How to wax your snowboard and a Saturday at Mt Crescent

Ever get stuck on the flats parts of the slopes and have to unstrap and get out of your bindings? Yeah, we've all been there. But if you have a nicely waxed board, hopefully you'll glide right through that! I had used rub on waxes in the past, until last year when Cody showed me just how easy it is to use a hot wax. Just need an iron (preferrably an old, cheap, or a snowboard iron), the wax, scraper, and something to hold your board down. I had purchased a workbench and used this. It worked perfectly. I plan to do some cutting of wood this spring, so I was due for some saw horses or one of these anyway.

This board needs a wax job just like my Honda!

The stuff you'll need to wax your board

This year, I decided to take my bindings off of the board. I didn't last year, but had read that the screws can get pretty hot while ironing your board. Didn't want to cause warpage or damage the base. First step is to clean the board of any old wax. As recommended to me by the guy at Canfields, I bought this liquid cleaner. Did it work? Maybe. I had caked on wax from last year that I just ended up scraping off instead.

My new workbench

Does cleaner actually work?

I ended up scraping off the old wax instead

Wax free

Once clean, warm up your iron and touch the block of wax to the iron. The wax will melt/drip onto your board. Easy so far. Once you have enough dripped on, then you actually iron your board to smooth out the wax and spread it evenly throughout the bottom of the board. Just make sure you keep the iron moving and don't heat up the board too much. Once again, you can damage the base by making it too hot. Once spread out, you then scrape the excess wax off. You can also fix the edges of the board using an edging tool, or a metal file. I skipped this step. Reattach the bindings...go ride!

Drip the wax all over

Yes, you actually iron your board to smooth out the wax

Scrape off the extra

Smooth layer of wax.

Those crazy bindings!

We went to Mt Crescent this past Saturday to use up our Groupons. Temps were in the 30s and they only had the main run and the runs on the left open. The entire right side was closed off and grass. Oh well. We still had fun. Scott's second time boarding and he did much much better this time. He recently bought a new board and I figured it would be wise to get it dialed in and set before having to figure it out in CO. We started the morning (10am) with some drinks and some shots. Hit the slope, then went and got lunch down the street at Denny's. Back to the slopes until we were a little sore, then headed home. Got home at 6pm and I was exhausted, drunk, hungover, dehydrated. All of the above! A three hour nap wasn't enough!

Out at Crescent

Hamm's

Holy Onion Rings!

Funny, I had a physical this past Monday. After a day of eating this, I wonder how my cholesterol is!

Jeremy's birthday!

I've been too lazy to blog...my bad. Weekends have been fun filled with activity, not much biking though. For Jeremy's birthday two weeks ago, we had planned to go to Joe's Karting. Turns out it was a 70 minute wait, and that is AFTER your entire party is there. So instead we went to Family Fun Center XL and did some paintless paintball. Fun fun fun!

Gotta start the party off right!

I had never gone paintballing (is that the correct terminology?). This was pretty fun. Some advice. Forgo the combo card. We got the Luigi combo which gives you two rounds of activity plus $10 of arcade fun. Well, the arcade games sucked. They were old games, guns didn't work, and it was just plain dumb. But the paintless paintball was a blast! They basically use these little rubber balls (about the size of a small marble) and you shoot them out of the paintball gun. There is a room that is divided in half and you have teams. Their counter system didn't seem to work, as evidenced by the wildly lopsided score.

Ouch!

You wear a padded jacket that has sensor pads built in. That and a facemask with built in goggles. I got shot in the hand immediately and it hurts. Also make sure you mask is down far enough, otherwise you'll get hit in the chin and it hurts!

Afterwards, we ate at Cilantros at 144th and L street. Good stuff for not a whole lot of money. And free chips and salsa. BONUS! Afterwards, it was off to Benson to meet with a lot of friends. Ended up at Krug Park, Jakes, and finally Burkes. Good times and happy late birthday to my boy Jeremy!


Jeremy's bday serenade at Cilantros. from Misterlime on Vimeo.

Lots and lots of beers on tap at Krug Park

Mt Crescent this Saturday

A few of us are heading to Mt Crescent this Saturday morning to brush up on some slope action skillz. If interested, get a hold of me. The fake snow will have to do...

That first real ride of the year

You know which one. The one that kicks you in the arse and reminds you of all those xmas cupcakes and cookies, those goo filled chocolates, and those pretzels covered in yogurt. But then the reality sets back in and you are cranking those pedals up the gravel road, wondering what the next hill will bring. Sometimes you get to the bottom of one, you look up and it seems to go on forever and ever. The gravel seems fresh, or they just plowed the gravel back to the middle of the road. And the sides seem mushy like from the warm temps and thawing. Yes, the mushy that sucks on your tires and doesn't feel like they want to let go. Zapping you of your energy before you get to coast towards the bottom.

I finally got around to installing my new Ergon grips from Bike Masters. This is what I came across when I pulled off the crap foam grips! Made me smile because I knew that it would be a good ride that day.

Thirteen of us made it out for a gravel ride on Saturday afternoon. The temps were great, in the 40s but with a strong wind that kept wanting to push my fat tires off the road. Todd W had slicks on his Scott, and I could see him swerving like a first time ice skater on ice. But he managed. And I barely managed to keep up with him (I know he was staying back to keep me company!). Thanks Todd for the encouragement to stay up with you.

We started at Prairie View Lake out by Bennington, made our way to Dutch Hall Road and continued that up to the Ponderosa Bar where we refueled and got caught up on everyone's lives. Because there was a little sense still left in me, I stuck to water at the bar instead of the beer. I knew that the night would be a wild night celebrating one of my best friend's birthdays, so I decided to keep my drinks non alcoholic for the time being.

Dangit! Hole in the crotch of my favorite winter biking pants. Yes, I really did take a picture of that

Chris N said the funniest thing that I've ever heard regarding a bike. He said that he was out taking the bike for a walk that day. 

And you thought the urinal in the bathroom was too high up...

We left the bar, Todd rode back home and we headed back our way. The wind was amazing and helped to push us all the way back. Probably took less than half the time to make it back. Good first ride of the year fellas. Just like last year's ride, it kicked my butt. I was cursing myself for suggesting the ride while riding, but looking back I'm glad we got it in. The temps were great, the company was great, and my body needed a kick in the butt!

This is how I felt after I got back to my car. Only to know that I still had a whole afternoon and evening full of festivities to attend. 

Was tempted to bike on the ice...but I'm not that dumb!