Boot Bias & Toe side Problem Improved

[Terryw]

I just wanted to share my experience this last week with adjusting boot bias and the dramatic improvement in my toe side initiation. I have been struggling with toe side initiation for a while. I felt fine on the heel side, but felt like I was "going over the falls" when ever I really tried to aggressively initiate a toe side turn. It just never felt comfortable. I tried changing setback, mellower angles, wider stance width..... etc. I then had an experienced rider ride my set up (Oldvolvolsrule). He went to much higher angles to avoid boot out and was able to rip on my setup. We swapped boards for a while, and I immediately felt more comfortable on his board. I was puzzled as to what the problem could be. Since Ovr had no trouble on my rig, I assumed that it was just my technique and I would have to grow into my new setup. But my immediate improvement on his board made me suspicious that there really might be something in my setup, even though he didn't seem to have any trouble with it.

So I am thinking about this as I am getting off of a chair lift with a little bit of a long off ramp. I noticed that when ever I got off of this chair lift standing flat on the board, I consistently tended to slide out to the heel side. So then I tried to just ride flat on the board to see what it would do. Lo and behold if I didn't force it to the toe side, it would always slide out to the heel side. A little light finally went off in my head. If I am in a neutral balanced position directly over the board and I seem to favor one side, then my weight is obviously not as evenly distributed as I thought it was.

So I tried a new experiment. Even though my boots appeared to be centered on the bindings, I started to increase the bias towards the toe side edge for both bindings. The change to the binding was small. Visually, everything looked the same, but there was an immediate improvement to my toe side! Eureka! I continued to adjust the bias until I could stand flat on the board and slide straight without constant correction. This has led to what I would call a breakthrough day for me. Suddenly I could stop fighting my board, and just enjoy the ride. Toe side initiation now felt much better. It occurred to me that this was why Ovr could ride my rig. When he increased the angles, he decreased the the effect of the bias and his technique could more than compensate for it.

I have done a search for boot bias here on Bomber, and I have learned that there is a mark on most boots that identifies the center of the boot. After my on hill balancing of my setup, I looked at the mark on the bottom of my Suzuka boots. That line now appears to be just about dead center over the bindings.

In retrospect it probably should have occurred to me sooner that I was not centered on my board. But since I rarely spend any time just riding flat on the board, I did not notice this heel side bias.

For future reference, does anybody know just where the centerline is for the TD-2 Bindings? It looks to me as though it does not quite bisect the logo evenly.

[John Gilmour]

I think I'll have to post some photos..

Well lets put it this way. Humans naturally Step. They step from left to right. been doing it for eons..literally.

So the key here... if you want to try this is to make it so that if you step with your weight on your lead heel..(even before tilting the board) you begin to turn heelside...and if you step with your weight on your rear ball of your foot or toe.. you begin to turn toeside.

It is amazing...how when you set this up properly... how effortless endless traverses are.

But it is a very fine adjustment... It just takes a few minutes on slope with a screwdriver to fine tune it. You likely will need to move your discs to allow for lots of lateral movement- or adjust your binding carriages using the foot size adjustments to do Gilmour bias.

You'll always be riding two footed... but the front heel is closest to the board's center and the rear toe is closest to the board's center toeside.

If you are tooooo toeside "Gilmour Biased" you'll feel that if you are not actively turning heelside.. that you begin to turn toeside.

If you are not enough toeside biased on your rear foot you will find it harder to tip the board toeside and feel much more stress on your ankles during a highspeed toeside carve. (because you have increased the lever arm distance from the edge of the board to your ankle....ideally that lever arm should be shorter than an inch)

Ideally you want quick response... but not so quick that any jarring motion sends you turning in one direction or the other.

You know.. your car has some play in the steering wheel. So if you hit a pothole you are not "yanked" to one side.

A good board set up has a very small dead spot where you can go straight even if knocked a tiny bit. That way you aren't constantly and intently monitoring your board and you can spend more time looking at the snow and terrain.

