Livingston Skatepark
Some thoughts on learning how to mountainboard
I spent the past few days working on updating the ATBA-UK Instructor Training Programme. It’s brought a lot of my more unorthodox thoughts on teaching mountainboarding to the forefront of my brain.
Powerslides Vs. Emergency Stops
Traditionally, most mountainboard lessons have included learning to powerslide. Some instructors even teach it before turns. I have a few problems with powerslides for beginners. Firstly, doing powerslides well requires a certain amount of board control, which most beginners don’t have, and so often go wrong, or at least take some of the fun out of the lesson.
Secondly, if they are taught as a way to avoid hitting something or someone, then what a powerslide actually does is take away the riders ability to steer and keep them heading towards the thing they are trying to avoid in an uncontrollable manner.
My third issue with powerslides is the safety/legal aspect. If a person suffered spinal injuries from a powerslide that went wrong, I can just imagine the lawyer questioning the instructor with something like, ‘So, you gave the client helmet, wristguards, elbow pads, and knee pads, and then told them to put the part of their body that isn’t protected on the ground at speed?’ The instructor might as well hand over their wallet there and then.
So, what’s the alternative? I think J-turns should be the main stopping technique taught to beginners. Taught properly, J-turns can be used to stop safely at any speed, and the rider remains upright and away from the ground.
And if the rider needs to learn an Emergency Stop (not a powerslide, which I think is actually an intermediate technique), then they should be taught to get low and pull a hard backside turn so they steer away from the obstacle.
Heel straps
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a beginners board used for teaching at a centre with heel straps. Why not? Most regular riders use heel straps because we recognise how much more control we have over the board, and yet centres/board manufacturers/instructors/whoever still seem to to like to make it as difficult as possible for beginners to control their board.
I realise there is an extra expense associated with heel straps on a fleet of beginners boards, but part of that cost would be offset by not having to buy leashes, and the heel straps don’t have to be proper ratchet heel straps. A few metres of seatbelt material would make an entire fleet of heel straps.
Giving a beginner a better, and more realistic, experience of mountainboarding would surely help to get them coming back. It’s also got to be safer as it prevents them from taking a foot off the board whilst they’re going along and twisting an ankle or doing the splits.
Using brakes
Just about anyone I mention this to says, ‘Oh no, bad idea.’, but I’m not put off the idea. I think teaching people to mountainboard with brakes has two big advantages. Number 1 is image. If more mountainboards had brakes, and people didn’t have to look quizzically at them and ask ‘How do you stop?’, the boards would look safer. They’d fit into people’s preconceived ideas about things with wheels having brakes (i.e. bikes). If people saw that they could have a go at mountainboarding without the risk that comes from slides and putting various parts of your body on the ground at high speed, then more of them might give it a try.
Number 2 is a equality. Tackling the safe/dangerous image would get more people to have a go. But with slides as the main stopping technique, the rider needs to be of a certain physique, fitness, and flexibility. With brakes more different types of people can not only have a go, but stick at it. I’ve seen loads of people hobble away from mountainboard lessons with a bruised behind, never to return. Take away the need for slides and a person can ride all day without ever getting muddy (I’m reminded of the scene in Riding Giants where they are talking about the revelation of tow-in surfing and how they could ride all day without getting their hair wet) or getting any bruises.
The argument against brakes is that reduces the skills a rider learns, but I’m not so sure about this. They may learn different skills, but riding well with a brakes takes skills too. And what’s better; fewer highly skilled riders or more less skilled riders?
I realise these are unorthodox and even unpopular ideas, but sometimes steps forward come from the out-of-the-box thinking, and without considering new ways we’ll be stuck doing things the same old way forever, even if it’s not the best way.
Some thoughts on competition strategy
I’ve seen quite a few mountainboard competitions over the years, seen things riders do that gives them a competitive edge and seen the mistakes they’ve made. Maybe a bit of thinking about how to approach riding in a comp, and what to focus on to improve your riding might help.
BoarderX
- Get out the gate first and fast. Watch the other good riders and learn from how they pull out. Being in front of other riders not only gives you the obvious racing advanatge but it has a psychological advantage too.
