# Feedback on my riding



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

This was taken 2 weeks ago or last week. This is my 3rd season around 56 days total.


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Doesn't want to embed, not sure why.


----------



## lonerider (Apr 10, 2009)

skip11 said:


> Doesn't want to embed, not sure why.


I think it's because you made the video unlisted (only people with the direct link can see it).

You riding looks pretty good. You don't counter-rotate your shoulders with respect to your hips, you have good toe-heel ankle flexion and your body moves as one unit (good job on keeping your weight over the board). In general you are decently dynamic (i.e. you keep a smooth rhythm linking one edge to the other) although sometimes I can see you have a little tendency to "sit-in" your heelside carve a little bit (like the two turns around 0:35) instead of driving through with your hips and shoulders into the direction of your turn (you look tentative and didn't fully commit to the turn... could be the snow was sketchy over there, I can't see in the video).

Anyways... that's my quick assessment. I bet Snowolf will give you a much more detail analysis.


----------



## gprider_capita (Feb 17, 2011)

great job carving, what kind of jacket and goggles are those? they match so perfectly


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

@lone: I'll try driving more with the hips and shoulders next time


----------



## Death (Oct 21, 2010)

Your toe-edge carves are stronger than your heel-side carves.


----------



## Nefarious (Dec 26, 2010)

Nothing to give feedback on. You're using the run and in control the entire time. You look like you're having a blast and you're riding with the same vigor that I like to. It feels like you're flowing deep into carves. Great riding and great vid.

Keep it up. :thumbsup:


----------



## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

Hell, you are doing what I can only "wish" I could do! lol I will get there.... someday....

Then again, you are probably some young buck with no achy body parts! lol


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

@first: Yepp, still only 22 here haha


----------



## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

lol - 22 - I knew it - young buck!!! lol Impressive from my point of view....



skip11 said:


> @first: Yepp, still only 22 here haha


----------



## aiidoneus (Apr 7, 2011)

Looks like you are definitely coming along. Like a few others have said your toeside is better then heelside (which is common). If you pause at 0:19, you can see that your butt is hanging over the heelside edge. It may sound odd, but you want to roll your knees forward (try and cover your feet with your knees). Instead, of squatting back so much, drive/lean your hips and shoulders into the hill. That way your weight stays stacked over the edge. You also won't feel the need to counter balance with your hands so much. You will notice on the heelside you tend to throw your hands in front of you. 

For toeside you can still be more aggressive and roll your knees into the hill more (push your knees towards the snow). But you will also have to work on bringing the back up a little straighter. I think you may have a slight tendency to lean into the turn more with the shoulders then hips and knees.

Take my advice lightly I am no expert instructor. You look very similar to me earlier this season, so these are all things I have been working on.


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

@Snowolf: Thanks snowolf! Appreciate the detail analysis. Regarding the up and down-unweight, I actually found down-unweigthing for me and up-weighting harder so partly when practicing carving I want to work on my up-unweight (to get the rebound out of carves) which is not really good as you can see. The pivot turns seems like a great idea, will try it out next time. I found that I have really hard times on steep trees (e.g. black runs at whistler off peak chair), I tend to resort back to pendulum/falling leaf and just making the odd turn here and there. I found the space to make a turn is too tight and if I want to lean forward to make my body perpendicular with the hill, I gather too much speed. This becomes even harder when riding powder (which is why I mostly stick to wide open bowls).

Regarding the hand infront, I realized sometimes I do that. I mostly do this to counter balance so I don't topple backwards, I guess as aiidoneous mentioned I need to use more inclination during heelside turns. Another small reason I tend to do this and think that it's fine is that every time I saw a video of a pro riding (e.g. josh dirksen, terje) their backhand is always infront of them.

@aiidoeneous: Thanks! will work on that heelside inclination and toeside angulation.


----------



## jlm1976 (Feb 26, 2009)

*Heelside angulation*

The thing that sticks out in the video is how uneven your edge angle is toeside vs. heelside. 
In the video you are extended when changing edges then sitting down in your heelside. But, when you sit down through your turn it doesn't increase your edge angle or do much of anything. Also, if you try to push your hips into the turn more, you'll typically fall to the inside of your turn. Staying taller and tipping/leaning into the heelside turn with your whole body will help you generate more edge angle as others have said. But as snowolf suggested and explained perfectly, I would have you shift to down unweighting, ie compressing at edge changes(I know you said you have down unweightin, well, down, but if you are getting more spring up unweighting, then it needs work). 
The trick to a really solid heelside carve in soft boots and ducked stance is to angulate such that your hips are BELOW your knees during your turn. 

I think getting compressed at your transition and then extending through the turn(ie down unweighting) would improve your heelside dramatically. This way you can be fully compressed(to give you an idea, if I am really banging aggressive carves, I can feel my knees hitting my stomach/chest while changing edges and therefor they are above my hips). Being that compressed allows you to open your lower body and extend while keeping your hips low and moving to the inside of the turn which will create edge angle and even out your turns.


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks for the tips jlm, will keep those in mind next time I ride.


----------



## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

good riding skip11. i'm at my second season and i too ride like you do.with all the great tips everyone gives here,i also keep watching the CASI level riding course that is posted on this section. i need visual training and those vids along with the tips from here helps me out pretty good.the one that snowolf said about pivot turns is new to me and i would try it out for sure to help me with my mogul riding. please post more of your progress and i'll try too get mine.so i can get some feedback and get better.:thumbsup:


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Bump for Snowolf.


----------



## aiidoneus (Apr 7, 2011)

I did some good drills last night with a level 3 instructor during session. To help improve the heelside carving, we first did the following:

1) Point down the hill to get some speed
2) come to a complete stop on heelside
3) Hop back up the hill
4) Repeat

The key here is to make sure you are/have

- Balanced
- Locked ankles
- Hop comes from knees, hips and above

It really helps show some of the heelside weakness. We did this on a steeper part of a blue run. You can also do this for toeside, but keep in mind toeside will be easier.

Second drill was for both edges:

1) Start carving down the hill
2) As you traverse the hill, hop

If you arn't landing back in your edge nicely something is off, stance, not enough edge, looking down at your board.

Third drill was the same as above, except instead of hoping while traversing. You hop during the edge change. So you hop from heel edge to toe edge, traverse, hop toe to heel, repeat.


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

@aiido: So I basically hop (with both feet like popping?) for and edge change and after changing edge it should lock right in? Seems an interesting drill, will try it out.


----------



## aiidoneus (Apr 7, 2011)

The pop is even weight both feet. But not like a normal, non-strapped in jump. You don't want to leep off your toes. The idea is to keep the ankles locked in that hard carve position, and use the rest of you body to pop.

I recommend doing them in order. It is one thing to pop up, and land. It is another thing to pop and land on edge. For example, in the first drill my first two hops I made the mistake of looking at my board. This means my weight is past the edge, and when I landed I slid a little.

The level 3 instructors are awesome at the last drill, very smooth. They land instantly into a nice edge and keep carving away.

For me, the toesides I could land and already have a nice edge to ride away with. The heelside I still slide a slight bit before I get my edge. My issue here is with my ankles, I keep popping using my ankle and toes. This causes my edge angle to be less. Less edge, less chance of landing a good carve. However, after doing the drill my normal heelsides were so much better, much easier to lock my ankles so I could get a lot more edge.


----------



## Nefarious (Dec 26, 2010)

I can't wait to try this. Thanks aiidoneus!


----------



## srdeo (Jan 29, 2012)

you look too hunched over on your hillside. Try to keep your body 90 degree to the ground. It will give you more edge pressure and hold the carve better. Same thing on toe side with your legs bent at 90 degrees try to keep you body perpendicular to the ground. 

You can try it inside first. kneel infront of a wall on your knees with legs bent at 90 degrees. Put both hands against the wall and you should be able to lift your knees of the ground few inches. you should be able to feel how much more pressure you are putting on your toes

you can also try on heelside. have your back flat against the wall and have your feet couple of feet in front with your waist bent at 90 degree (knees bent slightly)

Also on your heelside you can open up more with your front shoulder (in your case right shoulder). By open up i mean your right shoulder will be turned over your heel side edge (your upper torso is turned right), not parallel to your board (which is what you are doing now). 

Hope it helps


----------



## Leo (Nov 24, 2009)

Quick tip to get rid of your hand swinging. I had the same issue a few seasons ago. Keep your hands on your thighs as you ride and you'll get rid of that habit very quickly. It will also reveal if you actually have any balancing problems at all or if it's just in your head that you think you'll lose balance.

Also, while your carves look good, your transitions are aggressive. I like to get aggressive too at times especially on steeper runs. Try working on quick fluid transitions now.

Snowolf will be able to explain the mechanics in detail. The only way I can describe it is to imagine that you are trying to balance an egg in the middle of the board. You want quick fluid transitions that won't throw the egg off. My friend said I look like a fish when doing this technique


----------



## sabatoa (Jan 18, 2011)

I grab my junk with my back hand while I ride to keep it from mystery dating.

/may or may not be accurate. (it is)


----------



## AAA (Feb 2, 2008)

Looks good. You've got some solid fundemental carving skills down. Now it's time to step it up a notch.  The rising up in transition (cross-over) carves you've got going on is great for the straight down the fall line carving you're doing on gentler slopes. Work it a little harder, with more leg compression at the apex of the carve (sink "into" the carve / bend the knees more), and with earlier, more full extension coming off the carve. Also, it would be good to see the toeside carve initiated more with the knees (knees lunging towards ground) and heelsides led with the hips, and less with upper body guidance. Tilt the board's edge angle higher, as well. In that hero snow, it will easily hold and you'll carve tighter. Also, keep the upper body more vertical, especially on those toesides. Try to only allow your upper body to dip towards the snow if you're knees start actually hitting the snow. Overall, try to ride lower, with more knee bend. There's a bit of trailing arm flapping going on, which you'll settle down. No biggie. 

Now, if you're using that same stand up/cross-over technique on steeps or ice, that's where you'll run into trouble, as you won't be able to control your speed. So, start working on the opposite; dropping your upper body in the transitions (cross unders), and extending your legs at the apex of the carve. Your body overall will be much lower to the ground. At the same time, start riding your carves out more fully, perpendicular to the fall line. For practice, make a point not to change edges until your board comes dead across the fall line. That will 1) control your speed more, and 2) teach you to confidentently roll onto your downhill edge when it is straight across the fall line (something you tried desperately to avoid when you were first learning to ride). Start trying to set your downhill edge and initiating carves as early, quickly, and hard as you can as you're going across the fall line. Turn intiation at the top of the carve is a key to controlling speed on steeps (at least without resorting to skidding or falling leaves).

Once you've got that, step it up again, and in the transitions, not only drop your upper body, but simultaneously relax your knees to raise your board / bring it in closer to you (cross-through). You'll basically "suck your body in" through the transitions. That is the fastest way to change edges in a carve, and it becomes very versatile. On the steeps, you'll ride your carves out across the fall line and make fast cross-through edge changes to manage your speed. On flatter runs, you can open up the carve and ride more down the fall line. If you thought cross-overs were snappy, wait until you fall-line carve with cross-throughs! You're letting the board provide the rebound now instead of pumping with your legs. Often when you relax your knees in fall line carving transitions, they'll literally come up to your chest and you'll catch air, along with a sense of weightlessness. You'll need to extend them fully just to grab purchase again, before you sink down going into the next carve. Fun stuffs becomes funner stuffs as you improve, but it does become become more exerting and even a workout. You're gettin' it. Now just keep workin' at it 'till you got it. :thumbsup:


----------



## skip11 (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks a lot for the tips. Will practice it and definitely improve my riding


----------

