quixotic_elixer

Been lurking for a while leading up to my first season of snowboarding. Being pretty excited i've been doing a lot of mental drills in my head way in advance before hitting the slopes, preparing myself and imagining what it's going to be like on the slopes.

So here’s the scoop:
I now have a total of FIVE days on the slope, self-taught and with, each day trying to progress from side slipping> traverse>J turns>linking > and now trying to carve.

My personal goal is to be able to
1. Carve consistently in regular while maintaining good speed
2. To be at least linking turns riding switch by my 10th riding day

Here’s the Vid:
Blue Mountain - Feb 12, 2012 - YouTube
Blue Mountain - Feb 12, 2012 - YouTube

Added the rest of the footage of that night:
Blue Mountain - Feb 12, 2012 - YouTube
Blue Mountain - Feb 12, 2012 - YouTube

My own thoughts:
I’m starting to get the hang of carving on my toeside, I get it about maybe 50% of the time where it finally grips and I can feel it pulling me through the turn. However I’m struggling with heelside where my backfoot is still ruddering. I’m also noticing that when I’m transitioning to heelside that I’m more stopping and skidding than doing C turns.

From the video I also seem to be quite static, I suppose I should try and get more flex in my knees.
After watching video, does anyone else feel that there’s a big disconnect from how you feel/perceive your riding compared to when you watch the video of it?

I now realize it’s quite hard when it comes to coordinating multiple nuances when it comes to form and technique. So I’m hoping you guys can point out all the bad habits so I can start ironing them out one by one and get better

Thanks!

Efilnikufesin

Couple of quick things I noticed. One, keep you upper body more upright, bend more with your knees and less with your waist. Two, keep yourself centered on the board. If you look in the video you can see that you have less bend in your leading leg than your trailing leg, hence you are leaning uphill while riding. Keep yourself centered with both knees bent equally, it may feel like you are leaning downhill, but you will initiate turns easier and have more control when you hit choppy terrain.

I at times notice myself still leaning on my back leg on steeper terrain and have to correct myself. If I am washing out alot on high speed turns it is usually because I am leaning uphill. By leaning uphill you are taking weight off your downhill contact point, making especially heelside turns harder to control.

There are members on here that would know better than I though. I'm better at correcting myself than correcting others.

firstx1017

I totally know what you mean about watching your own videos. I've been posting videos for snowolf to help me on and in the videos I feel like I am doing one thing, but when I watch the video you can hardly tell what I think I am doing. I feel like I am bending my knees at a 90 degree angle but in the video I have straight legs. It's hard to remember "EVERYTHING" when you are on the hill! lol

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Sick-Pow

start hitting small jumps. the terrain does not lend it self to naturally taking that progression like it does out west. Don't think like a skier with form, think about playing, watch skateboard videos.

Death

Yep, that's about what I noticed, you aren't bending and getting aggressive in your carvings and your having your hands up like you do just looks like you're bracing yourself for a fall. But hey, with only 5 days under your belt that's awesome, I have more tips for the cameraman than your riding. You just need to get out and ride some more. Good job

designfemme

Me too!!! I decided to change my mental approach and did this: instead focusing on getting all the goals down in one run, I just try to nail down one or two areas I want to improve consistently — whatever feels right or necessary at the moment I'm going down the hill. Whenever I tried to "do this, do that, do this, don't forget that," I end up over-thinking and not really paying attention to the response of my body/board. Too many things to think about.

I realized that by tackling smaller pieces of my goals, I was establishing "muscle memory" much better. If I try to do twenty things off my mental checklist, nothing is consistently done and nothing ends up as muscle memory.

I don't know if it will work for everyone, but it certainly worked for me!

boardaddicktd

u look a lil stiff but if its only your 5th day of riding i'd say ur lookin pretty good. u gotta love the "crowdedness" of happy valley. that run is always crowded as hell. i usually run along the banks at the left side to stay away from everyone haha.

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quixotic_elixer

1. I tend to naturally hunch over, this will be a tough challenge!
2. Completely agree with the fact that I am still leaning uphill. I actually realized this the day before and explained why I was falling a lot when on heelside.

Today was my attempt at trying to lean forward mroe and remain centered. Was only able to accomplish a handful of times, and it was a clear difference in feeling when I did it correctly as my heel edge would dig in and pull me through the turns and was a fantastic feeling!

It's definitely tough when you have so many little things that factor into your form, as well as thinking your doing it correctly when in fact you aren't!

Thank goodness for videos and this form

I'm not sure what i'm suppose to do with my hands? lol should I have them spread out pointing head to tail? or should I keep them tucked towards my body? I've been leaning in with my shoulder when trying to initiate turns.

That is the exact same approach I am taking Working from top to bottom!

So I guess my action plan for the next day is:
1: straighten my back
2: What do I do with my hands?
3. Bend knees more and try to lean forward
4. GO FAST!

designfemme

Not to throw even more on your plate ( ), but I found that doing the "hump" (i.e., thrusting of the hips forward) on toeside was tremendously helpful. (As a forum lurker, you might've seen the "hump/dump" phrase before.)

It's easy to do, and it's startlingly efficient. As you juggle all these things to remember, the "hump" part, I found, was the easiest to do and not mess up. And you'll feel an immediate difference, too, in your performance.

As a beginner myself, I have mad respect for the progress you made. I couldn't do what you did in the videos after just 5-6 days of riding.

wrathfuldeity

Just to add, when focusing on an isolated aspect or technique...really exaggrate the movement. As for the hands...cut them off at the shoulders...you don't need them....stick them in your pockets, grab da nutz, be like Prince Charles and hold them behind you. Don't be like Queenie and wave them around.

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