Team Progress Board.

Ok so other than japan today was my best ever day of riding progress wise in as many years as I can remember. Tricks today included nice bs180 off medium jumps in fv park, mini shred madness in fv park .... Double s curve box fv park 50-50 to something. Double handed plants, 50 50 to bs 180 out on the 6 metre flat bar piper park, bs 180 nose taps on green bonk piper park, nollie tail tap to bs 180 on anything in piper park, 5050 to nollie tail tap 6 metre flat bar, Ollie to flat 2 metre drop off 70 ft takeoff over camera man, manual down ice boulders off fv jump.

This season I’ve been putting a lot more time into rails and boxes then in previous years and instead of just 5050ing them, I’ve been trying stuff like 3s on them and trying to be more consistent with boardslides. I must admit that I was pretty chuffed with myself at nailing the long flat to downrail at the top of the park at Cadrona early this season too. That said, I had my ass completely handed to me on a number of occasions by the curved box - I even managed to split my helmet in half after flying off the back of it! 

I seem to have spent less time hitting kickers and now that I think about it, I’ve kinda let my switch riding go for way too long, so I probably need to start doing a bit more of that again…

So many things I want to try, so little time in which to try them

i landed my first backside rodeo on friday, been trying them for a few days now but i think i am getting the hang of them, dont know how they look yet but you can bet it wont look that great yet

Went up to Baw Baw on Sunday. Was a shame because i was keen to do heaps of jibbing in the parks, but they had all park features closed due to the rain over night. There was still plenty of snow, just they features werent groomed and the take offs all stuffed. Was shattered but we still hit heaps of the natural jib terrain that Baw Baw has to offer.

After lunch i made the statement to my buddy that i was going to ride switch the rest of the day. He goes “well why not start now” as we were about to go up the Tbar. So i changed which foot was strapped in and began our mission. I have to say, riding a Tbar and Poma switch for the first time was scarier than any down rail ive had a a crack at first time haha! It didnt help that i was on a super loose skatey board either. But i was successful and made it up with out staking!
The real challenge i found was trying to skate along and be pushing with the oposite foot…. got tangled up so much. And when i was being loaded on the Tbar i kept expecting it to go on the other leg and id get hit in the head with the bar. The two of us even went together up the tbar which was funny. We had to concentrate so much not to stack or spoon each other too hard haha. At one point we were headed to a big hole on the track and we were like ” On the toes! on the toes!...oh crap other way! heels heels heels!” and end up riding straight through it, but still held it together

But i managed to stay on the lifts fine all afternoon which i was happy with. My switch riding has been improving heaps this season as i make sure i do some switch riding every time im out there. So being on Baw Baws easier terrain it was fun riding switch and getting some good carves and speed goin!
I decided to take my switch riding to some of the features we had been hitting in the morning. Man, doing a really fast switch straight air over a reasonable sized roller was a rush! Rode away clean easily though, and started poping ollies off it too.

What i was most happy with was a little cliff drop (off a small tree and rock) that we had been sessioning, i decided to approach it and send it switch. First time i almost nailed it, just lost it a tad on the landing. But second time i managed to ride away clean

So all in all, i didnt get out of the day what i had planned, but on the plus side i managed to push my riding in new ways.

....wow i just realized how much i crapped on haha, soz  

Well I did a couple of little rock drops and dropped a very filled in Bluff (before the big wet) and my knee didn’t hurt - stoked.

The big carve turn on this vid last week I was impressed with - again no knee pain.

The biggest stoke was putting my daughter on a board for the first time and teaching her! Now that’s a tough trick.
I’m ready for you instructors to tell me what I’m doing wrong. I know what I’m doing right - she loves it and had no regrets after getting sopping wet and belly flopping the first day, second day strained a muscle.

Seasons starting to wind down! everyone get their moves down?
Ive got about 3 days riding left to me…..still haven’t got anywhere near what i wanted to do done.

I should probably add to this thread now that I have something to write about. Before this season I hadn’t been snowboarding for almost a year. I had a couple of injuries through soccer and was rehabbing my groin for about four months at least. Unfortunately I only got five days on the snow this season, and during the first three I was taking it easy and avoiding the park as my groin was still weak.

Anyway, on the last weekend I was down at Thredbo I started hitting the down rails again. I can’t say I progressed beyond where I have been before, but it was great to get over the fear of hurting my groin. After a few tries I was hitting them cleanly and getting solid frontside boardslides. I felt like my old self again and this put me in a very positive frame of mind for the upcoming season in Canada. This season I definitely took two steps backwards with my progression, and it was awesome to take two steps forward right at the end of the season.

