SunSurfer

Using Specialized Body Geometry cycle shoe insoles chosen to support my relatively high arched feet, trimmed so that the arch is supported, the insole doesn't protrude beyond the foot silhouette, and the insole fits inside my Intuition Pro Wrap heat moulded liners. Specialized make 3 different Body Geometry insoles to suit different arch heights. https://www.specialized.com/us/en/body-geometry-sl-footbeds/p/130590

If you're in bail bindings rather than stepins a quick fix to get you riding again may be to see if someone can rent you some Dalbello Kryptons or similar cabrio style shell/cuff design. Others may know of other ski boots likely to be able to be hired that might get you going again.

Saw the photo in the linked gallery and thought immediately that it belonged here. Love it!

@Beckmann AG Thanks for the much more accurate and detailed explanation above of the distinction between boot cuff and boot sole/binding canting.

I need your cameraman. He did a sweet job of capturing you in action.

The whole aim of lift/cant, or using flexibly set bail bindings that allow your boots to move in the bindings, is to achieve alignment of your legs that allow you to effectively and comfortably ride your board. Hard boots are "hard", so that changing the angles underfoot will alter the alignment of your lower leg up to the knee. Adjusting the boot cuff canting, that is the angle of the cuff relative to the foot shell does the same thing. Everybody's body shape is different, so that someone saying that outward cant on their front binding worked for them, without understanding all the other variables around stance distance, binding angles, boot cuff alignment, doesn't mean it will help someone/everyone else. Comfort and function are the goal. I've gone through Erik Beckmann's approach in the past to my benefit. I recently developed an alternative approach which can be found by searching YouTube for "binding angle secant curve".

34.05, a Platinum, 2 years ago but it was a one off. I've been running the course at Snowmass every time I've come since 2012. My normal pattern would be bronzes/silvers/mixed in with DNFs as I crashed out of the course. A Gold was an occasion. What was good today was a) the consistency, no crashes, 4 Platinum run's within 0.6 seconds of each other, on both courses, progressively getting faster as I tightened the line. No gates were even touched. b) Snowmass is not a straightforward course. It starts relatively flat for the first 4 gates (the fast skiers pole propel through the first 3), then it veers to the right and steepens with 2 successive gates that need significantly tighter turns if you're not to be late in the line for the entry to the last 7 gates. I've always struggled to get the carve really working for those crucial 2 middle gates with the tighter turns. Video above is from a couple of years ago. You can see me slow as I muck up those gates. Today it felt consistently easy, like I had all the time in the world. My Kessler 162 worked really well for those 2 gates. To make further improvements in time I need to tighten my line and get closer to the gates. A chin bar on my helmet might make me braver, but I have the body and hand armour already.

Just finished the last day of my Aspen visit. Objective evidence of improvement, Snowmass NASTAR Platinum x4 runs today, 2 in each course, lowest handicap 29.30. Very happy boy. http://skiracing.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=results&page=comp&compid=830957&year=2019

Time to get this thread back on track. Have had the pleasure of borrowing Pat Chouinard's Thirst Superconductor (175?) for the afternoon. It was built for about my weight, about 180lbs. I rode my 2017 Coiler Nirvana Energy Torsion+ 174 (12-14m SCR) this morning which has about 30 days riding on it as a comparison. The Thirst has a slightly wider waist but there was no problem putting it on edge with my standard 58/62 angles. Once I had got acquainted with it on the greens, it was off to dark blue runs to put it through its' paces. Riding in flat light with light snowfall on chopped up groom the Thirst gripped well, came round almost as fast as the Donek MK, and made easy work of speed controlled carving on steeps. I felt more confident riding it in those conditions that I had my Coiler in the morning. The Coiler with its P-Tex top is a stealth board. The Thirst is like a 2 stroke motorcycle, it roars in the turn on hard pack, it rings when you drop it on the snow before you click into your bindings, it resonates with every touch. Help me! It's now 5pm, and I'm onto my 3rd can of Sprite, and I'm still Thirsty......

Absolutely agree.

As we discussed in your original thread about setting up your BBP, generally the starting point is your normal stance distance set symmetrically about the centre of the plate. Set the interaxle distance so that the front axle is as above, and the rear axle set symmetrically relative to the front axle about the centre of the plate. That will generally have the rear axle under the heel. I don't know of any reason to have the rear axle offset forward in the way you describe, but I'm always interested in logically presented arguments for new approaches.

