I am not sure where this should go, but I wanted to touch on the topic of pumping....again. I apologize if this has been talked to death, but this past weekend while skating some cones set at 5' CoC, I wondered how it is that I have had an easier time learning to pump through tighter cones than those spaced further apart.
Does anyone have any input into this? Do you find any inherent differences in your pumping technique when on a tight course as oppossed to a hybrid or GS course?
I have had a VERY difficult time learning to pump in any case, but I find that I can at least muster at least some speed in a tighter course while I always seem to be scrubbing off speed in wider spaced courses.
Thoughts from all you experienced riders out there would be great.
Pumping in the tights vs. pumping in the not-tights!
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Matthew Wilson
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Lone Tree, CO
- Contact:
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Vlad Popov
- Moscow-Washington
- Posts: 1543
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Moscow, Russia
- Contact:
I zink dat dis iz da issue of da proper wheelbase fitting da given cone distance.
Shorter wheelbase boards are generally easier to pump. Tighter courses require boards with shorter wheelbases, thus you feel it’s easier to pump in tights.
Actually, let’s just consider all possible scenarios:
1. Short Wheelbase-Tight Course. Perfect match. Possible pumping related problems: road grade. If you do 5.5 plus/minus ft cones on a hill, no matter how short your wheelbase is, pumping becomes impossible beyond a certain point. You’d be wiggling madly just to make the course and try to shave off speed by weighing / unweghing your board mit your knees if things get too fast.
2. Short Wheelbase – Not So Tight Course: Pumping isn’t as easy because now you need to time your pumps and make sure the twitch occurs right in/close to the apex. When pumping around the cones, it is also easy to overseer the board, so you actually have to consciously control the steering of the board at all times. The rest of the course will be used for gliding, which is just going in straights. It’s the need of timing- gliding combo that steels your speed. Some situations require double pumping to keep your speed up.
3. Long Wheelbase-Tight Course. Pumping is impossible. Only wiggling. 5.5 cones can be skated with 21 in plus wheelbases. But it’d be passive going around the cones rather then active accelerating by pumping. Pumping takes space.
4. Long Wheelbase - Not So Tight Course. Pumping should be easy, but not as easy as with the shorter cone distance. As amplitude grows, so does the need for power to get the board around the cones in longer-radius arks.
Your worst-case scenario is #3. The best ones are #1 and #4. #2 is ok, but HELLO double/triple pumping!
Also, it is good to have your trucks loose in the beginning to master pumping.
However, loose trucks don’t win competitions because they limit speed (oversteering). My friend Dalv believes that one should not skate cones until one can freepump uphill with no problem, or at least 10 minutes at over 10 MPH on flat without stopping. I agree.
Also, if you have too tight truck set-up in the beginning most likely you’re not going anywhere.
Vlad.
Shorter wheelbase boards are generally easier to pump. Tighter courses require boards with shorter wheelbases, thus you feel it’s easier to pump in tights.
Actually, let’s just consider all possible scenarios:
1. Short Wheelbase-Tight Course. Perfect match. Possible pumping related problems: road grade. If you do 5.5 plus/minus ft cones on a hill, no matter how short your wheelbase is, pumping becomes impossible beyond a certain point. You’d be wiggling madly just to make the course and try to shave off speed by weighing / unweghing your board mit your knees if things get too fast.
2. Short Wheelbase – Not So Tight Course: Pumping isn’t as easy because now you need to time your pumps and make sure the twitch occurs right in/close to the apex. When pumping around the cones, it is also easy to overseer the board, so you actually have to consciously control the steering of the board at all times. The rest of the course will be used for gliding, which is just going in straights. It’s the need of timing- gliding combo that steels your speed. Some situations require double pumping to keep your speed up.
3. Long Wheelbase-Tight Course. Pumping is impossible. Only wiggling. 5.5 cones can be skated with 21 in plus wheelbases. But it’d be passive going around the cones rather then active accelerating by pumping. Pumping takes space.
4. Long Wheelbase - Not So Tight Course. Pumping should be easy, but not as easy as with the shorter cone distance. As amplitude grows, so does the need for power to get the board around the cones in longer-radius arks.
