Grasshopper technique questions!

"Playdreamer" wrote in message ...
"Tom" wrote in message
...

So, my question is, is the above something that most people do a lot, is
this
correct technique (at medium to high speed - clearly you sometimes have to
do
that, eg sharpo direction changes at low speed) or does my need to do this
mean
that there's still something not quite right in my technique?

You are right that although this is a useful skill for short slow speed
turns it is not really the ideal technique for faster riding.

It sounds to me as though you are probably not getting enough weight forward
on to your front foot. If you have too much weight on the back foot (and the
trailing heel edge) as the board crosses the fall line it is difficult to
quickly transition the front of the board on to the toe edge and the heel
edge will often catch before you can make it!

The solution is simple: lean forward on the board going into the turn with
most of your weight on the front foot, now as you cross the fall line it
will be much easier to transition on to the toe edge.

Luke

-------------------------
http://www.snowgo.com

Luke is right. This is a very good tip for doing better turns, another
thing is to be "patient" in your turn, it will happen but it takes a
few seconds for your board to carve around a turn.

--Arvin

Luke is right. This is a very good tip for doing better turns, another
thing is to be "patient" in your turn, it will happen but it takes a
few seconds for your board to carve around a turn.


Many thanks to all who replied, this newsgroup has proved the most valuable
thing in learning to stay upright on a snowboard. Much appreciated.

Two thoughts:

1. When you turn at medium to high speed, are you conscious of the moments the
board is flat (is this what you mean by patience, Arvin?), or should you just
be thinking of changing edges as quick as possible? Not sure it's easy to
answer that as I realise a lot of it is all in the feel of it.

2. The front foot weight thing does make sense as for a grasshopper, it's more
likely you're instinctively holding back a touch. However, I did adjust my
binding positions forward which really helped, having clearly felt there was
too much emphasis on back foot. I'm only 5"7 tall and just over 10 stone, and
my board is 165cm. Does length of board play a part - is this OK? Reason for
asking is that if you're 6"2 on the same board, it figures that you're going to
be able to get more weight forward by the laws of physics.

Tom

Yea, I decided not to mentioned BomberOnline because it is so
hardbooter oriented. You are right that many of the things carry over,
but that is only after you know what your are doing. I didn't want to
overwhelm people with too much information, not all of which applies.

The two articles I selected are "boot type neutral" and are no more
overwhelming or technical than any of the other information on this
thread. (They might be the *only* articles on Bomber for which this is
true). They are simply meant to teach the rider what it feels like to
carve, and then how to do it in a real life setting at a comfortable
pace. Anything beyond that, I agree, is "advanced topics".

Mike T

Here's a video that shows how the best riders in the world do it:

http://www.doco.net/slomo.mpg (3.5 MB)


Nice one...I can't seem to load the video though - any chance of mailing it to
me?

Interesting what you said about the airborne board. Everything I've read on
here makes sense, I look forward to getting on the slopes again.

Tom

EMOVE (Tom) wrote in message ...
Luke is right. This is a very good tip for doing better turns, another
thing is to be "patient" in your turn, it will happen but it takes a
few seconds for your board to carve around a turn.


Many thanks to all who replied, this newsgroup has proved the most valuable
thing in learning to stay upright on a snowboard. Much appreciated.

Two thoughts:

1. When you turn at medium to high speed, are you conscious of the moments the
board is flat (is this what you mean by patience, Arvin?), or should you just
be thinking of changing edges as quick as possible? Not sure it's easy to
answer that as I realise a lot of it is all in the feel of it.

This is another good question Tom. Yes, when starting out, you should
consciously bring the board flat and wait for a moment in between edge
changes. This allows your body (legs and torso) some time to return to
a "neutral" position before starting the next turn. If you try to make
edge chagnes to quick ,you will probably end up having the board on
one edge, but your body has yet to change positions from the previous
edge - which is bad (you are basically skipping steps in the effort
for speed). As you get better and your motions become more fluid, you
can slowly meld the steps together (edge, flat, edge, flat, edge,
etc). When I said "patience" I mean not only waiting for a moment
while ride the board flat, but also letting the board carve a turn for
you (i.e. not trying to force the board to turn too quickly).

2. The front foot weight thing does make sense as for a grasshopper, it's more
likely you're instinctively holding back a touch. However, I did adjust my
binding positions forward which really helped, having clearly felt there was
too much emphasis on back foot. I'm only 5"7 tall and just over 10 stone, and
my board is 165cm. Does length of board play a part - is this OK? Reason for
asking is that if you're 6"2 on the same board, it figures that you're going to
be able to get more weight forward by the laws of physics.

I believe your board is a bit too long for you. I'm 5'8" and 145 lbs
which is roughly your size (1 stone = 14 pounds?) and I ride a 155. A
165cm board is made for someone who is around 220 lbs+ (16 stone) and
is about 6' tall (rough guess). Some people have different
preferences. A longer board will be more difficult to turn and flex in
a carve, however they will be more stable at extremely high speeds.
However, since you didn't intentionally get a very long board because
you liked it, I would suggest getting something more in the 152-155
range. Also like you said, shifting your binding affect you weight
distributing between front and back legs.

BTW, here is a working link to that video, the redirect is a little
messed up for some reason.

http://www.geocities.jp/costbeck/slomo.mpg

--Arvin

any chance of mailing it to
me?

Try this page:

http://www.doco.net/snowvideos.html
--

Many thanks - got them now -

Tom

I believe your board is a bit too long for you. I'm 5'8" and 145 lbs
which is roughly your size (1 stone = 14 pounds?) and I ride a 155.

I've become quite keen on my board, as it's my first one, but I'll definitely
try a shorter one to see how it feels.

If you try to make
edge chagnes to quick ,you will probably end up having the board on
one edge, but your body has yet to change positions from the previous
edge - which is bad

Yes that makes sense. Overall I was well pleased with my progress, but I've
still got some way to go before my turns from heel to toe feel effortless. Some
of the blue runs at Mottaret were great for someone at my level; lots of
character, lots of width, lots of varation in gradient. I struggled a bit on
some of the reds though, I'll tackle those next time.

Tom