I like my soft boot boards to have about 1.5- 2 inches laterally of steering play. That means if my center of mass (2 inches in from the navel) moves laterally say 1 inch of center...nothing happens. Until I move about 2 inches laterally. Then the board pops up on edge. I like less play on my hard boot alpine boards like only 1 inch.

A board that is too narrow might have almost no play... which is ok for perfectly groomed conditions.. but a little sketchy on end of the day conditions.

If you increase the amount of steering play to say 4 inches.. you can get over committed and stuck on a hard carve and not make it back to center if you loose too much speed.

A board that is too wide for you makes you actually feel this huge steering play. You have to make huge lateral movement to get the board to edge.

So while moving both bindings towards the toeside helped your toeside immensely.. I would suggest that you try moving your front binding back over the heelside edge- while leaving the rear binding over the toeside edge... or perhaps moving it further to toeside.. if it is still not enough toeside power.

my 2 cents.

JG

[Terryw]

Thanks John. I read the posts from the search. I think that the idea of a longer lever makes a lot of sense. My only concern is that offsetting the bindings this way would cause the board to twist. I would love to see some pictures of your setup. I am also interested in your offer to fine tune setups for 40.00. I will play with your "Gilmour Bias" later this week.

[John Gilmour]

Thanks John. I read the posts from the search. I think that the idea of a longer lever makes a lot of sense. My only concern is that offsetting the bindings this way would cause the board to twist. I would love to see some pictures of your setup. I am also interested in your offer to fine tune setups for 40.00. I will play with your "Gilmour Bias" later this week.

Board twist is something that many people do with their alpine set ups by driving their rear knee towards the edge they want to pressure. The binding offset is very minor.. I wouldn't worry about inducing permanent twist into your board...besides... the bindings are asymmetric anyhow.

try it... you'll like it.

I typically put on my boots and bindings on a carpet and then pretend I am riding in my living room (yes my neighbors think I am insane) going through very similar motions as when I am carving hardboots. BUT what I am paying attention to is how across the board my body is when the edge lifts..and also the amount of energy required to stay on edge.

It is hard to believe... but if you set it up properly...it feels incredibly natural and easy to carve in softboots. And if you are doing "Gilmour Bias" on hardboots You should find it easy to nearly balance on your rear toe for toeside. Heelside is a committed move- but so long as your ass is directly over the board and low it is easy to bail out of heelside directly into toeside.

________

Washington dispensaries

[Guest DarkClone]

Hello TerryW and John Gilmour. Read this thread on Bias and my interest was piqued. Anyway, John I rode with you at the sesh on the last day at Buttermilk. I am the hippie on the yellow F2 Speedster who won the Madd T-shirt at the banquet. It was a "BLAST" (ok, ok) riding with you that afternoon!! TerryW we have just got to carve. Am at Bear every day and Tuesday was bluebird and just perfect for railing at high speed. Have tried to ride with OVR for about 4yrs now but something always comes up?!! My setup is 64 degrees up front and back. 20.5 center of disc to disc. No cants or lifts. Love the Burton Race Plates but have run out of parts so now it is IBEX. Would love to experiment more with settings but usually just adapt to anything under my feet. By the way John, insane rail to rail quickness and kudos on the light speed carving. Jim Pryor aka DarkClone..........

[Thumper]

So the key here... if you want to try this is to make it so that if you step with your weight on your lead heel..(even before tilting the board) you begin to turn heelside...and if you step with your weight on your rear ball of your foot or toe.. you begin to turn toeside.

JG,

So what you are recommending is the opposite of using boot bias to minimize overhang/reduce binding angles? On a narrow board, I used to bias the front boot slightly forward in the binding and the rear boot slight aft to maximize the available "real estate" and ride the lowest angles the board's waist width and sidecut would permit without overhang. This always caused major discomfort in my rear foot and ankle (exactly like you describe), so now I usually just ride centered at slightly higher angles. I love your idea and have a couple of questions:

How much Gilmour Bias do you recommend as a starting point?

