tried for the first time on hardboot

[lordmetroland]

I'm pretty sure that wasn't about his golf swing.

 

It was about some kind of swinging, no?

[Duke]

 

 

Link to an abstract on the source material (?) for both Gladwell and Coyle.

 

(TL;Don'tRead.  Unless you want perspective).

 

 

https://hbr.org/2007/07/the-making-of-an-expert/ar/1

 

 

 

Beckmann, thanks.  This is a great article.  And it does relate to me.  I can zip down the mountain just fine if I just ignore technique and skid every turn.   It takes a great deal of discipline for me to take the green dot and try to work on technique.  My "technique" work hasn't been that fruitful and I have wondered if I should just forget that; skid away, and hope that the carving comes eventually.....or...to keep trying to get correct technique...which does come at the expense of some fun.  

[HillB]

Ablapia are you going to ride at Abasin again before the season is over? I am planning on going up a few more times before it is done. i might be able to help you out a litlte bit? I have sundays and Wensdays off . I might be able to meet you up there on a sunday? If I can't do it there are a few riders that ride at the Basin on Saturday and Sunday. you might post on the ride board when you will be riding next? i have next week off for vacation May 18-25 I am planning on riding some during the week and might go up on Memorial day weekend? If it stays warm enough for the snow to soften? Are you using heat moldable liners in your boots? that can solve some problems with sore feet. a good video to watch on you tube is lessons in alpine snowboard carving by Snowy tom. He does lots of different turns. I watch this to remind myself what to keep working on. that video that B free posted is good as well. watch the snowy tom video and start out doing the ankle turns on a green slope. this will get you moving the board around doing small turns at slow speed. are you riding with both boots locked/?You might try riding with your rear boot in walk mode but keep your front boot locked. this will give you more range of motion in the rear leg. I assume you are using hardshell snowboarding boots ? ski boots would be harder to learn in unless they are modified for more flex. I am not an expert level rider but I am willing to help. Let us know if you will be returning to the Basin as we would love to help you. I also could bring up an all mountain board for you to ride that might be easier for you to use? If the swoard is a 175 it might be better to ride on a 163 all mountain to start?

I can meet up too. I'm at Abasin nearly every day.

[jng]

Beckmann, thanks.  This is a great article.  And it does relate to me.  I can zip down the mountain just fine if I just ignore technique and skid every turn.   It takes a great deal of discipline for me to take the green dot and try to work on technique.  My "technique" work hasn't been that fruitful and I have wondered if I should just forget that; skid away, and hope that the carving comes eventually.....or...to keep trying to get correct technique...which does come at the expense of some fun.  

 

Duke,

 

Mileage may improve your carving somewhat, but expect to plateau.  As the HBR article notes, expertise requires deliberate practice.  I would suggest that the reason your approach is not working is that you are working on technique on terrain where technique just does not matter much.  You might feel like you are applying good technique, but on a green run, there is simply not enough feedback to know what is working and what is not.

 

"The elite performers we studied knew what they were doing right and concentrated on what they were doing wrong."

 

Stick with it.  Once you "get it", you will prefer to carve every turn and look to those runs that you cannot carve as new challenges.

[Beckmann AG]

As if Niels Bohr knew anything about snowboarding. Did he win his Nobel Prize for snowboarding? No, I will tell you he did not.

 

I planned on paying close attention to what I was doing and what I shouldn't have been doing on my last day at Loveland. However, the snow was so soft and unpredictable that I ended up just doing the former. I'm intrigued enough that I plan to spend some time deconstructing my technique next year, even though I'm confident it will come at the expense of some fun. 

Lordsmartypantsland,

Though Bohr predeceased Gary Fisher's invention of snowboarding on Mt. Camelpie during the 'Winter of Love', he'd no doubt appreciate the sport for it's convoluted simplicity, and be fairly objective regarding what is and is not 'good riding'.

But you already know that...

Re: deconstruction V. fun;

Awareness/discovery is it's own reward, and, unlike the ephemeral sensation of railing a tear-jerker on your favorite black diamond, it has more 'sustain'.  As in "You can go out for a bite... and still be hearing that one".

Life imitating art and all that...

 

...experimentation with his schwing...

 

Keep an eye on that sneaky auto-correct.

 

Beckmann, thanks.  This is a great article.  And it does relate to me.  I can zip down the mountain just fine if I just ignore technique and skid every turn.   It takes a great deal of discipline for me to take the green dot and try to work on technique.  My "technique" work hasn't been that fruitful and I have wondered if I should just forget that; skid away, and hope that the carving comes eventually.....or...to keep trying to get correct technique...which does come at the expense of some fun.  

A simplistic reading of the Infinite monkey theorem is often applied, seldom works, and is one origin of 'plateaus'.  Another issue is misunderstanding what is and is not appropriate 'technique'. And then finding a practical sequence by which one might develop that technique.

As mentioned previously, there is a good chance that your 'lack of fruit' has a lot to do with the lack of relevance of what you are trying to do, v. what you can, or even should be doing.  

