by Guest » Tue Sep 07, 2004 6:55 pm
I had been using a 3.5-degree parking lot and was looking for some new territory. A few weeks ago, I found 5-, 6-, and 7-degree runs with fresh asphalt in a new housing development. Unfortunately, the 6- and 7-degree runs were a little narrow for my skill level (plus they had dug up some holes for manholes, etc.). The 5-degree run was right beside the main road -- it's actually just a widened part of the road that is not open to the public yet. When I first went down the 5-degree run, I said "Wow! This is LOT faster than 3.5-degrees. It was pretty scary. I made a couple more runs, but finally chickened out and called it quits. It was just too close to traffic for comfort if I botched a turn. I think that one of my problems with the steeper run was that I was thinking too much about what would happen if I missed a turn. If I had duplicated what I was actually doing on the 3.5-degree run, I don't think that I would have had a problem after the first run or so. Oh well, another day...
I'm not getting out as frequently on the Carvers, but am still seeing improvement each time. I *was* having problems with a lack of dynamics. Basically, I was just too mental about it and was deliberating too much about each turn. As a result, my turns were too long and not quick enough. So, I watched Jay Peterson's videos a few times and then tried to duplicate the feel of what he and Harald were doing. That and not worrying so much about my form/technique, pretty much solved the problem with dynamics.
Last Sunday, I set out tennis ball halves as a slalom course, following Harald's suggestions at 15 vertical feet apart (but all in a row). At first, after the first 4 gates, I could only make every other "gate" so I was really skiing a 30-foot vertical distance between gates. Gradually, things improved so that I could make more and more gates before missing a gate. By the end of the hour, I was consistently making the 15-foot gates and was controlling my speed. The big payoff came when I moved over to a slightly steeper run without slaloms. I discovered that I was much more in control and much more dynamic. What had been a steeper run was no longer as steep.
I've faxed my registration for the October Carver Camp. Who else is going?