# Tips for Cat Tracks?



## DaftDeft (Mar 7, 2016)

Let's preface this by saying I'm not a very good rider. This is my 2nd full season and I'm trying to advance my riding this year by going to harder parts of the mountain.

I'm not sure of the terminology, but by cat tracks I mean those narrow long, flat runs. I'm new to trying to ride on these and it's been kicking my ass. The ones I'm riding you could probably fit four/five snowboards across the trail, so it's not like its super tight looking but I'm finding it way too narrow for my comfort.

A few things:

1) It's pretty busy a lot of the time when I can go up.
2) I have to go pretty slow at times so my son can keep up.
3) It is pretty flat in extended parts and some parts it's even just slightly uphill for a short bit.

The problems I'm having:

1) I get stuck. I have to pull out my back foot and skate at a lot of points. I'm trying to keep up my speed, but sometimes when speed checking to wait for my son or avoid people, I just end up too slow. My only tool for a speed check on these runs is to plow for a second or two which scrubs a lot of speed. On a wider and steeper run I would traverse from side to side but I'm not confident enough in my turns to do that on these narrower runs around a lot of people. Is there another technique to scrub speed that I don't know? One that's maybe not so "STOP NOW" as going horizontal against the slope.

2) I'm falling down. It's embarrassing and odd but on the flatter parts of the run I'll sometimes just catch an edge and fall, causing trouble for everyone. I guess I'm just not used to running flat and straight, and I'm trying to subtly switch edges so avoid riding flat which is always very squirrely feeling for me. Should I just try to ride flat and keep my balance?

These seem like issues with my fundamentals, so I'm sure my gear isn't really a factor but for the record I'm riding a Flow Drifter with Flow NX2s (makes the constant on/off for skating less of an issue, but I'd still rather I didn't have to do that) and Burton Ruler Wides.

Thanks for any advice you guys can offer.


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Sounds like you have to get more comfortable flat basing. It's a pretty essential skill for navigating low angle cat tracks. Negotiating cat tracks in a crowd sucks as a beginner. You're not alone.


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## jae (Nov 27, 2015)

switch to a RCR or traditional camber board as it's less squirly. anything with rocker in the middle is squirly when flat basing. I still have some trouble getting off the lift with a crc board, no problems with rcr/trad camber. if you want to keep your board, always have a edge engaged to not eat it. don't flat base a crc board.

wax your boards, especially your son's board.

ride behind your son. don't wait to for him to catch up as something might happen and he could be stuck. walking up a cat sucks.


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

A few things, bend your knees and try to relax. I'm going to guess if you are ahead of your son you are possibly looking back every now and then to keep an eye on him. As a new rider this is going to throw your weight way off and likely is a good cause of your edge catching. And other than a nasty fall on a huge kicker these little slow cat track falls are the worst. They come out of know where and you just aren't ready the impact even though they seem to happen in slow motion.

Let him go first and play catch up to him. Other things, keep your knees bent, shoulders aligned with the board and look where you want to go, not at your board. In the end its all balance and you can't walk and chew gum yet. It'll come.


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

I dare say that cat tracks are right up there with getting off of lifts as two of the most challenging skills to learn.

One of the keys to learning how to ride long low angle features ( cat tracks ) is to keep your shoulders in line with your board. As soon as your upper body starts to rotate, SLAM, you hook an edge and you are down in a flash. 

Flat basing is an acquired skill in itself. It is a challenge to learn, but with enough practise you will get it. Work towards exerting light pressure on one edge or the other. True flat basing comes with experience and subtle weight transfers to avoid the SLAM.


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## robotfood99 (Mar 19, 2016)

RK has the answer!

Pole-Plant: The Movie. Ryan Knaptons best yet.
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?sh...orum.com/showthread.php?t=250002&share_type=t


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

Let your son go ahead of you so your not looking for him.

Point it, keep it flat and fucking dont slow down. Im a fat bastard and still slalom around everyone. With more experience you get more comfortable. Eventually you will be able to read the terrai(even really flat areas) and find rises that you can stop on top of to wait. Also pull off up onto the side, higher, so you can get speed again and drop back into the track.

Doing little micro skids to scrub speed is very hard to describe but the more you flat base and try to maintain a non-blastoff speed, you will learn the techniques naturally if you already know how to skid.

I agree that rocker boards are worse for flat riding but once you have it you just have it.. i can ride a cat track and have a conversation while dodging people. I do not slow down unless i absolutely have to because i prefer not to skate. I can ride fully now one footed but still hate to skate down a long cat track.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

flat basing...is just a matter of being stacked and weighted a tad/slightly on your front foot, being aligned with the board/staying in the cereal box, and having your knees, ankles and legs loose in basically the neutral position and a* relaxed mind*. Then on crowed cattracks, its just like driving/weaving between the interstate of gapers.


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## DaftDeft (Mar 7, 2016)

Thanks for the tips guys.

Normally I'd be of the attitude that I'll just suffer the embarrassment and force myself to learn this skill on these tracks that make me uncomfortable, but I feel like I'm being unsafe to those around me since I'm biting it in the middle of the run and that could cause someone to wreck on me.

I'll go back to some milder/wider runs and just work on flat basing/rocking slightly from edge to edge. It seems like control in that state is my main issue.

Letting my son go first is definitely a tip I'll keep in mind. I didn't think it though but yea, I was turning around a lot to check up on him and I'm sure that was throwing me off too.


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## jerry gnarcia (Feb 11, 2017)

One thing I don't see mentioned is your binding placement relative to the edges of the board. This is pretty critical for balance and easy to overlook. It makes all the difference between having to use your leg muscles to force yourself to maintain a track (bad) and relaxing and letting your legs go limp resting your shins against the tongues of your boots.

Experiment with moving your bindings a little closer to the toe edge, especially your front binding. When you get the right spot, you should be able to stack over the board and be pretty relaxed. You either want them even (but far enough forward), or you want the front a little closer to the toe than the heel is. Never have the front closer to the heel than the back is, or you'll scorpion constantly. You might have to rotate your binding baseplate to open that up.

As others have said, the rocker middle section does sort of mess with this. It creates a pivot point for your board to spin on, which is really bad when the cat track is hardpacked or slicked from compact wet snow/ice.

Also, if you can't skid your back foot to scrub speed, your board might be a little too aggressive for your skill level.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Since ur riding a rockered in the middle of the board. Conceptually, think of it like ur riding/weighting only half of the board...the front half. Also since ur flatbasing, u want to be generally parallel with the fall line/cattrack...thus if weighting the nose, there is absolutely no edge to catch PERIOD. If your board feels squirrely it will because you are rotated/not aligned (in the hips/shoulders) with the board AND/OR you are also in the backseat and are rotated. For truth, the simple remedy is to shift your leading hip toward the nose and get aligned with the board and the fall line PERIOD. Maybe have someone follow u and get some footy of your form...for feedback.


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

This.


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## Mr.Zywall (Jan 5, 2017)

it has already been mentioned, but to not catch an edge, you need to be on a slight edge, or if completely flat base, then have more weight on your front foot than back foot. Front foot heavy means you will go perfectly down the fall line, and the board will stay straight to prevent u from catching an edge. If you have more weight in your back foot, your board will tend to spin around (to become the front) and this is when you'll catch an edge.


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