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Eboot

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Posts posted by Eboot

  7. Riding with a better carver

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    I have been lucky enough to ride once a week with @GeoffV, despite poor early season conditions.

    The biggest value to me is the ability to talk about my thoughts in relation to areas I am working on, to have an informed sounding board, not only of more experience, but with the insight to be able to observe and comment in context.  This is such a difference from riding, experimenting and thinking in the lonely dark.

    Some breakthrough insights as a result of recent conversations, including many around fear boundaries, of which I am dealing with more than I was aware.

    • Too much speed: obvious until one is trying to angulate harder to carve back up the hill.  Insight: by not committing early enough to controlling speed, by the time I am going "too fast" it is too late to leverage the hill for speed control, or i have neither the skill / strength / goolies to carve hard enough at that point to reduce speed without braking.  This became obvious following not far behind Geoff and forcing myself to maintain separation, requiring an early commitment to speed control
    • Resistance to falling over: this was not obvious to me but there is an internal control mechanism that prevents me leaning too far over (falling onto the snow) that is inhibiting my desire to increase the angle of my board and talks to my frustration at not being able to get closer to the snow.  Watching several videos, including Nevin's recent submissions, there seems to be a point where allowing the upper body to fall towards the snow and not remain vertical is ok
    • Propensity to stand up with increase in speed: as the pitch increases and I accelerate, my natural tendency is to stand up rather than angulate more (this exacerbates bullet 1)
    • Locking my heels: I have played with locking vs leaving open for a long time (I learned to carve with my heels unlocked) but at Geoff's prompting locking both heels has helped with last season's backside issues that i faced again at the start of this season

    Many thanx to Geoff for his patience and willingness to engage.

    • Like 6
    • Thanks 1

  23. My Introductory period on Alpine snowboarding (Need some tips)

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    Some things to try:

    • Build up a bit of speed on your toe side across the fall line before initiating the backside turn (you don’t need to have completed a turn to do this)
    • always look downslope towards your next before you initiate your turn: the neck rotation sets you up for your weight transfer onto your heels
    • an activity I practiced was keeping my hands in front of me, parallel to the ground, and moving them from the toe side of the board towards the heel side as part of your turn initiation.

    Sliding to stay in control is always ok if you feel you are going to run out of runway, or if you feel you are going too fast.  Learning to carve is a process that requires practice before you internalize the muscle memory.  It sounds like you are doing really well for your first few days!

    In a proper carve turn there’s I’ll be no slipping but you will learn to be able to reduce your turning radius using weight distribution and angulation to better manage narrow trails. 

    One final comment: although riders behind you are responsible to stay out of your way, you have a responsibility to be aware of what is happening up sloe from you.  While you are learning your actions may be unpredictable to someone approaching you at speed, from behind.  This as much for your safety as theirs.

    • Like 2

  24. My Introductory period on Alpine snowboarding (Need some tips)

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    What they said
    I would add that you could concentrate on just a single turn at a time and ensure that you end up stopping by going back up the mountain at the end of the turn.  Once you can do this at will, make 2 linked turns, controlling each and stopping at the end of the second. 
    With your setup, if you don't learn this early it will only get harder to break the habit of accelerating with more linked turns, in the future.

    And there is no harm in stopping after 4 turns and starting again.

    • Like 5
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