When they jump over cliffs, some professional snowboarders reach the speed of sound. Alternatively, most cyclists are comfortable travelling at 25 mph while cruising down cat tracks or powering over flat or hilly sections.
Is There a Threshold of Acceptable Speed When Snowboarding?
While most cyclists travel at a leisurely 25 mph on the weekends, the top ten percent can achieve speeds of 45 to 60 mph before they start to lose control.
The snow conditions greatly affect your riding speed. Attempting your top speed in ideal conditions would entail skiing on a groomed, steep course with little wind. When conditions are ideal, bikers average a 5.2 mph increase in speed.
Skilled riders can typically pull off open carves at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. There are people who can go at speeds of 60 miles per hour and beyond simply by tucking their bodies in and reducing their centre of gravity.
However, you will have a hard time over 45 mph if your route is continuously disrupted by other riders or bumps and trees.
It’s not a good idea to reach speeds where you can lose control and catch an edge, especially in populated areas, where a crash at 45 mph could cause serious injury or death to yourself or others.
Improving Your Speed on a Snowboard
Is there a trick to boosting your speed on a snowboard? Professional snowboarders have provided the following advice.
Choose the Right Race
A steep, empty run with a hard (even slippery) snow pack will allow you to make excellent time. However, a snowboard’s speed is inherently reduced by fluffier snow. Having a smoother base for your board is preferable.
Practice Making Sudden Stops
Learn to stop abruptly as your first step toward improving your speed on the snowboard. This is a must while freeriding with other people on slopes.
Taking a Tilt Forward
To accelerate up, you need to lean forward and put your weight on your front foot. If you want to walk confidently, you should place 65% of your weight on your front foot and 35% on your back foot.
Free-Form Cuts
In order to maintain a downhill direction on your board and enhance your speed, you should open up your turns. You need to keep your carve form as open as possible if you want to keep your speed up on cat tracks and flat roads.
However, narrow cat tracks offer less room for error and necessitate greater caution.
Moving From One Boundary to Another
When was previously indicated, speed increases as friction decreases at the board’s base. It’s much quicker and uses far less friction to carve between edges than to skid.
You’ll need to dig your edges in with confidence and assertiveness to reduce the amount of time your board’s base is in touch with the snow.
Honor Your Gravitational Core
To maintain control of your snowboard, keep your torso tucked in and your arms behind your back. This aids in lowering air resistance and increasing the rider’s aerodynamic efficiency.
Head and shoulders should be pointed in the direction you want to go, and your board and hips should be level. Then, your board and you as a unit will be pointed directly down the slope’s fall line.
Try a Board with More Rigidity.
Boards that are longer and stiffer and that have recently been waxed can help you travel much faster.
Longer boards offer greater edge contact with the snow, making it easier to distribute your weight while carving turns and providing a more pleasant ride at high speeds, while stiffer boards are more responsive and may make riding at speed more comfortable.
You can get higher speeds on a snowboard like the Jones Flagship because it is stiffer than other models.
Final words
Going faster than 30 mph on a snowboard requires a high level of skill and experience. Looking far ahead is especially important when riding rapidly and pointing straight down a hill, when you may encounter unexpected obstacles like snow bumps or other riders.
And, obviously, you shouldn’t try to break your top speed on a busy weekend.