serge Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Winter has come and gone... local slopes closed over the past weekend. This season had a great start, but its momentum faded by mid February. No significant snow here in the Ottawa region. Clipped into the hardboots the first time on January 6th ( how can I not remember that date... The transition from soft to hardboot was not painful at all. All the softboot carving on a Razor last year paid off. By the end of the first day, I was comfortable in the setup, and from there it was show time :D The next few weeks was all about getting to feel the equipment, and tuning my technique. The local hills are small here, but very accessible drive.. about 20-30 mins.. so no problem to ride after work during the evenings. Finally met some carvers at the local hill. Nice guys, Pierre and Mike.. got some good advice, and rode with them. Seems like there are 5 of them at Edelweiss. ( in the Ottawa region). met 3 of them so far :) after 3 months of carving, I am very comfortable on green runs, and some blues. I still need to trust my edge more, and gain some confidence on the steeper slopes and higher speeds. Every timeout was a new experience.. always learning something .. and always replaying in my head what I did that night. Even when the conditions were not good, i.e. icy, I did not mind. I could not be as aggressive, but it sure puts into practice my balance, and hone my technique more on the ice. I went to Tremblant last weekend (March 20). To make it sort, out of the three days, 1 in Tremblant, and two at Mont-Blanc... let's just say that tremblant was a zoo that weekend.. so we bailed out the reminder of our time there.. Mont-Blanc was very good.. well groomed, no wait, and friendly staff. Also got my buddy to shoot a video. First time I watched it ,I cringed on all the bad stance/habits.. but after I got through that, I realized that some of the carves were quite decent . Well.. I'll let you guys to be the judge to that The next day at Mont-Blanc, I was alot more conscious of my "mistakes", and worked hard on correcting them. Here is some snapshots of the video... The first one is a good heel side.. with upper body straight up, and hips low... (I hope to use up my snow pants by the end of next season ;) ) THe second one is... well I don't know if it is technically good, but had fun doing it:cool: Here is the video that my buddy shot.. I am looking for any feedback on how to improve. So let the critiques fly ! - I tend to do the dreaded C shape on some of the heel-toe transition. It is as if I am reaching too far facing the fall line to get the board to tilt, intead of tilting the board from bottom to top. I see this especially on short turns.. - Need to work on my rythm... just does not seem to flow.... - shoulders.. could be more parallel.... to the slope Here is the video: I wished I also had a video of the 2nd day... I really worked hard at the issues I saw .... In all, it was a great first season... Looking forward to next year... Thanks to Bomberonline and its members for such great info.. It's hard to believe that I did my first season just by reading and watching videos of you guys... Have a great one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Bro that heelside, for a first season with only a few months...is excellent. I don't know enough to pick it apart, but someone might. I say GOOD JOB. You could bring your lead (left) hand up to parallel with the snow to level that shoulder off a little. the toe side, you already know, you're reaching for the snow. But not that much! Honestly... oldsnowboards used to tell me to create tension in my obliques as a way to explain to me how to angulate. try that on your toesides ie your left oblique muscles should be contracting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted March 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Thanks D-sub.... Video is definitely a great tool. It was quite revealing to me.. first.. It made me realize what I was doing it wrong.. thinking I was doing right ... And yes.. the oblique thing.. took my a while to figure out what that was.. probably my french is getting in the way ;). so.. got to extend the obliques on the inside of the turn... ok.. gotcha.. but I have to wait until next season :( Thanks for the feedback.. I have to say that I am proud of what I accomplished this season so far. but the work definitely does not stop here... waht a sport.. so much fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubz Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Serge not being a braggard (sp?) but these are on of my fav pics of myself, b/c I try to overemphasize the obliques stretch(pencil pinch on left hip) on the toeside. the temptation is certainly there to reachfor the snow, but resist and pretend the snow is hot lava and no touching. The snow will eventually get to you. Normally, my right elbow is squared up a bit higher to stretch my right rib cage but it was nice on this day and on the Coiler 77T makes it more relaxed ride. Less optimal days bring out the exaggerated elbows squared. Same on the next photo, inside elbow up gun slinging, it could have been up more, but snow on this day was just getting hero, so i got a little lazy. Third just an open shot of big open relaxed carves with penicl pinch on the left, rib cage stretch on right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 31, 2009 Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 so.. got to extend the obliques on the inside of the turn... ok.. gotcha.. Probably better to think of contracting the ones that keep you upright, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Sergenot being a braggard (sp?) but these are on of my fav pics of myself, b/c I try to overemphasize the obliques stretch(pencil pinch on left hip) on the toeside. the temptation is certainly