Why rotation technic is worth learning - the answer :-)

[starikashka]

Good day everybody It`s not a new information, but just another 5 cents

My wife have tried hardboots last sunday, before that she spend about 3 seasons in softboots.
She rode my narrow 158cm prototype board which is designed for bomberstyle carving with quite not convinient stance. But i was surprised how easy this was for her to ride alpine board in hardboots. She fell just once on first descent.



This is not a perferct riding, but when i change my stuff to hardboots i did much worse

You can spot her on the background riding in sofboots, note visible shoulders rotation.



On the other side you can see small girl riding snowboard. She was explained how to steer the board by shoulders rotation, but she did it with many small mistakes. For her riding in hardboots became absolute disaster, because she involved a feets and legs to make board turn and fell every frontside turn and skid the tail every backside turn. So it was hard time for little girl who always getting a comments from other people on the slope sort of "wow!cool!"



It`s too early to show the video yet She need to forget her softbooting habits She will be 8 years in May, it`s her personal desire to ride in hardboots

So in summary - if you want to ride hardboots one day, you need to learn rotation to make your change as easy as possible

Hope this helps to those who are hesitating to spend money on hardboot setup and would like to know what has to be done to make change easier

[Transistor Rhythm]

My sister also has troubles doing heelside rotation. I don't know why she has so much trouble as she is pretty atletic and a fast learner in general. I notice your wife has her legs flexed well. Maybe it is hard to do rotation when you are too stiff in your boots or you just don't flex your legs enough?

But it is good to see you take good care of your family

[starikashka]

My sister also has troubles doing heelside rotation. I don't know why she has so much trouble as she is pretty atletic and a fast learner in general. I notice your wife has her legs flexed well. Maybe it is hard to do rotation when you are too stiff in your boots or you just don't flex your legs enough?

But it is good to see you take good care of your family

My hardbooter mates tell me - devil, what a f**k are you doing with those poor girls But for kid it was absolutely voluntarily, for wife - quite compulsory

I think your sister need to have absolutely clear explanation how to do rotation - this is first important piece..Maybe she does not understand....Legs of course has to be flexed and she need to use legs only to absorb slope unevenness at the early stages of learning.

[Abrax]

This is not a perfect riding, but when i change my stuff to hardboots i did much worse

Maybe You had different knowlegde while swaping to the hardboots. Notice that she had good instructor even before the swap...

BTW-> congrats, 3 person family and 3 hardbooters! I am still convincing my wife to try a snowboard for the first time...

[starikashka]

I had no idea how to ride this devil thing. She had

You need to buy snowboarding suite with swarovski crystal for your wife

[Abrax]

Heh... If it was only that simple... Even PRADA wouldn't do a thing

[starikashka]

Ok, how long are you married? Maybe it can be done cheaper, but you would need to do some hardwork

Did some video last sunday. She still skidding..need to find the slope with less steepness.

[Abrax]

I'm with Anna (quite a popular name dont You think?) for 8 years, married since less than 2, but we've been always living with eachother...

At the beginning she said that she will never put a rollerblades on her feet because she is afraid of accidents. After 2 years of thinking and seeing me riding them, it's sometimes hard to do anything else than blading every sunny day in the summer

Did some video last sunday. She still skidding..need to find the slope with less steepness.

Why with less steepness? I have a feeling that she is too stiff with her knees. I also have a feeling that this is trully what differs hardbooters from softbooters. Riding hard You need to be prepared to much more knee flex than while on softboots.

The style in the videos seems little protective, maybe due to awareness, maybe due to the knee flex (which feels weird when switching from softboots). But it is VERY right, so it is perfect to start carved turns.

I feel that carving would be easier and more straightforward on steeper slope. The hardest possible carving is always with minimum speed...

[starikashka]

At the beginning she said that she will never put a rollerblades on her feet because she is afraid of accidents. After 2 years of thinking and seeing me riding them, it's sometimes hard to do anything else than blading every sunny day in the summer

I do not understand - have you convinced her that rollerblade accidents are the great fun?

Why with less steepness? I have a feeling that she is too stiff with her knees. I also have a feeling that this is trully what differs hardbooters from softbooters. Riding hard You need to be prepared to much more knee flex than while on softboots.

The style in the videos seems little protective, maybe due to awareness, maybe due to the knee flex (which feels weird when switching from softboots). But it is VERY right, so it is perfect to start carved turns.

I feel that carving would be easier and more straightforward on steeper slope. The hardest possible carving is always with minimum speed...

She just started and need to do everything right, step by step. This require lot of thinking during the riding.Less speed-more time to think what to do-more chance to do it right , so it`s like driving a car...If you are new driver you never get sportscar and go for NASCAR race...

Here are the latest vids. Third time

[Abrax]

When I've met my Anna, she was far from thinking of any sport she can do. So the first sport was in warm conditions, bicycles. But I don't really like biking, so she was riding my bike and i was ridig my blades. As I've started my rollerblading adventure many years ago, my style is very smooth so when my wife saw it , she was convinced that riding them is very easy. You know, as You always have this kind of impression when You look at ice skaters on the olimpic games...

The first time she said she is interested in rollerblading she got her first pair of blades. It was very similar with the skis, so nothing except her will convince her to do it! That's why I'm not even thinking of svarowski crystals

It was a year after first try when she saw the first wrist braking accident on the street, and she is still very afraid of this kind of event...

About the videos...

Anya has a great feel of what is happening, but I still think, that on this level she won't take any benefit from less steep hill. The balance is really good, as is rotation and stability, congrats, it's beeing fluent! It seems that riding with less people on the slope is the key to the progress, as I can see the difference between the latest two videos. And I can see, that there is no knee problem anymore, she gets smoother and smoother Next step she will discover to catch the edge and hold the turn and You will be in heaven seeing this!

[starikashka]

When i shoot last video i had remote control in my hand It was walkie-talkie and Anya had earphone - it helps to make her get it right.

Slope was crowded really..It`s a green slope for beginners and some of them really slow compared to my daughter.


I will not let her go on steep slope untli she will be able to to closed linked turns of any radius - from big to small. People often try to get more fun without being able to manage a speed...

[Abrax]

It's not about going to steeper slope, which is actually not recommended unless fully linked turn is done - just as You say But don't let her ride on less steep one! This one is good, steep enough to make carved turns, wide enough to be comfortable with it's sides, but too much crowded

Anyway , very nice

[starikashka]

Less steep is not availiable

[Abrax]

[starikashka]

yet another trainig day - preparing ourselves for april Soelden trip