Rear leg more sore...what does it mean?

[SWriverstone]

Hi All!

Count me as one who had to put serious, consistent carving on the back burner for the past few years due to family and work commitments. :-( I just spent 2 days, though, at Copper Mountain, CO carving my face off for the first time this year (woot!) It was absolutely glorious. Everyone in Colorado is griping about what a crappy winter it's been there, but it's WAY better than what we've had in Oregon (hopefully that's changing now).

After exhausting myself on some steep, long blues, I discovered a super-long, wide, and (most importantly) empty green slope that was perfect for just doing run after run to relearn and work on my technique. This slope was a little steep for a green, so it was easy to carry good speed all the way down. I did 8-9 runs on this same slope...until my legs just didn't have any gas left.

I noticed afterward that my rear leg was a lot more sore than my front—and wondering if this is normal? Or if this is a sure sign I'm not distributing my weight evenly enough on both legs?

I know it's not because my front leg is in better shape—though I haven't been carving, I've been doing a ton of hiking and biking—so no reason one leg would be in better shape than the other...

Scott
Eugene, Oregon

[nigelc]

It could be down to binding adjustment. Somewhat counterintuitively I found myself with more weight on my front leg/foot with more lift on the front binding.

Alternatively, you are just in the back seat for other reasons more related to technique or your mental processes. I always find myself much more weight forward after a few days in a row. 

I have found the best places to "feel" weight distribution, stance, and pressure on boot cuffs etc is on flat wide cat tracks, or very flat green slopes where turns if any are long and drawn out. I am a slow thinker. It's an age thing.

[lowrider]

The usual lift, cant, Gilmore bias,.Forcing your turn using the back  leg instead of using side cut of board. Riding in the back seat. more will chime in if you give a summary of equipment your using and your binding setup.

[Pat Donnelly]

SportLegs supplement could have eased the burn . . . . Base elevation at Copper is 10,000 ft and Eugene is around 430 ft?  this can be a detrimental factor to us flat landers.  The top green run "L" or lumberjack (far skiers-left) can be fun as it usually has low and slow traffic.

[SWriverstone]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm riding ancient gear, but it still keeps me smiling and I haven't been able to afford to replace it yet. :-) Raichle 324 boots (with newer Deeluxe heat-molded linings), circa...uhh...2004? Donek Freecarve, also circa 2006-08? I think it's around 170cm. And here's the cymbal splash of old gear: TD-1 bindings! :-D Like I said, I have a ball on this gear so haven't felt any burning need to replace—and ignorance could well be bliss! (And I know I haven't even come close to being able to max out the potential of the Donek Freecarve.)

I hear you Pat on the altitude at Copper; though it affected me less than I thought (I keep my legs in pretty good shape) I'm sure it affected me.

And nigelc, I hear you on the slow-thinking age thing, LOL. That's why I just camped out on a super-long green (steep for a green) and ran it over and over so I could take my time, be more relaxed with edge changes, etc.

I've mastered enough technical sports in my life (except carving, which I haven't mastered) to know that to really do them well just requires huge amounts of time in safe, controlled conditions to do things over and over and over-to really dig deep mentally and analyze what's going on, make small changes, analyze, repeat, etc. Sadly I haven't had anywhere near that sort of time in the past few years.

Happily, though, I've found that the couple seasons I spent about 10 years ago when I rode 50+ days each season still help me with my sporadic riding today. It's harder than riding a bicycle, but I've found I don't completely forget everything! :-)

Scott  

[michael.a]

Generally, the front leg is your support whereas the rear leg is your suspension hence always working (not just when riding, even stopping or standing, or when sliding on the slow). As far as anecdotal evidence goes,  its either the rear thigh muscle or trunks muscles that first give out and tell you your day is done.

As far as hiking and biking are concerned, these are almost entirely aerobic activities due to their endurance nature (unless you're repeatedly sprinting up mountains or involved in competitive MTB or velodrome cycling..). I forgot the numbers but SL/GS performance has a 60-70% anaerobic component, with a high-intensity interval nature not found in biking/hiking. That doesn't mean that more anaerobic activities are "more beneficial" (e.g. weight lifting) per se, but for our recreational riding it certainly helps :)