Looks fine to me. The key thing is not to get the joint between your big toe and foot significantly forward of the axle.

Some of it is muscles getting used to doing it again, but what I've written about above is primarily technique change. The foundation has been riding out of the soles of my feet.

@slopestar Me too, I had difficulty walking to the bus and needed meds to dull my aching quads that night.

@daveo I learned to do this initially on a long Green relatively constant gradient slope. For me, steeper slopes are not helpful for the early stages of learning/trying a new technique. As we've chatted about off-forum I face forward along the board on both sides of turn. I suspect I still use a bit of "knee drive" but the sensations I'm more conscious of are in sides of the soles of my feet. On screen I've recorded it as an almost instantaneous change, in real life it takes time, and there is an overall direction of improvement but lots of wobbles on the way.

Been riding in lumpy chopped up soft snow for much of the last 2 days after overnight snow each night on my 174 Nirvana Energy T+. Normally this would have left me very fatigued but consequences of the riding out of the soles of my feet have been new things I've learned. 1/ I've learned to "soft" carve in this snow on the Green and gentler Blue runs. It starts with a much slower gentle lean into the turn, rather than trying to press in the edge, and the turn is a much larger radius. Touching a hand is not a good idea as it catches and pulls the whole arm. But with the board actually carving rather sliding sideways at all the whole feeling over the lumps is much easier. 2/ As I continued to carve like this I became aware that my hips and knees were now functioning as a much more effective suspension system. The knee and hip joints were bent a little, the muscles were gently tensed but were able to bounce with the bumps without significant strain. I used to say "my knees don't see like they used to" but this was like they'd just recovered good vision. Not ideal carving conditions, but I feel like I've begun to learn some new skills for dealing with lumpy conditions. Very satisfying and my quads were much less fatigued than I would have expected from a full day in those conditions on a board without a plate.

Hope you don't relax everything too much.

@sphynx And 56-57cm is not out of the ballpark. I'm similar proportions to you, long legs & shorter torso, but only 182cm tall. I'm currently riding a 56cm stance, having gradually stretched out from 50cm a few years ago, and noticing significant improvements (linked to a number of other changes recently made). Have had a conversations with a couple of other riders on the forum who are 190+cm and it seems board and isolation plate designers are not including this sort of physique into their standard designs. Had a custom Coiler Nirvana made for me at the beginning of 2017, middle stance distance on the inserts was 54cm, board will allow a 60cm stance.

@LeeW Had you looked at whether they would fit the new pattern tongues that make getting in and out much easier?

Found it again! Now the sensation has evolved from just the toes/ball of the foot to much of the side of the foot so that at times even my heels are pushing against the side of the carving groove. The feeling is much the same both sides, just swapped sides of the feet.

Group of us at Buttermilk today, broke up after lunch after tearing up the slopes below the main lift from base. After lunch I ride the Tieback chair by myself. I'm tightening up my boots when the next chair arrives and an older skier slid along side. Actually make that grumpy older skier. GOS: Those THINGS make DEEP GROOVES in the SNOW. (said as if he owned the snow in question) Me: Yeah, we don't skid our turns.....we carve them. GOS: Silence, a pause, then poles away from me.

I used to race middle distance track (800 & 1500m). When I'm "hard charging" I mean that I'm going at race pace in terms of quads muscle effort, not a pace that can be sustained for 30-60 minutes on end (training pace). I don't have any issues with my breathing rhythm at that level of effort, having regularly exerted myself at that level for the last 50+ years. I also train for my snowboarding, a recent bike workout involved 1400m of hill climbing at average 1: 10 gradients. Hopeful doesn't cut it. Riders wanting to ride well will deliberately develop strength and stamina in order to maintain accuracy and duration of performance.

VO2 max measured with anything apart from a formal cardio-pulmonary exercise lab facility is going to be based on so many assumptions as to be almost worthless. Hard charging carving is anaerobic exercise, with oxygen demand exceeding the ability of the lungs, heart and bloodstream to supply oxygen to the involved muscles.

Probably torture your knees too! Hardboot in duck stance with no canting is a recipe for "sitting on the toilet" all day.

CM, where was that? In Snowmass in 2017 I had a similar experience, older gray haired female skier commented "You are poetry in motion."