Rob Stevens
-
Posts
1,389 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
10
Content Type
Blogs
Gallery
Downloads
Store
Events
Profiles
Forums
Posts posted by Rob Stevens
-
-
31 minutes ago, Corey said:
Back to softboot carving in this thread. Or skidding, I don't care.
“Softboot Skidding”
0 views 0 comments.
-
Maybe it’s time to offer the OP some advice, Solomon.
And yeah... the forum does try to have some say in how people talk to each other. As you can see, when you call folks names, they want to call you names back. The real conversation stalls and dudes don’t learn how to EuropeanTurn.
-
Again, bagging on a video that is there to teach someone how to do the EuropaCarve, because they put their body parts on the snow is pretty f’in stupid.
Get it together, Solomon. Then go fishing... forever
Corey... I’ll take the warning points for this one. Couldn’t help myself. It just felt right.
-
50 minutes ago, Mig said:
The opposite is also true, of course. Many softbooters hating on hardboots. Pretty funny to see some of them now posting on FB all the articles on Ledeska the "snowboarder" beating the skiers at their own game, when not so long ago the same guys were calling hardbooters skiers... LOL
This!
-
1
-
-
4 hours ago, scottishsurfer said:
when running forward angles would i be wise to flip my rear foot toe strap so the ratchet is on the inside and furthers away from the edge of the board/snow?
I wouldn’t worry about it unless it flips open. It’s aimed in the right direction as stock, so don’t change it unless it’s an issue.
-
On 2/23/2018 at 5:20 AM, carvedog said:
Your comment on moguls prompted me to jump into this tread. ....a brother by another mother.
Old guy (56) here with a titanium hip 3. yrs ago, titanium knee 2.5 yrs ago. I love the bumps and have been riding a lot on my Cobra 164 Never Summer. Loving it. I didn't realize just how good this beauty could carve. A couple of years ago I only rode soft boots to teach and on deeper powder days, but I have been killing it this year with this board. Riding with Burton Mission bindings and Burton Freestyle boots in size 11 (found next to a dumpster at a thrift store that supports our local library. They had been left out in the rain and the people at the shop don't have time to dry things out) at 30F/15R for angles. I have gone thru several different iterations of soft boots and binders, all with different levels of pain and arch crushing. I have none of that now.
Besides the comfort carving is effortless and stable and ridiculous speeds as well. As long as I don't go too hard. I find I am doing a lower angle carve and a little more round than my HBs and just having a ball. I have carved on wider boards but don't like the delay going edge to edge. Also don't like them as well in the troughy bumps. Also after riding 55 to 65 on my race boards the 30/15 feels positively sideways and makes for pretty effortless switch riding. Funny just yesterday someone commented on how 'forward' this binding setup is.
I do have to say I do not like to skate very much on the more sideways setup, but whatever.
So just adding to the carving stoke in whatever you are on. And bumps and powder. Oh yeah yesterday we had a good 7 inches with some wind ( not a ton) which added to the redistribution of powder and made for some very deep pillows. I got a face shot so hard it blasted under my goggles..... gonna go tighten them up a bit.
The feel good story of the thread!
-
1
-
-
On 2/23/2018 at 8:36 PM, sic t 2 said:
(( I really enjoy the soft boot WIDE boards. But when the slope becomes "dust on concrete" they r just god awful ???. Frightfully slow edge to edge. Not a one quiver board. ))
What kind of bindings do you use?
the leverage of the wider boards can really deform weaker ones. The wider the board, the more you need to make a really high performance choice. I like the Drake Podium FF. Simple, stiff and long lasting.
Maybe not so much stiffness in the boots, or you lose the mogul versatility you like. Big mogul fan myself.
KTM FTW!
-
On 2/5/2018 at 2:48 PM, softbootsurfer said:
Sweetness...
But the butts!
-
1
-
-
That was a great scene in Hot Tub Time Machine.
-
But the butts!
-
2
-
-
Hey OP.
Now that shred veteran / serial doubter Sol has split, you can view the advice in Ryan’s vid without fear of repercussions.
Bye Sol. Damn... he already left.
-
17 minutes ago, SolRosenburg said:
You're missing the point little buddy. Arm or hand "down" is completely different than completely resting on your arm or hand. If that's what you are into and you need the crutch, cool! The vids clearly have helped you and that's fantastic!
