blockay

then when i go to telluride im gonna try and accomplish that :P

IdahoFreshies

Well true, but when I hear people say "i can do this" i usually like to think they can actually do it with a shred of competence, and not side slipping the whole thing.

__________________
If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.

rasmasyean

I didn't do "falling leaf" on the Double Blacks and called that riding. I did linked turns. I'm not saying I bombed it, as you can see in the original that I said I fell like 20% of the way. I actually read 6 books on technique before doing it so that helped. I'm trying to describe my regular/switch experience and if you have a problem with "the claim", that's your problem that it took you much longer. Everyone is different. I actually learned with a friend who made it to single diamonds before he got tired and quit and I went by myself. So it's not impossible to concieve. Perhaps it also had something to do with the fact that where friends because we both won this thing called like The Presidential Physical Fitness Award when we were kids to distinguish athletic ability? I dunno. But there a lot of ppl who prolly will be doing 720's in one season...and those might wind up in the Olympics!

Anyway's my point was the comparison between riding normal and switch and how hard it is. He can take it for what an internet post is worth.

david_z

there is a reason why everyone on this board doesn't believe claims that you were competently riding doubles on your very first day (pretty sure you had this same argument with someone else about a year or two ago).

I don't know what a double looks like where you're from but at most places a double is ungroomed, about 12 feet wide, and/or littered with moguls and/or an in-bounds gladed area. IOW, they are trails which require advanced intermediate to expert competency, which no beginner has. Ever.

FYI "falling 20% of the time" pretty much constitutes total failure. I'm picturing a trail that spans maybe 1000 vertical feet with 15 or 20 falls between top and bottom. That ain't "riding a double black" that's "surviving" a double black.

Donutz

A completely reasonable assumption. C'mere, lemme slap you.

__________________

Illegitimi non carborundum

I hate the parts between winter...

Donutz

I suppose it is physically possible to get really good really fast. Given the bell curve there will be some people who are naturally good at sports and pick everything up quickly. I think the main reason that members have trouble with this claim is that we see it so often. And generally when we start digging for details the claim turns out to be, um, stretched a bit. The real problem is that evaluating yourself is very difficult. I'm new enough to snowboarding that I still clearly remember my first days on the slopes. I really thought I was doing great and I wondered what all the fuss was about. Now looking back, I was maybe progressing faster than average but I was still going through the normal learning curve. I also did a black diamond run in my first week, but again, looking back I didn't do it right.

__________________

Illegitimi non carborundum

I hate the parts between winter...

rasmasyean

I don't recall having this argument. That was someone else. And I said second.

But, well yeah, that's why I said falling 20% of the trail. Because when you fall, you slide until you can't anymore! And this was in Sugarbush Vermont. I practiced the techniques on trails Organgrider and Ripcord. And iirc Ripcord is where practically every other person "fell" with their skiis falling off and themselves sliding down really far away. I actually picked one up and delivered it to someone too where I "fell leaf" to get to him with a skii/pole in my hand. I'm sure you can critique with "perfect turn clinic theories", but whatever constitutes "failure", I'm sure if I was conditioned and didn't get tired, I might have made it 100% "linking turns".

rasmasyean

Well for what it's worth, I did progress a lot faster than most of my friends even though some of them do summer sports and work out regularly while I didn't. Most of my friends can't actually do the double diamonds and when I "took them", it took really long for them to "survive" and get down, and that was pretty much the end of thier day after that beating.

And when I got on my friend's unicycle on the first time, he did say that my balance was "incredible". But my ninja skillz aren't exactly the point here. I'm just using that example to indicate that learning to ride switch can be pretty hard...even much harder than your normal direction. But of course, everyone falls on the "bell curve" somewhere for any activity.

oldmate

Can you tell me a little bit more about how impressive you are?

blockay

is a directional twin board close to true? or does it effect my switch riding a lot