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| Q&A: Slalom Pro Mike Maysey (2489 Posts)
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Beating the Butterflies!
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On 2/15/2003
Wesley Tucker
wrote in from
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
Well, why we're talking about what it takes to keep cool, I got my own prescription. What really made it easy for me to stay in the box was a long 7-16 hour drive to get there!
Nothing gives you the opportunity to get everything in perspective, consider all the possibilities and yet still have a little edge more than hundreds of miles of Interstate highway! Do that non-stop marathon on a Friday and then get on the Hill on a Saturday.
Hell, by then you're just too damned tired to worry about it! Although not quite as trying as doing the I-95 rocket run one more time, I found that even the drive up 101 before the Worlds really helped me shake off the jet lag and travel blahs after the plane.
I don't know for sure if Henry has travelled long distance yet by car yet to make a race, (I know he's flown to California,) I might suggest he make the trip April 12 to Jackson Mississippi. That's about 24 hours from Connecticut. Do that non-stop on Friday before Ricky's race and I guarantee you that after that stretch of road, butterflies at the starting line will be the LEAST of his worries!
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Butterflies
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On 2/15/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
(204.30.nnn.nnn)
HenryJ,
Yup, I get nervous. So nervous I can't sleep the night before the race. Every race I would get super nervous and get really pissed when I got knocked out. That was until I realized something, and I didn't realize it until the final race of the season...The Worlds...I just convinced myself that it didn't matter the outcome, I just wanted to skate and have a good time. I kept my head the entire weekend. Skated better than I had skated in weeks and was perfectly happy with the outcome from both days. I had the best time at the Worlds this year. For sure the most fun I've had at a race this past season.
I think the key is to Focus on Fun.
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Epics Slalom Run
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On 2/15/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
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Michael,
Am I jealous...Hell yes. I'd love to see a slalom section of a skatepark. I don't know if I'll be able to make it over there this summer. Don't think I'll have the funds.
Thanks for stopping by Michael.
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Stance..
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On 2/15/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
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Brady,
I use what some have called a hybrid stance. For the most part my weight is back over my back heel because I've fallen so many times where I had too much weight going forward and simply blew my rear wheels out. My weight placement shifts I think. I concentrate on creating an arc with my board. A few weeks ago I went snowboarding with Ransom and I began to see the benefit of finding a smooth arc and simply swinging my weight into the turn and swinging it as I exit. Yes course style makes me orient differently. Tight, I orient more upright and forward. Hybrid and Gs, I orient myself lower and swing back and forth like I described above.
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nerves
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On 2/15/2003
Civ
wrote in from
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Think the only way to get over nerve`s is to just do stuff that makes you nervous. Im a musician and an actor and I used to be paralyzed by fear. I have done enough shows now that I never even break a sweat before a show or gig. but beers work too, but I think they are beeter for music than skating.....i been skating drunk a couple times....owwwwww, the next morning.
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Butterflies
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On 2/15/2003 TK
wrote in from
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Henry, usually 2 or 3 beers right before the race will settle those buterflies no problemo.
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Butterflies
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On 2/15/2003 Henry J
wrote in from
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Mike-
Do you ever get nervous before a race? i always find that I get butterflies in my stomach when I place my board down and put my foot on. How do you cope with this?
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Epics Slalom Run
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On 2/15/2003 Michael
wrote in from
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Keith from Epic has just built a wide roll in ramp and designated a long strip of his park for slalom, with another ramp at the end to slow down. The ramp should be a tad higher than the FCR ones as the course is flat..
so here's the question Mike...are you jealous?? impressed and are you going to come and try possibly the world's only permanent slalom facility?
Love this forum, keep up the good work.
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board flex
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On 2/14/2003 Brady
wrote in from
(66.21.nnn.nnn)
I`ll post this as a "Mikey`s question" so as to stay forum specific...
Mike, what stance do you have and and where is most of your weight placed? On the front foot or rear? When driving into a turn, does your weight placement change? Does a course style affect your stance and weight distribution?