- Get good at pumping. BoarderX races are won or lost over rollers so learn how to pump as smoothly and efficiently as you can.
- Get round berms fast. Berms usually slow riders down, especially when there are other riders also trying to get round it. The outside line is usually the smoothest and fastest, but sometimes the shorter but slower inside line can get you in front. Learn to judge which line is going to be the fastest and look for gaps in between the other riders.
- Practice every line. Most riders just ride their preferred line when they’re on their own. Practice coming out of each gate in turn and follow that line down the track, just as if you had other riders in your way.
- Ride close. Practice the track by riding really close to your mates, not trying to beat each other, just trying to stay as close as possible the whole way down the track so you get used to having other riders right next to you.
Freestyle
- Go big. Big and stylish beats small and technical, so get good at jumping and then add the tricks.
- You won’t impress the judges by keep trying the same trick again and again. If you don’t get it, move on to another trick.
- If you know the jumps get yourself a set of tricks that work well on that set up. What works well over two big jumps won’t work on a slopestyle with four smaller jumps and a quarter, so tailor your set to the jumps.
- Variety is good. Don’t just learn to 360 one way, learn all four, and then learn them with grabs. And if you don’t have that many tricks change the order that you do them.
- Find your trick. There are loads of tricks that never get used in competition. Pick one of those and get good at it. It’ll make the judges notice you.
Downhill
- Walk the track. Look at from a riding perspective and plan you lines.
- Get a safe run first. And then go a little bit faster to get your time down a bit. Doing that is better than trying to go as fast as possible every run as you don’t give yourself the chance to learn the track.
- Tuck. Learning to speed tuck properly (or at least as properly as you can on a mountainboard) will make a huge difference to your time.
- Sliding out kills your time. Avoid it at all costs. So if there’s a part of the track that gets you every time slow down before you get there rather than keep trying to get through it at the same speed.
- Learn to tic-tac. If you do slide out you need to get back on your wheels and up to speed as quickly as possible. With no rollers to pump like a BX course, tic-tacing is the best way to gain speed from a standing start.
Competition riding is all about smoothness, which comes from time spent on a board. Practice makes perfect. Unless you practice the wrong thing, in which case you become perfectly wrong. Practice the right thing.
Faringdon Loyalty Card
Faringdon are introducing a loyalty card, a bit like my membership card idea from a while ago.
Loyalty card scheme to be launched in Faringdon on Saturday 9 June– 25/5/12
Residents in Faringdon will soon be able to get their hands on a brand new loyalty card offering discounts in many of the shops in the local area.
The new scheme, which will be launched on Saturday 9 June, will give people the opportunity to take advantage of offers in 31 outlets around the town, ranging from food retailers to hair and beauty. Offers that card holders will be able to take advantage of include exclusive money-off deals, special product give-away deals and many more.
The new loyalty card will be available for the first time to the public at a launch event on Saturday 9 June. People will be able to pick up a card from a stall manned by local businesses in Faringdon’s Market Place between 10am and 4pm, as well as from the 31 business outlets taking part in the scheme.
The cards which feature an illustration of the Folly Tower, cost just £2 each with all funds raised from the proceeds going back into developing the scheme and to benefit local business.
As well as receiving a fantastic array of potential discounts, anyone purchasing a loyalty card will also receive a regular emailed newsletter telling them about new offers and events in and around the area that they maybe interested in.
The scheme is being funded by Faringdon Chamber of Commerce and being delivered in partnership with the Vale of White Horse District Council.
Paul Brame, Chairman of the Faringdon Chamber of Commerce, said: “The Chamber is delighted to support this scheme and are very pleased that over 30 local businesses will now benefit.”
Cllr Elaine Ware, cabinet member for Economy, Leisure and Property for the Vale, said: “This scheme has received great support from traders in Faringdon who have provided some fantastic discounts for card holders to take advantage of. We hope that as many people as possible come along and get hold of a loyalty card and help support the local businesses involved.”