Your worst-case scenario is #3. The best ones are #1 and #4. #2 is ok, but HELLO double/triple pumping!
Also, it is good to have your trucks loose in the beginning to master pumping.
However, loose trucks don’t win competitions because they limit speed (oversteering). My friend Dalv believes that one should not skate cones until one can freepump uphill with no problem, or at least 10 minutes at over 10 MPH on flat without stopping. I agree.
Also, if you have too tight truck set-up in the beginning most likely you’re not going anywhere.
Vlad.
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Matthew Wilson
- Posts: 241
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- Location: Lone Tree, CO
- Contact:
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Kevin M. Gamble
- Stahlstown, PA
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:00 am
Along the lines of Vlad's previous post relating wheelbase to cone spacing, I think that each particular setup has a resonant frequency. In other words, when you pump the deck, it responds at a certain rate. If the deck snaps back at the same rate that you are encountering each cone, pumping should be easier. If you are on a deck that responds slower than the "cone rate", you will be fighting to pump around the cones.
I agree it is a matter of wheelbase, as well as the stiffness of the deck, and the degree of dampening of the trucks.
This is just my theory, but I have a stiff longboard with Seismics that pumps like a slalom setup.
I agree it is a matter of wheelbase, as well as the stiffness of the deck, and the degree of dampening of the trucks.
This is just my theory, but I have a stiff longboard with Seismics that pumps like a slalom setup.
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John Gilmour
- Team Roe Racing
- Posts: 1207
- Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: USA
I'v found that if you are rounding a cone slowly on a snappy deck - the board will pop up before the turn is finished and you will experience a loss of traction. However round the same cone at a greater speed and the deck- course match seems to work.
So of course the funny thing is that some great decks might feel less pumpable at first if you aren't carrying much speed. AS the speed increases and you round more cones per second- the more you need a true slalom deck.
So of course the funny thing is that some great decks might feel less pumpable at first if you aren't carrying much speed. AS the speed increases and you round more cones per second- the more you need a true slalom deck.
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Vlad Popov
- Moscow-Washington
- Posts: 1543
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Moscow, Russia
- Contact:
Ya! Flex is Gute when you have just enough of it. No?
Many (other people’s) set-ups I’ve tried had way too much flex. The boards were as soft as my dog’s poop and people were calling their boards “snappy” and “responsive”. When if fact it was nothing more then a sponge s-l-o-w-l-y returning to its original shape. Imagine the consequences on a race curse!
However, when one has the “right flex” for a given course, there is no better feeling in the (slalom) world. Well, maybe the feeling of the right durometer wheels, right trucks and bushings can compete with that
Now back to pumping. Vasocretta, strong pumping will get you to the top FAST. Skating cones without good pumping skills never will. I tell you like it is without “political correctness” and stuff.
Nothing personal, see? - I just left this on NCDSA.com:
On 11/12/2002 RJ wrote:
Anyone have any pointers for "pumping"? I seem to lose all my speed by the 6th or 7th cone
On 11/12/2002 Vlad wrote:
Point #1: Learn to pump THEN skate the cones. Alternative: keep learning to pump AND skating the cones and go back to point #1 after a couple of years.
“In need for some major work?”
Slalom is one of those sports that constantly gives you a need to work on something. Pumping just happens to be is #1 requirement.
Zee you zoon!
Vlad.
Many (other people’s) set-ups I’ve tried had way too much flex. The boards were as soft as my dog’s poop and people were calling their boards “snappy” and “responsive”. When if fact it was nothing more then a sponge s-l-o-w-l-y returning to its original shape. Imagine the consequences on a race curse!
However, when one has the “right flex” for a given course, there is no better feeling in the (slalom) world. Well, maybe the feeling of the right durometer wheels, right trucks and bushings can compete with that
Now back to pumping. Vasocretta, strong pumping will get you to the top FAST. Skating cones without good pumping skills never will. I tell you like it is without “political correctness” and stuff.
Nothing personal, see? - I just left this on NCDSA.com:
On 11/12/2002 RJ wrote:
Anyone have any pointers for "pumping"? I seem to lose all my speed by the 6th or 7th cone
On 11/12/2002 Vlad wrote:
Point #1: Learn to pump THEN skate the cones. Alternative: keep learning to pump AND skating the cones and go back to point #1 after a couple of years.
