Went out late morning to El Tarter with Jimbo for a little training session - fairly clear day with light snow fall.
Decided to try out his zero-camber Capita - quite a short board (150cm) for my height/weight but very lightweight, flexible and playful.
Hit up a nice training route in El Tarter:
1) Wide mellow red at top of Esquirol
Great for practicing lots of riding foundation, such as switch, carving, ollies & nollies, front 180s and presses.
2) 1st section of snow park (intermediate)
Lots of jib features but with quite steep downhill afterwards, which requires quite aggressive speed checks but a good challenge for skill and confidence.
I tend to hit the wide, rainbow butter box then the wide, butter box with dropoff - good for 50-50s and boardslides.
There is also quite an intimidating kicker but that I fully plan to conker - not too much pop but quite a wide flat before the downhill. Haven’t made the distance yet, but plan is to keep increasing speed and sucking up the jump until happy with solid, balanced approach and comfortable ride away - then gradually add more height and try to float a straight air all the way.
3) 2nd section of snow park (beginner side)
Quite a steep and hard-packed run down to 2nd section of snow park but good for practicing small radius turns and keeping riding tidy and controlled.
Spotted a kicker in the trees and powder - quite aggressive gradient but looks fun, so will hopefully try once we have some more snowfall/powder.
There are then two beginner jumps - nice smooth approaches and mellow kickers with fairly short flat to downslope. That said, I managed to overshoot the 2nd jump as it has a significantly shorter flat than the first, so need to be mindful to ditch some speed. Not a major issue as you just land further into the downslope.
Again, I am working towards solid straight airs on these - I want to build my confidence in the air, and have really clean straight airs as a strong foundation towards more complex jumps and spins.
4) Rejoin Esquirol down to gondola
After the park, we rejoin Esquirol to enjoy the mellow blue slopes down to the gondola - which tend to be quiet at that time of day, as most people are higher up the mountain.
Provides another great set of runs to practice foundation riding.
We then either jump on the chair lift or the gondola, and head back to the top to go again.
When we got back, Claire had cooked up her yummy cabbage and chorizo soup (she stayed at home for a rest day), so we filled our bellies, had a short break, then popped down the road to Sunset Peretol snow park for a little park session.
On the butter box, I started added ollies into/out of my 50-50s, and applying proper counter rotation to my boardslides with an ollie out. Really pleased with increasing confidence, and pulling my boardslides around to the full 90 degrees.
I also practiced some tentative boardslide shuffles on the rainbow box, with ollies off - but had to pop off the side a few times due to lack of speed/poor trajectory!
We also continued to try the full length of the long orange box - still slightly intimidating and always seem to ride off toe side before reaching the end (sometimes with a sketchy and unintended boardslide rotation!)
After watching a video, it seems that both Jimbo and I favour the toe side (probably for fear of falling off backwards) so our posture is slightly leant towards toe. Need to stand up straight, put the balance in the knees rather than letting a bend sneak into the waist - and aim to ride off heel side, as this may compensate and help fix the issues.
Last week, during the powder spell, we managed to start hitting a pipe that had previously intimidated us - however, now the park is groomed, it is proving challenging again. Practiced a few ollie ‘drive-bys’ to improve confidence in the approach and ride away, and psych ourselves up!
Was a nice short session - good to get out when the park opens as it is quiet and you largely have the place to yourself!
Then it was back to the apartment for a yummy homemade curry - best ever!
I decided to remove ollies/nollies from my front 180s training so I could simplify and focus on confidence and familiarity in the rotation and landing - this proved to be really helpful as it gave me far less to think about, and allowed me to get far more reps in with greater success.
I also discussed my tail press issues with Jimbo and realised I was too bent at hip and not enough at knee, and was also not very ‘loose’ and relaxed in stance - Jimbo showed me how you should be able to ride with a more relaxed, open body, that can move almost independently of your lower body performing the press. This gives greater access to balance and control.
I practiced some of the above whilst stationary, then added it to my riding and found some significant improvements. I also realised I am weaker and less coordinated in my left leg (this is my tail press leg when goofy) but, regardless, the only way to improve this is to keep on pressing!
Added some frontside and backside slash practice as found these are a really useful way to practice controlled counter rotation.
Improved my ollies by standing up straighter and having a flatter base for takeoff and landing - this produced a much more stable landing and allowed me to be more free in choosing which edge to ride away in. I have an inclination towards toe side, so I deliberately practiced lots riding away on heel. Some definite progress in technique and confidence.
Added some frontside and backside slash practice as found these are a really useful way to practice controlled counter rotation.
The coming week will be interesting:
Starting on a web project so will be interesting to experiment with the daily routine of snowboarding and then coding
Hoping to get my coaching session booked in with Ash from Snowboard Coach in prep for my BASI Level 2 (plus a reccy trip to Arinsal)
Aiming to pop in to the local ski schools in person to ask about shadowing as have not heard back from emails yet
Good posture - need to get rid of tendency to bend at hip when challenged - keep it in knees and keep a good straight upper body
Keep repping ollies/nollies, basic front 180s and tail press
Switch, switch, switch and more switch!
Keep progressing my foundation riding and get more playful all around the mountain
I also will be experimenting with this daily blog format to make it as quick and easy as possible so I am more inclined to keep it up!
