shaunnorum05

Soooo im really new to park. Semi-new to snowboarding, started last year and the beggining of the season, so yes i know how to ride decently, can control the board well and am comfortable on it. Im not trying anything crazy just the small begginer stuff. I have a Ride Kink 2011 159W (im 6'3" with size 14 feet, yeah i know its big for park, no need to point it out) with Ride EX bindings. A few questions:
1) How should my bindings be set up for park?
2) Whenever I get into the air, i feel like time stops and i panic....yes its begginer stuff, not that high i know haha...but when my board loses contact with the ground i have a mini panic attack inside, what can i do about that?
3) Any tips for takeoff? landing? anything will help

and lastly...
4) I try little wide short boxes and towards the end I always find my board slipping out from under me. I feel like im balanced, but apparently not.

OH! and how do i know what speed to approach jumps at? I chicken out a lot thinking im going too fast. Any tips will help, thanks.

david_z

I ride a 61w in the park so you're fine on a 59 especially being a taller and probably bigger guy.

A lot of people ride symmetrical duck for park but ride whatever is comfortable.

Learn how to ollie and get comfortable doing that before you try jumps. Then jump/ollie off rollers and side-hits before you take to small jumps. Bring your knees up when you jump and flex/bend when you land so that your legs absorb the landing rather than sending a shockwave up your spine.

If you are slipping out on boxes doing a 50/50 (you are riding straight down the box with your board pointed in the same direction as the box) then you definitely aren't balanced. When you get on the box you need to be very flat-based, you can be on edge because there's nothing to dig in to on the box.

On boxes try to look beyond the end of the feature, not down at your feet.

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shaunnorum05

ahh, k thank you. Im heading up tomorrow and saturday so ill give the ollies a try. Now that i think of it, I do look down at my feet on boxes. When I set my bindings, what degrees are a good spot to start before tweaking it a little? Thanks again

ptapia

I like to use 15/-15 centered duck. I would start with anything from 10-15, see what works and what you feel the most comfy with.

shaunnorum05

ok lastly, right now i ride 13/-5 or something along those lines, point is, thats what im comfortable with, should i stick with it and learn to allie and stuff or switch it over now before I start learning?

david_z

if you're comfortable with it just go with what you're already using. the real advantage to a symmetrical duck is it makes riding switch easier. Of course you could change your angles and start learning switch, too. Every little thing you do snowboarding makes you a better all-around snowboarder. Learn to ride regular, then learn switch, learn your ollies and then jumps and then jumps from the switch stance, etc. It's all building blocks.

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ptapia

Good advice! I feel the same way, the more you can do, the better you're prepared for any situation on the mountain. All in all, I think it just adds to our ability to be able to balance and control our boards in all types of situations.

seanboobs

Not to discourage you but there is more to boarding then the park. I love it as much as anybody, but quite frankly I get irritated when people new to the sport hit the park before discovering all of the other elements. I ride a basic hill, but just finding a small roller or spraying some buddies is what's important. You can be a beast in the park, but if you can't hold your own on the real mountain you lose some respect.

As for the set up, I keep a 12/-12 duck always. But it is all preference, whatever feels comfortable. For learning jumps, get comfortable with airs off of small rollers or tiny man made jumps on the side of trails. Once you can stomp a 180 or just are comfortable with being in air then go bigger. Don't go at a ballistic speed and land flat, but don't pussy out and land on the knuckle and wreck yourself. You kind of need to just guess for your speed check, once you have that down start trying to do an indy or an easy grab. It stabilizes you in the air and helps you stick the landing. I would also recommend just jumping up or going a little faster and just ride it out, when you start doing ollies you lose balance at first. On boxes I assume you're doing 50-50's since you are new (nothing wrong with that). Keep your weight staked over your board, bend your knees, just focus on getting passed it, then give a tiny ollie or just a little jump to land smoothly. If you do happen to be trying a flat rail turn your shoulders and your hips a little bit to slide into a board slide, it is much easier to balance when doing that. Good luck at the park

Thad Osprey

i) Bindings for park are whatever ur comfy with. In general you should try to get a duck-ish stance because with progress comes rotations and you want to be able to ride decently switch. So entirely positive stances for free-riding are not so helpful here. Sometimes a wider stance could help. If you are jibbing, you may wish to tone down the highback forward lean to make it more forgiving.

ii)There only one thing you can do about the panic attack, is to stop panicking. Haha. Sounds silly right? But it comes with time and practise. Ollies, rollers, small jumps on a regular basis helps you get accustomed to the feeling. When you were at the never-ever stage of learning to ride, toe side turns probably caused panic attacks. A few hundred turns later, ur good.

iii) Take-off and landing are too complicated to address in summary. But for a newbie panicker, try to watch where other people hit the jump and see what kind of speed-checking they do, then try hitting the jump and bailing at the last minute i.e. dont hit the jump, turn off. This will familiarise yourself with the take-off. Ride-around the jump and down the landing when the jump is empty if it makes you feel better knowing what it feels like riding over it. Stay loose during the jump cos panickers freeze their upper body and lack knee mobility when they land for some reason. Take some lessons. Having an instructor to guide you and be there to encourage you helps lots.

iv) I assume ur only 50-50 ing the box? If so then it may seem somehow u are favouring one edge or the other if you are sliding out. This can stem from getting onto the feature crooked then correcting yourself. The FIRST THING about jibbing to me is that if your approach is screwed up, everything else follows suit cos u cant correct yourself once you get onto a feature. Try to ride on with a steady speed, fast enough to power yourself onto the feature and off. Lots of newbies go on REAL SLOW which actually makes it harder to balance and you spend a longer time holding the position on the box so the likelihood of you falling is ironiucally higher. When you get onto the feature, make sure you are looking at or past the end of the feature. Knees must be bent (dont lock them when u get on, which most newbies do cos when they freeze their ankles to keep their base flat, sometimes they lock up more than they need). A lower centre of gravity will help you maintain balance.

john doe

When you are on a box it should feel the same as just standing on your board in your living room. Completely flat.

For the jumps you want to watch other riders and the motions they make. If you see someone that is doing good strait airs ask if you can check their speed by following them on the approach. Don't follow them over jump but just go to the side.

What angles you ride is completely up to you but I do notice alot of new people ride a more narrow stance then is ideal. I'm 5'8" and started out at under 20". Moved to 21" after a few weeks last year and got a big improvement in my riding. Went to 22" for this year and it has been even better. With being 6'3" I would be suspect of a stance under 23". That's measuring the distance between the center of your binding mounting disks.

Videos to help you.
Park rules Smart Style in the terrain park | SnowProfessor.com
Jumping YouTube - Introduction to Jumps
First snowboard jumps | SnowProfessor.com
Boxes YouTube - Introduction to Boxes
How to 50-50 a funbox on a snowboard | SnowProfessor.com

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