[NT.Thunder]

It's a rainy day here in japan and I am going to work on a short video consisting of 2 turns, showing where I finished at this season.
From somebody that used to just bomb down the hill to where I am now, which for me is just short of my goal of producing beautiful heel turns and linking them in seamless fashion into beautiful toe turns.
I find the beauty snowboarding is assymmetry. This is what skiing lacks, skiing offers 2 of the same turns, snowboarding offers us 2 incredibly different experiences in its turns and combining them, for me is to find the soul of snowboarding itself.

This is interesting and was something I really noticed in Japan early this year where when sitting on the chair heading back up the mountain, daughter by side, I found myself more drawn to watching the real relaxed and smooth carving from side to side compared to the bomb or hit and bounce of anything that was standing still. I don't know if it's because I'm a bit older and maybe a little more mellow but I found myself wanting to watch those with that fluent and effortless looking carving style.

Something I'd like to conciously put some time onto next trip.

 

[NT.Thunder]

Very cool

What size board is that you're riding, looks short or is it just my eyes? Is this one of your designs @Kijima

 

[NT.Thunder]

Is there any theme behind the naming of your board models? Is it food or prefectures or something similar? For some strange reason I now have a Okonomiyaki craving lol

 

[NT.Thunder]

I made this just for you Olivetta

Love yr videos.

So I adjusted my bindings yesterday +/+ indoors just trying a few things and immediately found it so much more comfortable, had to narrow the stance width a little but felt relaxed posture wise, way less pressure on the back knee. The issue I had was when I started trying to ollie and nollie and press and seemed to have way less power and was really uncomfortable or unnatural, maybe it’s just a muscle memory thing. I know the +/+ is more focussed on carving compared to freestyle/park but was really surprised how noticeable the difference was straight away with just a few degrees change.

 

[NT.Thunder]

Nice looking boards man

 

[NT.Thunder]

I saved the New Zealand snowboard instructors manual someone posted in an earlier thread. It's 342 pages.

Progression makes me happy. Cheers to being a student of the sport. I'm constantly excited there is still so much to discover.

Ohhh, I know what I'm doing these next few days during lock-down - thanks

 

[NT.Thunder]

Great dogs, I've got a caramel Border Collie pure bred, from a working dog line. Just runs all day.

The Caramel Ghost

 

[NT.Thunder]

Might have to buy some knee pads before I ride the longboard.

So smart Border Collies, I haven't had him on a lead for years. Stops at roads and waits, comes when called, just so clever. Having space is the key though, we've got 5 acres and he just loves the space. Not much of a guard dog though.

 

[NT.Thunder]

I just like sharing this video because I like his style. The lie-downs fit with his style of riding and I think overall it has a nice flow to it. I like the variety of lines, speeds, use of terrain...

http://instagr.am/p/B8_YWULAaP3/

His stance looks set-back a fair distance for those conditions, with that board does doing that just make the turning radius much smaller and quicker to intiate the carve?

 

[NT.Thunder]

Core strength

 

[NT.Thunder]

I just took my longboard for a bit of a run through the skate park. Took me a little to find a run that I was comfortable with through the park as it is obviously a little sketchy hitting the half bowl areas but managed to get a run down pat where I could pump through the bowl then carve a track around the park back into the bowl to pump up some more speed again. Lost a bit of bark when the front trucks got caught up on the top section of the bowl. A smaller surfskate would be much better here but the longboard is good practice for riding switch.

 

[NT.Thunder]

Yr work looks super slick, would love to see the process of pressing boards and what’s involved from start to finish. Love the clean finish.
Riding the park today I notice I’m much more confident on the toe turns and really pushing out of them with some speed. Not so on my heels but it’ll come.
I will need some knee pads and a helmet though if I persist with the park.
I’m curious, and maybe it’s at the start of this thread, but how did you end up in Japan doing what you do?

 

[NT.Thunder]

Is that a commodore?

Falcon I think.......same thing

 

[NT.Thunder]

Flex is insane, thanks for the vid, keep them coming

 

[NT.Thunder]

Sweeeeeettttttt!!

Let me know if you need beta testers looks awesome

 

[NT.Thunder]

Ill be throwing up a website in the next few days.
I have been selling snowboards locally but this funny looking skatey will be the first product I stock and sell like a regular shop.

Its exciting for me after 5 years of basically zero income lol.

Im talking with a US distributor you all know well, so that should mean I can keep some stock in Colorado for easy shipping throughout North America.
I have a distributor in Australia also.

Fingers crossed we can even ship this stuff atm.

Nice work, let me know who the Aussie distributor is when you can

 

[NT.Thunder]

Im also working on an electric upgrade kit that will be available as a direct bolt on next summer.

This would be handy, especially after hurting my calf Thursday evening, hurts bad when pushing.

I'm still keen on the OneWheel XR though, just need to put some money away.

 

[NT.Thunder]

@Kijima

Been a while, how's the longboard production going?

How's Japan looking in regards to CV19 and getting a season there early next year?

 

[NT.Thunder]

Nice work @Kijima and looks like you have been super busy over the summer, welcome back.

Can't wait to see a few YouTube clips & reviews of the boards this season, fingers crossed international travel is a go for the Japan season and if so I'm outta here!!

 

[NT.Thunder]

Cheers man
It was 33 degrees and 90% humidity all fking summer lol, but today I have long sleeves and long pants on, 17c. It flips like a pancake from season to season in Japan.

I think the Japanese gov will allow travel inward, possibly with an isolation period which is no big deal for seasonaires but quite a big deal for people with jobs and families to get back to, but there just isn't many planes in the sky so ticket prices will be high no doubt.
It's a tough one. . . If you do make it over, head to nozawa onsen and we can shred some laps together, go for day trips, talk shit etc, lol.

Yep Nozawa Onsen was likely the place we were heading to should borders open, will depend on isolation requirements though at this stage.

Any recommendations for accomm for a family of four that won't break the bank?

A couple of laps and beers sounds like a plan