I landed my first ever bs180 off a jump yesterday…not a big jump, mind you…the smallest jump in all of thredbo - but a groomed park jump nonetheless! I think I’d landed about 6 of them by the end of the day & I didn’t want to stop riding. So much fun. I wanna go back and do more & try 3s of the same jump…and maybe the 1s of the slightly bigger jump…Someone come ride with me!!!!!!!!

this was probably my biggest season ever.. well mostly my first season.
got down 50-50’s on a few boxs and rainbows, then frontside boardslide on a box, managed a frontside 180 on a few small kickers mind you i couldn’t snowboard to save myself at the start of the season, toeside was a foreign concept to me but now i love it. hopefully next season i’ll get to do some bigger box’s and start down boxs and try some 3’s and perfect my 180’s 240 days until june 12 2011 and counting…

there’s kind of a big battleship box at the top of a steep at my local snowflex place… I’ve only tried to hit it a coulpe times, once coming to a dead stop on the flat, and the other time, falling off the side at the flat.
Twice yesterday I made it across it, but on the down, both times… apparently I was leaning toward my toe edge and back leg, shying away from the down, and the steep landing… and I rotated 180 backside coming out switch… and then skidding out a heel edge turn..
At first my wife was at the bottom of the hill

“did you see that?”
“yea, that was awesome”
“It was completely un-intentional!”

I was stoked though..
So when I hit it again… same thing.
Obviously my posture and pressure applied to the board was making me turn. I welcomed the rotation more the second time, but still skidded out the landing. I want 2 things… One to ride it out straight… and next to make that rotation INTENTIONALLY.
I’d like that.

Of course I’ve love to pop over the flat.
and I’ve love to 180 over the flat and hit the down switch… that will take a while and a bit of gusto to hit it with that intent. I’m getting old and doing things on boxes and rails have such high consequence.

This is the battleship box, that I am talking about…

Here is the downhill view of the rail:

Sorry about the size of that one… This is a better pic. They tend to move some of the features around, which is cool, and this double mellow kink isnt still in that location. but the battleship is still there. I doubt they will move it.

that looks soooooooooo fun!

I wish we had a set up like that.

What happened to Hotham? or was it Buller?

I think it’s finally time for me to post in here. It’s frustrating when you don’t progress, and I have probably been stuck there for two solid years due to lack of riding and niggling injuries. Over the last two weeks my riding has progressed noticeably. I’ve been feeling strong and super comfortable on my snowboard. We’ve had crazy amount of snow too, which has kept me riding hard all day, every day. In regards to progression, I feel as though my steering, edging, and pressure control have all improved, resulting in noticeable performance increases in carving and freeriding. I have also hit a lot of lines and cliffs I’ve wanted to do for some time. I’ve done more big drops in the last week than I ever have before. I’m having a great time on my board and enjoying snowboarding more than ever before, and that’s big call. Good times…

Who else has progressed this season? Let’s hear it!

Suppose I should post in here. Feeling a hell of a lot more comfortable on a board than I ever have, whether it be flat base, holding edges or riding through the trees I’m definitely feeling like I’ve progressed heavily in the past few months as compared to my last season here where I definitely just got complacent with my riding. I’d say improving my stance and improving my core strength has been a key contributor in all these aspects. My park riding has improved as I was definitely hesitant at the start of the season given previous injuries sustained but I can say that is hasn’t improved as much as I would have liked but theres still plenty of time for that to take place over the coming months. I’d also like to see myself hit a few more cornices and drops soon as I’ve only done a few in the past with mixed results haha

Been out 21 times (and counting this season) and 10 times last season, with this being my second season. I felt my riding improved tremendously, from steering, carving, riding pow. I’m way more comfortable tackling moguls/bumps now, trees, and riding the deep stuff. I can go much faster than I previously can although I’m sure it’s probably some of you guys’ cruising speed . Still have a bit of problem with being totally flat base and 1 footed gliding. Tried a few small park jumps but haven’t been able to land one cleanly. Can hit small jumps on the side of the runs if the landing is not banked and icy. Practiced some switch riding although it’s still very sucky at the moment, can go really slow and on green runs only. Overall I’m pretty happy with my progress since I basically just watch instructional vids, advices from forums on riding, and then just trial and error basically. Hopefully I can get better next season and be able to ride with some of you guys