“In need for some major work?”
Slalom is one of those sports that constantly gives you a need to work on something. Pumping just happens to be is #1 requirement.
Zee you zoon!
Vlad.
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Matthew Wilson
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Lone Tree, CO
- Contact:
The work is the best part about slaloming!! Don't get me wrong. It is my own impatience that I must tame!! This is probably what hinders any athletic ability that I may have...IMPATIENCE. It is the absolute bane of my existence.
With that aside, I feel that I am doing a pretty good job of making sure that I get my arms moving when learning to pump. But I fear that I am have obtained litte understanding as to what I should do with my feet. For the most part, my front foot seems to do most of the work, while my back foot works to maintain stability, not adding much power to my pumps.
Oh...the darn rain!! I want to get out there and practice.
Has anyone tried skating on a gymnasium floor? I am really trying to find some indoor possibilities for practicing pumping. And since wheels are non-marking, I wanted to explore every possible opportunity.
Just as an add-on, here is the equipment I am learning on:
RTX/ RTS combo with trimmed soft stimulator in top front, and trimmed medium stimulator in top back, soft, original Tracker conicals on the bottoms for each truck, Stingers (84a) in front, Cambrias (82a) in rear, 17" wheelbase on my homemade deck and 19 " wheelbase on my Comet Race Narrow.
_________________
<a href="http://www.vasocreta.com/boston_slalom/" target="_blank">www.vasocreta.com/boston_slalom/</a>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: matthew wilson on 2002-11-13 10:46 ]</font>
With that aside, I feel that I am doing a pretty good job of making sure that I get my arms moving when learning to pump. But I fear that I am have obtained litte understanding as to what I should do with my feet. For the most part, my front foot seems to do most of the work, while my back foot works to maintain stability, not adding much power to my pumps.
Oh...the darn rain!! I want to get out there and practice.
Has anyone tried skating on a gymnasium floor? I am really trying to find some indoor possibilities for practicing pumping. And since wheels are non-marking, I wanted to explore every possible opportunity.
Just as an add-on, here is the equipment I am learning on:
RTX/ RTS combo with trimmed soft stimulator in top front, and trimmed medium stimulator in top back, soft, original Tracker conicals on the bottoms for each truck, Stingers (84a) in front, Cambrias (82a) in rear, 17" wheelbase on my homemade deck and 19 " wheelbase on my Comet Race Narrow.
_________________
<a href="http://www.vasocreta.com/boston_slalom/" target="_blank">www.vasocreta.com/boston_slalom/</a>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: matthew wilson on 2002-11-13 10:46 ]</font>
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Vlad Popov
- Moscow-Washington
- Posts: 1543
- Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Moscow, Russia
- Contact:
Mm’Kay... couple (hundred) words on pumping, stances & set-ups.
Your REAR foot should be the MOTOR, while the front foot should be the steering wheel. Both feet do both things, but it’s up to the driver (usually the brain) to determine how much of each task to distribute where depending on circumstances.
It is perfectly fine to stand sideways (surfer stance) when pumping. It takes about a week to change your stance to be anything you want when you CAN pump. It takes much longer to learn to pump. Therefore, use whatever stance when pumping. For me it was always surfer’s stance from 1986 till 1990, and I never tried parallel stance (not Bob Piercy’s parallel, but modern convectional parallel) until April 2002. Switching was just a breeze. And it kind of made sense after all the alpine practice with 60/60 +/- angles.
One (how about three?) note(s) about your set-up, Matt.
1. Using Medium as opposed to Soft original Tracker grommets is better (don't blame me, I just recently learned that myself). Try the white tops that came with your trucks, they are also OK, but not as responsive. Softs aren’t bad, but they get destroyed fast, and the entire suspension is not working properly when you have a much softer bushing as the top.
Please note, that "tops" are conical bushings and "bottoms" are the fatter round ones.
Also, you can change your kingpins to longer ones and use shaved Stimulators as tops and bottoms. I mean, you can’t, because Tracker says so, but you know...