there to reachfor the snow, but resist and pretend the snow is hot lava and no touching. The snow will eventually get to you. Chubz.. you can show off your stuff to me as long as you show me how to do it right Nice pics... if I compare my heelside my shoulders are not level... I guess I need to drop that outside arm more to level my shoulders...or as I have seen often, grab the front cuff with the inside arm As for the toe side... is this better? level shoulders... contracting the outside oblique, arms by my side , like the gunslinger stance.. and facing the boards nose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Probably better to think of contracting the ones that keep you upright, no? Yup D-sub, you're right.. I guess I had in my mind extending the inside oblique implied contracting the outside oblique :)... but true .. One thing I notice in the video is that sometimes when I think I am pencil pinching.. I bend the waist.. I think I have to pay more attention on my body alignment relative to the board.. i.e. front facing nose.... before I can start cracking that pencil... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohiomoto Posted March 31, 2009 Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 It's great that you can get a video and them look for ways to imporve. I need to do that next season. One thing I notice in the video is that sometimes when I think I am pencil pinching.. I bend the waist.. I think I have to pay more attention on my body alignment relative to the board.. i.e. front facing nose.... before I can start cracking that pencil... I thought the same thing. Mostly on the healside. I try to face more forward and "stack" my hips over the board. I think this would be more powerful, but I'm also the guy who is still trying to figure this out. There is a long post on here where I was asking a lot of questions on this topic. I've never even seen a video of my self, so I'm not saying I can do any better than you. I'm just saying what I look at when I see better riders. So, what I'm saying is it looks like you break at the waist too much on the healside (and you agree.) I'm curious to see if others would agree. If they do, then we know that we're headed down the right track. If not, then I'm heading down your path! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Hey Ohiomoto.. glad I am not the only one still wondering what is good form .. and what is not. Here is a heelside in which, my body is not aligned with the nose of the board: My shoulders are not pointing in the same direction of the nose.. and I am not looking where I am going....my upper body should be There is a worlds difference compared to the pic in the original post. did not even realize how low I was.. I was not trying to touch the snow with my insiade hand :D I think the above heelside is the direction that I should be going towards... not perfect, but much better than the previous pic. As previously mentioned, the shoulders needs to be more level.Anybody can comment if that is correct? In this pic.. well.. I cringed the first time I saw this.. never realized how bad form that was:eek:.... this pic is transitioning from toe to heel... It looks like I am pulling my body to get my body over the edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueB Posted April 1, 2009 Report Share Posted April 1, 2009 Hey, that's great 1st year carving! Way better then majority of people do after 2 or 3 years. That last photo looks horible as an insolated frame, but it's nothing unusual or even wrong in the sequence of the things. That's just a split second where camera cought you in aggressive pre-rotation into the next turn. As the matter of fact, if you just pushed downhill from there you would EC toeside with the board above you. Great fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted April 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 Hey, that's great 1st year carving! Way better then majority of people do after 2 or 3 years. That last photo looks horible as an insolated frame, but it's nothing unusual or even wrong in the sequence of the things. That's just a split second where camera cought you in aggressive pre-rotation into the next turn. As the matter of fact, if you just pushed downhill from there you would EC toeside with the board above you. Great fun. Hey Thanks... Yeah.. I would love to start EC'ing.. but next season.. I think I need to work on my form....:D I am just wondering if I unconsciously picked up that habit from watching too many EC videos :lol: Putting EC aside.. my upper body/shoulders should still be facing the nose of the board during the edge-to-edge , correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokkis Posted April 2, 2009 Report Share Posted April 2, 2009 It is just so painfull/wonderfull how fast some people learn to ride. Like your ride very nice. Here is two pictures of my friend after 3 weeks on hard boots, he has been mainly on telmark skis anyway. Place is Zinal LeCol, slope steepness average 31 degrees. http://carving.grewu.org/gallery/ecsVI/saturday/dsc_8424.htm http://carving.grewu.org/gallery/ecsVI/saturday/dsc_8426.htm Damn i hate him, it took me 10 years to do same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serge Posted April 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2009 Hey Pokkis.. nice pics.. I will have to one day ride on a slope like that... but I would probably need tons of muscle relaxant.. , because my butt would be permanently locked after one ride down...;) I saw some of your video.. pretty good... It is funny how the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.. You have been having fun for the past 10 years.. and I wish I started 10 years ago....well as long as we are having fun :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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