setup/stance showing movement.

[Robbo]

I have some comments on changes I've made to my stance/board setup recently. feel free to disagree with anypart of this
I'm 5',7" & weigh about 10st.
I started off with a stance width of 19" with 15 deg on the front foot and 0 deg on the back binding. It was a bit poo, I was standing very upright. I have progressed this now to a stance width of 21" and 15deg on front and back feet, forward lean is 8deg - I'm thinking of putting this up to 12deg as soon as my legs can handle the burn So I'm pretty flexed and duck stance - that's a load of techie data for you.

The point I'm trying to get to is:

All these changes have left me more flexed and lower over the board, should this make fore and aft pressure easier to implement and more noticeable from an instructor/assesment point of view?


Comments, please.

cheers,

Robbo.

[Silber]

Robbo, this is an Extreme Carving Site... here stances under 45 are allowed only in the off piste section....

In terms of stance take the length of you legs from your hip to your foot and divide by 3,5. That's pretty much the stance width u want to have.

Good luck. U need it.

[Robbo]

Robbo, this is an Extreme Carving Site... here stances under 45 are allowed only in the off piste section....

"Technical topics about riding on piste, carving or extremecarving."

Sorry, that's really (un)helpful. Seeing as I'm progressing my carving.

[Silber]

Sorry, I was editing my previous comment. Check it for the stance. If you are riding an alpine we all tend to ride around 60 and 55. On my custom x (boarder cross) I ride 30 front 15 back.

[Robbo]

oh, and being English and over 25, I quoted you inches not centimetres on my stance width 21 inches = 53.34 centimetres.
sorry

[nils]

Robbo,
there is not indeed any rule for setting stance... its about what feels comfy with you. it means you need to ride with the screwdriver in the pocket, and experiment various stances.
Start with the middle inserts on both feets, and then increase symetrically and decrease etc..
until u are happy Same goes with angles: decrease until your feet touch almost...then you're set

Nils

[frunobulax]

Robbo,
is this a hardboot setup you described? Guess nodody here can imagine a hardboot setup with binding angles that low. Additionally if you ride on a carving board (which is usually less than 25 cm = 10 inches wide) you will have a lot of boot overhang so your boots will touch the snow very frequently.
Things would be different if we're talking about softboots.
Get me right, no prejudice about softboot carving, but you should give a little more information.

[Robbo]

I'm pretty happy with my setup now. I'm not looking for definative suggestions on binding angles etc, although they probably will change! - and I've pretty small feet anyway!

I guess what I'm trying to say is that with these changes (a wider stance/more forward lean etc) a more postive weight shift occurs giving a better "flow" or "rythm" to the turns that you are making. Ultimately more loading/pressure is put into the board, resulting in the edge change occuring earlier in the fall line and therefore turns becoming more dynamic?

Cheers,

Robbo.

<edit> Oh, and soft boots. too

[frunobulax]

Ok. Hmmm, I don't consider myself as an expert with softboot carving, but I do agree that a flexed basic position is essential for good, fluid carving. And I'd also agree that more forward lean should result in more pressure on the tip of the board (depending on the angles) thus making turn initiation quicker.
Esp on heelside turns the board will be tilted on the edge earlier and higher.
But of course any change in forward lean will affect both toe- and heelside so the more the board is tilted on the heelside the less it will be on the toeside.

[Silber]

If you use the search function u can find many topics regarding stance and angles set up. Last year somebody even built an excel spreadsheet to calculate your correct stance, while somebody else draw a 3D model of a skeleton on a board.

Just make sure you don't ride with same angles on the board. It is not natural due to human hip configuration and thus could be harmful to your body (and not as comfortable..) Keep a 5 degrees difference at least.

Furthermore the 8 degrees forward lean is not a good idea as u can still bend forward a lot without it, but u can rest when it is not needed (I locked my boots with a lot of forward lean only while doing slalom). Bring it back up and bend your legs pushing forward to increase lean. Just to give u an idea, I ride my swoard with the back boot on walk position....

Have fun & Try Alpine

Ciao