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| Q&A: Slalom Pro Mike Maysey (2489 Posts)
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Wobs and Breck...
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On 6/11/2003
Miko
wrote in from
(66.81.nnn.nnn)
Andy... tighten up the rear truck a bit more than the front, so you get some steering, but more stability in the rear end. Softer bushings allow you to get things snug, but still get some turning. Keep that rear foot weighted. I've seen a lot of riders, unweight the rear end too much when throwing turns, and you can see their board jumping around trying to wob them off. If you still need to go faster get a set of Randall Downhills.
Mike and Kenny! I soooo wish I could have been there to kick both yer butts! (hahahahahahaha.) Sounds like it was epic racing. I'll be at the next one!
Mike and Gary: Any more thoughts on throwing down a north-south Norcal jam at GGP or Shoreline? I'd like to get some racing in!
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Stability
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On 6/11/2003 Andy
wrote in from
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I was wondering how i can stabalize my landyachtz chief w/Randal r2 180's. when i get to much speed it wobbles me off.
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Breck Head/Chest Cold
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On 6/11/2003
Kenny
wrote in from
(67.38.nnn.nnn)
Mike- That was great racing you last weekend. I really never expected to do well this year and never thought I could beat you head to head. It was a goal to race you head to head some day and win. Thanks.
NOW- MY HEAD KILLS. I PICKED UP THE SAME BUG AND MY HEAD FEELS LIKE IT WEIGHS 100 pounds. It came on just after Bubba Gumps. I thought it was from Chuffin, laughing and generally being out of breath all weekend. Whatever it is, it sucks. I literally feel your pain.
I felt good till Sunday night at the hotel, or a least faked it till the race was over. I was so tired at the end of both the tight and GS.
It was a fun weekend. You have many wins in your future and I am sure we will meet again in the gates. You really brought out the best in me and thats what competition is all about. I was an honor to race you. I knew I was running fast, but that doesn't mean I worried as hell to face you.
Its cool because you and I both started racing at the same time, are Italian (Like Luca) and have "M" names. Great race weekend Mike- We BOTH kicked some ass.
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breck
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On 6/10/2003
mike maysey
wrote in from
(65.234.nnn.nnn)
Well Hamm, I rode the Turner PD Super Skunk Proto on both Friday and Saturday. It's a very stiff ride. To look at it, it's reminicent of a Pistol, Ick, Roe, and Turner. Bear in mind however, that these boards that myself, PD, Sherm, Beau and Tiger were riding are protos so the final production boards will probably be somewhat different. I drilled it as long as I could with 24" from inner hole to inner hole. Overall length is 34" width is 9". I ran a Tracker RT-X in front with a Tracker RT-S offset in the rear. In the early rounds I rode Avalons around in 80 durometer. Right before my heat against the Brown Bomber, I switched my front wheels to 76 Avilas. I figured the number one qualifier was going to be the toughest heat of the day and that's the wheel setup he was riding. Fight fire with fire. I lucked out and won. Advancing to the final 4.
As for the tight race...I rode a White Turner Fullnose classic, made by Vince. PD was riding a weird little creation of his own that I later tried and have an order in on one for myself. I ran Cambrias in qual's and in practice just to make the course. Later, I switched to cutdown Avalons. The trucks I used were Tracker RT-X front and TTC rear...very loose trucks so I could make the course due to tough sections scattered throughout the course.
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Mike&Turner @ Breck
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On 6/10/2003
Hamm
wrote in from
(63.175.nnn.nnn)
Wow, pushing was allowed?!? Very interesting. Seems like that would give some of the more 'solid' guys like RichyC and ARAB an advantage.
Mike, now that the cats out of the bag, can you tell us a bit about the new Turner board(s) & set ups you rode this past weekend?
Thanks
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Breck
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On 6/9/2003
mike maysey
wrote in from
(67.192.nnn.nnn)
...what a weekend...as for the SlalomCross, I took myself out of the race early on due to the introduction of a rule that I hadn't anticipated and tried to capitalize on...the rule allowed pushing within the course and when I tried to do it in the round of 16 against Kosick, I lost my line and ended up having to bail out because I was headed for the fence and the splits. I decided to save myself for the final 2 events of the weekend and as luck would have it, I got into the final both days against a guy that was ON FIRE. Kenny, my hat is off to you for a truly outstanding performance this weekend. Somewhere during the trip I picked up a head cold or something. I can barely breath out of my nose, my head pounds with pressure and I just feel like crap all around right now. I thought it was something to do with the altitude, but now that I'm home, I think it might be something else.
