So critical feedback anybody?

[st_lupo]

Instead of spamming carving central I'll post a couple of video here in the hopes of getting some critical feedback from the experts.  I was lucky enough that Tanglefoot was on the chair lift a couple of times this year while I was riding below him so I've actually got pretty good footage of my riding during early season and recent footage.  This is on a run that is labelled as a black, but realistically is a blue anywhere else. 

 I can't point to anything that is really plaguing me this year as far as grip goes; the snow has been hero and I'm putting my turns pretty much where I want them.  However one big issue I have is that every year my back heel gets destroyed and I develop a pretty large callous on my heel that almost goes away during the off-season.  Is there anything obviously wrong about my stance that might be causing this?  Also lately I've been experiencing that the board in the late-season video is really slowing down and chugging in the carves, something I'm doing wrong?  Also any style pointers (yes, yes don't touch the snow)?

Early season on the NFC-B 12-13ish SCR

 

Late season on the NFC-E 10-11ish SCR

 

[Neil Gendzwill]

Just looking at the 2nd video, your heelsides look OK to me but on toe side you have a tendency to just incline without much angulation, and on one occasion broke a little at the waist trying to reach for the snow.  This is a problem we share.  I'd try to get a little lower on toeside and get more angulation if you can.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Neil Gendzwill

[ursle]

Is your rear binding flat or is there lift, and how about the front?

 

[st_lupo]

Bindings are F2 race Ti,  with the big wedge on the back heel and two cant shims stacked together under the front toe.

[ursle]

Are the heels loose or held like glue?

What kind or shells?

BTW, I love your videos, great turns.

[Beckmann AG]

>Should have a comma (or semi-colon) after the 'so' in the subject line.<

 

Might have to come back to this because time crunch. But:

You come into the heelside turn tilting the board primarily with your hippy region. This will put excess bend in the front of the board, and also tend to twist the front-end edge into the snow more so than the rear-end edge. The sympathetic response to the instability thus generated, is to crank the rear knee inward and forward.

->Guess what that does to the outside of the rear heel?

As regards 'chugging': If by that you mean a resonance as the board moves though the turn, this is usually because the board is being twisted in the cut, creating a catch/release/catch/release wave. If it's a single 'oomph', that's probably a timing issue where you tilt too much body mass into the turn too quickly, and then the board stalls under load, just before edge release.

Bottom line, find the edges with your feet (not foot), and ride light. 

Other than that, you have some good things going on.

[st_lupo]

17 hours ago, ursle said:

Are the heels loose or held like glue?

What kind or shells?

BTW, I love your videos, great turns.

Thanks!  The heels of the boots are pretty solid on the bindings.  My heels in the boots seem to be held pretty solid, no obvious heel lift bothering me.  The boots are RC10 with neutral lean on the front boot and one click forward lean on the rear boot.

[st_lupo]

17 hours ago, Beckmann AG said:

>Should have a comma (or semi-colon) after the 'so' in the subject line.<

 

Might have to come back to this because time crunch. But:

You come into the heelside turn tilting the board primarily with your hippy region. This will put excess bend in the front of the board, and also tend to twist the front-end edge into the snow more so than the rear-end edge. The sympathetic response to the instability thus generated, is to crank the rear knee inward and forward.

->Guess what that does to the outside of the rear heel?

As regards 'chugging': If by that you mean a resonance as the board moves though the turn, this is usually because the board is being twisted in the cut, creating a catch/release/catch/release wave. If it's a single 'oomph', that's probably a timing issue where you tilt too much body mass into the turn too quickly, and then the board stalls under load, just before edge release.

Bottom line, find the edges with your feet (not foot), and ride light. 

Other than that, you have some good things going on.

The heelside observation is entirely correct.  Based on feedback from last year I've been focusing on squaring up my hips into the heel-side turn and then driving the inside hip to the snow.  It seemed effective at establishing a solid turn, but I guess it is an incomplete solution.  Yeah, ouch!  I see how that is probably contributing to my other heel problem.  

I didn't mean wobbling by chugging. When I am turning at near maximum effort (for me) the board is really slowing down (like a heavily loaded steam-train; choo choo chugga chugga....).  The result is that I have to do two or three short turns every now and then to get back up to speed.  I think the problem is like you describe with a single "oomph". 

