bindings sins

[Gecko]

OK I did nearly everything you can do to adjust your binding all it once...it only makes matters worse that I have Cateks there are ever so many more ways to screw things up. I have noticed for a while that I have the bad habit of driving from the back/off the tail...and not just snowboarding but skateboarding as well. It took a while but I've fixed my stance down hilling (at the speeds I'm comfortable with anyway). I'm working on it slalom skating, but I know what I need to do and practice will make it better. What I learned/changed on wheels mean that I needed a radical change to my snowboard stance...my experience with radical change on a snowboard has never been comfortable...my stance before change was 48/45 21" wide with 2degrees of front toe lift and 5degrees of heel lift in the back. Since both my Slalom and downhill stance are narrower than my snowboard stance that was the first thing that needed to change. I pulled the rear in an inch to 20" and took out the toe lift along with 2degrees of heel lift hoping that this would balance out a bit. I also decided that I needed a more forward oriented stance and maybe remove my overhang so I went 9 degrees steeper front and rear. After all was said and done my new stance is 57/54 20" flat in the front and 3degrees of heel lift in the back. Everything felt comfortable more like my skate stances so all that remained was to test it out. As luck would have it my wife got fed up with me this morning, sent me to the local hill to snowboard and get out of the house for a while. Ugh the first three runs I felt retarded I couldn't drive from the back like I used to and I was over controlling things....I was worried that I had made a big mistake and then it all clicked...my weight shifted forward and became easy. Transitions were much easier and and I was much more stable, even when negotiating crowds. I boarded for 4 straight hours and have never felt more comfortable even when my legs were complete Jello I didn't ever loose my ability to control the board. No falls (which is good because I still have a sprained wrist and I was pushing myself on a lot of runs. Now I would not recommend such a drastic a change in your stance without either the guidance of someone like Gilmour or something else to base your changes on like I did with my skate stance but for me everything worked out well. I wish I wasn't too broke to go to ECES because I know I'm at the point where riding with people much better than me will allow me to improve...it's certainly done so freeskating downhill.