I ask this as I find myself riding more a surfy stance with weight forward. At 160# (and gaining) I feel my stance is wrong because I think I favor the front as a weakness, leaving the rear to slide at will.
Would more practice at sliding control be benificial or should I adjust my stance/weight distribution?
Hows about you, Hamm, as well?
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Back to Flex & Custom Boards
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On 2/14/2003
Hamm
wrote in from
(63.175.nnn.nnn)
Lets say Wesley & myself weigh the exact same. Wesley's board would be too stiff for me due to his stance which puts more weight in the middle of the deck, while my open surf-stance put hardly any weight in the center. Its important your board builder understands this as well.
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Slalom
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On 2/14/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
(67.121.nnn.nnn)
Keith,
There are no skate parks in the US that I'm aware of that offer a slalom section. You have to remember, most people (in the US especially) don't know what the hell slalom skateboarding is much less have a designated place to do it.
Race 'Round the Park sounds fun. Tips...set some cones and go for it.
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Slalom
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On 2/14/2003
Keith
wrote in from
(195.93.nnn.nnn)
We run a skate park in Birmingham, the UK's second largest city. Its a big old place with plenty of ramps - great street course, huge vert, fine bowl. But we want to build a facility for slalom. Are there any US parks that offer a slalom section or course? Are they any good? What works and what doesn't in an indoor park? How high/long/shape should the start ramp be?
Also we want to run a "race round the park event" - any tips from you guys?
Any feedback welcome.
Thanks Keith
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Kevlar
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On 2/14/2003
Brady
wrote in from
(66.21.nnn.nnn)
Hamm,
Though the newer boats of today make wide use of those technolodies, the boats of the 70-80s drug trade were almost 100% fiberglass.
It was the modifications of those boats were the newer fibers were put into use. Floors were ripped out and replaced with honeycomb cores and carbon fiber. This reduced weight AND flexed to take absorbtion from the riders in the stand-up position. Normal wood and fiberglass always seemed to fail with the wood plys separating from the fiberglass and eventual stress cracks.
On hull holes or damage repairs, a combination of normal fiberglass, polyester resins and kevlar was used with the kevlar being used inside the hull. The reasoning was the fiberglass could easily be shaped to match the exterior of the hull while the Kevlar was almost impossible to do so. The Kevlar was added to give back structural strength as straight fiberglass repairs were a weakness in the hull.
When carbon fiber came along, it quickly replaced the kevlar as it could be used alone on the repair. Easpecially since it can be used on the exterior of the hull, and with some what difficulty, shaped to match the hull, it was preferred because of it`s superior strenth.
Eventually though, we found out that if weight was removed from the hull in one area, it would distort the hulls harmonics. We then began to just add chop on the back side to counter that.
As for the Flex Dex, I think it was the core material that was thier downfall. The seemed to flex more and more with age in a short period of time and lpost thier snap. I never personally owned one but rode other`s and never liked them.
I can`t wait to see someone make a board with some of the latest honeycomb core material. I can imagine taht thinner carbon skins and less epoxy would be needed to retain the structural strength and overall the board would be half the weight as a ROE.
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Materials
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On 2/13/2003 Hamm
wrote in from
(63.175.nnn.nnn)
I too have been around boats all my life and I was under the impression that those go-fast boats/drug runner boats were fabricated from Kevlar due to its energy absorbtion qualities. Which is the precise reason FlexDex skateboards SUCKED, they were made of Kevlar and it absorbed energy as opposed to returning it.
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polyester glass cloth
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On 2/13/2003
Brady
wrote in from
(66.21.nnn.nnn)
There are so many differant types of fibreglass cloths as there is differant resins.
There`s matte cloth which is just loose fibers pressed into a sheet. Then there`s the wovens..biaxial, triaxial, etc. Then, within the cloths them selves the single fibers can vary in thickness. And then of course the high end carbon fiber cloths (differant wovens there as well).
