tboooe

Yesterday was supposed to be my last day of the season so I really concentrated on my technique and form. I made it all day without crashing but I was still not satisfied with my turns. I still skarve (skidded carving) to much. Instead of a nice arc my "turns" look more like an "L". The vertical section of the L is my board skidding in a straight line down the hill until enough speed is bled off and the edge can catch. Once the edge catches, I go more in a straight line at an angle across the hill. I know what I am doing wrong...initiating my turns with both my feet which causes the rear of the board to wipe around too fast. Anyway, on my last run of the day I finally "got it". I was able to consistently (finally!) use just my front leg to initiate the turn and my rear leg to fine tune it. This resulted in very nice rounded turns with a lot less skidding, though I am not quite carving completely on the edge. To do so, I need more speed and more edge angle. Anyway, I am pretty stoked. I think if I can do this consistently, I will have a solid fundamental foundation to get better.

I am so excited that I am going to play hooky from work tomorrow and go up again and continue practicing. I am bummed that the season is over for us in Socal because everything I learned this season seemed to finally click. I will probably forget everything I learned by the time next season rolls around anyway....

Simply^Ride

you will surprised that you wont forget most of your new techniques. My second season I learned a lot and by the time I hit my third season, I just needed a quick tuneup on the first day and the rest of the season went great. Just stay in shape and thats it.

Bones

Congrats! Everyone has different plateaus, different barriers and it's never a smooth learning curve. It's probably all the frustration of being on that plateau that makes it so sweet when you get a break thru.

And now, of course....you're screwed.

Now you want that feeling on every turn, on any pitch, at any speed and in any conditions.

Why do the break thru's always happen so late in the season? I just carved my first smooth double black in switch on the last day of the year on a beautiful 55 degree bluebird day. All nice carves, no skids, all the way to the bottom. By the time I got back up to try it again, rocks and dirt were showing up all over the place and there was a lot of skidding and dodging.

Snowolf

Good job! Glad all the peices came together for you. One thing that really helps with the carving is to get a longboard and ride it a lot this summer on the bike trails, parking lots with hills are also great for carving practice!

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