They’re not completely resting on their forearms in the higher end turns they’re demonstrating.
I don’t think you’re seeing what you think you are. When I look, I see a big difference between the amount of weight supported during the slow speed stuff and what’s being borne (or not) by the arm in the expert demo.
Also, don’t forget what you’re looking at. It’s a progression for an EC type turn. By definition, you drag your shit on the snow when you do one of those. If you want another MTB reference, it would be like getting upset that a person didn’t have enough “pop” off the lip of a jump, while giving a demo on how to scrub.
I get it... You can do a wicked-“proper” carved turn with little or no contact. This is not that turn.
Sincerely;
Your Little Buddy.
-
2 minutes ago, SolRosenburg said:
As a training tool, I think it's questionable.
However, i see the riders in that serious of videos regularly doing it and not necessarily part of a "progression" demonstration. In fact, I've yet to see anyone in that series "getting low" without using their arm as a complete crutch. I just think it's their style (so be it), however I view it as a crutch.
If the purpose is to get low, and stylie, then you should have the skill to get low and stylie without the need for your arm "crutch" to keep you up and keep you from falling. I know what you are saying about progression, but I've seen enough vids in that series to think it's more than just a demonstration. Show me an example of one of those riders blasting a toeside, getting low, without completely resting on their arm? Their audio states that's not the case, but the videos seem to tell a different story.
I think the onus might be on you to EC without putting your arm or hand down.
Vid, or it didn’t happen!
-
17 minutes ago, SolRosenburg said:
Agreed. A "bit" of weight on your arm/elbow is quite a bit different than completely resting on your arm/elbow and keeping you up. In the vid above, and in many of the vids on that channel, the rider(s) are using their arm/elbow to keep them up and as a brace/training wheel to allow them to get low.
You don’t need to see it as a bad thing, but that’s an attitude sometimes experts get caught out with.
You used the phrase “training wheel”. That’s what it is. Use it until you don’t have to.
On a few of my pow surfers, I have a NoBoard rope. Some purists/ experts would say that it’s “cheating” to have such a thing. I’d say it’s there when you need it. If you don’t, don’t use it.
The issue on the learning side can be identified in your thoughts on the guy with the 12k bike, shorting the jumps. To progress, he needs to case a few times until he catches the landing. The guys up his ass should realize that their time isn’t for the WC overall, and that slow guy needs to go through the progression. Eventually, he’ll be fine and not need the “crutch” of going comparatively slow.
-
^ Corey knows the bordin.
-
54 minutes ago, SolRosenburg said:
Agree to disagree. Despite what's being said (or taught) in this video, visual evidence shows the arm is a crutch and is most certainly weight bearing... a lot of weight. A quick peruse of other videos on that channel shows the same thing. I can understand putting your hand down as a nod to confidence, feeler, awareness, etc, but in the videos i've viewed they are most certainly using the arm as a crutch, and the arm is bearing a majority of weight. You're telling me in the carves in the 1st 15 seconds of that vid they aren't resting ALOT of weight on their arms? That's full out-rigger mode right there :)
Ryan has a few different velocities going here, as part of a progression.
At his fastest, you can see that his arm is projecting out in front of him, from the shoulder (the still used on the videos title page). In this position, there is very little structurally in place to support any weight whatsoever. At the beginning of his progression though, you do see a fair amount of weight on the arm as he "garlands", or traverses the slope. This is evidenced by the trench his arm leaves and the 90 degree bend in the elbow, with his upper arm perpendicular to the surface, as a prop.
What necessitates this is the need for a progression. If a novice could possibly come flashing into this move the first time, performing an arc that supported all the riders weight on the edge, as an instructor, you'd be good. The reality is that the novice should start this slowly.
Eventually, you can do this turn without support. That said, as I mentioned, I like to do it at a variety of speeds and for different purposes. When I do it slowly or fast to bleed off speed, I tend to be either on my thigh and hip, or on my thigh, hip and torso, so I'd add that to my list of "shapes" that a rider could make as they were building skills for this manouever.
We've seen this argument before... I'll call it an error of omission. As Ryan doesn't really explain in detail what I'm saying above (where arm pressure decreases as skill and velocity increases) you might be left thinking that it's not a part of his methodology. It is.
-
5 hours ago, RyanKnapton said:
Here's my best tips for it once you are already making killer toeside turns...
