A properly constructed and tuned footbed will do two things: The increased contact area between the sole of the foot and the interior of the boot will enhance proprioceptive feedback. Stabilizing the foot will reduce the amount of muscular activity required for balance in the lower extremities. As the footbed takes on more of the balancing task, those muscles can be used for pro-active, rather than re-active movements. Construction is the craft. Tuning is the art.…
The elements of passive suspension. Platform Glide v Skid. Snowboards and skis can glide, skid, pivot, and drift. All are useful handling options. That said, skis and snowboards are most effective as a base for athletic movement when they glide on their long axis. The gliding action allows the working edge to slide/slice rather than scrape, and allows the materials used in manufacture to ‘do their thing’. Platform Flex and Surface Amplitude. Skis and snowboards are built…
9th in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow.. It’s possible to have more than one truth, and for both to be, in effect, true. Sometimes what we hold as true is only true in the absence of additional information. And up to that moment, its veracity is solid. To pursue more information is not without peril. It might mean having to abandon the original truth. That means, to some extent, nullifying whatever identity was based…
8th in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow. Truth In Ice: Line Change 1 presented productive skidding as a means of generating friction and changing direction with ‘simple’ sequential movements. To rapidly change direction without disrupting glide and grip, a rider needs command over the complexity of edge change, net pressure, and fore-aft pressure simultaneously. The amount of time and area consumed in changing direction at a given rate of travel is dependent on which…
7th in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow. The endless, arc-to arc-to-arc razor line is The Goal for many riders. This is all well and good until your sidewalk ends. Could be you misjudged your line. Could be there’s an elk crossing the trail in your intended path. Whatever the surprise, you need to change course without covering a lot of ground. Like…Immediately. The intuitive thing to do is hit the brakes; throwing it sideways…
When I was younger, I really wanted an off-road motorcycle. I had no means to own a motorcycle but could afford the next best thing; that being many copies of DirtBike magazine. If I couldn’t ride it, I’d read it. The late 70’s through the mid 80’s saw several important developments in motorcycle design, all of which were discussed ad nauseum in the magazines. Water cooling delivered more usable power from a given engine size. Improved suspension…
6th in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow. Deliberate fore/aft pressure modulation allows the athlete to better manipulate the relationship between their base of support and their COM. Through refinement of this relationship, the athlete has yet another means of maximizing available edge grip and arc stability on harder surfaces. Fore/aft pressure distribution determines where along its length the gliding platform has the deepest ‘bend’ once the platform meets resistance. This can effect the shape/duration…
After removing the bulk of excess posting material on a purpose-built machine, I do some finish work on the spindle grinder. The hindfoot and forefoot need to be in the same plane, with the low spots in the molded contour showing through the posting material. This establishes the ‘neutral grind’; the state of the footbed prior to fine tuning with the client. This particular client has high arches, and his foot is mobile to the lateral side.
Part 5 in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow. As the athlete glides from arc to arc, and as the angle between the edge of the platform and snow surface changes from one turn to the next, the load expressed on the platform (pressure) will also change. This overall (net) pressure rise and fall should be fairly consistent throughout each arc, and proportional to the edge angle. This may seem simple in theory, but may…
A few years ago, my friend Rob asked himself a question: Can I ride a snowboard like a kayak? We set off to resolve the issue. Short answer-> Yes. Long answer-> Not really. At least not as originally conceived. We learned a lot along the way, and incorporated those discoveries into a new vision. After a lot of testing and thinking and more testing, we built something that works nicely. We’ve seen considerable enthusiasm from whitewater paddlers,…
Photo: Cranberry Sunrise 1/19/21. Part 4 in a multi-part series on skiing/snowboarding on hard snow. The late comedian George Carlin had a routine called ‘Icebox Man’, in which he reviews his difficulty identifying leftovers. “Perhaps the worst thing that can happen is to reach into the refrigerator and come out with something that you cannot identify at all. You literally do not know what it is. Could be meat, could be cake. Usually, at a time like…