Do you just live with a little overhang until you get the fore-aft sorted out or do you adjust the angles at the same time as part of the process?

A very intriguing idea --Thanks!

[John Gilmour]

JG,

So what you are recommending is the opposite of using boot bias to minimize overhang/reduce binding angles? On a narrow board, I used to bias the front boot slightly forward in the binding and the rear boot slight aft to maximize the available "real estate" and ride the lowest angles the board's waist width and sidecut would permit without overhang. This always caused major discomfort in my rear foot and ankle (exactly like you describe), so now I usually just ride centered at slightly higher angles. I love your idea and have a couple of questions:

How much Gilmour Bias do you recommend as a starting point?

Do you just live with a little overhang until you get the fore-aft sorted out or do you adjust the angles at the same time as part of the process?

A very intriguing idea --Thanks!

I also used to do the same- thinking that it made more sense for the front foot to provide most of the toeside power. But as it turns out... your rear foot as more influence in high stance angles because it is closest to the middle of the sidecut on the toe side edge than any other part of either boot on that edge.

The board is most easily pressured when on edge from the belly of the sidecut. IMHO not outboard of the center of the sidecut.

In an ideal world you could imagine a board that is custom made for your most powerful stance..and made such that... the width of the board is exactly correct for your feet so you have no booting out when you ride toeside or heelside..and that your feet are centered on the board.

Oddly enough... this has not been my personal experience.

I've got 26.5 shell size Head Stratos boots. When I ride a 18.0 cm board I ride with a tiny bit of "Gilmour Bias" at high stance angles of 63 front and 60 rear.

Realistically I would likely be able to better power the edge with a wider deck and slightly lower stance angles so that more muscle groups come into play. I would get slower transitions- but more powerful deep trenching turns.

And on a 19.5 cm wide Cm board I do find this to be true- riding lower angles of about 55 front and 48 rear. With slightly more "Gilmour bias", not the other kind of bias- to accommodate the wider width of the board.

If you ride with more than say 1-1.5 inches of bias... I feel the advantages of Bias- fall off..and you are left with an odd feeling of your hip rising and sinking vertically with each turn cycle... So it should not be a huge amount... but you will find a small amount of bias makes a HUGE difference in your turn initiation and ability to sustain pressure during an extended carve.

We had a few Madd Protos that I rode that were wider... I was able to power them with this stance and offset hard enough to really bury them into compacted frozen granular (unfortunately delaminating them in about 3-5 runs, which is why we don't make those....lol) and trenching them deep resulted in strong deceleration.

So why do I ride a 18.0 cm wide deck? Because I personally prefer the trade off of the flex and light weight vs width..and I am willing to give up some carving power for quickness and abrupt directional change. Also with lower stance angles on a wider board I feel more committed to the carve and unable to switch edges as quickly in an emergency as I have to move more of my body across the board...whereas with higher stance angles- a flick of the hip and I'm going the other way.

I'm not racing- I am carving at high speed within a resort with other people- and at times within crowds- so edge hold is traded for quickness. If I were racing I would ABSOLUTLELY ride a wider deck with less angle. In a resort situation I could estimate the apex of a turn- and suddenly find a skier in that apex...while in lower stance angles I might feel heeled over and committed if riding low and fast....I really will trade that tiny bit of performance for the ability to avoid a possible collision. Racers---->who eat or starve according to a few hundredths... don't have this luxury..and have to opt for whatever shaves their time...regardless if they commit to the turn.....besides... no one else is on course with them...so why not?

Also when riding in crowds and being "closed out" on both sides by skiers- I can emulate a skier like quick "crossing under" like turns in which skiers can predict easily where I am going since my body appears as a skier to them in form from behind... this I believe helps to reduce the likelyhood of collisions as they can accurately predict where I can go- I also can edge early and high in this "crossing under" type turn to reduce my speed or speed up using the same frequency of turn and turn shape....just slowing down more if I auger in the nose harder or ...faster if I drive the tail....for the same steep pitch.... So I can let skiers pass me- or me pass them, while staying within my own narrow "carving corridor" like a skier- controlling my speed.

