Flat board
Just a question on riding with the board flat - going straight.
Am I supposed to be on an edge the whole time, or flat boarding? I’ve had a few instances going straight on the flat of my board on some hilly blue runs and I catch an edge and go flying! Usually if I get to a flat bit I’ll just initiate a turn but a really really long turn so I am basically still going as straight as possible - but on an edge. This time though the run I was on was quite narrow and undulating which didnt give me much room to ‘turn’. (and I watched some dude just flatboard, knees bent, super turbo warp speed the whole way!)
Can anyone shed some light here?
I love this topic!
As a start please check out the article and video I made about straight runs.
https://www.boardworld.com.au/content/category/straight-runs/
Key points: NO EDGE AT ALL, base flat!! Loose lower body (works like suspension). Keep your upper body aligned perfectly over your snowboard. Relax!
Let me know if that answers all your questions. I would be more than happy to discuss it further with you.
Ta!
I think I know where I’m going wrong. I have no clue when my board is aligned perpendicular to my direction of travel and hence I am getting some edge catching sometimes. Thinking about it, if my board is fully perpendicular to my direction of travel, it is basically impossible to catch an edge.
I THINK that’s what I’m doing wrong anyway haha. Will give that a go this weekend!
my advice would be to practice this skill (really useful for freestyle and park riding) at low to intermediate speeds. you’ll know when you’ve got it dialed enough to do it really fast. when i was learning this or when i’m doing it in hard conditions i try and really focus on what feelings i’m getting from my ankles and i’m ready to start to turn onto either edge at any moment. Like rider26 said, loose lowerbody, sharp mind should help you out. Its so fun to challenge yourself to straight lining certain sections of hills, and when that gets to easy, switch straight lining is an addcition in store.
my advice would be to practice this skill (really useful for freestyle and park riding) at low to intermediate speeds. you’ll know when you’ve got it dialed enough to do it really fast. when i was learning this or when i’m doing it in hard conditions i try and really focus on what feelings i’m getting from my ankles and i’m ready to start to turn onto either edge at any moment. Like rider26 said, loose lowerbody, sharp mind should help you out. Its so fun to challenge yourself to straight lining certain sections of hills, and when that gets to easy, switch straight lining is an addcition in store.
haha, yes to switch straight lining
i’m looking forward to riding with you again one of these season will. although i’m pretty sure i heard your doing switch back sevs so maybe i’ll just be making a mess of my pants in the black park if we meet up.
I cant wait to get to this topic, but things that are running through my head right now are:
snakey turns.
weighting and unweighting.
nervous leg extension.
controlling the board vs the board controlling you.
I am only leaving this post to put some quick thoughts and ‘notes’ down… I’ll get back to this when I have a little more time. I feel like I have a lot to share about it, though.
Yea!
Here I go.
Innocence, If some of this that I am about to say makes no sense to you, dont worry about it. Jeremy (rider26) has really provided all the info you need. I will elaborate into details that will hopefully be interesting to other instructors, and while I am at it, if it makes sense to you then great.
There is a way to learn how to do this.
There is many ideas as to what is happening as to why you are unable to do this (by the way that you are trying to do it).
There are other alternatives.
snaky turns.
I have heard many advise others who have this problem to make small turns with just using your ankles, and maybe some of your knees to be making very small turns - one right after the other. This is an alternative to a long straight run. the truth is that you want to stay in control and if straight runs arent working for you, your balance may still need further developing, or your ablity to control the board and not let it control you may still be developing. The goal here is to get down the mountain and not fall, right? so any way that you can make that happen is good. and any way that I can help you learn to either do it differently or more effectively is good, right?
Doing some snaky turns and not being exactly straight may serve this purpose. It may prevent you from falling. Just rocking a little bit from edge to edge puts you in control of the board and prevents the board from turning on you without you wanting it to.
You mentioned keeping the board perpendicular to your direction of travel… I think you mean parallel. The big word for this is called the ‘fall line’, basically it is the straight way down the hill from the point you are starting at. if you were standing on a different part of the trail the straight way down may be a slightly different path or direction - it depends on the way the hill is shaped. basically you want the board pointed straight down teh fall line, parallel to the fall line… IN the fall line. This will help keep the board straight.
