Short video of some amateur racing from last season

[scrutton]

I look like I need some serious help with my balance (yellow jacket guy); pretty busy with my arms too...

[ursle]

How 'bout listing what your setup is, angles of your bindings, lift of the front foot toes and rear foot heel, amount of sideways cant for each foot, length between bindings.

I mention this because it seems like you can't get into a crouch because of your setup, and if you can't get into a crouch you can't angulate, and if you can't angulate you can't get the board on edge on hard snow.

[scrutton]

Pics of the setups are at this link :-

http://picasaweb.google.com/paul.scrutton/Snowboard_setup_2010?feat=directlink

Boots - UPZ RSV

GS run :-

Prior 185

Catek OS2

4-5 degree toe lift on front binding

4 degree heel lift on rear binding

no canting on front or rear binding

Front binding = 62 degree

Rear binding = 62 degree

19 5/8" between bindings

SL run :-

Coiler 166 Pure Race

Catek OS1

almost imperceptable amount of inward canting on front binding

small amount of inward canting on rear binding

About 2 degree toe lift on front foot

About 2 degree heel lift on rear foot

Front binding = 49 degree

Rear binding = 51 degree

18 5/8" between bindings

Yeah, anyone, go at it.....grateful for any pointers...

[Beckmann AG]

Your dexterity is visibly impacted by your gear configuration. Relatively flat courses make this more apparent, as there is often insufficient momentum to simply 'lean into it'.

For the type of course you are running, you don't need a whole lot of monkey motion, but it would help if turning inputs originated from your feet and not your torso.

It does appear that you are standing with weight biased towards your front foot.

I find it interesting that you are using fairly disparate binding configurations between two boards. That would imply that your bones stack up differently based on board length and color of topsheet...?

[scrutton]

Thanks for the comments, Beckmann. I could certainly work on starting my turn from the ankles / feet as a (ski) instructor once told me.

I think that my weight bias may be to my front foot. Perhaps an old crutch so that I don't spin out in the flats....should I center it more?

The angles are different from one board to the other as the width of the SL board is larger than the width of the GS board. I have them set up to maximize the angle based on the board width, without any overhang.

The feet-distance apart on the GS board is a little more as I have more board length to play with, and so I have more canting on this board for comfort. Heel lift is similarly affected I believe. Trying to go for a wider stance, as lots of folks recommend. (no politican bathroom jokes please).

> Your dexterity is visibly impacted by your gear configuration

Do you have any ideas how I could modify my gear configuration to improve my dexterity? That would be great. I feel like I'm having to balance a bit too much...perhaps reduce the angle of the bingings and deal with a bit of overhang?

[Beckmann AG]

The feet-distance apart on the GS board is a little more as I have more board length to play with, and so I have more canting on this board for comfort. Heel lift is similarly affected I believe.

Canting and lifting really shouldn't be used to facilitate a wider stance.

Canting should be used to affect joint mobility, while lifting should be used (in part) to affect weight distribution and leverage ratios from one edge to the other.

Your ideal stance should provide an ideal load bearing structure without compromising finesse.

Front foot biasing predisposes one to spin, especially on the heelside.

I'll send you something later this evening regarding setup.

[KingCrimson]

I find it interesting that you are using fairly disparate binding configurations between two boards. That would imply that your bones stack up differently based on board length and color of topsheet...?

My slalom board has a wildly different setup from my GS board, but that's because there aren't enough holes in the topsheet for my TD2s. :D

Scrutton- You aren't actually set up pigeon (higher angle on the back) are you?

Your knees look extremely awkward in the SL videos.

As much as I absolutely hate to say something in disagreement with Mr. Beckman, I have to say I'd be shocked if your equipment setup has something to do with a severe lack of mobility. (unless the pigeon stance is pushing your knees together) I've seen some hardbooters with some pretty egregious errors in their binding setup and they were certainly unstable and uncomfortable, but they were not stuck standing up.

I can ride with inward cant, outward cant, lift, no lift, whatever I want. At the extremes, yes, I end up limited in mobility. However, the lack of balance becomes extremely apparent as I end up stacked on the board in funky ways.

You aren't making a very earnest attempt at angulation. When you start to feel out of balance, you should angulate more, this is your safety net. If you look at my avatar, I'm doing a banked slalom, and that gate bent over on the ground was a little bit taller than I am, so I just smacked the snot out of it. You can see I dropped my inside hand, and brought my outside hand up. Consequently, I look dorky and unstable.

It's pretty hard to identify things that are bad about a setup if you're static and passive in your riding. Bending your knees will generally make your riding better. Even in an infinitely stiff setup, you can get your butt down lower.

In my opinion, analyzing stance makes very little sense if the rider is not bending their knees enough, especially since your butt and center of mass are displaced so much in bending your knees.

In short, bend your knees more, ride with other hardbooters, then worry about the minute details of your setup.

[Jack M]

I'd be shocked if your equipment setup has something to do with a severe lack of mobility.

[scrutton]

Scrutton- You aren't actually set up pigeon (higher angle on the back) are you?

Your knees look extremely awkward in the SL videos.