Here’s some stuff I found on my C-drive:
"The top bushing serves two purposes: it is a suspension and it is a stopper or limiter. The axle of a fully assembled truck mounted to the board could be pushed as far as the geometry/stiffness/preload of the (mainly) top bushing will allow it to be pushed. Fatter/softer tops will allow for more turning, while shorter/harder tops will stop the truck at a certain point sooner. It is up to you to determine where you want that stopping point to be. If you’re in the free-pumping mood, you might want to get something fat and soft for the top bushing. If you’re doing a high-speed downhill slalom, you might want to consider harder/shorter top."
2. Keeping both RTX&S trucks flat (with all the needed risers to avoid wheel-bite/rub) and bushing soft/er and loose/r will help develop a pump sooner mainly because it’s just easier to pump that way. These trucks already have different geometry, and angle adjustment is needed more for slalom then freepumping.
3. Pumping just 20 minutes a day will get you pumped up so fast, you’d be “pumping”-amazed!
I thought about finding an indoor place for practice too, especially with all that rain and sh*tty weather lately, but then I recalled that the CARVING season is almost here. Time to getcho Donek out! You got your Donek snowboard, right?
Happy pumping!
Vlad.
Your REAR foot should be the MOTOR, while the front foot should be the steering wheel. Both feet do both things, but it’s up to the driver (usually the brain) to determine how much of each task to distribute where depending on circumstances.
It is perfectly fine to stand sideways (surfer stance) when pumping. It takes about a week to change your stance to be anything you want when you CAN pump. It takes much longer to learn to pump. Therefore, use whatever stance when pumping. For me it was always surfer’s stance from 1986 till 1990, and I never tried parallel stance (not Bob Piercy’s parallel, but modern convectional parallel) until April 2002. Switching was just a breeze. And it kind of made sense after all the alpine practice with 60/60 +/- angles.
One (how about three?) note(s) about your set-up, Matt.
1. Using Medium as opposed to Soft original Tracker grommets is better (don't blame me, I just recently learned that myself). Try the white tops that came with your trucks, they are also OK, but not as responsive. Softs aren’t bad, but they get destroyed fast, and the entire suspension is not working properly when you have a much softer bushing as the top.
Please note, that "tops" are conical bushings and "bottoms" are the fatter round ones.
Also, you can change your kingpins to longer ones and use shaved Stimulators as tops and bottoms. I mean, you can’t, because Tracker says so, but you know...
Here’s some stuff I found on my C-drive:
"The top bushing serves two purposes: it is a suspension and it is a stopper or limiter. The axle of a fully assembled truck mounted to the board could be pushed as far as the geometry/stiffness/preload of the (mainly) top bushing will allow it to be pushed. Fatter/softer tops will allow for more turning, while shorter/harder tops will stop the truck at a certain point sooner. It is up to you to determine where you want that stopping point to be. If you’re in the free-pumping mood, you might want to get something fat and soft for the top bushing. If you’re doing a high-speed downhill slalom, you might want to consider harder/shorter top."
2. Keeping both RTX&S trucks flat (with all the needed risers to avoid wheel-bite/rub) and bushing soft/er and loose/r will help develop a pump sooner mainly because it’s just easier to pump that way. These trucks already have different geometry, and angle adjustment is needed more for slalom then freepumping.
3. Pumping just 20 minutes a day will get you pumped up so fast, you’d be “pumping”-amazed!
I thought about finding an indoor place for practice too, especially with all that rain and sh*tty weather lately, but then I recalled that the CARVING season is almost here. Time to getcho Donek out! You got your Donek snowboard, right?
Happy pumping!
Vlad.
-
Matthew Wilson
- Posts: 241
- Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Lone Tree, CO
- Contact:
Thanks, Vlad. Did I screw up which bushings are tops and whicha re bottoms in my last post. That's my darn dislexia again!
Anyway, where in the heck do I get longer king pins?? And do I really want to being doing that? I guess I must decide.
As for the Donek...I am still saving up!! The season is here, and I am still saving. Right now I have about $20. I don't think it's enough. Sadly...snowboarding may not be an option for me this season. It would be the first in 12 seasons that I could not go.
