RockSteady

You guys have to remember, the reason you ride the direction you do is cause its way more natural making way more easier. People can have this belief that all you have to do is work on switch and you'll learn it like regular...not so true, you didn't start going switch for a reason cause it would have taken way longer to learn snowboarding, it takes more getting use to but when you become comfortable then you start progressing switch like you did regular...your body is just not going to get use to using its unnatural leg forward until it gets it gets some time and practice that way to...just takes time and practice like everything

Casual

Riding switch is really a head game, you need to overcome the muscle memory and the "I can't do it" shit your head is telling you. You already know how to ride so you can be your own teacher but you need to overcome the mental block and muscle memory. The best advise I read in this thread was strap in and ride switch the whole day. I actually did this for a whole season at my local crap hill a long time ago, payoff was huge. Even still my brain tells me to turn around from time to time and I have to fight it.

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t21

Riding switch does take time.I can now link turns,carve on moderate speed,but once i get to cat tracks where there are some people on them. i find myself ruddering my back foot to turn and skid to slow down and would fight myself NOT to turn back to regular. I also hold my hands in front of me to stay square with my board which is funny cuz i do not do this when i ride regular I'm still working on going faster on switch.

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2011 Ride Antic 163
2011 Status Focus 158
NX2-AT

ig88

I too the other day was having the same problem while learning switch. I am regular. As I rode switch trying to transition from heel to toe, I seemed to take too long both temporally and distance-wise to get back to neutral (fall line) before engaging the toe edge.

Hence during my switch my heel edge once engaged, was difficult to halt. That could spell disasters if you know what I mean. Sometimes as I could not transition back to my toe-edge and as I was nearing the side of the slope, I simply forced a pivot turn on my never-ending heel edge turn into a brake, just to start all over again.

On the other hand during switch, my transition from toe edge to heel edge was more than comfortable and effortless to my surprise.

Has anyone come up with a good solution to this particular problem?

Donutz

Practice. Concentrate on being very aware of what you're doing, i.e. are you back-seating, and practice. It DOES come eventually. I can now ride switch down green runs and some parts of blue runs quite comfortably. Just took practice.

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Illegitimi non carborundum

Mountain Days: 30

globoat

I may just hit the baby hill on the weekend. I mostly want to learn to do tricks so riding switch is a must. Right now my helmet is my best friend.

Tarzanman

Yep, this 1000%
The difference is even more pronounced for those of us who grew up riding skateboards/surfing/whatever in one direction.

I am considerably more flexible in the torso and neck for my normal stance. when I ride switch it is considerably more difficult (if not impossible sometimes) for me to twist my body all the way around to the front to face forward properly.


I once spent an entire day on groomers riding switch. Nothing fancy, just trying to get accustomed to that postition. My foot completely (and very painfully) cramped up inside my boot on my last run, which had never happened before (and never happened since).

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Read on another forum: "If someone held a gun to my head and said, "You have to move to Salida tomorrow", I'd probably do it. If they told me I had to go to Breckenridge instead, I think I'd just let them pull the trigger."

Casual

There really is no other secret aside from riding switch as much as possible. I'm at the point where I can ride about as fast switch as regular on blues, almost as fast on blacks but I'm a little nervous in trees, pretty good in moguls... I ride switch ALL the time. On any given run I'll pop 180's off anything I see and roll switch to the next one then half cab back to regs. This is great practice for fs/bs 180s reg and switch as well and it made my riding 100 times more fun. Also buttering into switch is fun too. Point is ride switch as much as possible and soon enough you will be really good at it.... there is no "secret".

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ig88

Thanks. Got it. Just wondering if you guys may have short cuts to achieving that while I take the arduous path. Great, at least I know I am on the right path. And I like practicing too. Even my muscles are telling me they are getting more comfortable doing switch as I take on every new day of ride and practice. Nothing's more reassuring than knowing you guys have gone through what I am going through.

poutanen

Like taking off a bandaid the best way to do it is like Casual said... Just dive in! If you screw around with it it'll take forever. If you dedicate even every second run to riding switch it should come fairly quick. Of course for 95% of people out there it'll never feel natural, but it will be ridable after a day or two of sticking to it...