VWHDC – http://www.faringdon.org/nvtalkingpoints.htm
My idea was to get local independent businesses to sign up to provide a 10% discount to card holders who pay £10 to purchase the card. That way the scheme doesn’t cost the local businesses anything up front, which makes them more likely to sign up with the scheme, and all the income is from the sale of the cards, which would require a lot of pushing. I still think it’s a good idea, but like so many ideas, it would take someone to put a lot of time ad energy into it to make it work.
The social media marketing of pets and mascots
Animals on the internet have always brought a smile to our faces. Lolcats shows that people like to share the antics of their pets and enjoy laughing at other peoples pets. And it doesn’t stop there. Whether its a rubber duck or a real dog, animals and mascots are making their way into social media marketing. Is it a good thing? Are animals a good online marketing tool? They always have an air of fun and silliness about them which makes it difficult to take them seriously, especially when you know there is a person behind their amusing tweets. But maybe that’s the image you’re going for. Either way, I think the idea of creating an online presence for your company mascot needs some serious consideration before undertaking.
Some thoughts on speed tucking
A while ago, when we had the crazy idea of trying to set a world speed record for mountainboarding, we did some research and experiments on using speed tucks on a mountainboard. I’ve used what we learned a couple of times since then but never really had the chance to test it properly against a rider who would normally be faster than me. Here’s a brief overview of what we learned and how putting it into practice went.
Things that affect speed
Things like tyre pressure, tyre footprint, and lubricated bearings all affect how fast you can go on a mountainboard. And having those things sorted will certainly help you accelerate quicker, but once you get to about 20mph it all comes down to how aerodynamic you are. And that’s where speed tucking comes in.
Longboard Speed Tucks
Longboarders have been using tucks to go faster for a long time. They have three main types of tuck; the American, the European, and the Brazilian.
The Brazilian Tuck is characterised by being low to the board, and sometimes includes the riders arms pointing out in front to cut through the air. The American Tuck has both feet flat on the deck, the rear leg behind the front leg, and the riders back as horizontal as possible. The European Tuck is slightly lower than the American with the rear foot raised up on its toes, the rear knee resting on the front ankle and often with the arms straight out behind.
Brazilian speed tuck
American speed tuck
European speed tuck
Longboarders have lots of discussion about which is the faster tuck, and it often depends on things like the height of the person using the tuck, but one thing is certain, using a tuck makes the rider more aerodynamic and so makes them go faster.
The problem of speed tucking with bindings
Of course, the thing that makes longboarders be able to tuck so effectively is that they can move their feet into whatever position they want to. Mountainboarders aren’t so lucky. We have bindings which reduce the options for positioning out feet, but if you use noSno softs or snowboard bindings you could considering pointing them forward more so you can more easily get into a speed tuck.
Mountainboard speed tuck techniques
So, which speed tuck works best on a mountainboard; American, European, or Brazilian? We found that a mix between the styles worked best on a mountainboard. Whether you can adjust your bindings or not, pointing your feet as forward as possible is a good start. then bend your front knee and put your rear leg directly behind your front leg (you might find it easier to keep your rear leg straight). Twist you body so you are facing forward and lean over the front of your board so your back is as horizontal as you can get it. Your arms can either be against your sides or held down in front of your body to fill the dead space and direct the airflow to the sides. From the front your body should be a T shape.
Does it work in practice?
Which board should go faster, a noSno on twelve inch skyways or a Trampa on 8 inch wheels? Dave McBean was on the noSno. It was the same set-up he used to win the Masters and get the third fastest time at the Whinlatter Downhill Comp. We were riding the Scotland Downhill Comp track at Dunkeld, a track he knows well.
I was on my little Trampa and holding a speed tuck all the way. And I kept up with him. Speed tucking works. If you want to go faster and get better times at Downhill Comps, get good at speed tucks.
Other speed tucking tips
Here are a few other things that might help with the speed tuck and going faster.
- Stretch. Stretching before using a speed tuck will make your legs feel better and mean you can hold the tuck for longer.
- Keep still. Holding your body as still as you can in a speed tuck will help with it’s aerodynamics.
- Practice. Try out the speed tuck on a easy predictable run. Maybe try timing runs standing up and tucking to see what difference it makes.
