Finally got someone to film my riding

Did you flow binding unclip by itself at the end?  Damn.  I don't think you want that happening unless your friend is a foot surgeon.

I am interested in how much dorsiflexion you get on your rear foot. at 03:26, you seem to have a lot - do you have your rear binding much looser than your front one?  I am still experimenting with this  - if I have it loose, or use a less-stiff boot, the bumps can hurt the ankle joint when you hit them, as in spraining territory. when I tighten up, I can't seem to drop the rear knee as easily...

I like the Rome pivot mount that allows me to lower the ankle strap on the rear binding.  That's on all-mountain/pow boards though, their base isn't the most responsive for carving.

Posted by: @slaybells

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Did you flow binding unclip by itself at the end?  Damn.  I don't think you want that happening unless your friend is a foot surgeon.

Yeah it did. Pretty scary situation but I managed to lift the board up to make sure it doesn't start to rotate. What can happen in that kind of situations is that the board rotates 180° around your body and that will surely hurt your knee. Luckily I managed to avoid that. The problem with flows is that the forward lean adjustment screw doesn't have much friction so it had come loose which resulted in less forward lean but also a bit loose fit for the closing mechanism. So when I slid on my back there, the closing mechanism lever hit the snow and opened. I read that some people have reversed the lever but to me it looks like it would be really hard to operate that way. I'm planning to apply a bit of soft loctite to the forward lean adjustment screw to make sure it stays put.

I think I'll just ditch the flows for my duck stance setup (I was riding -21R/+21F in the vid) and only use the flows for posi/posi where the opening lever is facing backwards. I rode one day with my earlier Salomon Quantum setup after that crash and I think I like the Quantums better. Flows are still great but they have these strange problems.

Posted by: @slaybells

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I am interested in how much dorsiflexion you get on your rear foot. at 03:26, you seem to have a lot - do you have your rear binding much looser than your front one?  I am still experimenting with this  - if I have it loose, or use a less-stiff boot, the bumps can hurt the ankle joint when you hit them, as in spraining territory. when I tighten up, I can't seem to drop the rear knee as easily...

That's a good question. I think it has more to do with the angles I'm using. I have negative 21° for my back foot so when I apply toe edge pressure, the knee drops much lower than with posi/posi stance (or rather much more towards the edge than the nose of the board). This is actually a problem for duck stance deep carves since if I don't time the leg extension well, I will "boot out" with my back knee hitting the snow and popping the tail of the board out from the carve. I just measured quickly with a phone app and it looks like my max dorsiflexion is around 36°. Note that I ride with pretty extreme edge angles so without a boot that would mean my knee hits the snow already at around 54° edge angle but in reality I go over 80°. That's why I need to time the extension of my legs well to avoid "booting out" with my knees.

The straps weren't loose in that vid (other than the back binding forward lean being less than I had dialed in, as described above) but these are Flow Fuse Carbon Hybrid so they are quite a bit softer than the NX2s. I like to have quite a bit of flex to move around over the board.

I do have strong ankles since my style uses ankles a lot. For extreme case see this: https://carversconnection.com/community/soft-boots/importance-of-highbacks-or-lack-of/

Last season I actually run into situations where my ankles couldn't handle my riding when I had ridden posi/posi hardboot setup for the whole season and then I suddenly changed to softboot duck setup and expected I could just ride as hard as my technique allows. Turns out you really have to build your muscles through the season. 🤣 I have never really done any strength exercise so that kind of things come as surprises for me. 🤐 

Posted by: @xargo

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Turns out you really have to build your muscles through the season. 🤣 I have never really done any strength exercise so that kind of things come as surprises for me. 🤐 

I noticed after Covid, that yes, I needed this for the type of riding I do.  I used to keep fit with 5-a-side football for years and that was enough, but recently that also gave me some injuries, well that and age - lack of elasticity due to age hasn't helped.  So...Plantar fasciitis, knee issues, Achilles tendonitis, pulled hamstrings - have it all on top of the original flat feet.  So, definitely a training program needed before a snowboard season these days, especially for the knee.  And just not stretching, but proper mobility training!  In a way it is a good thing, because I now pay more attention to how my physiology works, technique, and what my limitations are. 

Posted by: @slaybells

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And just not stretching, but proper mobility training!  In a way it is a good thing, because I now pay more attention to how my physiology works, technique, and what my limitations are.  

Yeah, I had to resort to rubber band exercises as well. I hate that shit but I love being able to carve deep even more. 😆 

Here's some footage from last Friday that didn't make it to the previous vid.

Slope wasn't as soft so I could go a bit deeper but looking at this vid now, I was holding back too much, could have gone even deeper. It's just hard to place your turn (and your hand) with all those trenches. 🙄 Oh well, next time. This is with Salomon Quantum bindings and now that I've ridden Flows and Quantums back to back, I prefer Quantums for this duck stance deep carving. Flows will be my posi/posi bindings from now on.

@xargo ok, love watching this video - fellow goofy as well, and loving that heel-side technique - taking notes.  Mine is defo not as clean, and I can only do it with angulation (which is fine for most, but I am in Switzerland and started this whole thing with EC, so..). 

One thing I need to ask because this is holding me back - you look very experienced, and you have probably made peace with the risk, but you touch the snow with your hand at wrist level - if the terrain is rough you could catch it and hurt your wrist/shoulder.  Have you discounted making contact with your whole forearm to minimise that?