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Mike @ Breck
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On 6/9/2003 Hamm
wrote in from
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Right on Mike!
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Japan Slalom Event
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On 6/9/2003 John Kim
wrote in from
(209.86.nnn.nnn)
Hi John Gilmour,
A July slalom trip might coincide with my family trip to Japan. Keep me posted on the details, cause I like the sound of a Euro/Asia/America World Cup or at least getting it started.
John
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breck
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On 6/8/2003
david
wrote in from
(192.211.nnn.nnn)
way to go mike, 2nd place in both GS and TS! no complete results are up yet, how did you do in the slalomcross? give us the low-down when you get back into the city
see you in SF
david
www.geocities.com/sk8sanfran
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and he races too!
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On 6/8/2003 tk
wrote in from
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Mike had a great weekend in Breck. Way to go Mike. TK
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Mars Candy & Skittles too...........
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On 6/7/2003
Rene' "Cannonball" Carrasco
wrote in from
(66.81.nnn.nnn)
Brady,
A couple of years ago I emceed a skate 360 spin off
and freestyle skateboard championship in L.A. - that was sponsored by
Mars Candies and Skittles ! ! !
The reason I bring this up is that when good money was being paid out - by big sponsors - it brought out the BEST Freeestylers around ! One contestant even flew in from Sweden !
-Lillis Atkinssen won the freestyle-
-The 'Brown Bomber' won the 360 spin off.
I can't wait for big companies to back up slalom racing -
maybe like Chevrolet, Ford, Coca Cola, etc. - - - like they do for Surfing ! ! ! Slalom Racing is very worthy!
Gotta think positive!
It can AND will happen! Lord willing!
..................-Rene' "Cannonball" Carrasco.
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Hotwheels contest
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On 6/6/2003 Brady
wrote in from
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I just received an email from aspaltplayground about the hotwheels contest. Unfortunately, it`s not in english so I can`t say if any slalom is involved. What intrigued me was the major sponsor...SNICKERS candy. Who`d thunk that?
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National Lampoons European Vacation with the Gordon family
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On 6/5/2003 John Gilmour
wrote in from
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Howard you are in for a treat. Paulo Gatti, Luca and Ridoli, Ferrero will be at the Swiss race. I say get them dinner and have them coach Lauren and Dylan. There were a lot of great Swiss Juniors in Hombrechtikon that were all around 10-13 years old. in 1992. One young kid was Andreas I just can't remember his last name but Andreas would be listed in one of the Slalom! mags and the other Dynamic kids Duo were the Identical Zuerer (Alex?) (spelling) Twins. It would be great to see what these kids are up to now.
And of course culturally this is just the coolest field trip ever for your kids- bring that video camera.
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Paris
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On 6/5/2003
mike maysey
wrote in from
(65.234.nnn.nnn)
Seems we've come a long way in a very short period of time. I'm all for pushing it to the next level. John, thanks for the plug for Paris...next year I'm going to make the trip. I want to take a shot at Luca...or if nothing else, learn something from the guy.
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dream on ...
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On 6/5/2003
hg
wrote in from
(208.14.nnn.nnn)
JG - I recall our dicussions from less than two years ago where we speculated on how cool it would to participate in a race under the Eiffel Tower, though the likelihood seemed very remote. I recall Henry Hester's doctored photo of Gary Cross at Donner in 2001 with a vision of slalom TV coverage that was first realized less than 12 months later. How could I imagine when trying to get through cones with Lauren on Indiana boards in Central Park that both of my kids would end up in photos with skateboards in national magazines ?
Who is to say what is or isn't possible ?
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Arab...are you my dope dealer?
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On 6/5/2003 John Gilmour
wrote in from
(209.6.nnn.nnn)
Me...... smoke weed? Arab what have you been smoking? I don't use any drugs, but if you want to try to convince people I do... give it your best shot- Good Luck- I can guarantee you that it would be much harder to convince people I do drugs than it will be for me to convince people that there are good competitions outside of the USA.
Actually I talked about the sport getting bigger and most responses to what I have said have been similar to yours.
Think about it for a minute- how far off are we? SSS doing Pacific Palisades was the only thing in there that isn't substantiated, but I figured maybe you would help to make that happen.
