John Gilmour carving clinics

Contributed by tom. 7 February 2008.

John Gilmour wrote on the bomberonline.com forum about being available for coaching in Colorado this season. I thought it would be a great way for me to open yet another "door", get more ideas about riding, see different styles, etc. I exchanged a number of multi-page emails with John, and he was most helpful with various info. I got to ride with him twice this season, here are some things I learned.

John Gilmour

John talks about the rider's balance -- according to him many riders stay in their 40% zone of balance, which means that they get outside of that zone on most turns and spend their time struggling to get back into the balance zone. He thought my setup was in the 80% range, and had some suggestions on how to improve it.

I was riding with a pretty wide stance -- 20+" for a 30" inseam, and John recommended using the 0.607 X inseam formula. I went to riding with an 18.25" stance, then lowered it to 18", felt a lot more power and a lot more forward initiation on my turns.

I went back to riding with a 6-deg rear heel lift and 3-deg front toe lift, which seemed to get my feet into a better position.

I also biased my bindings, google "gilmour bias" for more info, which means that in order to better square my hips over the board I shifted the front binding a little towards the heel, and the back bindings a little towards the toe. "Little" means about 1/4" to 3/8". This makes riding more stable, though at the cost of a slight loss of strength in the toeside turn initiation, and makes riding switch a bit more complex too (harder to turn aroud to face the back).

John teaches what some would term "east coast ice" riding -- staying low and balanced over the carving edge. Although probably not necessary most of the time here in Colorado, it's a very efficient way of riding for icy conditions -- it offers the maximum edge grip, transitions are fast, and with the weight forward it's possible to actually slow the board down by engaging the tip!

In order to align properly over the board, John has a four-step procedure. First take your front knee and push it forward, cranking it to align over the middle of the board. Then the same with the back knee. Then drop your butt as long as you can, but centering the crack over the center line of the board. And then bend forward, with the chin as far forward (looking up) as possible. It was not a comfortable position, but with time it started feeling more familiar. Being that centered and low lets the board do most of the work, and really uses the legs less.

I also found the hand-position unfamiliar. John believes in the gunfighter stance, i.e. shoulders up, elbows up and forward, hands hanging loose. If they come to the snow, they'll just swing back. It's much safer than having the elbows down, as that risks shoulder dislocation if one were to hit a chunk of ice or something hard. It felt strange, as you can see in the movie -- John makes it look natural, I'm exagerating.

There is a lot more that could be written about the clinic -- but if you get a chance, get ahold of John and ride with him!

MOVIE

The video quality is poor -- it was an overcast day, and the emphasis was on riding and not on filming. Lisa did get some snippets, though, and so I put them together: