Stance Setup - Centre of Board

[EatRideSleep]

Originally Posted by jennifer

Well, this thread has made me feel a little silly. My bindings are set perfectly straight. I guess that would be 0? Both of them. On my first day out I had back leg at 0 and front leg at some crazy ass angle. My husband set it up for me. Then I figured that I would start at 0 with both and start adjusting from there. lol Think maybe this is why my last lesson went soooooo wrong? Oops.

Clearly I have no clue what I am doing. Kind of wishing the instructors would go over at least a little bit about what angle to stand at. My very first lesson the instructor asked me if I rode regular or goofy....as if I had a clue.

That could be why your last lesson was the worst of them.

Not a bad idea in theory to set them up at 0 and adjust from there. But in reality, starting at 0 with both would be tough. Especially in lessons.

Now I don't know if any of these dry land ways to determine stance angles are solid guidelines or exact science but I've seen them mentioned here before. A couple I remember are:

-Jump up from standing, or down from something a couple feet off the ground, and see where your feet are naturally when you land.

-As mentioned above, do a comfortable squat and see where that puts your feet.

One that I've done is walk around normally and relaxed then stop without really thinking about it. Look down at your feet.

Those might give you a better idea of where to start. Of course, you may have to tweak the angles a bit to get a lock on what feels right for you when riding in your stance width.

Good luck!

[poutanen]

Originally Posted by jennifer

Well, this thread has made me feel a little silly. My bindings are set perfectly straight. I guess that would be 0? Both of them. On my first day out I had back leg at 0 and front leg at some crazy ass angle. My husband set it up for me. Then I figured that I would start at 0 with both and start adjusting from there. lol Think maybe this is why my last lesson went soooooo wrong? Oops.

LOL no worries as long as you didn't hurt something then no harm was done!

A good compromise between a full on symmetrical duck stance, and a forward stance would be something like -6 or your back foot, and +15 on your front. That stance should be great for the first year or so and then start adjusting from there. If you spend too much time adjusting stance while you're learning you may have trouble learning the basics.

Have fun!

[jennifer]

Originally Posted by poutanen

LOL no worries as long as you didn't hurt something then no harm was done!

A good compromise between a full on symmetrical duck stance, and a forward stance would be something like -6 or your back foot, and +15 on your front. That stance should be great for the first year or so and then start adjusting from there. If you spend too much time adjusting stance while you're learning you may have trouble learning the basics.

Have fun!

Thank you. I set them to -6 and +15 for my day tomorrow. The only concern I have now is my highbacks. I have the ladies union flite bindings and the highback is pretty flexible (which I actually like). The question is do I need to turn my highbacks parallel to the board so I am hitting them at the right angle on heelside turns? Or do you think they are ok as is considering that I didnt set them at some crazy aggressive angle?

I must also say that I am pretty pleased that I remounted my bindings myself. My husband has done it all for me until now. But I did it myself tonight.

[poutanen]

Originally Posted by jennifer

Thank you. I set them to -6 and +15 for my day tomorrow. The only concern I have now is my highbacks. I have the ladies union flite bindings and the highback is pretty flexible (which I actually like). The question is do I need to turn my highbacks parallel to the board so I am hitting them at the right angle on heelside turns? Or do you think they are ok as is considering that I didnt set them at some crazy aggressive angle?

I must also say that I am pretty pleased that I remounted my bindings myself. My husband has done it all for me until now. But I did it myself tonight.

Awesome! Highbacks should be fine, I usually try to turn mine close to parallel but it's really not going to make a big difference. If you find that you like the stance then I'd go to the trouble of rotating them after...

Good show on adjusting yourself! Word of wisdom here, check the screws after a couple runs tomorrow. I mounted bindings about 9 days ago on my new board, using the same technique I've done for years, and one of the screws had worked itself loose. Only a half turn or so but if I hadn't checked it it could have become a problem! Even if you leave them in that stance for the life of the board, check your screws a couple times a season at least.

Have fun!