First day on Carvers

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Postby Max_501 » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:45 pm

Icanski wrote:I can get nice slaloms going but I'm not able to get them to come all the way across the hill or that close to it before transition. I'll keep at it and see if I can't tighten it up.


The tighter turns are still giving me grief. For some reason my outside carver wants to rail on the tighter turns. I did have better success today when I realized I wasn't tipping as much as I should be. So, maybe try to tip more.


Icanski wrote:I'm on the Pros, and I'm wondering how much moving the front axle back helps. I'm using a 303 boot and the front xle is a bit ahead of the front of the boot.


The shorter the base the tighter the turn. I've got a 315mm boot and I'm thinking of moving mine back. Gotta be careful not to fall over the toes though.
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Postby Icanski » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:04 pm

HI Max,
Thanks for the tips. ( we met at A-Basin last Spring)
I'm going to see if moving them back will have me hanging ten. right now, the wheels are ahead of my boot tips, if moved to the back position they'd be right under the tips, so I don't think they'd be too far back, but first I'll try tipping more.
If I did move them back I may leave the toe bumpers on so I don't scrape up the bottom of the alu-channel in the front. Otherwise, i don't like those bumpers much, they catch rocks and make them scrape and stop that skate: not good. I haven't gone down, but it's the bumpers that have gotten me closest, not the technique. Maybe there there to keep us awake and sharp (eh, Harald?) :)
I'll let you know how it turns out.
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Postby Max_501 » Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:51 pm

Icanski wrote:...but it's the bumpers that have gotten me closest...


No bumpers on my Comps.
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Postby h.harb » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:29 am

We are back from a 4 day climbing trip to the south of Colorado. It seems some of the Carver tips suggested here are being used and are working.

Yes, moving the front wheels back to the optional holes (shorter wheel base) makes sharper turns more accessible. Boot tightness is personal. I learned that I can carve tighter turns with shaper bigger angles with a very loose setup. I don?t really buckle my top buckles tight and keep my fore/aft very flexible. Diana on the other hand, sets up her boots with more tightness, but she has very mobile feet.

I found my on snow skiing, boot canting set up, was too aggressive (too bowlegged) for carvers. I tipped myself in and took the cuff in and that helped.

The key to finishing turns more across the falline on Cravers is, as some have discovered ?tipping more?. How do you achieve more tipping; therefore more finish of the turn across the falline. The answer continues to be tip more, or keep increasing tipping at the bottom of the arc, until you face the side of the road?

You have to bend the knees and be flexible with legs at the point of release. This means being dynamic rather than static, create some movement.

I could basically re-write ?Essentials of Skiing?, for Carvers, but it would be the same.

Carvers can be intimidating at first, they require constant alertness, this can lead to tension and static, stiff positions. Skiing is not a total letting go of muscle tension either. There has to be a balance of muscle activity in the legs and hip muscles, between not only which are tense or relaxed, but their timing of these contractions. This coordination allows the tool to function in that environment. The activity of coordinating relaxing muscles and muscle tension or contraction is what you are developing through Carver training. . It?s this balance that allows for movements in the right places and transfers to real positive changes to your on snow skiing. .

Of course developing balance is key to learning these muscle relationships. When you are relaxing; your muscles will act more naturally. But, you will only begin to relax if you are balanced.

How do you become comfortable and develop better balance? Do the beginning exercises again and than do them over, and than revisit them. Go back to skating on Carvers. Make circles and change direction by changing edges. Practice your stepping with thousand steps. Do garland tipping across the slope. Make sure you are completing the arc back up the slope, so you develop a sense for how much you have to tip to complete an arc. Be patient, small changes have to happen at these introductory levels and you have to be aware of them, if you are to incorporate them into your regular training runs.

We have the longer wheel base option on Carvers to make them feel more like skis, because they turn too easily for expert skiers and racers. Becoming a competent skier on Carvers involves a different metric of skiing proficiency. I have seen experts suffer; crying on Carvers, until they learned or changed their approach. How can they be considered experts on snow but not on Carvers? Which approach did they use that didn?t do the job? It?s easy to cheat on snow without even knowing you are doing it.

This is why good race coaches see the value in Carver training. The same mistakes are amplified on Carvers. They can address the mistakes directly. Many experts have some form of cheater move in their snow skiing and it becomes very obvious on Carvers, yet on snow they can hide it. Snow is much easier and more forgiving and it?s very hard to see cheating on snow, especially when it?s well disguised with experience, speed and dynamics.

For instance: leg steerers, foot pivoters and skidders have difficulty. These weaknesses (when they are your only movments you use to ski) are immediately exposed. Skiers who don?t use or have an upside-down balance phase, in their on snow skiing, gain too much speed and are forced into making large turns on Carvers.

Carvers put your skiing under a microscope, for some that?s uncomfortable. For those that want to correct their errors and improve quickly, it?s a great tool.
Last edited by h.harb on Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Max_501 » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:37 am

Harald, do you run your front axle in the forward or rear position?
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Postby h.harb » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:52 am

Forward on the Comps
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Postby arothafel » Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:32 pm

An add-on to Harald's post. Take LOTS of video. I did a couple of years ago. I posted it. Within 20 minutes I received a PM from Jay who found all kinds of stuff going on in my carver videos. And, yup... every little thing you do in skiing is AMPLIFIED on the carvers.

In my case, my new stance carver always railed - not enough counter and too much inside lean - (you can see it on the post with Jeremy and me racing the dual slalom run at Hood). The problem is evident in my skiing, too, although as Harald points out, much more subtle and easier to get away with.

My daughter takes video of my whole body and then shoots from knees down. Very helpful.

I've been working on upside down turns and when I make a little more progress, I'll post the video for an MA.

Art
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Postby Icanski » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:22 pm

Thanks so much for the tips Harald. The Carvers certainly do require attention, focus, and they point out a lot of things to work on immediately. I'll go back to the basics and work, and then take a few runs to let it all come together.
You can hide alot on the snow, and you also don't have to worry about cars on the slopes.

I'm still curious as to the design reason for the bumpers. I know they stop quickly when they touch, but I can imagine how fast the aluminum might grab if it touched. :shock:

regards,
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Postby Icanski » Sun Oct 28, 2007 11:57 am

Today I dropped my daughter off at her dance class, and then strapped on my carvers. Outside her studio is a nice dip where the road drops down to go under a large railway overpass and then goes back up on the other side. It's steeper than my usual place by my house, so I thought it would be fun to try. It's about a 50 yards on one side and then 100 on the other. It's a decent pitch. I would slalom down one side and skate up the other, then turn around for the longer run down and back up again. So I could do loops. It was a hoot.
I got the chance to really link some turns together which felt great.
I've taken the bumpers off which helps, and was cruising along. I got lots of weird looks from people who drove by every so often.

One thing I discovered, which I knew from inlines, is BEWARE little tar filled strips/cracks in the road: they bite your wheels and hold them. My stance leg hit one just at the right angle and grabbed, but my balance immediately transfered to my free foot, which was pulled back even to the stance. My stance leg sort of flipped out to the side, but I carried on with the turn with no problem since the free foot caught me. My heart rate monitor beeped, since my heart rate shot up! but it proved the worth of having the feet even without tip lead. Had I had the free foot forward: I'd have hit the pavement.

It was great doing these circuits: ski down, herringbone/skate up; great for cardio.
There wasn't too much room for traversing (traffic possiblities) so I was mainly going in one lane each way.
lots of fun,
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