feedback on my riding
Jeremy,
As I mentioned before, I was hoping to post a vid of me riding to get some feedback from you (and the other instructors) on my technique. What would be the best way to post a vid?
Probably a Youtube or Vimeo link. Looking forward to helping you with feedback.
ok cool, im trying youtube. First time uploading a vid - man it takes ages.
ok cool, im trying youtube. First time uploading a vid - man it takes ages.
thats youtube for ya. go build yourself an airplane and come back to check on it ;P
Ok so I’ve uploaded a vid. Hopefully the link below works.
Like I mentioned any advice and feedback on what I am doing ok and what needs improving would be great.
Couple things I am conscious of with my technique, 1) on my heels I can tend to lean with my upper body over my toes a bit to help provide more weight for really digging in the heels (if that makes sense). I will do this more if I am trying to really slow down and apply more pressure. 2) Again during a heel turn, I tend to slide a out a bit. I think my ability to carve is better on toes. However, I was aware of both of these things before I went to NZ so I was very conscious and made an effort to combat these habits. I think particularly my need to lean at the waist dramatically reduced (which was probably helped a lot by doing more leg exercises of late).
I was thinking of adding another vid or two as theres perhaps not too much footage to go off, what do you reckon? I have a vid from last year were I am just cruising and those tendencies I mentioned above are much more present I think.
Oh and I recommend everyone check out the vid purely for my mates hilarious stack (he catches an edge while going straight and trying to film).
Thanks
Oh and I recommend everyone check out the vid purely for my mates hilarious stack (he catches an edge while going straight and trying to film).
I can’t help on the technical side but his stack is pretty funny. Must be hard to board and film with a camera in hand (?) though.
Its surprisingly not that bad to film while riding. You just have to take it a bit easy. I find when going straight its good to slide on one edge a bit, to help prevent exactly what happens in the vid.
ahahah i didnt see that coming…
i thought he dropped the camera at first
Here are two other vids. This one continues on after the first clip above (after the crash). The camera gets a bit wild but hopefully its ok. Anyone guess what mountain it is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plwzDfFS-bk
This vid is from last year at Thredbo. Like I said some of those technical things I mentioned above are more obvious in this one. Its more free flowing but theres heaps more body movement, arms are everywhere and maybe theres some of the counter rotation Jeremy was talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byVuUeYlrjA
Anyway, I’m not the expert. I’ll leave the ‘real’ assessment up to you guys….
Cheers!
Thats pretty smooth man.
Anyways, Im gonna guess mt hutt?
I look forward to getting to this when I get a little more time.
Initial thoughts…
Third video posted a lot of back arm counter rotating and balancing.
first and second video your style and much improved a more controlled upper body, you are using more of your lower body to control the board. but these are basic turns… when going a little steeper in video 2, you begin to extend your back leg on turns.
all throughout all turns your knees stayed the same bend. it is good that they are bent, but they stay at that level of bend. you shoudl be working your knees and your turns should be getting more dynamic.
I will share more a little later.
I will also reply in detail when I have more time to go through everything later today. Thanks for posting the videos Dan.
Improvement in videos 1 and 2 vs video 3 for sure. Video two shows you slipping the board out too often as snowslider mentioned rather then a nice carve.
The Remarkables sure looked nice this week 
. Just got back from the 35cm dump and 3 days of bluebird days afterwards.
Thanks for getting back to me on this one so quick - am looking forward to both your replies (Snowslider and Rider).
And yeah it is the Remarkables (almost two weeks ago)!
Improvement in videos 1 and 2 vs video 3 for sure. Video two shows you slipping the board out too often as snowslider mentioned rather then a nice carve.
The Remarkables sure looked nice this week
well it seems everyone around me goes up at perfect timings.
when i go, its always cloudy, windy and sleeting.
now it just sounds like im bitchin
OK, so the first 2 vids, are much better form than the last video, which was from the previous season of 08.
the last video has a lot of your back arm swinging around to counter balance with each turn. Watch and see what I mean.