A friend lent me his gloves once, which had a puck glued in the palm, and that gave me more confidence to "reach out", which also means, having the correct fore-aft weight balance. I think i need those "training wheels" again.

My last gasp this weekend in Austria - Hintertux - hope the snow is carvable!  The plants and trees have already decided - huge pollen mounds everywhere! I may do season end in Sölden, but only if the snow is good.  Just gets super expensive for a punt.

Posted by: @slaybells

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ok, love watching this video - fellow goofy as well, and loving that heel-side technique - taking notes.  Mine is defo not as clean, and I can only do it with angulation (which is fine for most, but I am in Switzerland and started this whole thing with EC, so..).

Thanks! Nothing wrong with angulation though. Especially if the goal is to carve as cleanly as possible. I want to specifically do duck stance EC adaptation so that's why I'm trying to figure out to get rid of angulation but that's pretty hard with duck stance. Much easier with posi/posi.

Posted by: @slaybells

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One thing I need to ask because this is holding me back - you look very experienced, and you have probably made peace with the risk, but you touch the snow with your hand at wrist level - if the terrain is rough you could catch it and hurt your wrist/shoulder.  Have you discounted making contact with your whole forearm to minimise that?

A friend lent me his gloves once, which had a puck glued in the palm, and that gave me more confidence to "reach out", which also means, having the correct fore-aft weight balance. I think i need those "training wheels" again.

The main reason why I don't make contact with the whole forearm is that I've been too lazy with my suit modifications. I already glued a bit of vinyl to my right butt area of my snowsuit so that glides well. Gloves glide well too, I'm using these (good for breaking bad at after ski too):

JOKASAFE.FI "https://www.jokasafe.fi/en/gloves/jokasafe-gloves/1-jokaarctic"

Jokasafe JokaArctic Chemical Protection Vinyl Safety Glove - Jokasafe Oy

Suojakäsineet ja työkäsineet - Kotimaiset suojakäsineet ja työkäsineet vaativiin olosuhteisiin

Jokasafe also offers a custom version with long sleeve but I think I'll just glue some vinyl to my snowsuit arms instead. Currently if my sleeve hits the snow, there's much more friction there compared to the gloves and it can easily get stuck.

Another reason why I don't quite go as low as some EC riders is that I'm still learning/adapting the technique. Also my hand positioning isn't as good as it could be. I sometimes get it right but it's still too inconsistent. Practice, practice, practice. This is the first season of the duck stance EC adaptation trial.

Before I found those Jokasafe gloves, I tried to put a rollerblade wrist guard on top of a snowboarding glove and that worked somewhat well. Probably kinda like the puck you mentioned but I much prefer the Jokasafes. Also I found them discounted at around 15€ per pair and got 4 pairs. 😎 

... and yes, it's risky to drag your hands and I've broken my thumb once doing that (skier's thumb). Visibility was poor and I still put my hand down and there was a ice chunk that had welded itself to the slope and my thumb hit that. Still worth the risk if you can avoid being greedy like that and only go really low if the groomers are good. That and low friction gloves minimize the risk. The problem is that after around 3 runs, you start to hit your own trenches so sessions would become too short if you didn't take any risks. It's always a compromise.

Posted by: @slaybells

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My last gasp this weekend in Austria - Hintertux - hope the snow is carvable!  The plants and trees have already decided - huge pollen mounds everywhere! I may do season end in Sölden, but only if the snow is good.  Just gets super expensive for a punt.

I've been to Hintertux once but can't remember any details since it was some 25 years ago. Just that it was a great trip and I wish to go to Alps again as soon as I'm able but probably different time of season to chase some pow and ride steep groomers. Enjoy your remaining sessions!

those jokasafes are a good tip! and yes I hear you about the risk balance.  I am not perfect myself on that score, which is why i mentioned it when I saw it - wrenched my shoulder many a time...

Thanks - hoping Hintertux has some nice snow.  It is a bit of a trek (for me) - 5-6 hours drive from Zurich region.  Going with a skier mate to some huge place to meet with about 20 people from Germany and surrounding areas!  It will be a hoot!

@slaybells
Re: hand/upper limb protection options.

I built my own hand armour after breaking the index finger of my dominant hand in 2013.
Based around Komperdell World Cup Punch Guards. (right click - Open image in new tab)

FORUMS.ALPINESNOWBOARDER.COM "https://forums.alpinesnowboarder.com/topic/37883-alpine-snowboarders-hand-armour/?do=findComment&comment=442576"

Alpine Snowboarders Hand Armour - Carving Central - AlpineSnowboarder

I smashed a finger in my right hand in February 2013 while racing NASTAR at Highlands. A fall forward onto outstretchedhands at some speed. I was wearing wrist braces at the time, and looking at the injury it seemed likely that the bone had shattered against the front edge of the wristguard. Ther...

The thread the post is in has a wide range of opinions about the concept. Been using the various iterations of it since 2014 and now feel kind of "naked" without my hand helmets/"knuckle-draggers". In falls the round shape absorbs impact, then the HDPE shell slides across the snow, so that my whole upper limb is shielded from impacts. If the snow is soft enough for it to sink in, a hand will dig in even more.

My latest hand armour in use (4th iteration, next gen on from the post above), NZ winter 2023.

@riotsupercarver you made your own mountain knuckle dusters!