I've read that one needs to turn with one's feet, but still haven't come to grips with the concept.  It seems like it takes a lot of strength to deflect the boots a very little and its hard to envision how that will translate into a solid turn.  

It's funny you mentioning riding light... I was just talking with Tanglefoot the other day and comparing how we ride.  I mentioned that my goal has really been to inflict maximum carnage on the snow.  I'm guessing now that it winds up being a short lived dead-end.  There are a couple of other activities where I get feedback that I need to dial back speed and exertion and focus more on smoothness and flow, guess this is no different.

 

Thanks!

[Beckmann AG]

3 hours ago, st_lupo said:

It's funny you mentioning riding light... I was just talking with Tanglefoot the other day and comparing how we ride.  I mentioned that my goal has really been to inflict maximum carnage on the snow.  I'm guessing now that it winds up being a short lived dead-end.  There are a couple of other activities where I get feedback that I need to dial back speed and exertion and focus more on smoothness and flow, guess this is no different.

If your aim is to drive nails with a hammer, swinging harder often results in a bent nail due to loss of accuracy. In various parts of the videos, you, as the nail, are being bent by the hammer of circumstance.

As with nail driving, supple action at the ankles/wrist ensures the energy from the hammer is 'properly' aligned to do the job.  If your goal is to permanently scar the snow, you don't need to work harder, you simply need to get everything lined up to translate the energy already in the system.

The feet initiate the action, and then the body follows through. 

Ideally.

The ankle action is very slight, but significant in outcome. Highly dependent on state of foot support and other boot related things.

As to the 'chug', if you remove some bend from the front end of the board earlier, it will most likely 'porpoise' more effectively out of one turn and into the next, conserving some momentum.

Edited March 10, 2018 by Beckmann AG

[dredman]

Chew gum, listen to music, try to disengage the brain and let it flow....

Slow is smooth...smooth is fast...  

most importantly have fun!  Looks like you are having fun!

[ursle]

On 3/10/2018 at 5:04 AM, st_lupo said:

Thanks!  The heels of the boots are pretty solid on the bindings.  My heels in the boots seem to be held pretty solid, no obvious heel lift bothering me.  The boots are RC10 with neutral lean on the front boot and one click forward lean on the rear boot.

If you're running the stock UPZ liners, that's possibly a problem, I have two pair, my feet have never been in them,  Zip fit liners have excellent heel cushion, and excellent heel hold, require no heat molding but yer toes aren't really warm, lot's of intuition choices, be nice to handle them, you want no foam underfoot, it squishes, you do want orthotics underfoot. I'm in a ten year old pair of Custom foamed Conformables, really excellent fit but cold, I put hand warmers under the shell over the liner's on top of the toes and use boot gloves also on really cold days.

Critical Critique, none for your video's small cuts, but, making larger turns across the hill would allow time to drop the butt on the rear edge, closer to the ground and push the hips closer to the ground on the front edge, getting the board more verticle.

Everyone has a different "vision" of carving, you asked.

[st_lupo]

1 hour ago, ursle said:

If you're running the stock UPZ liners, that's possibly a problem, I have two pair, my feet have never been in them,  Zip fit liners have excellent heel cushion, and excellent heel hold, require no heat molding but yer toes aren't really warm, lot's of intuition choices, be nice to handle them, you want no foam underfoot, it squishes, you do want orthotics underfoot. I'm in a ten year old pair of Custom foamed Conformables, really excellent fit but cold, I put hand warmers under the shell over the liner's on top of the toes and use boot gloves also on really cold days.

Critical Critique, none for your video's small cuts, but, making larger turns across the hill would allow time to drop the butt on the rear edge, closer to the ground and push the hips closer to the ground on the front edge, getting the board more verticle.

Everyone has a different "vision" of carving, you asked.

I'm really considering going whole hog on the liners for next year and finding a boot fitter to help me get everything setup.  Luckily Intuition, Palau and ZipFit all appear to be available in Norway.  Surefoot foam injection liners also look really interesting, but I'll have to see what the price is on that.