Oddly enough.... on some crowded days... some skiers have asked me if I like my "MONOSKI"- even though my feet are inline...likely because they see the form of a skier at times. This is harder to do with lower stance angles.

So for a starting point.. try about 1/2" on the front and 1/2" on the rear and see how that works. Ideally try not to have your front foot inbound of the board. If it does end up inbound.. more than an 1 inch will feel very hard to tip to the toe edge and also harder to return quickly to center. If your board is narrow for your feet even 1/4" on each foot will suffice and feel stronger.

more is not always better...."some" is sometimes...just right..

Also some people just like to bias the toe and leave the heel centered on very narrow decks for their foot size. I would assume that if the deck is very narrow for their feet they are trying to keep stance angles below 65 degrees. More "Gilmour Bias" lets you ride higher stance angles for the same width board without feeling to inbound....and without sufficient leverage.

If you believe as I do that Balance = Focus = Power

ie... more balance equates to being able to more accurately focus your weight where needed, and thus deliver more power to where it is needed in the board. Then offset really makes sense looking at all other sports where Balance and focus count for power. Martial Arts included..

I also find that if you put your board on the carpet and clip in..... you should be able to move your body in a circular zone where you will not fall over yet be able to compensate with the rest of your body as you near the edge of falling over (recovery movements).

The larger this Zone in combination with the most muscle groups involved for the area where you feel centered... should IMHO be the area where you have the most power.

Introducing "Gilmour Bias" helps increase the diameter of this zone laterally for high stance angles (and help your hips on heelsides as well as your visibility to heelside) without decreasing the amount muscle groups involved like even higher stance angles would.

I also find that the bias is not as dependent on canting and lifts as you would think.. it works equally well if not even more importantly with soft boots as soft boots have far less leverage...so decreasing the lever arm with soft boots allows you to ride the edge more effectively with less edge angle and more of just plain downforce.

________

ACURA CSX SPECIFICATIONS

[Thumper]

John,

Thanks for the beautiful explanation of the concept. I'll give it a try next week and report back.

[Petrol]

So in this Gilmore Bias, are you slightly shifting the front foot towards the heal side and the rear foot towards the toe side of the board

[Terryw]

That is the way I read and understand it to be. I know it is the opposite of what I originally learned when I first started learning about snow boarding. I will be trying it out today. I believe Bullwings will also be experimenting with this setup on his Tanker with soft boots at our local resort today.

[Mike T]

For years I rode an 18 cm waisted deck and biased the front binding towards toeside, back binding towards heelside - in order to keep my angles as low as possible.

Now I'm on wider decks, 19.5 to 21.5 and have some room to play. I set up my GS board with Gilmour Bias and went riding this morning, loved it. My right (rear) hip seizes up on me (not just snowboarding) often which makes good toesides very challenging. The more open hip position gave me more ROM in that hip and I was able to nail toesides without thinking about it. Woohoo!

All I did was shift from (front foot 1/4" more toeside than back), to the opposite - *back foot 1/4" more toeside than front.) Small change, big impact.

Thanks again!

[Bullwings]

4-6 inches of powder made it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of Gilmour Bias for carving. I'll have to try it out next week when everything hardens up and gets packed down.

However, I did notice that pressuring my heelside was much stronger, but I'm not sure if that was due to conditions, the setup, or both. One thing that I know for sure is that my leg feels better, and I wasn't pressuring my high back to get the board to do what I wanted.

[Terryw]

I will second that it was terrible conditions. We will try again next week and see how it works out.

[Chubz]

Great info JG and as I read thru it was something I have been fiddling with since getting TD2's. Boot bias did help a little with a problem I am having since switching to TD2 form TD1. Heelside undulating is driving me nuts and I cant solve. i sen this to Jack M. but he said it would be a little while before he could get back to me and I am trying to resolve my issue before heading to ECES. I hope you can help.