Based on your few video clips, you're not actually 'free' to make the movements you want to make, or think you should be making.  Rather, your need to remain stable in the moment has you somewhat 'locked', lacking freedom of articulation.

This suggests something wonky with your interface.

A pretty good rule of thumb is that if what you are practicing does not resonate in some vaguely 'pleasurable' way, and leave you feeling like you have made some very real, albeit minor progress, then you are probably following the 'wrong' path.  At least for that slice of time.  

E.g, you can certainly advance a nail with poor technique, but when you strike it well, it has a particular 'feel', distinct and obviously 'better' than all that came before.  So too with driving a golf ball, and proficiently/productively operating  a snowboard.  

It's binary, not subjective. That's important.

Fun, on the other hand....

 

If all you do is skid, then all you will be good at is skidding.  Learning physical movement involves making a vast series of mistakes that reveal the bounds of what is and is not productive.  You want these mistakes to be large enough to have 'impact', yet small enough that you don't suffer injury.

It's a bit of a paradox, but relinquishing what feels like 'control' will eventually lead to actual 'control'.

 

Contrary to a previous post, one can often learn more about their technique on flat terrain than on the pitch, quite simply because the absence of momentum makes the process of balancing more dicey, effectively stripping the spackle off a shoddy drywall job.  One of the best ways to explain to an 'expert' that they are not maximizing their potential is to slow them down to the point that most of the energy is removed from the system. When they get tippy and gimpy on the green terrain, they start to pay attention.

 

If there isn't enough feedback on the flats, its probably because there isn't enough 'listening' going on.

 

Flat terrain should also have you looking for the 'go' pedal, rather the the 'slow' pedal; generally recognized as a more effective mode for learning.

Your actions should be exploratory, rather than containing.

 

If you really want to mess with your head, synthesize the HBR article with this one linked to by ETFH, and then apply to your riding.

[pmorita]

I had a rowing coach that said 'practice makes permanent, not perfect'.  Nothing beats riding with a group where you can watch, learn and get input.  Especially true for people just starting out.  It's a pretty painful process for the first few days.  Hang in there. 

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Time on slope!!! 

 

Alpine snowboarding is not easy.  The first few times can be very humbling.   Stay with it, use the support of others that have stuck with it.  

 

Inspiration. 

 

 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/76hmhbGa_6M?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[tex1230]

Time on slope!!! 

That was awesome. Why am I in Texas again?

[darko714]

ablapia -- Your first day sounds about like mine:  Horrible!  It was a warm slush day in spring, and my brand new board kept locking into heelsides sending me rocketing towards the trees, way in the back seat and out of control.   I bailed or fell on every turn.   My feet were in total pain, my glasses completely fogged and useless, and I was soaked and sweating.  

 

1.  I think the first problem you need to solve is the boots.  Lower your stance angles until you feel comfortable enough to make decent, skidded turns, then see a good bootfitter for remaining issues.

Less pain and more fun are critical to the learning process.  Also, keep in mind that once you start carving, a lot of that foot pain will diminish since some of it may be caused by the impact from too much skidding and braking.

 

2.  For the first year or so, take your softboot setup to the hill and switch to it in the afternoon once your feet and legs are begging for mercy.  Better to be out riding than sitting in the lodge.

 

3.  Work out.  Thousands of leg extensions, lunges and squats in the off season will give you the endurance to keep you out on the hill practicing and the leg strength to recover from bad situations.

 

4.. Avoid narrow traverses.

 

5.  Read Beckman's posts.

 

 

 

[Dan]

That was awesome. Why am I in Texas again?

 

Well, trust me when I say that you didn't miss much this past season. Oregon probably got more snow than Texas, but honestly I'd have to look it up to be sure. 

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Well, trust me when I say that you didn't miss much this past season. Oregon probably got more snow than Texas, but honestly I'd have to look it up to be sure. 

How is the snowpack in Turkey? :)  They have some serious mountainous areas right?  Have fun Dan!!!

[Dan]

Yes, they do have mountains and some lift-served skiing, but I'm pretty sure their season is over. I definitely did not pack for snowboarding :-)

[nils]

Ablapia,

 

First thing that will improve your backside and stop the skidding is rotation ( check all the input from extremecarving.com website, it explains how we teach it).

I used to ride 19cm wide boards with 67° angle on my front foot, and my first time on a Swoard 175 proto was like starting from scratch again.

Jacques was kind enough to provide the first advices, and I learned rotation by holding my arms together, forcing me to lock upper and lower body at the hips so legs would follow shoulder rotation...

 

It took me 1 season to understand rotation and get rid of counter rotation, and 2 more years to get rid of backside skidding ( average of 22 days per season).

 

Rotation AND push pull technique will help distribute G force along an arc backside, preventing skidding. You have to mentally understand how pushing early in the turn will help distributing the G's along a longer arc, thus reducing the forces on the tail edge...then do it on the slopes....takes time and trial /error process!

That is the only way to get along fine with a wide carving board!

 

Nils