster.

This is what we will have to test on the clock, because the clock don’t lie.

I can hardly wait for a speed event skier to chuck their rubber boots and ski on a Dodge to really see how much faster they are.  Who’s it gonna be?

Ski bum race today.  Will let you know how we made out.

Bill

Dave did some quantitative comparison tests of his Dodge Ski Boots versus his old rubber, plug boots yesterday on the course at Stowe.  Very interesting findings.

In timed runs, the Dodge was fully 1 second faster on a 24 second course!  That’s 4%.  In a World Cup GS like Alta Badia or Adelboden, that’s the difference between winning and 25th place.

“Feel” with a boot (or a ski) is a tricky thing.  Oftentimes, the thing that feels most comfortable is actually slower.  We’re all aware of this in race skis, as the deeper sidecut skis “feel” better, but are significantly slower than straighter sidecut skis.  The straighter skis don’t feel as fast, but the clock doesn’t lie.

We’re seeing the same thing with our boots.

“Old-style” plug boots might “feel” better, perhaps due to what we’re used to or maybe because they’re fit so much tighter (to get the stability to make them work).  But, when really pushed, the old boots don’t deliver as high a level of edge hold or control as the Dodge.

Conversely, the Dodge might “feel” a little harsher, likely because there’s not the rubber to dampen the feel.  But, when pushed in harsher race conditions, the Dodge seems to deliver a higher level of edge hold and control.  Dave reported that while the Dodge might have felt a little “harsher” in that he could feel everything more, but he could be more relaxed due to superior edge hold and control.  He also said he could ski with the Dodge buckled much looser than his “plug” boot.

I guess a good analogy might be car tires.  Compare the “feel” and performance of a 65 series tire with a tall sidewall to a low-profile 35 series tire with a short stiff sidewall.  The only way to increase the performance of the tall passenger tire is to pump up the air pressure to make it stiffer, but it still won’t give you that precise contact with the road that the performance tire has.

What Dave quantified yesterday is consistent with our experiences from the very first prototype raced on last Spring.  Racers using that boot were consistently 4 or 5% faster on the Dodge than on their own plug boots.  And that’s after taking only one or 2 free runs on the Dodge.

My own experience is consistent with Dave’s comment about being more relaxed with the Dodge.  For me, that translates into much more comfort as I am not always tensing muscles to maintain edge hold or control.  In fact, yesterday I discovered after 3 runs on a hard, wind-scoured surface that I had only barely buckled my boots, but I had no loss of control.  No way I could do that in a rubber boot.

It’s gonna be fun to see the performance differences for others using the Dodge.

Ski fast (and with a Dodge “Ski faster”).

Bill

• new snow. sunshine. cold. I love Vermont. #

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new snow. sunshine. cold. I love Vermont.

I’ve enjoyed reading all the comments on Facebook from people down South about the cold and the snow.  Not to trivialize the situation (let’s face it, they’re not built for winter weather) but I’m at the point where an inch or two of snow every night doesn’t even count!  Walked down to get the paper this morning through a couple of inches of new fluffy snow and thought “Nah, not enough to start the plow.”

John came home last night from visiting his girlfriend in Charleston, SC.  Says he loves it there.  Will have to bring him back to reality today with a little hockey at the Gut.

Then it’s back to the important stuff.  Making Dodge Ski Boots.  (You were wondering when I’d get the plug in there, right?)

Dave & I assembled some 255 lowers and 275 uppers yesterday using our new super hot-melt glue gun.  Let me tell ya … that thing is great!

First, the adhesive is strong enough to pull a truck, so we can depend on it.

Next, the operation is easy enough to become a one-person procedure, rather than two.

Third, it doesn’t  require all kinds of clamps to hold the parts.  Fourth, its fast, so we can drastically speed up production time.

And finally, it’s not messy like the previous 2-part adhesive we were using.

The laser is back in action and cutting nicely.  Will finish up some 275 lowers so we can get Duffy’s boots to him.

Then, it’s on to molding more parts for 265s.

Remember to turn left, turn right and stop at the bottom.

Bill

The Zagreb WC Slalom starts in a few minutes.

In the meantime …

Had a nice phone conversation with Duffy a couple of nights ago, who reminded me I need to get cracking to get his boots made and to him for the Masters Series.  Dave & I are working on them today, Duffy.  You’ll have them soon, (unless someone buys them first!)

First Stowe Ski Bum race of the season yesterday.  I made it down without too much embarrassment.  I guess the key is to improve each week.  Will let you know how the “reclamation project” is going.

Dave had a nice run and his team (Broken Toys) fared well enough to place fifth.  Not bad.

Good interest in boots on the hill yesterday.  For everyone who has been waiting, PJ will have more boots shortly along with our special boot press for those who have really funky bone spurs.

Well, gotta go, the race is starting.

Bill

Sorry it’s been a few days.  Busy with trying to make Dodge Ski Boots and clear all the snow from the driveway and walks.  We’ve received over 30″ of snow since Friday and it’s still spitting.  More coming today.  Only sorry it’s not in the mountains, but Dave & I will have a first-hand look later this morning.

Up to Little Spruce for the first Ski Bum Race of the season.  Dave’s a full-fledged member of Broken Toys, but I’m a substitute.  Anyone need another member today?

Anxious to hear from the boys in Europe.  (Cross-fingers) We’re hoping to see our boots on some feet in Zagreb and then Adelboeden this week.  Another pair is ready to head across the pond on Thursday.  Go DODGE!

Really liking the modified liners … so much easier to put the boots on.  Also getting reports from David that he thinks his Dodge Boots are actually warmer than his plug boots!

Control box for our laser was broken but we had Bruce from Lasermill here last night and a simple replacement.  Back in business this afternoon.  Also will see the results of a new hot-melt glue gun we hope to use in part of the assembly process.  This thing ain’t your run-of-the mill arts and crafts deal.  Should speed things up and be a lot better.

Lots going on, but gotta run.  Will update you soon.

Stay on the road.

Bill

Dave & I were supposed to ski in a benefit race for the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy today, but he decided he was having so much fun over in Greensboro that he never made it back.

I went up to the mountain anyway.  After all, I hadn’t really skied for over a week, no hockey and no curling.  I had to get out.  Plus, truth be told, I had psyched myself up to get back into some gates after way, way too many years of not running courses much less skiing.   I made it up there a little after nine. The coin-op course wasn’t set up, so I took a few runs on the gondola and quad. Eventually there were some gates there, but it turned out to be some MMSC kids training, as the slalom hill on Little Spruce was being used for the MMWA race!  But, the coaches were nice and let this old man see if he remembered which side of the poles to ski around.

I gotta say it felt good.  Not fast, but good.  And I am very psyched to run some more wickets, especially at the Ski Bum race on Tuesday.

Okay, here’s the plug.  My Dodge Ski Boots again felt really good.  I have modified my inner boots to take advantage of the Dodge Ski Boots easy-entry heel track.  And BOY does it work well!

What I did was to remove the laces from the inner boots, and (ouch) cut a 5″ long slit down the back of the inner boot to let my heel push back into the heel canal when I slide the boot on.  Dave has been doing this all season and it works well for him.  My inners were getting raw from constantly putting them in and out of the boots, so I figured what the heck.  Now my inner boots stay in the shells and I cannot believe how easy it is to slip the boots on.  They’re as easy as putting on rental boots!

Also tested some new buckles and they seem pretty good.  But, since I don’t need to buckle my boots tightly it’s not a terrible workout for a buckle.

More later.

Bill