You want to control the board and not let the board control you.
You need to stay in control. you have to remain in an athletic stance, and as Jeremy said “Keep your upper body aligned perfectly over your snowboard” This may be the most important part of keeping the board straight. Keep an even distribution of your weight on each foot. not more weight on the front or the back. This in itself with the imperfections of the snow can contribute to the board turning. Keeping your knees bent and not standing too tall helps keep your center of mass low to the ground and more stable. The taller you stand the less stable you are as a rider. Keeping your knees bent and staying loose helps absorb all the imperfections in teh snow, and allows you to bend or straighten your knees in case you need to turn the board.
Weighting and unweighting / nervous leg extension.
Man, I dont know what it is, but many learners like to stand really tall, so that they cant straighten the legs much any more… in addition to this problem, many learners tend to stiffen up and straighten the legs (the knees) as the get more nervous. This cause many negative effects. Think about this nervous leg extension and dont do it any more… easier said than done, yes, but know that it is a common defense mechanism and try to fight against that urge.
Both of the below suggested exercises can be done when standing on the ground to understand the body movement I am talking about.
Weighting.
This is adding weight to the board, or increasing the pressure that your body is putting on the board. The most common way that this is done…. you can weight (or press down harder on the board) by moving from a low squatting (knees bent) position into a standing position… Think of your lower body doing the work and your legs straightening and pushing down onto the board.
Unweighting.
The opposite of weighting, of course - this is to reduce the pressure placed on the board, sort of lightening the weight of your body on the board. the most common way that this is done is to move from position of standing upright, into a squatting position, but do this and think about lifting your legs up to you… not so much of lowering your upper body down toward your legs. (I hope you can notice the difference).
A very interesting thing about unweighting is that you can you can slowly and lightly move in the same manner that you would for weighting… but be unweighting. dont let me lose you here - I’ll try and explain. At first you went from a squat to a stand to try and add weight or press down on the snow with a greater force…. but if you move from a squat to a stand and do it in a manner that you are raising your upper body - not pushing your lower body down… you can be unweighting. A lot of this depends on if your upper body is bent over or if your knees are bent and then straightening. Basically you can be unweighting if you are straightening your legs but not doing it in a manner that you are pushing down to the snow with a force. This may happen more likely at the top of that movement )once standing tall) more likely than during that movement. (could the same be said about weighting and the opposite movements - hmmm interesting discussion, but not for this topic).
Now, back to our discussion about how come the board turns on you and makes you fall, when you really want to be going straight down the hill????
I would suggest that you may be moving your body in a manner that is contributing to some sort of unweighting process. Think again back to the comment “Keep your upper body aligned perfectly over your snowboard” this would mean a bent knee athletic stance where your weight is evenly centered and actually pushing down to ensure the board is in contact with the snow at all times and most importantly YOU ARE IN CONTROL of the board.
I hope this makes some sense to you.
One error I used to do, and it took me forever to find out…
((((Continued from above))))))
Is that I would get nervous and be thinking about needing to keep my knees bent. I would then be getting lower to the ground and unweighting my board. this contributed to a loss of control and the board would turn on me and contribute to me falling.
If for now rocking a little from edge to edge seems to increase your comfort on this, do what you gotta do, but think about how you are moving your body to either add pressure to the board, or reduce the pressure to the board and see if it helps with keeping in control.
snowslider, you have given me a lot of food for thought! thanks very much!
haha yup i meant parallel. 
i was taught by an instructor to ‘stand and squat’ (“rhythm” she called it) during phases of my turns however she didn’t elaborate and teach it like you did, explaining it was to create and absorb pressure via leg extension / body movements. you are a good coach! i will try to be mindful of these mechanics at work the next time i ride!
I like those terms “create and absorb pressure” thanks for sharing that. That is exactly what I was describing.
I like finding various ways to express what I am trying to say, and this gives me additional terms to use.
I like helping, and I am glad that I have been able to help you.
-stick around, there’s many people on here that know a lot about snowboarding and equipment.