 Poster: A snowHead
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rob@rar, sounds a hard life. I'll be stuck in the office while you'll be getting stuck into the gates. 
Hope it's enjoyable for one and all.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Sideshow_Bob wrote: |
| rob@rar, sounds a hard life. I'll be stuck in the office while you'll be getting stuck into the gates. |
I'll be thinking of you! Full report tomorrow.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Had the first race training session last night. Representing snowHeads were me, skimottaret, FlyingStantoni, and GrahamN. In total there were about 16 people, roughly half were juniors and half seniors. The coaches were Phil Brown and Sally Bartlett. After a few runs to warm up there was a 'ski off' to split us up into two groups. We were broadly split by age, but that was more because all the juniors were either GB or England squad and the seniors were, well, not! Sally taught the seniors for this session and Phil took the juniors, although this will vary from time to time, as well as having different coaches coming in for sessions.
The first hour and a bit were spent doing drills and working on basics. For the seniors we mostly worked on fore-aft balance and managing turn shaped by smoothly and consistently using the ski throughout the turn, from an early edge engagement to cross-over into the next turn. Sometimes Sally would explain things to the whole group, other times individual feedback and individual tasks were set. The juniors seemed to be following a similar programme from what I could see. It was reasonably quiet on the slope, but there were a few recreational skiers using it so you needed to be aware of them to avoid having to abort your run. As the evening went on there were fewer people around, so by the end of our session I think there was only one or two other people on the slope.
After the drills session Phil Brown set a couple of courses, initially with carrots for a couple of runs then with full gates. At this stage the theory is you take what you have learned during the drills and seamlessly blend it into your skiing in the gates. The reality is that faced with a plastic pole hurtling towards you every half a second and the need to get your feet outside the turn the exercise becomes one of survival rather than trying to ski well! It is, however, enormous fun and adrenaline filled. By the time of my last run I felt really happy with the way I skied the first five gates, but then lost it completely at the rhythm change of the verticale. That was a big improvement over my first couple of runs where I was scrabbling to get down the course. Funniest moment for me was straddling all four gates of the verticale at speed, much to the amusement of CEM who was standing at the bottom of the slope laughing at us 
After skiing we repaired to the bar for an apres-ski drink, finally leaving at about 11.20pm. A very enjoyable evening all round; next session is Monday of next week.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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rob@rar, thanks for the report. Sounds like it's popular already with sixteen people. I'll drop Phil an email seeing if there's space for me next week. Did FlyingStantoni arrive on his Brompton?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Sideshow_Bob wrote: |
| Did FlyingStantoni arrive on his Brompton? |
Yup, he flew up the hill to reach the centre at about the same time as me. I was quite disappointed that he, rather conventionally, used skis for the session rather than sticking on two wheels.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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little tiger, I've no idea? Care to share?
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rob@rar,
Basic Balance contains both Fore/Aft and lateral balance drills...
Basic Edging - a fair bit of that content is related to turn shape...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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little tiger, ah! I don't think Rick's DVDs had any influence on our programme last night, although they are good resources 
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rob@rar, I was thinking more on Rick's comments that most skiers need to work on these fundamental skills... and would greatly improve just by doing so....
I find it amusing because I was trained in these same fundamental skills by race coaches and ex-racers... I've never really skied with one that did not work on the same skill sets - just at different levels of performance....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| little tiger wrote: |
| rob@rar, I was thinking more on Rick's comments that most skiers need to work on these fundamental skills |
In my very limited experience he's absolutely right. Improve your fundamentals and you can take your high level skills into what ever type of skiing you want to do.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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rob@rar, yep... sorry this was all that was amusing me....
the same stuff just keeps popping out from people from vastly different places etc.... the only common factor is having a direct measure of their performance not an 'I'm an expert skier because I say so' measure.... Yet there are those that oppose vehemently even the concept of instructors having such a direct measure in their exams, and those that just refuse to teach skills(or learn them) because the student should direct the learning - and the student is never going to know what skills they just do not possess so they can hardly ask to learn them!!
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| Quote: |
much to the amusement of CEM who was standing at the bottom of the slope laughing at us
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along with the rest of Hemel!! at least the meat wagon didnt have to come out...