I recently got a set of TD2 SI's, use to ride TD1 SI's. 19.5" 70* front 67* back and mostly forward inserts on my POGO Blitz and neutral boot bias

I am on day 5 of trying different settings, from boot bias to cant to disc switch to insert placment and still with about 12 diff adjustments I have only had marginal improvement in my binding placement except today I was able to find a more comfortable centered relaxed position.

I am hoping you can offer any little experimenting you have done or heard.

the main thing I am experiencing is undulations in my heel side turns. the board feels as if it just wants to keep rolling over onto the toeside edge. My front boot bias is toward heel and rear towards toe. It is almost as if i can hear the board breath a sign of relief when I do prep for my toeside, which is carving well. When I was on my TD1's, it was "nuts to butt" turns with no trouble whatsoever. Solid turns in both directions.

After being pitched off a trail the other day due to the undulating and a bruised ego and cracked helmet, I'm begging for help. When I was on TD1 the board had smooth transition from heel to toe at any rate of speed. On the TD2, slow or fast, I get the heelside undulations.

Here is what I have tried so far in somewhat order

Disc placement mid, back and then forward. all the way forward seemed to calm it the most.

I boot bias front heel was over heeledge of board and rear boot bias forward so my toealigned with toe edge. That seemed to offer a more balanced stance and slightly less undulating.

I switch my discs from 6 front 3 back to 3 front 6 back, nothing major,except I needed to widen my stance which helped my balance and relaxed feel. I want to go back to 6* front 3 back, that is how I have ridden for years.

Please excuse my use of clock terminology. (90 like TD1)

I then turned the dot on the 3* front disc from 90 to 75 clockwise, thus lessening my inward cant, correct?

I also turned the dot on my 6*rear disc from 90 to 85 counterclockwise, thus increase my inward cant, correct?

These two steps also added to a sensation of the board feeling neutral, rather than it feeling like it wanted to pitch one way or the other. It wasnt favoring any edge as it had been.

But still i am getting undulations heel side that feel like I am crossing over a series of 2-3 " high ridges about 2-3 feet apart and the board is still slightly wanted to roll to toeside. Even though the slope was flat.

After taking a header off the trail, I packed it in for the day, but when I head back out, I was hopeing to have some things to try to minimize the number of times I have to 5 allen adjustments.

If you can offer any insight I hope to get this fixed before ECES.

Your info helped a great deal in a visionary sense and I intend to apply those.

Regards

Greg

[Terryw]

Went up to the resort today. We had decent conditions to test out the bias. I think I like it. I was much smother in linking turns. Toe side initiations also improved. My only problem with this setup is that it causes me to use steeper angles than I would otherwise use. A 1/4" toe bias on the rear binding forces me to use a minimum of 62 degrees to eliminate toe overhang. That seems a little steep to me for a 20cm waist. I also end up with a slight heel offset (heel is moved slightly away from the heel side edge) on the rear binding, and a toe offset on the front binding.

Every thing seems to be working, so I am not complaining. It just looks a little strange to me to not have both heels and toes lined up over their respective edges.

What I know for sure is that experimenting with bias has helped me to transition to a much smoother and more relaxed ride.

[Thumper]

I got a chance to try out Gilmour bias last night. Conditions were way less than great (skied up, choppy and refrozen corn snow made of pebble-size grains that had partially melted into slush during the day and then congealed into a solid bumpy mass, bad visibility and flat night lighting). My 5 previous sessions had been in excellent hero conditions so this is not a true apples-to-apples comparison. In all cases, though, John's descriptions were accurate.

For testing, I left may angles and stance where they were and lived with a little rear boot overhang.

1. Burton Speed 168W 22.5CM Waist. 1/2" Bias. I use this board as an , on and off piste, general purpose and afternoon board. I felt more power to both edges, but the edge to edge roll rate seemed even slower than before. It really took me a while to adapt to not using my front foot to initiate toeside turns and was exactly what John described about too wide a board or too much bias. Definitely more power to the edges but too much stability.

