Some freeriding ideas. <—-dullest title ever?
So I got a little sidetracked with my other thread so i’m gonna try again.
So use of joints in riding….just some ideas…as ever, take, leave, question, contradict….
Stance and Balance: Try moving your hips and shoulders over the nose, tail and centred to adjust your balance along the length of the board. Now try instead moving your board underneath you by use of the ankles, knees and hip sockets. Think about which circumstances each might be best employed?
Pivoting/Steering: (rotational movements): Standing still on a flat bit of snow with your board strapped in try and twist your feet as if you wanted to rip your binding off of the board. Note make sure you’re not twisting your upper body in the opposite direction (try and have all your joints co-operating by twisting the same way) Ok now try this twisting exercise with your legs straight and then again with your legs bent. Which provides more torque? Now go put those movements and feelings into your riding.
Edging: When looking to edge your board, try edging it from the ground up, ie ankles knees then hips. This will keep your body more over your board as well as giving you a more subtle level of control and more ‘feel’. Note: This is only one way to edge, for example this isn’t gonna be best for eurocarving!
Pressure Control: This is something that I personally found made my riding feel much more aggressive. Try and get rid of any spots in or between your turns when you’re not actively feeling your board pressed into the snow. When people are learning, their boards are ‘unweighted’ for quite a while inbetween and at the top of their turns. Try and maintain pressure and snow contact the whole time.
To do this never let your legs get fully straight (locked) and use your ankle and knee joints to make quick extending/contracting movements. Think about a boxer facing ali, he wants to stay close because ali can’t get a good swing at him. As soon as he loses the clutch position (snow contact), Boom! Hope that made sense.
Just post if anything is unclear or you have any questions….I hope people find this useful or at least thought provoking coming into the new season. Yeah snowboarding!!!
Aidy, I’m loving all the insightful tips/comments you’ve been posting of late! Keep it up mate 
Yeah, the content sure makes up for the dull title!!!!! 
Thanks for your kind words, i’ll do my best!
makes for interesting reading when i should be working…
Aidy, I’m loving all the insightful tips/comments you’ve been posting of late! Keep it up mate
spot on.
Excellent points, Aidy. Another well written post, thank you for sharing your insights. I especially enjoyed readying the points about pressure control.
I’m often telling people to push back at the snow, especially when riding fast over bumpy terrain. It’s super important to stay loose but also in contact with the snow. When the snow is pushing at you, loosen up, absorb the terrain with your front foot followed immediately by your back foot. When the snow is backing away from you (i.e. down the back of a bump, drop in terrain etc.), push back just as hard!
nice Aidy.
So much can be said in addition to your comments. more detail and the answers to your own questions on where and when to apply these movements.
What makes a good free rider?
One that can apply the movements you mention at the most effective times.
How do you know when is the most effective timing?
Get out there and ride.
A good rider can apply these at ANY time in riding… Is it most effective at the time you are trying to apply that movement, probably not and that is why it is difficult to apply it.
Get out and ride, and try all this stuff out. Find a body movement… ANY movement, how does it make the board move? does that change anything in teh early part of the turn>? the middle of the turn? the end of the turn? in between turns? on a transition? on a box/rail? in the air?
possibilities are endless - (lol welcome to snowboarding right!)
I agree with you snowslider, a very good way to learn is to combine a bit of thought with as much shredding as possible. Don’t ever let this get in the way of pure fun! More see it as a tool to create the maximum amount of snowfun that you can. For example I can’t do front tail bagels on single bars, but i know when i do i’m gonna be like the happiest dude for ages!!! It’s gonna be tight, just gotta keep working up to it in sensible stages.
More more boring old man comment: What rider said about the skills being a pyramid is important, it really only makes sense to work on a skill if the ones below (in the pyramid structure) are solid. Obvious but like many obvious things, easily forgotten.
any chance one of you more advanced riders could give a quick example of the pyramid? just in txt form?
any chance one of you more advanced riders could give a quick example of the pyramid? just in txt form?
Hell yeah!!!! Maybe even put it in the Tips and Tricks Section of the Snow Home Page????
Or as a Sticky in this Topic????
Good tips, I really like the edging part. I’ve been working on improving my toe edge carve cause it’s a little sloppy sometimes right at the start. I’m thinking this could really help. I’ll try it tomorrow.
Also my evil side wants to say “What? No Timing and Coordination?” 
any chance one of you more advanced riders could give a quick example of the pyramid? just in txt form?
The 5 Basic skills pyramid:
These are the skills (bottom = most important to top = least important… generally… for basic riding )
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll/.......................................\
Top of Pyramid:lllllllllllllllll/..Timing and Coordination.\
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll/...........Pressure Control…....\
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll/...................Edging…...............\
lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll/.................Pivot/Steering…........\
Bottom of Pyramid:l/................Stance & Balance….......\
Okay it’s an ugly pyramid, but it’s made of slashes which should mean it has street cred
I could talk all day about this and some of the other instructors could talk even longer but basically:
Anything you want to learn on a snowboard will use 1 or 2 of these skills primarily but really if u look hard enough most things you will try on a snowboard will use ALL of these skills.
To learn how to carve, ride pow or learn a new trick you should think about how your going to use all of these to do it.
You might say sometimes you don’t use all the skills eg.
Rails - Edging isn’t used on rails… until you catch an edge… then suddenly your very worried about edge control (Edging isn’t just carving but any time you use your edges or choose to only use the base… so always) I think it should be called edge control.
Hope that’s helpful, feel free to question away.
Had a go at working on my edging when i went to perisher for the charity weekend, even though im still a beginner, i could totally notice the difference when i actively had my mind on making the edge work hard. Thanks for the tips and information!
If anyone had any tips for a beginner wanting to better their switch riding, apart from ‘ride more switch’ - the obvious one. Please let me know ! To give you an idea, when i ride switch (im regular so when im switch im goofy) i feel i have no control over either feet but mainly my back foot. When im riding switch i find myself going back to the extreme basics and throwing my shoulders/upper body around to change edges..
Any info would be sweet, thanks for all the advice so far!
Cheers
Hey tracvks, glad this thread gave you some ideas. On the switch. Two quick thoughts. firstly make sure you’re practicing on terrain you feel comfortable on, green with good snow conditions is what i usually choose as you want to be able to focus on the challenges of riding switch not the terrain. Secondly, be your own coach. You mention your shoulders are jerking around when you ride switch (this is understandable, we all do these actions when we’re out of balance). You can be your own coach by doing some turns in your normal stance and working out what your hips and shoulders are doing, once you have go back into switch and try and copy. You can use this technique on all elements of your switch riding including freestyle. Sometimes it even works the other way!
Hope that made sense.
Made sense to me Aidy!!!!!
I have the same trouble when I “try” to ride switch!!!!! After nearly 30 years of surfing, it is such a mind thing for me!!!!!!