One note to add to Rob's report was that the slope had over 100 racers training from 6-8 and then we were on it for two hours and the snow conditions were very good. If that same crowd was at MK it would have cut up rotten and been sheet ice and mounds of sugar by the end of the night.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| FlyingStantoni wrote: |
| [It was noticeable that rob@rar's usually smiley disposition disappeared into a look of apprehension every time I saw him approach the start line. |
 Too true!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Well done guys!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Signed up for the next few weeks. Shame my shinnies are back at my folks' place, wonder how I'll ever cope without them
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Sideshow_Bob wrote: |
| Signed up for the next few weeks. Shame my shinnies are back at my folks' place, wonder how I'll ever cope without them |
We'll be able to field a team at this rate!
(We'll be pants of course, but that's not the point!)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Excellent session this evening focussing on stance width and its affect on turn initiation speed, stability and looking stupid.
I'm dead chuffed because:
a) the gates were nowhere near as scary this week
b) I managed a clean run. It was pants, but it was clean.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I want to go, wish I had a job and some money 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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skimottaret, sounds great. What were the fore / aft drills?
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| skimottaret wrote: |
Sideshow_Bob... is definately the  to beat |
Not much chance of that I fear.
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You know it makes sense.
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beanie1, akinda standard progression really... couple runs way way aft, then leaning way forward, rocking back and forth in traverse, then trying to do this while turning using the whole slope, lastly using just ankle movement and minimal body movement, finally bringing it together in sucking back the ankles at the start of the turn and jetting out and end. quite hard to do when we shorted up the turn radius.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| beanie1 wrote: |
| skimottaret, sounds great. What were the fore / aft drills? |
Skiing with CoM way forward getting pressure on ski tips, then skiing with CoM way back getting pressure on tails and variations thereof. Then progressed on to moving feet back and fore underneath CoM, then putting in together by starting the turn with feet pulled back (to load front of skis at the top of the turn) and gradually allowing feet to come forward through the turn to accelerate out of it. All very tricky for me, especially trying (mostly failing) to get the timing of these moves right.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| skimottaret wrote: |
| Sideshow_Bob... is definately the to beat |
Not much chance of that I fear. |
Yes, unfortunately I blew my challenge by completely missing a pole push out of the starting gate, so he was nearly two gates ahead before I got moving. Rematch never quite happened. Actually last night was characterised by some consistently appalling starts on my part. Even so, I think he would probably have still beaten me by half a gate.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Sideshow_Bob wrote: |
| All in all, dual slaloms rock! |
Have to agree with you there
I'm very glad you were there Sideshow_Bob to give the "mature group" some, little honour!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Another good session on Monday night, with continuation of the theme from last week of fore-aft pressure and working the turn. It was probably the most technical session yet in terms of exercises, with lots of javelins, jumped-javelins, skated 360s and a couple of other drills whose names I've forgotten. Unfortunately there was an issue with snow depth on the top of left-hand side of the slope as one looks up so this was roped off to about half way down, so we didn't get chance to use full-size gates as not to scare the two or three other punters on the slope, but the stubbies still caused some carnage and probably resulted in some concerned looks amongst seismologists in the SE of England as a few SHs (probably still feeling the effects of Saturday) got well acquainted with the Hemel snow.
It was good to see some new SH faces, namely .Ro and CSki, fresh from their victories in the EoSB race, come to hone their skills. Admin may want to rethink his eligibility rules for next year's race as both were taking to the gates like ducks to water and increasing in speed as the night went on and will surely crush all non-instructor opposition if they continue to improve at this rate. Of the instructors/more experienced racers, rob@rar obviously picked up some good tips from Chemmy on Saturday as he was storming down the stubbies showing much improved form, and GrahamN proved that people can't use HH hire equipment as an excuse for poor skiing by putting in some good runs in hire boots after leaving his own boots at home. Hope to see the same faces and maybe some new ones there next Monday.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I want a snowdome in Hong Kong.
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skimottaret, I'm pretty sure that I sucked more than you on Monday 
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I was freeeeeeezing on Monday! I'm sure Hemel is about 5 degrees colder than MK.
 Does anyone know anything about training with Hemel race club this evening? I can't find a contact number on the website.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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CSki, I think it was so cold as they were going to make snow that evening, its not usually that cold...
Are you a member of the Hemel race club? if not pm NickW who is on the committee there...
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| CSki wrote: |
| Does anyone know anything about training with Hemel race club this evening? |
You could try giving Phil a ring as I'm pretty sure he runs it.
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FAQ
didn't extend to me making it through the course until the very last run 
- which of course is exactly the wrong thing to do as you get back on the tails, get even slower to initiate the next turn, and are even later on the next gate 
