Honing your skills

[Clarke673]

Who hear works on honing they’re skills while they ride? Obviously every time you ride you get better (I HOPE) but I mean like actually going out and practicing like you would for a football game or something.

Now I know a lot of your guy’s practicing is slamming back a few red bulls and monsters and talk about how cool it would be to make that whip, stick that drop, or cut a wicked line across that open face.

I was just wondering, as that’s what I do when I ride and I am hoping I am not alone on this one…I will watch my favorite rider such as Ross Mercer, Randy Sherman, Dan Philips, and the almighty deuce! I will find something they do that I can’t and go out and do it until I either break the sled or break me.

Hope im not alone.

 

[Dbaker]

Im with you,I practice what works and constantly try new moves, push here, pull there. I just try and figure out the mechanics and what the sled will do at any time. plus i think mental preparedness is a great thing to work on, half the time if I just do instead of think it works out!

 

[icr]

Nope, I'm just there to ride. I didn't know we were preparing for the big game

 

[SLEDIOT]

I just try to avoid trees but my kitty is attracted to them. Other than that every ride is a practice session.

 

[Clarke673]

What are some of the things you guys are looking at working on for this season?

Some of my goals are

getting better at whipping and 180's coming up through cornices, rotating and coming back down through them.

getting a better idea of when to hold on or bail

Try not ot break any bones

And most importantly, beating my friend’s brand new XP smurf sled with my $8000 budget mod sled. Should be fun, especially since he doesn't know my sleds going to be running a boondocker laughing gas system

 

[Clarke673]

Nope, I'm just there to ride. I didn't know we were preparing for the big game

Preparing for the big game??? Didn't they teach you that in 7th grade? Something about sex ed?

 

[Jeff C]

I was tempted to say that I do what you describe, but I really do not.

As I get older, I am starting to get more risk adverse. I get more and more concerned that if I do something stupid and get hurt, I will be out of work and not be able to provide for my family.

I get a thought in my head of "Naww, don't do it, its not worth it"

So to sum up, I just don't go off the 80 foot cornices like I used to.

 

[sledhead ut]

Holy chit Jeff, 80 foot conices? What movies have you been in?

I used to go to meadows by myself to practice powder turns. I would carve until I could barely crawl to to sled. I've always been one of those guys that see's it in a vid and then I has to try it.

 

[Snorider]

I was tempted to say that I do what you describe, but I really do not.

As I get older, I am starting to get more risk adverse. I get more and more concerned that if I do something stupid and get hurt, I will be out of work and not be able to provide for my family.

I get a thought in my head of "Naww, don't do it, its not worth it"

So to sum up, I just don't go off the 80 foot cornices like I used to.

One of my buddies I always ride with is the bread winner for the family, and now he's getting a little older he gets those moments, where the what if's come into play. He says he might as well go home wheb he starts thinking that. Lol. But it is something you need to take into consideration.

But yes every time we go hit the hills I am practicing new stuff that I want to be able to do better. That's why I like that I can ride 2 to 3 days a week most of the time, cause I love to practice practice practice

 

[rab]

Practice makes perfect 1

I would be the opposite to norm stated so far

I was involved in severe sled accident and suffered a major medical condition(major to me )and now I want /need to get out there again but I will have to train mind and my body to endure the ride and then start upping the trials.

My goal is to get better than I was in all aspects of ridding .

I do not want to re-injure myself ,
its all about Quality of life and to do what you like
its the difference between existing and living and I choose to live

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

I always try to learn something new, try that line that i have always looked at... my main goal for this winter is the be able to go downhill and carve either direction, initiate the sidehill and start climbing again if need be, it was hard on the old 144 as it just spun around and sunk, when i go out i like trying to to see how far and slow i can sidehill, and just push the sled to its limits or myself for that matter. it really helps when you are in a tight spot, and you have trained for that hard carve out.

 

[sledhead ut]

Ski-Dooin: that's a very good point. I always preach to those wanting to learn, to try and practice technique when you don't need it. Example, ride with both feet on the same side down a trail or thru a meadow just to feel comfortable for when you have to do it. Works wonders.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

yeah, i used to get sucked into little dead end washouts and would just have to stop, and turn my sled by hand and hope i could pull out from a dead stop without getting stuck, now, lay I just lay that sucker over and carve out, its A LOT easeir to commit to avoiding major objects-(see trees, rocks, stumps, cliffs)-

I still hit things all the time, and fall off and roll my sled, but it has been cut back, half the time its just getting the fealing of whats supposed to happen when you lay it over to avoid a tree coming downhilll.

great example, i had been practicing coming downhill and carving out ALL day, a while later i was swapping highmarks with my dad and buddies, coming down the bowl i find myself pointed straight at the 3 trees in the bowl, they werent huge, maybe 6" in diameter, but i would have totaled my sled at the speed i was going. Having the skills i leared only earlier that day, i leaned hard to the left, pitched the sled on its side and gave it some throttle, i carved out about 5 feet before the clump of trees, saving my sled, tons of money, and a long tow out.

 

[winter brew]

Ride with people that are better riders and they will push you to the edge and you will have to get better to keep up....and it keeps you young!

 

[thefullmonte]

Overall, I just enjoy riding. That said, seems like I'm constantly improving (and I need it ). I like trying new things with the sled. You know, the whole "I wonder what would happen if I did this" sorta stuff. I try to keep a level head when I'm riding though. Always going through a checklist in my head much like when I'm dirt biking. I may hit the same jump 10+ times, each time just a bit faster. I'm out there to have fun, not trying to be better than someone else. I can't afford the sled destruction that a lot of people can. And I certainly can't miss work.

 

[Wheel House Motorsports]

oh yeah, i forgot about the whole age thing, im only 18, so i push and try a lot more than a lot of riders, mainly because i seem to recover from my spills much quicker, but i really enjoy teaching my dad how to do stuff on the sled, its a neet feeling to explain something to someone, and watch them progress until they nail it. Also another reason i like to ride with my dad a lot, its like the reverse of the rest of my life, i get to fail first and learn from the mistakes and then teach him.

 

[coyoteman]

when you ride with himark and beeman every day is a learning experience!

 

[onlyrotax]

Yeah, I practice my accident avoidance skills by imagining that around the next corner or over the next hill is some idiot trying to impress his buds by trying to be the next Tucker Hibbert. I lost track of how many times I have had to hit the trees because some "spors" or snowcross wannabe is sliding sideways down the trail at 90 mph or flying up the side of road trying to land on me, consequently we only ride cross country now because the trails have become the out of stater's speedway and test track. Just one of my "rants".

 

[deaner]

Ride with people that are better riders and they will push you to the edge and you will have to get better to keep up....and it keeps you young!

Exactly.........you wanna excelerate your learning curve...........go ride with Rene St Onge in Sicamous. He has a wicked lodge to stay at and he is one crazy mofo. It takes some testicular fortitude to keep up to that guy!

 

[justadude]

Ditto!!

I'm going to work on certain stuff specifically want to master side hilling!!

Overall, I just enjoy riding. That said, seems like I'm constantly improving (and I need it ). I like trying new things with the sled. You know, the whole "I wonder what would happen if I did this" sorta stuff. I try to keep a level head when I'm riding though. Always going through a checklist in my head much like when I'm dirt biking. I may hit the same jump 10+ times, each time just a bit faster. I'm out there to have fun, not trying to be better than someone else. I can't afford the sled destruction that a lot of people can. And I certainly can't miss work.