Also, a chance I might hit Loveland tomorrow... would love to meet up with the Sunday crew for a couple runs if so... Mario, you going? will you message me your # if so?
Good progression. Excellent in fact.
I'd just add one thing... When traversing at angles very much across the fall line, looking for an early edge change for the first few times, I'd do it further away from the trees and more in the middle of the run. That way, if you lose the nose to the outside and wind up "supermanning" downslope, you'll have a chance to stop before you header into the bush.
As an addition to that, I've recently been working on my flip over to get the edge below me in these situations. I'd forgotten about that move, as my toeside laydowns have been on lock for so many years, I didn't rememeber that there was even a need for it. After Ryan's wide board euro heelside vids and getting the Donek Sasquatch (thanks Jack) I took to doing them on the heels without giving the woods enough space. Not quite having the timing right did result in a few headfirst back-slides aimed right at the treeline. On the first, I managed to come to a stop. On the second, I wouldn't have stopped if I hadn't flipped over backwards, managing to dig in my toe edge. That would have been the end of me.
Again Ryan... Top shelf stuff.
-
18 minutes ago, AcousticBoarder said:
So I guess pureboarding and EC style should be banned too? The way Ryan is teaching here is the same as is done in Pureboarding: start by getting low, angulate, and extend. At 9:34 mark he even says not to put pressure on the arm. Mind you I am not as proficient as others are in soft boots, but in softboot carving, unless you are using hardboot angles, I would think the way he is teaching this is safest place for your arm. There's no room to keep the arm down, and you are likely to dislocate something if you do something else. Yes some part of it comes from the style of a laid out carve, but also a lot goes back to safely making a laid out carve.
If you think he is advocating for use of upper body as a training wheel, go ahead and look back at all of his carving instructional videos, instead of taking one out of context.
^ Word.
The only way I've seen anyone get even close to EC low without an arm down is by absolutely fanging into a turn, where the G loading puts everything on the edge. Given that I presonally like to do these at a variety of speeds, I'll have either everything on my whole body, or just a few grams on the forearm. It's vanishingly rare that I would wouldn't at least have a hand down as a feeler.
Of course, I do leave room for your progression for this type of turn to have no arm involvement, but would like to see you do it.
-
^ It should.
With the lack of support, you need to rely on strength and technique.
Then, go back to your plastic boots with the above improved and you should ride better.
Pretty straightforward.
-
5 hours ago, Beckmann AG said:
As to your second, I'd disagree, to the extent that most on the WC seem to be more 'as one' with their gear, and would be less affected by surface irregularity. Similarly, If you purposely tweaked their gear, you could easily replicate Brooker's affect prior to crashing.
Put their boots in the freezer and send them down the Hahnenkamm after a full weekend of tourists have had their way with it and it's been groomed with an '82 Thiokol.
O, the cries and lamentations.
-
I’d say most of Todd’s distress comes from how courses were prepped back then. If you go back even farther, racers looked even more ragged, as their pitches were pretty much just flagged out on a totally haggard run.
If you took today’s racers, with all their training and dropped them into Todd’s place in that moment, they might be slightly less shit looking, but still probably look like shit.
FF to Korea, and the slope is groomed within an inch of its life, with aprons rivalling that if Dubai’s F1 track. If you made that course “turnier”, with more gates and lower speeds, it would probably be safe enough for SBDH.
Or, you could just hold it for 6 people in a M of fresh.
-
4 minutes ago, Beckmann AG said:
Our intelligence services are reasonably effective.
They’d want to be.
That was from so long ago, the only “recording” I could get of it was hand drawn pictures.
-
^ The coincidence of you saying that today is uncanny.
Sorry... That’s just an obscure reference for me which I wouldn’t expect you to know! Like an inside joke, when I’m the only one inside.
Thanks for the laugh!
-
^ Sounds like we’re building a board Lads.
You’ll have to come out our way to christen it, Erik.
Do I need you to write me an estimate, Carl?
How you guys feeling about new soft boot carving phenomenon?
in Carving Central
Posted
That’s another level of vetting altogether, when we’re talking about a site where anyone can sign up.
I guess that’s the benefit of someone like Ryan posting videos. You can watch it and if you think it’s what you’re after, then you can follow it. If you think it sucks, you can troll for Halibut.