Anyway, where in the heck do I get longer king pins?? And do I really want to being doing that? I guess I must decide.
As for the Donek...I am still saving up!! The season is here, and I am still saving. Right now I have about $20. I don't think it's enough. Sadly...snowboarding may not be an option for me this season. It would be the first in 12 seasons that I could not go.
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Claude Regnier
- Claude Regnier
- Posts: 1189
- Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
- Contact:
Matt you can pick up kingpins at some hardware stores locally. They are pretty cheap. If you look for a specialty (nut and bolts) shop you'll have a selection.
Make sure you take your Truck in to get the right size. You should be albe to pick em up cheap or got to a skate shop and pay a few bucks instead of 50 cents.
Controlling your body movement and timming each pump and turn make a HUGE difference on technique. If your arms are still coming across and your board is trying to back across this causes a loss of speed and flow.
It takes time to learn to maintain a pump once you learn to pump. Practice pumping without cones but makes sure you continue to run cones so you can see and feel the increase of ability and speed in your skating.
I learned how to Slalom by doing Slalom. My pump improved with and without cone work.
Make sure you take your Truck in to get the right size. You should be albe to pick em up cheap or got to a skate shop and pay a few bucks instead of 50 cents.
Controlling your body movement and timming each pump and turn make a HUGE difference on technique. If your arms are still coming across and your board is trying to back across this causes a loss of speed and flow.
It takes time to learn to maintain a pump once you learn to pump. Practice pumping without cones but makes sure you continue to run cones so you can see and feel the increase of ability and speed in your skating.
I learned how to Slalom by doing Slalom. My pump improved with and without cone work.
Back on the subject of pumping, I have no idea how to pump. I mean, I don't understand how it's done. I have this idea that its slaloming but pushing your feet outwards when the nose is pointed away but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. Can somebody please clear this up for me? Also, another thing
"Wiggling"!?!? Does that mean that you can try but not succeed or is this a differint type of manual propulsion that I am not aware of? Help
-Qu
On 2002-11-11 13:27, Vlad Popov wrote:
...
3. Long Wheelbase-Tight Course. Pumping is impossible. Only wiggling. 5.5 cones can be skated with 21 in plus
...
Vlad.
"Wiggling"!?!? Does that mean that you can try but not succeed or is this a differint type of manual propulsion that I am not aware of? Help
-Qu
-
Chris Barker
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:00 am
- Location: Longmont, Colorado
Qu,
I see you're from Englewood. You need to come out for one of our weekend slalom sessions. You'll see many different ways that people attempt to pump through silly plastic cones. The Colorado crew is really starting to grow.
Send me your email address and I'll add you to the mailing list.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chris Barker on 2003-04-15 21:15 ]</font>
I see you're from Englewood. You need to come out for one of our weekend slalom sessions. You'll see many different ways that people attempt to pump through silly plastic cones. The Colorado crew is really starting to grow.
Send me your email address and I'll add you to the mailing list.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Chris Barker on 2003-04-15 21:15 ]</font>
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John Gilmour
- Team Roe Racing
- Posts: 1207
- Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: USA
QU,
Pumping may seem impossible if you have never seen it done in person.
But it can be learned without having seen it done.
First off. Pumping is a twisting motion- a motion where twisting motion and lateral force is converted into forward motion.
Very important to remember this while learning pumping.
For some tips- here's a good one. Take some knowledge from another sport you already know and transfer it to skateboard pumping.
So lets say you can Inline skate or ice skate. If you skate with your legs steering together and swivel your hips while applying extra lateral force to the outside skate in a turn you can propel yourself in Inline or ice skates without lifting your skates from the ground. You'll see this in competitive figure skating all the time. You could even just pump a single side to go around in a circle (this is seen the most in figure skating).
In swimming there is stroke called the Dolphin stroke. If you ever saw the ultra cheesey show "The Man from Atlantis" on re-runs- you'll see that he is using a motion similar to side surf pumping to propel himself through water. http://epguides.com/ManfromAtlantis/
Patrick Duffy is one giant cheese ball- perfectly type cast for this role which probably had its best ratings in the East Village.
