First off, have you taken any lessons? if not, I would strongly advise you to do so; it makes a huge difference for most people. If you are unable to take a lesson, I am putting together a first time snowboard lesson video and have the first three parts posted. You can see this here: http://www.abc-of-snowboarding.com/forum/techniques-styles/beginner-snowboard-l.asp
Now, to try to answer your specific questions:
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Going Straight..
When going straight (fast or slow) i always seem to have a stack.. I think its because the snow is a bit bumpy and one of my edges cuts in...
I've been told to ride an edge when going straight, is this true and how??
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You are crashing mainly due to lack of proper board control, you should be able to ride at any speed you desire on any terrain. The answer is in improving your ability to make short and medium radius turns. When you turn your board across the fall line, you can bleed off speed with a short skid before you go into the next turn. As you get better at riding, you will be able to point the board down the hill and make rapdid, short radius skidded turns by simply shifting your weight back and forth over the edges of the board.
Never ride for any great distance flat based, you want to always be on one of your edges. Any time you are flat based, the board can pivot and start side-slipping and any uneveness in the snow can catch your leading edge. When you are riding flat based and at very low edge angles, you must keep your shoulders aligned over your board to prevent unwanted rotation.
Riding with a very low edge angle requires you to ride with a very good flexed stance by keeping ankles, knees and hips bent and flexible. You will maintain edge angle with the ankles and knees, not by leaning your upper body.
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I think my other problem is when the track is narrow i kinda freak out cause normally i get some decent speed try to slow myself down (cause i always stack it when i go straight).. How does one slow down when its narrow?
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Narrow cat tracks are a nightmare for the new rider! You just have to learn how to make very shallow short radius turns while keeping the nose of the board pointing down the path. The best method for this is to perform a type of turn that is done by the sidecut of the board alone. You will rock back and forth from your heel edge to your toe edge, tilting the board up onto it`s edge with both feet at the same time. It is crucial that you do not allow the board to turn too far off the fall line or you will catch the "downhill" edge. I would not allow your board to ever point more than about 30 degrees off the fall line.
With good flex in the ankles, knees and hips, you will shift your weight slightly over the toe edge and then extend the ankle joint to place the weight on the balls of both feet to tilt the board onto it`s toe edge just a bit to initiate a gentle, shallow toeside turn. Allow the board to drift 5 or 6 feet to the side of the track, then flex the ankle joint to allow the board to go flat and imediately, shift your weight to the heel side by sitting down a little and extending the knees while flexing the ankles a little to lift the toe edge of the board off of the snow. This gets the board gently up onto it`s heel edge and you will start a gentle drift toward the heel side of the track. Again, when you are 5 or 6 feet off of the center of the track, go back into a toe side drift and keep repeating this all the way down the run.
To slow yourself down on narrow cat tracks, you can deliberately push the tail of the board away from you just before you switch edges, This deliberate skid is quite effective at bleeding off speed. Imagine the tail of a fish swishing.
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Turning
Whats the best way to preform a turn.. I've been told a few ways..
-Twist your feet
-Use your shoulders to move your body weight
-use your front knee to control where the board is going
Are any of the above true?? Whats the way that works for you guys??
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All true to varrying levels but must be used properly at the right time and in the right amount of intensity.
There are three forces that turn your board; pivot, tilt and twist. Pivot is rotational force generated by shoulders and hips that cause your board to pivot in a flat plane around the center of your board between the bindings. Tilt is the act of simply lifting the board up onto it`s edge and allowing the shape of your sidecut to generate the turn. (the board turns as a result of this sidecut which causes the board to travel in an arc) Twist is directly related to tilt and is used to initiate the turn by pushing the sidecut into the snow at the nose of the board.
So, to properly initiate and complete a turn, you will turn your head to look where you want to end up, rotate the shoulders to place your front shoulder over the edge of the board on the side you are turning to and pressure the edge of the board with your foot, twisting the board so that the edge engages.
Heelside turn example:
You look over your shoulder towards your "blind side" and rotate your shoulders to place the front shoulder directly over the heel edge. You dip the front shoulder just a little to match the pitch of the slope you are on and you will flex the front ankle, lifting the toes to press down hard on the heel edge of the board. You hold this pressure steady as the turn initiates and you may flex your knees and hips to "sit down" into the turn to stay balanced. Do not lean your entire body uphill over the edge of the board, bend at the waist slightly to keep your upper body centered over your board. As soon as the turn is established, follow through with the rear foot by lifting the toes and pressing down on the heels. At the halfway point in the turn, you should be fully up on the board`s edge.
Now, you need to start stopping the rate of turn to avoid over turning up the hill. Again, begin everything with the front foot. It really helps to have something to aim for, so find something off to the side of the run to focus on and steer towards. Start relaxing the heel pressure on the front foot. don`t flatten it out, just ease up on the turning pressue and rotate your shoulder to place it parallel to your board, pointing straight out in front of you. What will happen is the turn will stop and you will steer straight across the run.
Toeside Turn:
Now you are ready to switch into the toeside turn. The thing to remember about making an edge change is it is all about timing. You must be at a point where the board is relatively flat based and travelling straight with no sideslip going on. When that point is reached, by allowing the board to ride straight after coming out of your heelside turn, you then look toward the toeside to look at the point where you want to go and rotae the shoulders to place the front shoulder over the toeside edge and drop the front shoulder again to align it with the pitch of the slope. Now gradually extend the ankle joint of the front foot to shift the weight toward the ball of the foot and press down on the toes. Again, once the turn is established, follow through with the back foot to get the board onto it`s toe edge at about the halfway point in the turn. You may flex your knees more and slightly bend at the waist to shift your upper body toward the toe edge of the board to counteract centrifugal force in the turn.
In all of these turns, you need to flex (get lower) as you initate these turns and extend (get tall) when you exit the turn. This up and down action keeps the rythem going as you link these turns. Good flexion and extension along with proper timing is the key ingedient to good riding.
I hope that helps, and check out the video lesson...I will get the linked turns section posted shortly.
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