# long flat straight aways



## ThunderChunky (Oct 1, 2011)

Keep practicing. Usually long open mellow areas are the best for beginners. Also, the most dangerous too since they think they can start flying and be safe.


----------



## Slush Puppie (Aug 15, 2011)

Two options: practice making short frequent turns, this will limit the speed.. or my preference, see if you can tail press the entire way


----------



## ShredLife (Feb 6, 2010)

in spots where it feels like you need to keep a flat base to keep speed stay as flat as you can - while still favoring one edge over the other. you can even kind of 'micro carve' and switch from flat/heel to flat/toes.. its when you get truly flat-based and standing up tall that you catch the worst edges. 

that's another thing: keep you knees bent and stay aggressive. too many people get to the runout or the cat track and they stand up perfectly straight and start fucking with their iphone and the next thing you know - scorpion!


----------



## megwell (Oct 20, 2012)

thanks for the quick responses
I found that once going fast on the straight aways if i felt i was going to fast i would slow down, heel or toe............. then it sometimes would come back and bite me........where i would have to do the walk of shame..... unbind and walk........ffs.
also i noticed that sometimes i would do the speed wabble...........i'm assuming i had too much weight on my front foot ( i ride goofy)
i also realize it's a confidence thing to........ but pain is a good mental block for me.
my tail bone still hurts from a fall back in feburary.


----------



## Jason (Feb 15, 2011)

If you're on an edge, you can't catch an edge. Keep on pushing yourself as you ride. Don't ride balls out but take yourself just outside your comfort zone.


----------



## atr3yu (Feb 15, 2012)

Cat tracks were the bane of my existence when I started last year. I hated them, literaly avoided them at all cost. But as the season went on I just learned to deal with them. My method is the short turns back and forth to bleed off speed.


----------



## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

ShredLife said:


> in spots where it feels like you need to keep a flat base to keep speed stay as flat as you can - while still favoring one edge over the other. you can even kind of 'micro carve' and switch from flat/heel to flat/toes.. its when you get truly flat-based and standing up tall that you catch the worst edges.


Exactly, gotta micro carve as shred called it. You should basically NEVER be flat on the base of your board when snowboarding. Get flatbasing out of your head. On a long flat just rock from edge to edge doing really light carves. If you get too much speed just carve a little harder...


----------



## beall (Sep 9, 2011)

atr3yu said:


> Cat tracks were the bane of my existence when I started last year. I hated them, literaly avoided them at all cost. But as the season went on I just learned to deal with them. My method is the short turns back and forth to bleed off speed.


Like you before I just hate cat-tracks. But by learning to do turns in narrow area, I just love them as long as it is not too steep and where I can do turns while going down. I straighted lined down the lift tracks that was not been use with one of my buddy and we must have gone down 60-70km and it was great...


----------



## ETM (Aug 11, 2009)

poutanen said:


> You should basically NEVER be flat on the base of your board when snowboarding. Get flatbasing out of your head. ..


I agree that as a beginner you should forget about flat basing as you will catch a nasty edge. 
However as you get better flat basing can actually be used to gain speed for flat run outs. I do it all the time, I can get a lot more speed by not putting an edge into the snow.


----------



## snowklinger (Aug 30, 2011)

I like microcarving just with my ankles and pretending that the bottom of my deck is rolled like a half cylinder, it feels cool. Drugs help.


----------



## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

ETM said:


> I agree that as a beginner you should forget about flat basing as you will catch a nasty edge.
> However as you get better flat basing can actually be used to gain speed for flat run outs. I do it all the time, I can get a lot more speed by not putting an edge into the snow.


I was trying not to over complicate thing for him!  I'm the king of making it through the flats... Depending on the snow though it's sometimes faster to be up on an edge a little anyway!


----------



## KnoxBoarderX (Aug 26, 2011)

When it's a really long flat but I need some speed to get through it, I bomb it to the flat and then stay slightly toe edge through the flat.


----------



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

Megwell, just do the micro carving or what Snowolf does...but it sometimes won't get you through a long flat. There is such a thing as flatbasing that is really easy and there is really no fear nor reason to catch an edge once you understand the dynamics...however its not a beginner's skill. If you want to meet up and do the flats at baker from mid-chair to chair 2/3 let me know.