2. Volkl RT 173 19CM Waist. Less bias because the Phiokka Machos ran out of forward adjustment at about 1/4" on my rear foot so I used 1/4" on both feet. Worked sweet, exactly as advertised. Neutral handling, more precise edge control and more power to the edge. It made the board feel more versatile even in the crappy conditions.

I wonder if it is the binding placement or the technique/mindset of isolating "front heel=heelside" "rear toe=toeside" that produces the benefit. Especially on toeside, it seems like it helps automatically stack all your weight and downforce right over the edge and reduce any "break at the waist" tendencies.

Thanks John ! This definitely warrants more experimentation in some better conditions.

[Thumper]

Chubz I hope you worked out your setup issue. Have you tried going back to the TD-1s just to see if it is an equipment or technique issue?

[Bullwings]

Got to try out some Gilmore Bias on some nice hard pack/groom for about 1.5 hours before things turned into a slurpy mess. After that, the snow/slush wouldn't hold an edge.

Awesome stuff

Both my toe and heel side carves were much easier to initiate, and they were also much tighter. My speed control was much better too; I didn't have to do as many speed checks. And even with my high soft boot angles (48/42), it felt better than when I was riding 33/27. Driving slightly with the knees was a bit more useful too. Even if it's not like hardboot lateral driving, it still helps with getting more pressure to those edges.

Terry, you didn't miss out on much today. It was a lot better than last Friday, but from what I hear, Tuesday was better than today. Hopefully the season will have some better conditions in store for us. I still haven't been able to ride with Aaron.

[Thumper]

Bullwings sorry I missed you. I was at Bear, fun in the morning full slush by noon, too. The top of Geronimo stayed firm longer and was way fun until almost 1 o'clock.

[John Gilmour]

Great info JG and as I read thru it was something I have been fiddling with since getting TD2's. Boot bias did help a little with a problem I am having since switching to TD2 form TD1. Heelside undulating is driving me nuts and I cant solve. i sen this to Jack M. but he said it would be a little while before he could get back to me and I am trying to resolve my issue before heading to ECES. I hope you can help.

I recently got a set of TD2 SI's, use to ride TD1 SI's. 19.5" 70* front 67* back and mostly forward inserts on my POGO Blitz and neutral boot bias

I am on day 5 of trying different settings, from boot bias to cant to disc switch to insert placment and still with about 12 diff adjustments I have only had marginal improvement in my binding placement except today I was able to find a more comfortable centered relaxed position.

I am hoping you can offer any little experimenting you have done or heard.

the main thing I am experiencing is undulations in my heel side turns. the board feels as if it just wants to keep rolling over onto the toeside edge. My front boot bias is toward heel and rear towards toe. It is almost as if i can hear the board breath a sign of relief when I do prep for my toeside, which is carving well. When I was on my TD1's, it was "nuts to butt" turns with no trouble whatsoever. Solid turns in both directions.

After being pitched off a trail the other day due to the undulating and a bruised ego and cracked helmet, I'm begging for help. When I was on TD1 the board had smooth transition from heel to toe at any rate of speed. On the TD2, slow or fast, I get the heelside undulations.

Here is what I have tried so far in somewhat order

Disc placement mid, back and then forward. all the way forward seemed to calm it the most.

I boot bias front heel was over heeledge of board and rear boot bias forward so my toealigned with toe edge. That seemed to offer a more balanced stance and slightly less undulating.

I switch my discs from 6 front 3 back to 3 front 6 back, nothing major,except I needed to widen my stance which helped my balance and relaxed feel. I want to go back to 6* front 3 back, that is how I have ridden for years.

Please excuse my use of clock terminology. (90 like TD1)

I then turned the dot on the 3* front disc from 90 to 75 clockwise, thus lessening my inward cant, correct?

I also turned the dot on my 6*rear disc from 90 to 85 counterclockwise, thus increase my inward cant, correct?

These two steps also added to a sensation of the board feeling neutral, rather than it feeling like it wanted to pitch one way or the other. It wasnt favoring any edge as it had been.