Yeah, in the slalom board setup, I am pigeon by 2 degrees. Looking at the board now, I have no idea why it is set up like that. The bindings on the front of the board look well lined up to the edge of the board. The rear are inset, I can reduce the angle and still not be overhanging. Good catch on that. I noticed this when I keyed in the info, and wondered about this myself. I think I also have the OS1's baseplates mounted incorrectly, as it's impossible to read off the angle number.

The OS2's on the GS have a much nicer angle gauge with the arrow clearly stating what angle you are at.

[KingCrimson]

You went all the way to your Bimmer forums to find that one!

Humor me, produce a cant and lift setup where you can TRULY only move your knees as much as that video shows. He goes from not bent to a little bent. If you can produce such a setup, (without doing crap like 180* of splay) I'll brew tea with my liners and drink it.

Since the rider's butt stays sky high throughout the whole video, I don't know how you can blame the setup when he isn't even trying to be mobile.

[scrutton]

good points guys, my arse doesn't move at all....and legs are pretty stiff. I just watched the video of Sigi G, and his legs seem to be bent at about 30 degrees at all times.

Practicing on the carpet here, I note that when I bend my legs to about 30 degrees off of straight, it flattens my feet A LOT, and makes me more balanced. So, perhaps, I should re-think my heel and toe lift and make the binding a lot flatter.

I just purchased a new to me board with bindings already mounted on it (by someone else), and I note that they have no heel/toe lift and very mild inward canting.

I think that I was somewhat phased by the Cateks having short and long pins; on this new board, they use the pins to add cant. On my setups the difference in length is used for heel/toe lift.

[KingCrimson]

good points guys, my arse doesn't move at all....and legs are pretty stiff. I just watched the video of Sigi G, and his legs seem to be bent at about 30 degrees at all times.

Practicing on the carpet here, I note that when I bend my legs to about 30 degrees off of straight, it flattens my feet A LOT, and makes me more balanced. So, perhaps, I should re-think my heel and toe lift and make the binding a lot flatter.

I just purchased a new to me board with bindings already mounted on it (by someone else), and I note that they have no heel/toe lift and very mild inward canting.

I think that I was somewhat phased by the Cateks having short and long pins; on this new board, they use the pins to add cant. On my setups the difference in length is used for heel/toe lift.

Honestly, stop changing stuff. Ride until you actually find a problem with your setup.

When you correct the more major technique problems, a whole new set of issues will manifest themselves, at which point you can post them up. Beckman is a genius when it comes to cause-and-effect setup issues. I liken this to how every board, regardless of quality, feels like crap if you don't have your fundamentals correct.

Oh, and grab some rope and hold it with both hands while you ride. That helps the hands.

[Jack M]

You went all the way to your Bimmer forums to find that one!

Humor me, produce a cant and lift setup where you can TRULY only move your knees as much as that video shows. He goes from not bent to a little bent. If you can produce such a setup, (without doing crap like 180* of splay) I'll brew tea with my liners and drink it.

Since the rider's butt stays sky high throughout the whole video, I don't know how you can blame the setup when he isn't even trying to be mobile.

Hehe. It seems like he may have too much toe/heel lift for that stance width, but that's assuming his inseam is similar to mine. He probably needs to reduce it. Maybe he also needs some cant, either inward or outward, I don't know. I don't want to speculate more without seeing him in person. But a bad setup can definitely contribute to bad form.

[Mellow Yellow]

I blame the form on the North Carolina snow.... and the flatness of the run that course was setup on... ;)

[Beckmann AG]

The low hanging fruit may not be worth picking.

Re: tea;

honey, lemon, sugar?

[Camberpopper]

lol. Great responses. I would love to see dude drink the boot tea.

My 2cents- I like to have a bit more angle on my rear binding. I think it really helps me drive my heal side turns. Also, look at Jacks avitar. Great looking form. I always tell people to pretend your holding a big firehose and point that hose in the direction you want to turn. They key is to keep your shoulders square and arms in front with knees bent. I like my stance so that my back legs knee can fit right behind my front knee(making contact). That has worked for me for years.

KNEES BENT,SHOULDERS SQUARE AND HOLD YOUR HOSE!!!!;)

[KingCrimson]

lol. Great responses. I would love to see dude drink the boot tea.

My 2cents- I like to have a bit more angle on my rear binding. I think it really helps me drive my heal side turns. Also, look at Jacks avitar. Great looking form. I always tell people to pretend your holding a big firehose and point that hose in the direction you want to turn. They key is to keep your shoulders square and arms in front with knees bent. I like my stance so that my back legs knee can fit right behind my front knee(making contact). That has worked for me for years.

KNEES BENT,SHOULDERS SQUARE AND HOLD YOUR HOSE!!!!;)

Knees together is questionable..

I've definitely had some bad pain from carving off a roller and landing with my back knee slamming into my front knee.

[Camberpopper]

In hindsight, My knee is very close behind my front mostly heal side turn. Not as much toe side.

In the end, play around and see what works for you.

I like anchovies on my pizza, you may not. Get it?

[mykcuz]

I blame the form on the North Carolina snow.... and the flatness of the run that course was setup on... ;)

I have this terrible mountain about 20 minutes away. about 500' trail with almost no slope. I didn't have the time to drive to the mountain so i figured id give it a shot since no one is ever there and a lift ticket is $5. After a fresh foot of powder and no possible way to gain speed, carving just wasn't in the cards. Atleast i had a bunch of liftees talking behind my back about having ski bindings on a board.