Here is one newbies account of learning to pump- and his tips
On 11/30/2001 señor Loco wrote in from 172.180.xxx.xxx:
Got my landyachtz chief yesterday, first longboard. Randall II's 180mm, 70 mm 78a (hardness) Kryptonics Classics wheels. No risers. Straight from landyachtz, they were great but the Canada/US customs took a couple of days. It took 8 business days from Vancouver Canada, to San Diego, California. $159 complete, came out to $170 even with shipping.
It was raining (damn you satan!) and I skated in an underground parking lot so no hill experience yet. First things first, the randall trucks are amazing. I have experiences on the pivots on my friends sector 9 and those things feel like they didn't move at all compared to the randall IIs. TIGHT toe-side and heel-side turns inspire awe in their stability. The Chief has 2" of camber and is pretty much flat when I stand on it (about 185 pounds).
My friend and I (check out the grammar!) learned how to pump, on flatland. I was pumping within a few minutes! If you want to learn how to pump, DO NOT emphasize carving. Pumping is not about applying force vertically into your board, to make it turn left or right. Pumping is all about lateral movement. It's about pushing to the sides, through your toes and through your heels...in those directions! Not up and down or leaning left and right, these things come naturally as a by product of the lateral movement. Second, although you can isolate different body parts, the motion should travel through your body, it is very easy to learn if you generate the energy in your body, not by leaning and turning with feet.
It's not about turning left and right fast! It's about generating twisting motions in your hips that travel down your quads (femur muscles, legs, lots of work done here!) and the end result pushing your feet laterally. By doing this, your weight will shift and the board will turn by itself...but I found the motion to be predominately a twisting motion (and I found it easiest to initiate in the hips and abs). Damn that made no sense.
All that nonsense being said, it seriously is like a snake. Snakes don't push down (too much), they push to the sides. And, it is a phase shifted motion meaning your front foot will pull to one side while your back pushes in the other direction, then both smoothly transitioning to the opposite, ad infinitum, or until you get tired, or hit a wall.
I also happen to like the "swiss style" that someone posted here, which is delegating most of the pushing power to the back foot, and also pushing to the sides with the front but mostly letting the front melt into the turns of the pumps while the back foot/leg does most of the power generation.
Oh and once you get the motion down and you can generate speed, try to do it as chilled out as you can, and become more efficient, that helped me a lot I was really over pushing and straining my muscles when I first learned, wasting lots of energy.
oh and pushing out with your back heel in the toeside direction is the easiest and most natural way to generate energy in the pump, but remember not to neglect the other direction, pulling with your back toeside inwards towards you heelside, in a nice smooth motion - to generate more power.
hope that helps
the chief says "Tonga tonga"
Pumping may seem impossible if you have never seen it done in person.
But it can be learned without having seen it done.
First off. Pumping is a twisting motion- a motion where twisting motion and lateral force is converted into forward motion.
Very important to remember this while learning pumping.
For some tips- here's a good one. Take some knowledge from another sport you already know and transfer it to skateboard pumping.
So lets say you can Inline skate or ice skate. If you skate with your legs steering together and swivel your hips while applying extra lateral force to the outside skate in a turn you can propel yourself in Inline or ice skates without lifting your skates from the ground. You'll see this in competitive figure skating all the time. You could even just pump a single side to go around in a circle (this is seen the most in figure skating).
In swimming there is stroke called the Dolphin stroke. If you ever saw the ultra cheesey show "The Man from Atlantis" on re-runs- you'll see that he is using a motion similar to side surf pumping to propel himself through water. http://epguides.com/ManfromAtlantis/
Patrick Duffy is one giant cheese ball- perfectly type cast for this role which probably had its best ratings in the East Village.
Here is one newbies account of learning to pump- and his tips
On 11/30/2001 señor Loco wrote in from 172.180.xxx.xxx:
Got my landyachtz chief yesterday, first longboard. Randall II's 180mm, 70 mm 78a (hardness) Kryptonics Classics wheels. No risers. Straight from landyachtz, they were great but the Canada/US customs took a couple of days. It took 8 business days from Vancouver Canada, to San Diego, California. $159 complete, came out to $170 even with shipping.
