(I'm doing it "for the science")...
Turn initiation? It's all about the delta... or more specifically, the net ramp angle and related forward lean.
I had an interesting experience this past Friday that I think provides some additional information and investigation for any skier interested in improving their skiing.
On Friday we had some fresh snow to play in so I decided to grab a pair of skis that I hadn't skied in quite some time; well before I did the fore/aft gas pedal testing last season. I was in my new Nordica GPX boots that currently had a 1.5mm shim installed on the toes. The skis have a 2.0mm delta.
I took my first 3 runs and was really not skiing great. I thought it was strange because I remembered liking the skis, but my legs were getting quickly tired and the skis just weren't hooking up well or holding a solid edge. They felt really "loose" and "slarvy" which is not what I like to get from a ski.
After those first 3 runs, the friend I had been skiing with decided to head home (he got a much earlier start than I did), so I hit the next lift alone and had a chance to reflect on what was going on with my skiing. I remembered that I had some additional toe shims in my pocket and decided that on the next run I would test an additional 3mm shim. After adding the shims, everything changed for my skiing and how the skis felt. I immediately felt my skiing was better balanced, turn initiation was solid and instantaneous, and I could feel the entire length of the ski edges grabbing and holding on the snow.
So here's where I think I can provide some new information for other skiers to consider when it comes to determining whether you should experiment with your fore/aft balance alignment. What I noticed when I was not aligned properly was:
- I felt that I was plantar flexing very hard into the apex of the turn and through the finish (opening the ankle joint)
- Plantar flexing was making the small muscles in my feet hurt quite a bit and my calf muscles were tiring out
- My normal foot pullback movements were not engaging the tips for the new turn like I'm used to feeling
With the 3mm shims placed under my boot toes (on top of the AFD), I noticed the following changes:
- I could now easily dorsiflex and keep my ankle joint more closed from the turn apex into the turn finish
- My feet could "relax"; the muscles in the bottom of my feet stopped hurting and my calves weren't killing me (I felt like I could ski all day with much less effort required)
- My foot pullback movements were incredibly efficient at getting the skis to easily engage at the top of the turn (as long as I got my feet below my hips I was able to achieve easy turn initiation with fantastic tip engagement)
- I felt like I could keep my balance well centered over the skis and I had access to the entire length of the ski edges with simple fore/aft adjustments (foot pullback and dorsiflexion)
I really think the big "clue" as to whether you should raise your toes (gas pedal) is the presence of a strong need to plantar flex hard to keep the front of the skis in contact with the snow. There have been lots of posts about the static measurements that show how well aligned your fore/aft stance is (things like plumb bobbing from your kneecaps down to the boot toe, parallel shins to spine, etc.), but I've never seen much regarding what a skier might be feeling in their muscles and their movements when out of alignment. Now that I know what to lookout for, I think I'll know quickly when I'm out of fore/aft alignment (i.e. the delta is probably wrong).
I now have myself convinced that fore/aft alignment is more important to me than lateral alignment (canting). I can still ski fairly well when misaligned laterally (I don't need major amounts of canting), but if the fore/aft is wrong, I cannot even begin to ski at my full potential. If the skis feel loose and aren't holding an edge well, then I can't trust them enough to achieve high edge angles in high speed turns.
I have built 1mm, 2mm, and 3mm shims and ski with them in my pocket. I think these will really come in handy when demoing "foreign" skis with unknown deltas. Many times in the past, I've probably been attributing observations of ski performance that were purely due to a delta situation. I know that the skis on my feet on Friday were completely transformed by the addition of the shims. I'll be demoing skis again tomorrow and if I run into any skis that I'm not "connecting" with, I'm going to grab some of my shims and make the adjustment. I want to see how well this plays out with unknown equipment.
I could have posted this info in any number of the binding delta threads, but decided since this was the most current I would post here (so you won
@AmyPJ.
).