In reply to a technical pressure theory question!

The Theory!

Hi Neil
Just want run this past you..

Just recently I have been thinking about a few riding things.  It is to do with pressure along the board and as Iknow that you are the guru of this shit I thought you would give it some thought. I have to admit that I have not read your book so maybe you already talk about this.

I feel that everyone talks constantly about the four corners of the board (which are of utmost importance) but what about the centre?  The place where the board has its most natural flex?

This has come about from riding with (and watching) a couple of lads in Courchevel.  One is called Manu and is the Rossignol Test rider and one is Ameryick (one of Toms old friends and was the French Boardercross champion). They both have a slightlyfunky style eg Terje H with knee tuck and slightly rotated (old school) but they can get board performance that I (and defiantly none of the other trainers) can get.

So to start with this is about allowing your board to take its natural flex and give you the best results at slow speed.

Go to a lovely wide open cruisy piste and do slow carved turns. To do this you have to cross over high, balance on the edge and then as you come through the falline the forces allow you to increase tilt and sit into the turn so you end up with a J shaped turn.

Do this again and as you engage the new edge bring your knees together.  The board will bend like shit even at a slow speed and you can make a C shaped turn at WALKING PACE.

At this point I should point out that I only say bring your knees together to over exaggerate something.  As time goes on it will only be “ride gently on the inside of your soles” The way this effects the way the board can flex is phenomenal. You can tilt way inside the turn before the falline rather than stand up, balance and then wait to pass through the falline to influence the shape of the turn.

I started doing this to get a feel for it then started going fore to engage, holding to the inside of both feet through the middle of the turn and then banging my back knee out towards the end for maximum aft. I was taking off at walking speed..
 

I have only had this working at slow speeds i.e. slow enough were you can’t cross over low and actively press against the board.  When I have tried it at full tilt I have felt unstable and had to press towards the corners to stabilize myself. Is this because it is no good at speed or just that I am not skilful enough to get the timing right or is it just unnecessary? I feel like it might be a pile of shit but I know I have had some amazing feelings from it and if the 4 corners are so important then surely the centre of the board is also.  This is where I get back to not “knee tucking” but using the inside of the feet to allow the board its maximum natural flex as well as the outside of the feet to find the corners of the board. If we constantly force out the feet it prevents the board bending naturally.
 

I tried this with a group on an ISIA teaching course and the only person who didn’t agree with it was a lad who could not move to the inside of his feet equally so he was not on the centre of his board so he lost the camber.  It has to be both knees equally to keep centred and really make the board bend.  I told him this but he would not have it.

When you do this what do you gain and lose? Inside of the feet equals less stability but far more bend of the board and vice versa.  Because you lose a little stability people don’t like it but if you are precise it works well.
 

Please do not think I am saying ride the whole turn on the inside of the feet.  It is a purely a moment during the turn between fore and aft that really helps influence the bend of the board/shape of the turn.  The timing is really hard so that is why I think I can’t do it at speed yet but it might be valid.
 

In summary:  All I hear people talking about is the 4 corners and think they move to them far too quickly and miss out the main part of the board i.e. the middle where it flexes the most naturally.   Use the corners to grip at the start and end but use the middle to influence what goes on between those points.  Is this what you were trying to tell me years ago?
 

Just a few thoughts dude.  I have just re-read and it sounds like waffle.  I am no writer.  I need to be on the hill with you to explain this properly.  I am just trying to find better feelings on my board and I know that is what you have always been into. I hope it makes sense.  Try it. Whether you agree or not, get back to me.  I always like a bit of input/other ideas.

My reply:

I understand what you're saying with your flex text.

The middle of the board is massively under used and the whole idea of the banana technology is designed for this part of the board to be already flexed into a carved and pressurized shape before and during the turn. That and obviously for bringing the nose up in powder. The side cut also does this in a normal board, the camber fights against it and so enables you to be able to apply more pressure through the board without it over flexing.

To me banana tech seems a bit pointless as it reduces the amount of pressure you can use in the front and the back of the board to start and finish your turns as well as pre-flexing the middle and so again reducing the amount of pressure you can out through the middle too.

Another new board has a camber under the feet and reverse camber tip and tail as in the YES boards. Again this reduces the amount of pressure you can work with in the tip and tail and makes it more work to get it at the start and finish of the turn. It does make buttering easier and the nose float in powder obviously. Better than the full reverse camber but is it better than a traditional stick? Not sure!

I personally don't really use the middle of the board that much. As soon as the turn starts I'm trying to get to the back of the board which is the strongest bit and has the most side cut. This is where the power comes from for me and this is where I'll generate the pressure rebound I need to start the next turn.

If you look at the physics, a turn will always start at the front point of contact on the edge. The pressure will then move down the board passing under the front foot, through the middle (which is where your experimentation comes into play), to the inside of the rear foot, through under the rear foot and out to the rear and last point of contact on the board.

This is basically how the pressure moves throughout a turn! In every turn there is a time when in theory the pressure moves to the inside edge of both feet and is focused in the center of the board. If you wanted to focus on this point in the turn you'd need to focus on the pressure using the inside edges of your feet (I talk about moving feet over moving knees as I like to keep everything from the ground up as this is where the action needs to be) which in turn would bring your knees towards the center of the board.

Although I personally don't do this I can follow your theory. I personally do feel that I use pressure through the board just in-front of and directly through my rear foot, (this is about as near to the center of the board that I go). In order to apply pressure through the foot just in front of the rear foot a slightly rotated position brings you bio mechanically in line with where the pressure needs to be whilst maintaining balance and opposing/controlling pressure from the front foot.

Originally board were designed to be ridden through the middle hence the old tuck knee style of riding and massive extreme side-cuts. Only recently have boards been designed to be ridden through the tip and tail and I think in terms of maximizing the potential for this style of riding there's still some way to go with flex patterns that are softer tip to tail under the feet whilst not being torsionally softer and with power and stiffness under the feet and through to the tip and tail contact points whilst being progressively stiffer towards the tail.

In the end its all about matching your movements to suit the task or outcome you need. If you can understand the theory behind how the pressure works with the board then you can adjust the pressure to focus it where you need it to make the board work through out the turn. If this means extra focus on the middle of the board then driving the knees together will definitely bring the pressure to the middle. Bio-mechanically its not going to be the best position for body flex and balance but in actual fact your body will adjust naturally to compensate and maintain order.

Like I said at the start personally once my turn has started I'm usually focused on getting pressure to the rear of the board straight away and playing with it around my rear foot, both in-front of it (in a longer turn) and then out the back to the rear contact point to finish the turn off.


For sure the longer the radius the turn is or the slower it is executed the longer you'd need to focus pressure around the center of the board as you suggested.

Let me know what you think.

Neil.