Online Marketing Strategy – Commercial Electrical Testing
Aim: Develop an Online Marketing Strategy that is aligned with business and marketing objectives to provide consistent direction for online marketing activities.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
- Assess micro and macro environments to provide SWOT analysis
- Market – Expanding or contracting?
- Company – Growing or shrinking?
- Competitors – Growing or shrinking? (80 in Reading area)
- Customers – Which online platforms do they use? Touchpoints.
- Resources – Human, financial, technological
OBJECTIVES
- Sell – Set customer acquisition and retention targets e.g. winning x number of clients from competitors within given time scale.
- Serve – Set customer satisfaction targets e.g. increased transparency and accountability.
- Sizzle – Set brand recognition and perception targets e.g. delivering excellent customer experience.
- Speak – Set number of engaged customers e.g. number of existing customers engaged with & number of potential customers engaged with within given time scale.
- Save – Set efficiency gains targets e.g. streamlined communications with existing customers.
STRATEGY
Essentially channel marketing strategy.
- Segmentation – Segment customers through Spend, Regularity, Service Usage, Online Communications Usage.
- Brand Positioning – Selecting brand position within the industry based customers served and perceived gaps in the market.
- Value Proposition – Achieve differential advantage of buying services, e.g. Safety, Peace of mind, Compliance to legislation, cost effectiveness, reliability.
- Communication – Target brand and value communications to relevant customer segments.
- Integration – Integrate digital and social media marketing with business and marketing objectives.
TACTICS
- Set up Google Alerts for company name, competitors name, and specific industry keywords to gather picture of the digital landscape CET is operating in.
- Optimise website with greater CTA, remove inline styling, add company address in footer.
- Optimise website for mobile devices.
- Implement SEO for website with optimised keywords, rich snippets, authorship, sitemap.
- Implement Google Analytics for website.
- Increase and optimise usage of News section on website to included regular updates about company and changes within the industry.
- Use pingomatic to tell search engines News has been updated.
- Implement Twitter feed on website.
- Fix LinkedIn profile link on website.
- Optimise Google Places page and encourage customers to leave reviews.
- Optimise Twitter page including background image.
- Increase and optimise Twitter usage to include regular updates about the company, and industry, but more importantly engage in conversations, retweets and mentions. Follow customers, intermediaries, and industry leaders.
- Set up eCRM to manage email campaigns to existing customers.
- Create QR codes for particular tests, equipment, service, or customer that link to specific help pages on company website.
- Utilise PAT Electric App to manage asset database and export reports to customers.
ACTION
- Prioritise website improvements, social media, and seo actions.
- Set resources for project/tasks, including financial, technological, and human.
- Assign responsibilities for tasks.
- Set schedule for tasks and project.
- Set KPI’s for project.
CONTROL
- Measuring and evaluating strategy and implementation.
- Were customer acquisition and retention targets met?
- Measure customer satisfaction through surveys. Were targets met?
- Measure brand recognition and perception through survey. Were targets met? Are more potential customers aware of the company. Do existing customers feel they have an excellent customer experience.
- Measure number of engaged customers e.g. number of existing customers engaged with & number of potential customers engaged with within given time scale.
- Measure efficiency gains. Has there been an increase in the number of customer communicated to with email, Twitter, etc. Were targets met?
Questions
- How does the team work together on a project? Collaboratively or more individually?
- What’s the day-to-day work pace like?
- Which aspect of the role would be the highest priority?
- Will there be opportunities for sharing skills so I can learn more?
- How would my performance be monitored?
- Would you be able to support me in my course with things like information for case studies, etc.?
- Assuming I’m success at the this stage, what’s the next part of the process?
Nompa Pro DH trucks – Initial Testing
Took the first prototype Nompa Pro DH trucks out for a test ride.
They performed well and seem like they’ll do what I’m hoping, e.g be stable at high speed and not suffer from speed wobble, reduce bump steer and provide a bit of dampening, and give the wheels some camber which should change the grip characteristics of the tyres, especially in corners. The only issue seems to be with the lack of return to centre, but with a bit more development I might be able to work that out, possibly by staggering the truck bolts which would also give more turn.