----------



## Slush Puppie (Aug 15, 2011)

For me, being comfortable completely flatbasing was one of the breakthrough moments in my progression. So keep practicing the microcarves and just get comfortably crossing through flat. Once you can do that, it will help limit the speed in itself, but you'll find you no longer need to go completely heal/toe edge to scrub once you get too fast. Once you get comfortable and relax, you'll find you have the confidence and control to stay flat longer (if you want to) and even the whole run in you feel like it. You'll be able to scrub speed by gently rocking back into micro carves if you need to. I wasn't kidding on the tail pressing either! There's almost no way you can catch an edge in a tailpress  Perhaps the hybrid camber board helps but I've never really found a need to always keep slightly on one edge like people have old me you should, it feels more natural flat to me.


----------



## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

ShredLife said:


> in spots where it feels like you need to keep a flat base to keep speed stay as flat as you can - while still favoring one edge over the other. you can even kind of 'micro carve' and switch from flat/heel to flat/toes.. its when you get truly flat-based and standing up tall that you catch the worst edges.
> 
> that's another thing: keep you knees bent and stay aggressive. too many people get to the runout or the cat track and they stand up perfectly straight and start fucking with their iphone and the next thing you know - scorpion!


right here. Just having your edge in the snow a bit will keep you from catching that forward edge and doing the glorious scorpion. If you cant keep yourself truly flat based and pointed straight down hill then just switch back and forth between heel and toe edge while still staying pointed down hill.



wrathfuldeity said:


> Megwell, just do the micro carving or what Snowolf does...but it sometimes won't get you through a long flat. There is such a thing as flatbasing that is really easy and there is really no fear nor reason to catch an edge once you understand the dynamics...however its not a beginner's skill. If you want to meet up and do the flats at baker from mid-chair to chair 2/3 let me know.


also this. Being able to ride flat based and scream down a run just takes some refined muscle memory so you know how to react to the slightest little twitch and movement that the board makes that would other wise wipe you out. I mean these movements are such that if you actually thought about doing them then you would probably over do them and throw yourself off. Staying low and centered is the best way to ride flat base. You also can put a bit more weight on your back foot for more control.


----------



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

IdahoFreshies said:


> right here. Just having your edge in the snow a bit will keep you from catching that forward edge and doing the glorious scorpion. If you cant keep yourself truly flat based and pointed straight down hill then just switch back and forth between heel and toe edge while still staying pointed down hill.
> 
> 
> 
> also this. Being able to ride flat based and scream down a run just takes some refined muscle memory so you know how to react to the slightest little twitch and movement that the board makes that would other wise wipe you out. I mean these movements are such that if you actually thought about doing them then you would probably over do them and throw yourself off. Staying low and centered is the best way to ride flat base. You also can put a bit more weight on your back foot for more control.


I actually kind of do the opposite when riding flats, standing upright, relaxed, knees and ankles loose, shoulders/hips closed and weight on the nose. Btw OP, good practice is to skate/ride 1 footy down the bunny hills whenever possible. Though if you are screaming flat, i.e., bombing down a run...you go low, more fore/aft centered and ride loose in the knees and sucking them up.


----------



## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

wrathfuldeity said:


> I actually kind of do the opposite when riding flats, standing upright, relaxed, knees and ankles loose, shoulders/hips closed and weight on the nose. Btw OP, good practice is to skate/ride 1 footy down the bunny hills whenever possible. Though if you are screaming flat, i.e., bombing down a run...you go low, more fore/aft centered and ride loose in the knees and sucking them up.


Oh ya, I was referring to if you point the nose of your board down a run and bomb the shit out of it. If I'm on a cat track I Stand up straight and very relaxed, usually pressing or 180s or dicking around.


----------



## krankedmusic (Nov 15, 2012)

Stay low to the ground and tail press. Lean heel to toe a bit to keep balance but practice is key.


----------



## megwell (Oct 20, 2012)

I got your pm with the link snowolf
i had no idea that was you lol as i've seen many of your vids on youtube.

i can do what you suggested....... now imagine this though
on a cat track..... carving like that when there are a shit load of skiers going straight..... you end up cutting all of them off.......... so instead of taking up the whole cat track one has to take up maybe 4 feet without cutting off everyone else.
i'll also look into micro carving as well

kbX 
cool of you to offer help

you guys rock here!


----------



## DirtyD27 (Dec 31, 2011)

Slush Puppie said:


> or my preference, see if you can tail press the entire way


+1 this is actually how I learned to tail press. I found that when I was first starting out straight flat groomed runs got me too. So what I found is that applying or shifting your weight back helps a lot then just control speed with what has already mentioned mico carving or long drawn out carves so your on edge longer. what really fun is when you have a long flat transfer section that is littered with ppl that are slow or even stopped in the middle of the run and your bobbing and weaving them. I typically like to ice those sitting in the middle of the run usually followed up with a choice finger.:cheeky4:


----------



## LuckyRVA (Jan 18, 2011)

krankedmusic said:


> Stay low to the ground and tail press. Lean heel to toe a bit to keep balance but practice is key.


This is how I learned to deal with long run outs. You can nose press as well.


----------



## tlake2568 (Dec 22, 2011)

ShredLife said:


> too many people get to the runout or the cat track and they stand up perfectly straight and start fucking with their iphone and the next thing you know - scorpion!


Too Fucking True. So guilty of this. Tweaked my forearm last year because of this. I had a nice section down one of the blues, stood up straight to go "YEAH" and bam, edge catch and scorp'd.

Not fun.


----------



## Sincraft (Sep 6, 2010)

here is how I handled this last year.

Say the track is only 15' wide. Very hard for a new guy following some of these suggestions to turn left turn right. Carve, dynamic - whatever. Either we dont have the muscle knowledge, the stamina, or the mental fortitude to successfully complete this task.

I would recommend that you do as someone suggested, and hold an edge. You will favor the edge that keeps you in the middle of the slope the easiest, avoiding slowly going off the edge of the slope.

Once you feel you are picking up too much speed, thats when you do your almost stop turn up opposite of the trail slope, then immediately correct it back again to 'straight' holding that edge once more. This is an excercise to build up those leg muscles for stamina also. 

The common thing for me was to hold onto my toe edge, which kept me from falling off the edge of the trail as it sloped on my heel side. I would then feel I was picking up too much speed or catching up with zig zagging skiers so I would have to slow down. To do this, I would kickout my back foot with an almost backwards stop , then straighten it out again holing my toe edge. 

It wasnt until I was much better that I felt comfortable turning TOWARD the slope of the hill. That was almost always disastrous for me. 

So in short, you are riding an edge opposite of the slope of the trail (im not talking about the fall line), then every so often do a speed check by almost stopping, then riding that edge again.

Dont try to turn back and forth, especially on a trail that isn't level and slopes down the mountain. Unless you have some speed, this is where most people say "well why can I turn toward the fall line on my heel side on the slpoe, but on the bunny trail I cannot not"

The answer is simple. centrifugal force. ( I think)


----------



## moesymoe (Nov 29, 2012)

It can be very difficult as a beginner to throw in quick, efficient turns on a narrow track. 
Staying on a single edge can also be tricky as the natural camber in the board will bring you towards one side or other of the cat track. 
Just trying to stay flat is also very problematic as described above and riding on a very low edge angle can be very difficult to master as a beginner. 

To keep the board going straight and true while also avoiding the dreaded edge catch, I find it's good to pick an edge and focus on digging that edge in with your back foot while keeping the board flat with your front foot. This will ensure you avoid drifting towards the side and also prevents you catching an unwanted edge. I also find this easier on your leg muscles so there is much less burn, you can just relax and let the board ride.


----------



## megwell (Oct 20, 2012)

well i went to whistler for opening weekend a few weeks ago
i took my rossignol exprience ......first time riding it as it is 168 and i believe my burton custom flying v is about 156?

anyhow
wow what a difference between the boards

i took advice for riding the flats and the things that were said here that i took with me the most is 
1 someone said....... you can't catch and edge when you are on an edge
2 micro carves to slow down

i applied these two principals and possible with the new board.....made one hell of a difference

i only bailed once.......lol in comparison to always bailing

overall i had a great time and i truely appreciate the advice as i believe it helped me out alot!


----------

