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Snowboarding for Geeks

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Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#181

Post by beezle »

Phenomenit wrote: post #89
sudosteph wrote: post #47

Snowboarding absolutely is as fun as it looks, but don't underestimate how much it's going to hurt the day after. I've gone nearly a dozen times and I still end up bruised by the end of the day. Admittedly, I'm a bit clumsier than most, but I've never collided with another human being at least. Also, I was surprised that the article didn't mention the one aspect that I actually found way harder than anything else to…

Taught myself riding at an adult age with a lot of pain and preservance. In my experience the hardest thing to do on a board is standing still or going really fast straight. Regarding your problem just try and go back directly instead of standing on your heals. And then do it slower and slower till you can control the action.

Many people you see going fast and straight on a board are riding flat and not on edge. This is bad form and will result in some very painful wrecks.

Carving is actually riding faster than riding flat and straight.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#182

Post by beezle »

mdn0420 wrote: post #70
sudosteph wrote: post #47

Snowboarding absolutely is as fun as it looks, but don't underestimate how much it's going to hurt the day after. I've gone nearly a dozen times and I still end up bruised by the end of the day. Admittedly, I'm a bit clumsier than most, but I've never collided with another human being at least. Also, I was surprised that the article didn't mention the one aspect that I actually found way harder than anything else to…

You'll also learn much faster by going consecutive days rather than going a single day with weeks or months in between.

This is true, but even going once a week works. I find also that beginners take far too many breaks during the day, claiming physical fatique when it is usually just mental. I would always rather see someone quit the day early than stop and start and finish at 4pm.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#183

Post by beezle »

afpx wrote: post #157
GuB-42 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Senior iOS developer, medical doctor,... The common ground is not just geekiness, it is money. Skiing is expensive, and in order to get good, you need to practice a lot. I am curious to know how nerdy skateboarders are. Skateboarding and snowboarding share some similarities, but the former is much more affordable.

So expensive! Only the richest of my friends could go skiing / snowboarding as kids. I wasn’t able to afford it until I was 26. But, then again, in the 80s and 90s, computers were also expensive. I wasn’t able to afford my first computer until I was a junior in college. So, it makes sense that my friends who had computers also went snowboarding.

There are a lot of ways to greatly reduce the cost. You can buy some really great second (even third) hand gear very cheap. Lift tickets at smaller mountains or even hills that are not as challenging to advanced boarders are often very reasonable. If you can adjust your work schedule to free up the odd weekeday that too will save a lot on the lift ticket.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#184

Post by beezle »

ken wrote: post #152
bendixso wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno. I actually don't think it's all that expensive of a sport if you can invest in your equipment and keep it long term. Sure, you'll spend a few grand one season for a setup that will last you three or four seasons. The season pass will set you back another $600 per year roughly. I've had my current setup for five seasons. Same board. Same boots. Same jacket, helmet, pants, etc. If I do a back of the envelope c…

Plus snow tires/chains, a roof rack to carry the gear, and gas and maintenance to drive 1-2 hours (each way) to the pass. Plus non-bulk-homecooked food/snacks to eat while you're out. Plus losing a huge chunk of hours every week, which matters when you're an hourly employee. I bet a good number of people on HN are software engineers who have never had a job where they made less than $100K with "unlimited" vacation. F…

You only need snows when driving on day of storm. Unless you are doing a destination trip. that is avoidable. Any SUV or reasonable sized car does not require a roof rack to fit a couple of boards plus boots and bindings.

Pick smaller mountains for day trips or buy your pass when first on sale to a mountain that does not make snow. As just one example, an early pass to Homewood was $509.

I have sold equipment still in good working order for next to nothing. Probably the only thing you'll need to spend any coin on is boots that fit. Helmets can be had 50% (or more) off during the offseason.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#185

Post by beezle »

bendixso wrote: post #148
sakopov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do a lot of expedition-style backpacking either alone or in a guided group. The groups are always full of tech people, mostly from SV. It's almost like the only people who can afford fun shit are the techies.