It was raining (damn you satan!) and I skated in an underground parking lot so no hill experience yet. First things first, the randall trucks are amazing. I have experiences on the pivots on my friends sector 9 and those things feel like they didn't move at all compared to the randall IIs. TIGHT toe-side and heel-side turns inspire awe in their stability. The Chief has 2" of camber and is pretty much flat when I stand on it (about 185 pounds).
My friend and I (check out the grammar!) learned how to pump, on flatland. I was pumping within a few minutes! If you want to learn how to pump, DO NOT emphasize carving. Pumping is not about applying force vertically into your board, to make it turn left or right. Pumping is all about lateral movement. It's about pushing to the sides, through your toes and through your heels...in those directions! Not up and down or leaning left and right, these things come naturally as a by product of the lateral movement. Second, although you can isolate different body parts, the motion should travel through your body, it is very easy to learn if you generate the energy in your body, not by leaning and turning with feet.
It's not about turning left and right fast! It's about generating twisting motions in your hips that travel down your quads (femur muscles, legs, lots of work done here!) and the end result pushing your feet laterally. By doing this, your weight will shift and the board will turn by itself...but I found the motion to be predominately a twisting motion (and I found it easiest to initiate in the hips and abs). Damn that made no sense.
All that nonsense being said, it seriously is like a snake. Snakes don't push down (too much), they push to the sides. And, it is a phase shifted motion meaning your front foot will pull to one side while your back pushes in the other direction, then both smoothly transitioning to the opposite, ad infinitum, or until you get tired, or hit a wall.
I also happen to like the "swiss style" that someone posted here, which is delegating most of the pushing power to the back foot, and also pushing to the sides with the front but mostly letting the front melt into the turns of the pumps while the back foot/leg does most of the power generation.
Oh and once you get the motion down and you can generate speed, try to do it as chilled out as you can, and become more efficient, that helped me a lot I was really over pushing and straining my muscles when I first learned, wasting lots of energy.
oh and pushing out with your back heel in the toeside direction is the easiest and most natural way to generate energy in the pump, but remember not to neglect the other direction, pulling with your back toeside inwards towards you heelside, in a nice smooth motion - to generate more power.
hope that helps
the chief says "Tonga tonga"
-
Adam Trahan
- Phoenix, AZ, USA
- Posts: 795
- Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2002 2:00 am
Qu,
Contact Dan Gesmer at http://www.SeismicSkate.com and ask for the "pumping article" and he will send it to you. This is a good essay on how it is done, the best that I have seen so far typed out. Goto http://www.ncdsa.com and search there too. Lot's of good people there willing to help.
Best to you, tell Dan I said hello.
adam
Contact Dan Gesmer at http://www.SeismicSkate.com and ask for the "pumping article" and he will send it to you. This is a good essay on how it is done, the best that I have seen so far typed out. Goto http://www.ncdsa.com and search there too. Lot's of good people there willing to help.
Best to you, tell Dan I said hello.
adam
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Chris Barker
- Posts: 156
- Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:00 am
- Location: Longmont, Colorado
Qu,
Since you are in Colorado, I again invite you to make it out to one of our sessions. The riders range from first-timers to pro. You'll see that there are many different styles and abilities. Your profile doesn't list your email address, so you'll have to contact me if you want to get on the Colorado email list. There will be an FCR race in Breckenridge on June 7-9 that many of us will be racing in.
Since you are in Colorado, I again invite you to make it out to one of our sessions. The riders range from first-timers to pro. You'll see that there are many different styles and abilities. Your profile doesn't list your email address, so you'll have to contact me if you want to get on the Colorado email list. There will be an FCR race in Breckenridge on June 7-9 that many of us will be racing in.
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Adrian Low
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 1:00 am
- Location: Sydney, Australia
- Contact:
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John Gilmour
- Team Roe Racing
- Posts: 1207
- Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2002 2:00 am
- Location: USA
If you are going slow you should put a lot of downforce into your pump. But when you are really moving fast- ie about as fast as you could sprint....then downforce isn't really important because Gravity drops you at 32 feet per second and if you are going really fast you can't "drop" yourself fast enough. So when you get really moving most pumping is just lateral force.