Neilingle

Help..... I have been boarding a few years now and think I have reasonable technique in turns and carving etc. problem is a am a naturally cautious person and always think what could happen in a given situation etc.

Problems my girlfriend filmed me at my local fridge today and I was shocked how slow I looked, although technique was solid.

What's the best way of letting the brakes off and gaining speed and confidence?

Thanks

Neil

BigmountainVMD

How often do you ride? I has issues here for many years... but it eventually just went away. There is always room for improvement obviously, but I feel like I can keep up with everyone that I consider to be fairly good snowboarders. I'm quite a cautious person. Always the guy to think first... jumps later.

I've been riding for almost a decade, but the first 6 or 7 years I was only going 10 to 15 times per season. In the last 3 years I have been on the hill around 200 days, and my skills have increased much much more, including going much faster, hitting big jumps, cliff drops and boxes (I am deathly afraid of hitting anything but the short, wide, flat ones).

And btw, video often makes it look like you are going slower than it feels when you are out there. What looks like 10 or 15 mph could actually be 25 or 30 in real life.

Also, don't let anyone come on here and tell you it's your board. It's not.

On another note, if you are carving and bringing your board all the way across the hill, you will bleed off a lot of speed. By opening your turns and pointing your board more downhill, you will go faster. You don't need to straightline it, just know that the more your board is pointed across the fall line, the slower you will go. S turns vs. ~ turns...

RockSteady

You have the opposite problem as me. The truth is hauling ass is fun but unless you are using great techniques it's not too useful in progression. I would recommend first to not give a shit about how fast you looked in the video and just continue going the speed you've been going if you've been having fun. Remember the goal is fun not speed. Now that being said if you still have the need to fly just gradually start pointing your board more and making much longer faster turns...the trick is to do this so gradually you barely notice...slow progression is the best progression. Just B-lining crazy shit like I like to do occasionally is just for kicks and is a little crazy but just hauling ass with good technique and proper edge control is what snowboarding is all about.

mastershake

"slow progression is the best progression" very nicely said.

just have fun. figure out what it is that scares you about going fast and start slowly de-sensitizing yourself to it.

also I'd like to point out that going fast does not equate to having fun. if you're having fun all this time then just keep doing what you're doing, nobody cares how fast you're going if you have a smile at the end of the day.

Gdog42

I used to be kinda slow, too. I got over it because luckily the 2 guys I usually snowboard with like to bomb it down runs. The only way I could keep up wth them was to throw my fear to the ground and go balls-out fast.

Sure, I caught an edge a couple of times but the falls aren't really much worse than they are when going slow. I've actually realized now that I'm much more likely to catch an edge when I'm going slow because I'm in way more control at higher speeds. I've fallen a lot more often when going slow than when going fast, so speeding up more actually turned out to be beneficial.

Ride with some friends of about the same skill and challenge yourself to get down the run before they do. Or just see someone who's pretty fast and try to do the same. This will naturally increase you speed.
It also helps to carve less and stay on one edge for longer before rocking to the other, while going in a straight line if you're clear.

I know it worked for me because now I'm calmly just as fast as they are and once I've even out-ridden a ski patrol guy who was pissed at me for strapping in on the lift!

But Like the guys above said, no one really cares and you should just have fun. Speed doesn't really matter unless you're trying to keep up or get away from someone.

RockSteady

"just have fun. figure out what it is that scares you about going fast and start slowly de-sensitizing yourself to it.

also I'd like to point out that going fast does not equate to having fun. if you're having fun all this time then just keep doing what you're doing, nobody cares how fast you're going if you have a smile at the end of the day.[/QUOTE]

Well said, that smile's important, too much speed has wiped that beautiful smile right off my face a few memorable times.

Soggysnow

I have the same problem. I'm usually the slower one in the pack. I had a fall and broke my tail home my first week snowboarding a couple of years back so in icy conditions, especially on cat tracks I meet ppl at the lift so I can go my own pace as i really get sketched out.
Sometimes though I just feel unstable at high speeds, Like if someone cut me off I could not stop. I don't like it.

I have two boards, my new reg camber feels better than my hybrid for speed. I know I need to work on getting on a cleaner toe edge,but don't know how to without turning.

Looking about 3 turns ahead has helped (when it's not a whiteout or flat light)

chomps1211

It was very cool to read this today,.. I just got back from 3 days up north & the conditions were pretty good, although it was good hard-packed powder with 3-5 inches of fresh being added on top, it was very bumpy & cut up as hell. I thought I was riding it pretty damn fast on both the Arbor & the RGR! Both boards handled it really well,.. That is until they ran a couple groomers down the runs after dark on Sat. night!

They put down about two strips of fresh corduroy down each of the Black diamonds,.. (...yes, these were at least decent black runs!) I got going S-O-O-O-O fast that I scared the livin' shit outta myself. I kept thinking that the Rome was never gonna hold the turns at these speeds, but in the fresh groomers it bit in really sweet! I know I never went that fast down ANY blue or black run I've been on before!!

IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! I kept following the groomers to each of the Back & Blue runs they were working and just FLYING down them! After the first run, I never once felt out of control! I was definitely "In Control" but it still scared the shit out of me!! But the kind of scared I was feeling after the first run was Not,.. Oh shit I'm fucked!! It was,.. "Holy shit this is awesome fuckin' fast!!!" Once I saw that even the Rome rocker would hold a line on the smoothed out stuff, my confidence increased & I know I set several personal best's for speed on half a dozen of those runs! Scared shitless and smiling ear to ear down all of 'em!!!!

I was Jacked Up and Jabberin' from the adrenaline high for an hour after!!!

Just wish there'd been enough time to go and get the Arbor out of check and point that sucker down a couple of those freshly groomed runs!! It would have been all tracked up & cut to hell by the time I could! None of it lasted longer than two or three runs before getting all bumped up again!

But while it lasted,.. It was SWEET!!!!!

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blunted_nose

I live for that feeling. Scaring yourself with something you just did on purpose and it worked out.

Efilnikufesin

There are a few smart phone apps that track all your speed such as average, top, and sustained speed along with other stats such as vertical for the day and air time and shows graphs of speed on which parts of the slope.

Hit 52.34 mph hour last year with my goal being to break 50, working on breaking 60 this year. Scare the shit out of myself sometimes, but I love the adrenaline rush from it, though I have only managed 54.32 so far.