Similarities Between Skiing and Other Extreme Sports

[SkiJay]

Valentino Rossi working his front tire hard while slowing into a corner . . . .

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I’ve just come in from a motorcycle ride on the twistiest roads I could find. During the ride, I had a flashback to what I used to feel while racing superbikes; specifically what I used to feel diving into turns with a lot of speed. I'd had a great ski set this morning, and during today's ride, it struck me just how similar it is to either ride a bike into a corner decelerating at the limit of traction or ride a slalom ski as it sheds speed from the pre-turn into the turn around the ball.

 

Bike – You have to get your whole body properly positioned on the bike as you approach the turn.

Ski – You have to get your whole body properly positioned on the ski during the pre-turn.

 

Bike – A key part of this cornering body positioning is to get a lot of weight onto the front wheel, then ride the front wheel deep into the corner. When it’s right, it feels like you are balancing all of your weight directly over the front wheel.

Ski – A key part of the pre-turn body positioning is to get a lot of weight onto the front of the ski, then ride the front of the ski all the way around the ball. It feels like balancing all of your weight on your front foot. Let the front foot get ahead or behind you and you lose the magic.

 

Bike – You want to get on the gas as soon as absolutely possible without it being too soon or you’ll have to get back off the throttle to avoid running wide at the exit of the turn. Ironically, early throttle application takes patience.

Ski – You want to take as much angle off the ball as absolutely possible without it being too much angle or you’ll pop the handle or wheelie the ski to avoid crushing your body position. Finishing the turn without grabbing for the handle and over-rotating also takes patience.

 

There are lots of other similarities too like how helpful it is to keep your head level and your eyes up on the horizon. But the biggest revelation today focused on how important it is in both cases to work the front of the bike/ski hard, balancing on it all the way into the slowest part of the turn.

[xrated]

What I have found in common between the two. Rarely do I get it right. And when I do I don't know if I should be excited or scared!