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Breck
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On 6/5/2003
mike maysey
wrote in from
(65.234.nnn.nnn)
Henry,
yeah, I'm leaving for breck this evening. And yeah, I did used to mountain bike quite a bit. Unfortunately San Francisco has claimed my mountain bike as well as my truck. I grew up in Morro Bay and never experienced things being stolen from me. Well, San Francisco has broken me of that ignorance. With my new job, I'm hoping to replace my truck and my bike shortly.
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New York, London, Paris, Munich, everyone talk about.....
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On 6/4/2003 John Gilmour
wrote in from
(209.6.nnn.nnn)
To keep this Mike related- since it is Maysey's forum, I hope that Mike who started slaloming in this renaissance will make the trip to Japan and Europe someday to compete as well. Mike would have done well in Paris quickness was at a premium- we missed you.
John Kim many thanks for your help- It would be great if you came along as I certainly could use a translator.
Actually I have been in contact with an active Japanese slalomer. There is a large Slalom event on Mt. Fugi with 60 competitors using breakaway style ski gates (Similar to what was used at WLAC at a few races). I won't be going to that event which runs in July. But I will try to make one of the two other events held in Yokohama later this year. I'll take a look at their rules and see how easy it would be to integrate one of their races with ours.
One thought I had is that if we have a global race circuit going- all it would take is an offer from a sponsor (say Red Bull or Sony...) to do a big $$$ purse points series using the results from several races around the world. Offering the top 6 slalomers from each country airfare would go a long way. Each local (Red Bull or Sony...) subsidiary could fund it (So I would hit up Red bull New England, Chicken would hit up Red Bull California,etc...), along with a crew of 3 videographers to doccument the footage. (Sounds crazy doesn't it?)
I would think it would be a good idea to have a World Cup tour include races from several different racing orgs. So a tour might go like this. Breck (FCR)(Denver), Paris/London (ISSA UKSSA) (back to back), Tokyo (AJTAC), NYC (?), Switzerland (Greuningen org)(Zurich), Pacific Palisades (SSS)(LAX). Of course the "World CUP" cities could change from year to year to rotate. The key is to always choose "gateway AIR cities" with cheap airfares so the cost is reasonable for the sponsors. Certainly all of the above would fall in that category.
We'll just have to wait and see.
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breckenridge
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On 6/4/2003 Henry
wrote in from
(68.63.nnn.nnn)
Mike,
Are you going to Breckenridge?
And someone once told me you mountain bike. Do you?
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Thanks for some good reading guys...
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On 6/4/2003
mike maysey
wrote in from
(65.234.nnn.nnn)
...wow, now that's more like it...
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Skating In Asia
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On 6/4/2003
John Kim
wrote in from
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Hey John Gilmour,
Was talking to HC about slalom in Japan and he mentioned that you had some connections over there. I used to live there and still speak Japanese. I'd be interested in trying to race over there or organize some kind of exchange. Send me an email if you have time.
John
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X-games Global
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On 6/4/2003 John Gilmour
wrote in from
(209.6.nnn.nnn)
Okay I have to jump in Here. I have skated East Coast, West Coast, Europe and soon Asia- yes there is a circuit over there- Jani Soderhall skated it years ago.
I have some wacked out visions for slalom, and in a strange way all seems to be going according to plan.
Why Global? Because sponsors think Global is cool. Global adds legitimacy. Slalom failed to make a solid jump to Corporate Sponsorship. Closest thing I think was the Pepsi team, and as skateboarding's image mutated in the 1970's the higher up Fortune 1000 companies seemed to lose interest just as they were starting to get interested.
I hope this will not happen again. There is a particular reason why I want to involve Private Secondary Schools in slalom racing. Look first to the sponsors of their yearbooks.
Off the top of my head from my old school, Brazil's "Escola Americana" in Rio de Janeiro, the sponsors for our yearbook 1979 included-
Coca-Cola, Texaco, IBM, Alantic Ritchfield, Xerox, Manufacturers Hanover, Chemical Bank, Citibank, American Express, McDonalds, Bankers Trust (at the time The Largest source for LBO funds), PetroBras (Brazilian Oil company, Pepsi, Ford, Marriot, Nestle, Raytheon, Gillette, and many others I would have dig up my yearbook to recall. Of course it was a killer yearbook with all those sponsorship dollars.
And why the sponsorship for a supposedly insignificant American School abroad? Perhaps because the students were either kids of Fortune 500 executives, Army Brats, or diplomats kids- but the message was clear it was a global school and sponsors wanted to have a global audience....even if it was just a highschool yearbook. Private Secondary Schools on the East Coast command similar sponsors for their yearbooks. The NorthEastern USA is the Education Capital of the World.