Additionally is the resins, polyester resins or epoxies.
So you can`t adhere structly to weight ratios without considerations of the properties of each componets.
While working on boats, I have used just about everything out there. And usually for specifics needs...(weight vs strength),(ability to withstand exposure to certains elements such as fuel, salt, acids), and of course, flex.
Though mostly we didn`t want flex as a preferred characterisic on boats.
Long before carbon fibers and epoxy resins were used for thier light weight, it was thier superior strength that we in the marine industry sought after. Picture a 45` go-fast boat with 3 big block Chevys doing around 100mph and running into a floating pallet out offshore.
Now with cores, we`ve only just begun to touch what is available...high density foams, honeycombs, and maybe just plain air space (though not technically a core.
What about a non cored deck with advanced materials make up?
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Composite
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On 2/13/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
(67.121.nnn.nnn)
Thanks Howard, for the explanation.
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composite construction
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On 2/13/2003
hg
wrote in from
(208.14.nnn.nnn)
For a given shape in a glass/resin/foam deck, there are multiple variables you can tweak to control board flex:
1. core thickness - with everything else equal, stiffness should vary with the cube of the thickness of the core
2. amount of camber - I don't have this converted into a formula, but a board with 1.25" of camber will be at least 50% stiffer than a board with 0.75" of camber
3. amount of fiberglass - fiberglass will generally be applied in multiple layers, with a wide variety of weights being available to the builder (e.g. 4oz/yd, 6oz, 22oz, etc). there's interaction between glass thickness and core thickness, but for the same core and camber, I'd guess that doubling the amount of glass will triple the stiffness of the deck
4. amount of stiffening material - carbon fiber and unidirectional fiberglass strips are both popular means of changing flex. engineers tell me that stiffness should vary with the cube of the ratio of added material to base material
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More about glas and flex
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On 2/13/2003
Wesley Tucker
wrote in from
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
I love this kind of stuff because it goes on forever, but here's another question:-)
Aren't there different weight glas cloths? For some strange reason I don't want to go into, I know a little bit more about canvas than fibreglas. I know that such fabric is determined by the weight in grams per square inch. The heavier the weight, naturally, the stronger and stiffer the material.
Is Fiberglas also layed out in different weights and strengths? As in, 3 layers of Glas "X" might have the same thickness, but is more flexible than three layers of Glas "Y"?
Or is it all kept pretty simple and whatever comes out of the bag is pretty much a standard throughout the surf/ski/skate industry? (Hey, I really don't know this stuff. What better place to ask?)
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glassed decks
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On 2/13/2003 Glenn S.
wrote in from
(68.5.nnn.nnn)
Turners and ICKs are laid up by hand yes? This means that the glasser has to pour the resin on the cloth and squeegee it out by hand.
This means that the cloth “could” be floating in the resin. Best would be to get the cloth closest to the foam, with only enough resin to cover the cloth.
If this is the case no two boards will ever be "exactly" the same using this method.
Now Boards like Roe and maybe Pocket Pistol might use cloth that is "pre-preg", meaning pre-impregnated with resin that cures by heat when put in an oven. These types of lay-ups would have a more consistent resin to cloth ratio. And this will definitely get the cloth right up to the foam, wood, whatever. Also I’d bet money on it that both Roe and PP use the vacuum bag method to layup the cloth while it cures. This will also give a more consistent resin to cloth ratio throughout the length of the board. And even if they didn’t use pre-preg heat cure resin, the vacuum bag method would be more consistent throughout.
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Stiffness
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On 2/13/2003
Glenn S.
wrote in from
(68.5.nnn.nnn)
Mike,
As you progress in slalom, you'll want a stiffer board.
;-)
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Core Thickness or Glass Layers?
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On 2/13/2003
Mike Maysey
wrote in from
(67.121.nnn.nnn)
I just got a new fullnose the other day. It is a bit stiffer than my red one I rode at the Worlds. The point is, the cores are the same thickness which leads me to beleive the difference is in glass layers not core thickness.
