AccidentalChef Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 I had a much better day on the slopes today than last Wednesday... lots of the stuff you guys told me last season is coming back, and I feel like I've forgotten some of my bad habits and can start replacing them with good ones. I was working a lot today on getting the board higher on edge, which worked pretty well most of the time. I felt like I was getting a lot lower in the turns than I had in the past, and my tracks in the snow looked really clean. I practiced at lower speeds to work on balance too, which seemed to help but also led to some awesomely embarrassing falls just outside the lift line as I tried to get one more good carve in and ran out of speed. The problems seemed to happen at higher speeds, especially on heelside. I could make nice turns, but when I tried to crank them tighter by tilting the board more, I'd wash out. Any ideas why that might be happening? I'm posting in here rather than the main form because you guys have seen me ride and probably have a better idea what I'm doing wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.T. Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 I'm guessing that the tail was washing out?!? If so, your weight is too far forward, balance your weight more evenly. Push the board through the turns - it's that one thing that Derek constantly reminds me about. Don't hang out in one spot on the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big mario Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 +1 what D said. Other stuff to think of: Hands on hip drill, bend knees, hands out in front(think spaceman spiff) angulate before you inclinate. Get aggressive mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 It seems like it is the tail washing out. I'll have to pay close attention to where my weight is... I'm trying to consistently do that down unweighting thing, and I think I'm pushing the board through the turns (I shift my weight to the rear throughout the turn). Maybe I'm initiating the turn with my weight too far forward. I'll try the drills Mario mentioned too and see if one of them makes it click. I really want to get this figured out on the Burton so when I get out the Prior and add 5m to my sidecut radius, I can do something other than skid or go mach 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 you fellas don't listen to me. +2 My work here is done, time to play this year. My coaching is ova for yous guys, it is time for yous to take ova with the instructional proccesses put forth in previous seasons and pass them on to the masses. I am now no match for your wisdom and cat like prowess. May the forces align for more great carves from my protege this season. :) Ink If you get a wide open section then try carving your turn with nothing happening, stand up, inclinate and trust your edge to do what it was designed to do. Realize that the board will turn with minimal input then when you push on the board see what it can do with input. Oh yeah, make sure that you look through your turn. I see many people who forget this, me included, and just look down the fall line. It can make a big difference in your line. Don't move your weight back, push your feet through the turn and you will get a well completed turn that will want to put you on your a$$ at the end. Be ready to pull yourself forward for the next turn. This is a small, subtle move that will increase in speed as you tighten the radius of your turns. Like you said, practice good habits now and you won't end up with bad habits that you need to eliminate. I'm all for that one! Have fun and be safe. I can't wait to make my first carve turn of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggerwrangler Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 glad I am not the only one. My toe sides ARe prefect, however my heel sides are ugly as smashed yugo trying to go down the a ice road. I will be back up again this sat and sun working those turns till they are perfect. Side note. copper will open early for racing on the 7th there are some excerises in the tech section under practice drills. ink. we are trying to absorb the bountyful expert knowledge you provide, however the execution of said most awsome knowledge on my part is still being attempted with creative and intresting results. Note 1st weekend 3 colorfully brusies all on my backside! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Oh yeah, make sure that you look through your turn. I see many people who forget this, me included, and just look down the fall line. It can make a big difference in your line. I worked on this a lot yesterday, and it did make a huge difference. It made my lines cleaner, but it also pulled the rest of my body into a better position on my heelsides, and kept me from sitting on the toilet through the turns. It also kept me from t-boning some straightlining jibber. Don't move your weight back, push your feet through the turn and you will get a well completed turn that will want to put you on your a$$ at the end. Be ready to pull yourself forward for the next turn. This is a small, subtle move that will increase in speed as you tighten the radius of your turns. Like you said, practice good habits now and you won't end up with bad habits that you need to eliminate. I'm all for that one! Have fun and be safe. I don't feel like I'm leaning back... on my transitions that feel really smooth, I feel like I'm pushing on my back foot before my front foot coming out of the turn. Could that be what you mean by pulling forward? When I do it correctly it is a small move and I have to time it really well. I'll have to focus on this part next time I'm on the hill. I can't wait to make my first carve turn of the season. When do you think you can get up there? Hopefully soon, but I also hope I get a few more days to remember everything from last season so you don't have to yell at me quite as much. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Bigger, Don't yell at your heelside, they like to be delt with powerfully and with a smooth, fluid motion. Are you going to be at Lovey some this season? Protege's DT and Mario can work with tormentoring you more on this stuff as I play. Do come join us, we are out most weekends, usually both days. AC I am reading good stuff in your writing and it should be reflected back in what I see by the time I am on snow. A few weeks probably. You are doing the correct move pushing your feet through the turn. You know when people talk about airborn transitions, AKA porpoising, this is the moment of energy release that a board stores through the turn to release into the next turn. What happens is the rider isn't moving his/her weight forward fast enough to "harness" that energy into acceleration from one turn into the next and allows the board to come up off the snow during the transition from edge to edge. This isn't the rider jumping out of one turn into the next, it is a natural occuring phenomenon that is fun to do and also has its merits on the race course as well. The "pull yourself forward" part is the "harnessing" of the energy so that you don't highside into the next turn and eat it (prewarning you so that you are aware of what can and will happen if you are not aware of it). Ink I DON'T YELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big mario Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 I will do my best to pass your great wisdom onto the aforementioned grommets thanks again. mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 I rode the dupraz yesterday, and got some good practice feeding the board through the turn. I was having trouble rotating my upper body far enough on heelsides, since my binding angles are so shallow, but I think I can adapt what I figured out to my alpine boards. I also worked on controlling the energy of the board coming out of the turn, and had a couple of airborne transitions... nothing big, but definitely fun. If I can do it on the dupraz, I think I can do it on the old Burton on friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggerwrangler Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Bigger,Don't yell at your heelside, they like to be delt with powerfully and with a smooth, fluid motion. Are you going to be at Lovey some this season? Protege's DT and Mario can work with tormentoring you more on this stuff as I play. Do come join us, we are out most weekends, usually both days. Yeap I will be at lovey till mid dec. I decided to grab a season pass there as well, I mean its lovey. At this point we are there every weekend just turning as much as we can. Look forward to seeing you out there. Look slike to be a good weekend to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Today started out pretty rough... I'm not sure exactly what I did but I wrecked hard on a transition. It took me a few minutes to catch my breath, and a few runs to get my confidence back. After that, though, things started getting better. I looked through my turns, tried to keep from sitting on the toilet, and really worked on getting the board up on edge. I had a few sets of turns that I'd put among my best ever. I was much more in control of my speed than normal, and keeping my turns in a smaller area of the slope than usual. It's probably going to take a while before I can consistently do what I did a couple of times today, but I feel like it was definitely a step in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 Very cool AC. It sounds like you are learning quite a bit. I can't wait to see your improvement. Maybe this weekend. Ink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 I'm not sure if I'm ready to brave weekend crowds yet, but even weekdays are getting packed... yesterday was, anyway. I wish I could get more consistent, but getting a good feel for what I should be doing will lead me there eventually. The biggest problem I have right now seems to be remembering everything I need to do to really nail the turn, since I really have to do everything you guys have taught me at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted October 28, 2008 Report Share Posted October 28, 2008 AC Right now you don't have to do everything that you have been told. Pick one or two parts of what you feel to be your biggest hangup and focus on that for a while. Once you have that down add another piece to the equation (math speak for ya). Eventually you will have put all the parts into the equation that you end up with the correct answer...carved, controlled turns. Ankles+knees+hips+upperbody+arms+mind=carve Keep it up, the stuff I read from your post tell me that you are in fact "getting it". Ink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccidentalChef Posted October 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2008 Had an awesome day today... started out a bit shaky, but that's pretty normal for me at this point. I followed some of the ski racers a few runs trying to copy their drills, and that seemed to help a bit. Having an actual ski pole to hold in front of me might have worked even better, but just thinking about hand position helped. I had a small breakthrough after that, and started thinking of turns as right and left, rather than toe and heel. That helped me keep my shoulders facing forward more. I got the confidence up to make a few runs on Richard's, but the thing that really made me happy was my last run of the day. I went back to Mambo and got down without a single skidded turn. On that run, I never got going fast enough that I had to think about skidding to control speed... it might have been my slowest run of the day. Today seems like the day I finished catching up on last season and started moving forward for this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggerwrangler Posted November 3, 2008 Report Share Posted November 3, 2008 so I meet up some folks at lovey i am riding, think i am doing ok, I was shown otherwise! So here I am trying to do what these "fellars" have been doing for a while now all in one day...... Then fustrated and pissed I ask a question, a little brash " I am sorry for" and they are straight and call it like they see it. MOve your bindings! This is why. Made sense, so I applied it. Thanks Guys. several other suggestions have been made, and those are still getting implemented. MAybe this next saterday. Low and behold I have more edge and Way more power. Several ejections later, some that had me laughing some that had me $&*-0 the edge is there both sides. I am Very happy with this board, realizing that I can have a nice angle not 82,72 but a nice 65,55. see you next weekend. I think I want to try that spring system... possibly the next upgrade. Again Thank you for the tormentoring Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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