But still i am getting undulations heel side that feel like I am crossing over a series of 2-3 " high ridges about 2-3 feet apart and the board is still slightly wanted to roll to toeside. Even though the slope was flat.

After taking a header off the trail, I packed it in for the day, but when I head back out, I was hopeing to have some things to try to minimize the number of times I have to 5 allen adjustments.

If you can offer any insight I hope to get this fixed before ECES.

Your info helped a great deal in a visionary sense and I intend to apply those.

Regards

Greg

Without seeing a video of your riding.. I am pretty clueless.

The td2's having more issues than td1's well as pure "guess" it is that your entire body + Boots + TD2's + board as a "Spring System" has more resonance than with TD1's and so you are getting some amplitude...that translates into undulation... you likely are "reacting" instead of being proactive and maintaining a predetermined line. When you "react" you are already lagging the input needed to fix the problem- especially at speed. You reflex actions... might be close to 180 degres out of phase with that wave...ie. adding to the problem instead of dampening out the undulation.

My second guess is that for some reason you are "bracing" instead of "flowing". (again youa are adding to the bounce)

Wanna hear some way to look really stupid? Take your heelside turn on your board at high speed. Try to "sing" ie Hold a note..LOUD.. while turning- FOR THE WHOLE TURN. You probably can't.... because you aren't breathing.... you likely are bracing for a turn.

Now I'm not saying you should sing when riding... but you should breathe smoothly and not Lock up. (which -counter intuitively, Bracing is weaker anyhow when it comes to snowboarding)

When you hold your breath and "bear down" for a hard heelside- your entire body becomes more rigid and more likely "resonant".

I'd be BS'ing you to try to posture anything else without seeing a video.

What's Pennsylvania snow like this year.... mostly man made? Without HKD Snow guns? That could be part of it too.

________

HONDA AIRPORT HISTORY

[Chubz]

Good info and got it resolved last Sunday. Post examination I come up with the following:

• I outward canted my discs, which gave me a little more drive into the turns
  
• JBS , who I ride with thought it was a timing thing for me and after a run or two the confidence came back and rhythm intact
  
• snow was much better than past few days
  
• as far as breathing, I purposefully have always maintianed fluid breathing in my turns because if I hold my breath, thigh start to burn more quickly
  
• I still the felt my heelside was favored at one point, so I shifted the rear toe edgeward, which then helped balance the board at neutral.
  

It has seem to come together finally and back to old Greg. Thanks for the input and the boot bias definitelyt helped me hone it down.

look out ECES here we come!!!!!

[John Gilmour]

Glad you got that worked out.

Get yourself a PTS tune too- to hang tough with the East Coast Bros.

________

Michigan Dispensary

[Thumper]

Dude, you are a genius. After having tested the Gilmour-bias settings on 3 boards during 3 sessions in a variety of conditions this week, tonight it just clicked. Almost the same conditions as the first test, but a little softer. I had set up the wider 168 wrong for the first test -heel bias on both feet (DOH!). Tonight it was setup according to your guidelines and it was like a different board. I have always had trouble carving in chopped-up, bumpy conditions, but by using a Gilmour-biased binding setup, turning by isolating power application to front heel or rear toe, being aware of my breathing, focusing on developing a rhythm and staying loose and aggressive, I was able to carve better than I have in the past even on hero snow.

Now I understand what a couple of other carvers had tried to explain to me about setting your edge hard enough to carve through the surface imperfections in chopped up snow.

Oh yeah, and crossunder turns seemed way easier, too.

Your ability to take a complex concept and encapsulate it into easy to apply morsels of technique is, in my humble opinion, the sign of a truly gifted instructor. Thank you.

[Chubz]

Thanks John, but i allow myself to get the JBS Tune here in PA. Jesse does a great job of prepping my boards for me.

Maybe someday a PTS, but we will see how the JBS fairs to the PTS, I think the eastern PA contingent will hold their own on this trip.

Counting down

Sunday, Monday Tuesday (travelday) and carving wed, thru, friday.

[lonbordin]

Why isn't this stickied?!

This is so important with wider boards!