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varying flex
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On 2/13/2003 David Eye
wrote in from
(63.74.nnn.nnn)
Wesley; I believe that the flex can only be altered via the amount of wood, fiber-glass, resin or composite material (carbon, kevlar, etc.) layering, not the foam core or amount of it, by itself. I could be wrong.I know in skis the foam does not add or detract from the flex (like it can in a surfboard. However, both skis (and surfboards )sometimes use shaped foam-cores built around wood stringers in which the stringers or number of them add / detract from the overall flex and strength. I have not heard of any skateboard deck made that way,.. but maybe they are out there.
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Varying Flex
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On 2/13/2003 Wesley Tucker
wrote in from
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
David,
There is one question I never got successfully answered by Bobby Turner. Trust me, I asked, but his answers were always a bit elusive. I understand this, of course, because the man was trying to sell a product with a certain exclusivity and he didn't want to say more than he had to. That doesn't change the fact, though, that I never got an answer!
Bobby Turner and Rick Howell build (or built) boards with really three components: a foam core, fibreglas cloth and resin to hold it all toghether. Gareth Roe has added the addition element of composite materials and Chicken is including a layer of hard rock maple. But let's keep it simple and just say glass, foam and resin.
What does a custom board builder do to alter the flex and response of his board? From where I stand, it would seem he has two choices: add more layers of glass or make thinner or thicker foam cores.
I've heard it argued that altering foam cores is difficult. Once you have a good template and technique shaping a core, it's best to leave it be. Then again, I've also heard there is too much chance of variances in different layers of glass. Changing the number of layers of glass may alter the flex, but it also alters the strength of the board and you go from planks to mush.
Anyone care to divulge some trade secrets and let the cat out of the bag? Is the difference between my hard Summer Ski and medium ones the volume of glass or the thickness of the core?
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hybrids, custom boards, etc.
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On 2/13/2003 David Eye
wrote in from
(63.74.nnn.nnn)
Yes, two years ago when I was starting out riding slalom I would have wanted a softer board than I need now, and several of them I re-drilled to get the flex I wanted. The problem was that they already had long wheelbases, too long
except for larger GS courses, IMHO.
As for custom builds, I have been building boards for 4 yrs, including concave longboards and cambered slalom boards (cabon fiber / birch / maple / luan) well over 200 boards now, pressed by myself.I spent close to twenty years in the ski-industry working on the design and construction
of skis with the top manufactures so I have that to draw on. The longboards I am very happy with, the slalom boards less so, but they are getting there.I am always wanting to try and/or buy boards like the Hybrid just to understand how the designs, materials, etc. effect performance (ie including the effect on Tway time clock).
From building boards I have learned that to increase the stiffness of the board you are going to have to add more material, say one more layer of carbon-fiber, or another ply
of wood, etc. so the proportional increase in stiffness will be limited to a certain increment inherent in the strength of each added layer.The question is will that next additional layer add the right amount, or be too much or too little.The 'finer' the layers the better the accuracy.Ditto for decreasing the flex. So, in other words, even a custom builder will be somewhat limited in making a very speciific flex for any given individual, but obviously, they will come alot closer than an off the shelf board.
great comments Wes and MG, you guys rock.
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Hybrids
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On 2/13/2003
MG
wrote in from
(216.52.nnn.nnn)
The hybrids are cool boards, and a great entry level deck. But the exact flex for your individual taste is an issue. When I got mine, it felt a little stiff. As I rode it I got more used to it. They may actually soften up a little too. But the best results I got from it were after I redrilled it putting the truck farther back in the rear. It then became a good hybrid deck. It's not a blackbird tho, and custom boards are always gonna be a closer fit for most people ONCE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY WANT. If you are starting out hybrids are a good choice, and yes I know you can win on them, PD has proven that. But even if its too stiff, understand that Mike is right, as you get faster you want it to be stiffer. The boards I started on are noodles now, and I can't ride them.
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