Park is fun for me. It's relatively cheap too. You just need a ski pass and your gear. I would also qualify as a tech d-bag but I don't spend a ton of money on the sport and generally look like a dirtbag when I'm out and about

Depending on the mountain and the park, you may even be able to get away with just foot power.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#186

Post by bane »

Lots of great comments here about snowboarding so I figured I'd provide my two cents. I tried skiing a couple of times and ended up just not having much fun. Eventually decided to try out snowboarding. It felt like I had gotten hit by a car the next day.

But there was something about it that seemed promising, so I stuck with it. The initial learning curve is really steep. I was a far better skier after far less effort at the same point than snowboarding. But after keeping at it a few times I finally got parts of it to "click". I'm still terrible, but I rarely fall now and can generally make it down most blue slopes without too much fuss, something I really struggled with on skis.

It works far more of your core muscles and your quads and hamstrings that skiing does, so it takes some time to figure out how to control all that with the precision.

The key for me was to really understand that the board itself wasn't something I rode on top of, but instead of was a living vessel I was part of, and that I could twist, rotate and otherwise manipulate using movements in my legs, subtle shifts in center of balance and core muscles. Once that started to make sense it became much easier and I found it far easier and more rewarding that skiing for me.

Skiing is many moving parts you have to coordinate, snowboarding is one moving part with many subtle means of expression. It's a bit like the difference between playing a drumkit and playing a violin if that makes sense for any musicians.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#187

Post by beezle »

tribeofone wrote: post #23

My 2 cents for beginners, most of these are covered in the article: 1. Get a flying-v or CamRock - makes turning easier and will hold an edge better until you figure out how to carve. 2. Don't put your feet perpendicular to the board, you want some angle, 30° Front, 15° Back. It will make it easier to square your shoulders down the hill and get your weight on the front of your edge. 3. Start on a Blue slope. Seriousl…

2 - unless you plan to become a park rat I would suggest riding 15/0 or 20/5

3 - its not that they can't get enough speed on a green slope, it is that they panic. It is very difficult for most people to grasp that turning is actuall easier at (reasonable) speed. Even on greens it is pretty easy to push 40+ mph.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#188

Post by beezle »

dgzl wrote: post #121
tribeofone wrote: post #23

My 2 cents for beginners, most of these are covered in the article: 1. Get a flying-v or CamRock - makes turning easier and will hold an edge better until you figure out how to carve. 2. Don't put your feet perpendicular to the board, you want some angle, 30° Front, 15° Back. It will make it easier to square your shoulders down the hill and get your weight on the front of your edge. 3. Start on a Blue slope. Seriousl…

As others have said, your #3 point is controversial, but potentially not as bad as they seem. This really depends on what resort/part of the world you are. My home mountain in Oregon is about 65% black diamond, and there's only one green circle run. The first blue square you can use is actually very steep and quite dangerous for beginners. At the same time, I was living in the Midwest a few years, and the only black…

When ever going to an unfamiliar mountain or doing the first run of the season(or after an equipment change) it is a good idea to just hit a green and then move on.

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#189

Post by beezle »

Yizahi wrote: post #51

As a skier who only took a beginning level instructor and then learned by myself for multiple seasons - take as many instructor hours as you can, even if can already ride down black slopes. Seriously, last year I took an advanced instructor and it was a revelation. Take instructor even when you think you don't need him and don't listen to your friends joking about it.

Seoond this. My first 10 years of boarding I always did a destination trip mid-season and would book at least one instructor session. If nothing else, they will let you know what bad habits you have formed since the previous year!

Re: Snowboarding for Geeks

#190

Post by beezle »

dep_b wrote: post #8

Riding hardboots since the 90's. Lots of gear tweakers in that scene. People treating their clothing with certain kinds of stuff they treat sails with to not rip them to shreds when doing continuous laid down linked turns, boots modifications for extra flexibility , experimenting with all kinds of shapes and materials and hours and hours of talk about edge pressure. I tried Driver X boots for example. Way to rigid co…

I don't ride the fruit boots but do respect the serious lines you guys lay down! Are you on Prior? Donek? Something else? I've been riding Sean's stuff for many years, closet you'll get on a board using soft boots to the hard boot world.
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