Every turn to your heelside (HS) your back arm and shoulder turned behind you toward your heel…and the opposite, when turning Frontside (FS).
It is important to identify the type of turns you are making. You are making skidded turns. There is a benefit to seeing the difference of a skidded turn and a carved turn. you are not carving your turns…. but that is a different turn all together, I am choose ing to identify what you are currently doing in your turns, and how you could improve that type of turn.
Why are you doing the movements you are doing, and what is the effect it is causing in your riding?
You are using your upper body to control the board (which is connected to your feet)
If you notice how your board is turning on the snow, the most of it’s movement is from the back end of the board.
Note again that it is your back shoulder doing most of the upper body movement. as you rotate your shoulders, you do so in the opposite direction as what you are trying to turn the board… counter rotation… this is a common style developed by riders before they learn to control the board with the lower body, which is where you have progressed to (in part) in your first and second videos.
I think that what I see in the first 2 videos is basically the same style.
you have stopped as much of a counter rotation in the upper body to initiate the turns you are making… but when you start going a little faster, or on steeper terrain you begin to do it again.
this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJSnuoWrQs
First heelside turn at 0:08, not the leading with the front shoulder to turn HS. there is some upper body rotation leading the turn. Is this the movement that is initiating the turn, or just leading it? not sure yet….
Leading the turn is a little different than initiating it. I believe in initiating the turn with lower body and leg, ankle, knee movements to maximize control of the board. small body movements to turn the board leave all the large body movements and upper body to compensate when the terrain changes and surprises, or another rider / skier cuts you off unnoticed etc. It displays great control of the board… so with that being said… back to the video..
Looking at it over and over that first HS turn, I think you are using that upper body rotation to help initiate the turn. You are starting the turn with that motion. Even before you switch edges from toe edge, to heel edge, you have begun to rotate your upper body. this is the first movement that you have made to create the next turn. At 0:07 you are on your toe edge, and have begun to turn the shoulders and then you switch edges to the heel edge, and the board turns around the same time.
Note how your legs move on this turn…
at 0:06 it appears that you have the equal amount of bend in both knees…
at 0:07 it appears that you have more bend in your rear knee… and your rear hip is dropped. (when this is done to a large degree it can also be niticed inyour shoulders, but you arent doing it that much, so it is not displayed in your shoulders.
at 0:08 I cant tell exactly but I assume the same bend remains in both knees.
at 0:09 both knees bend a little more and what appears to be to the same degree, but the back knee still more bent than the front.
and by the time that you get to 0:10 you have straightened your back knee, while your front knee has remained the same.
At the end of 0:09 and 0:10 you can really tell the difference in knee bend, and how it is displayed in your hips.
So if you take that process and look again at last year’s video when you were really swishing around the back of your board… you are doing that much much less. but you still are…
Think of your board as having a PIVOT point underneath it… as it turns on the snow, it sort of spins… if something spins, it spins on a point, think of this as the pivot point. when you are riding and turning the board, where is that pivot point? beginner turns are typically more toward the nose of the board….
Your first TS turn at 0:10, note the leading with the front shoulder…
at 0:11 notice the angle your body leans toward the snow… nice. this is a more advanced and more dynamic skidded turn than what you displayed on your heel edge. ideally you would be leaning to the same degree on both edges… but those arent things most riders even care about. I mention it because it shows your comfort level on your toe edge more than on your heel edge. Your stance and position at 0:11 is about perfect. but the same cant be said at that point in the turn on your heel edge. Also I mention it because that amount of angulation helps tip the board to a higher angle on the snow, this is needed to learn carved turns, instead of skidded turns. If this discussion turns into one that leads the discussion of carved turns, I would begin my thoughts at this point, and the need to have the same amount of angulation on your toe edge as you do on your heel edge.
(to be continued…)