Being a Global sport with several different competition circuits will lay the foundation for bigger sponsors and bigger events and will eventually draw more participants into our sport.
Racing sports that use technology are unusual. For instance...how many Formula One cars are you supposed to sell if you win the F1 championships? How many Top fuel dragsters do you expect to sell?
Now lets look at low tech. How many Nike Shoes do you expect to sell if you win a Marathon?....tons of them.
Racing sports involving technology require corporate sponsors. Even racing sports for the super rich...ie. America's Cup yacht racing requires corporate sponsors (Bob Turner used to work on America's cup boats). Why should we be any different? Howard could tell you about sponsorship in high stakes Yachting.
Snowboarding and Inline Skating are fairly close parallels in terms of racing- though now both sports are much larger than us now. But when inline skating was in its infancy Bont Boots and Mogema frames were a popular choice for Inline racers (I'm sure Paul Dunn could tell you as he raced inline competitively and surely knows as he wrote articles for Inline Magazines and Jack Smith as well as they ran an Inline Mail Order company in the Midwest) but almost the entire K2 racing team wore Bonts and mohegas with K2 lace covers over their skates. Why?...because simply Bont and Mogema could not afford (as a specialty manufacturer of racing gear) to sponsor the events. K2 could...and likely as other events got larger K2 would eventually bow out as well. K2 made racing gear- but not competitive racing gear at the time.
So we should embrace the emergence of contest circuits other than FCR and not look at the circuits as competition for FCR but a way of making all races worth more. And yes...in time these circuits should ahve some overlap...or perhaps there could be a World cup tour where certain races from each circuit could go towards some championship. And no I don't really expect us to become a part of the X-Games- they already looked at our sport for that many years ago.
Just an opinion FWIW.
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2003 US racing
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On 6/4/2003 hg
wrote in from
(208.14.nnn.nnn)
The FCR and Hester races in 2001 and 2002 were great, and we supported them. With the exception of individual organizing efforts, there seems to be a gap in US race organization in 2003, but I would not be surprised to see that gap filled in 2004.
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Racing
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On 6/4/2003
Arab
wrote in from
(24.24.nnn.nnn)
Howard-Lets look at your 4 examples, and with all due respect to those that put on the events at these venues.
da Farm-What has been the Pro Level Of Competition there?, Pro Racers will travel if there is a Purse that might pay there way, this has been proven for the last 2 years.
Paso-Redbull/Bahne Cadillac Sponser FCR event and a Purse.
WLAC-Worst Surface EVER!, would you travel for that? Its the closest place for me to race and I dont bother with it.
JPL-Great little Outlaw event, How many people would Book Air/Car/Hotel to race an Outlasw race? Best Outlaw event I have been to.
Lets Compare those 40 with this,
La Costa
Catalina
Tahoe
Breckinridge
Mor ro Bay
Avila Beach
Donner
S.F. Presidio
S.F. GG Park
Of the 4 you listed only Paso Robles could fit in with the others I listed, why because it was a permitted race with sponsers and a purse.
You Make the Call!
I'll race anywhere, A purse is not a prerequisite to race for me, but a permit is, also I want to race against people that are better then me because it only makes me that much better, a man is measured by how he measures up to the guy standing next to him in the start ramp.
I think after KONA next week there isnt anybody that has traveled to as many events as me over the course of the last 2 years, I wont waste money to race Outlaw races(Exception Albakurky because there is such a veritabal plethora of places to race it doesnt matter if we get shut down in one spot we move to the next!) or Gather in a Park.
Adam Trahan and John Gilmour have been the biggest proponents of the ISSA in the US for 2 years, What has the ISSA, John Gilmour or Adam Trahan done for slalom in this time?
Adam Trahan is just some wannabe slalomer hanging on the coatails of whomever will be his friend, I'm not one to mince words but some guy that has a big ol ball beard trying to infiltrate slalom just because he has a stupid website with Jani Soderhall thinks he is doing something for slalom, They have done more to divide slalom then anybody in this sport, Why doesnt Jani and the ISSA ever post anything on this site? the biggest slalom site in the world, Because they have driven a wedge between themselves and have a stigma attached to them that nobody wants to be apart of, Ask the other Promotors in Europe why their races arnt ISSA sanctioned..........
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duh
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On 6/4/2003 arf arf
wrote in from
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i believe in capitolism i just cant spell it
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