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Speedchecks. How and Why?

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kimpz
Posts: 26 - Karma: 21
Hello.
I am beginner in freestyle..
And i was thinking, why speedchecks are important?
And how to do it? Is there any advice you can describe?

Thank you for your answers.
Dec 12 2010 4:27PM
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inactive
Posts: 4772 - Karma: 97
never. raw dog it
Dec 12 2010 4:28PM
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Style+eeze
Posts: 6901 - Karma: 551
you don't want to do this:



or this:

Dec 12 2010 4:30PM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 37386 - Karma: 120,063
Speedchecking is a very important thing. They help you figure out the speed so you don't overshoot or come up short.
Dec 12 2010 4:32PM
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Milksteak
Posts: 9948 - Karma: 833
These are very good words to live by.
Dec 12 2010 4:48PM
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JeremyH
Posts: 2283 - Karma: 275
to speed check you can either do a little pizza action or dig your edges in uphill. basically anything to slow yourself down a bit to control your speed.
Dec 12 2010 4:52PM
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Crispy.
Posts: 6109 - Karma: 7,683
Yeah i was wondering what a speedcheck is. Can someone explain how you do it and how you know if you have the correct speed?
Dec 12 2010 8:01PM
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basedjase
Posts: 2510 - Karma: 640
It basically is when you are approaching a jump (ranging anywhere from just the lip of a rail, to some 80 footer) and you make a snowplow or a slight hockey stop to slow down your speed. Judging the correct speed can sometimes be pretty difficult. You have to take into consideration the wind, temperature (with changes the snow speed, and your distance and angle of the inrun. Knowing the correct speed can be judged by either watching someone, experience, or just sacking up and hitting it, if its your first time ever hitting a jump of that size. Just make sure to be careful, and not be a straight up dumb shit about it.
Dec 12 2010 8:14PM
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Broseph_Stalin
Posts: 3745 - Karma: 178
ok so what i do is ski over the rollers and not go actually off of the jumps for my first run, just to get distance. your first hit should take a bit of eyeballing but after a while you will get used to what a jump looks like ad how fast you might have to go. first hits always a bit scary
Dec 12 2010 8:16PM
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Elmo.
Posts: 4317 - Karma: 663
you never really know. u just have to guess... that comes with more and more experience i guess. and when i speedcheck i usually do either a quick pizza or a little swivel to the side real quick.... oh and try not to speed check to close to the jump. thats how ppl hit the knuckle half the time
Dec 12 2010 8:17PM
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syrup.
Posts: 644 - Karma: 302
Speedchecking is just to make you feel more comfortable with the speed you've chosen coming in at the jump. Its for when the only thought going through your head is, "holy fuck, too fast." Just give maybe one or two little slides and your mind will be thinking, "oh baby, here we go."
Dec 12 2010 8:29PM
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thisandthatfilms
Posts: 7714 - Karma: 526
well there ya go
Dec 12 2010 8:42PM
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mikemac
Posts: 1292 - Karma: 3,623
try not to snow plow, because you can end up dumping way more speed than u meant to and knoll it pretty hard. Carving is way better
Dec 12 2010 8:45PM
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LIL-WAT
Posts: 1510 - Karma: 146
Both do the same thing, so i disagree.
Dec 12 2010 11:22PM
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
speed checking is the pussy's way of avoiding to hit a jump without looking like a total pussy to his friends.
Dec 12 2010 11:23PM
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Bukkakeskitrip
Posts: 5677 - Karma: 95
how did i know that you were gonna be the negative one?
Dec 13 2010 12:11AM
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jason...
Posts: 9006 - Karma: 780
pretty much. whats a speed check gonna tell you? you wanna know if you're going fast enough or not, huck it or watch someone else huck and take their speed.
Dec 13 2010 12:17AM
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Blake.P
Posts: 9894 - Karma: 3,585
That's what I did on my first park hit of the season and threw a 180 over a 15 foot step down and overshot it by about 10 feet
Dec 13 2010 2:09AM
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HermioneGranger
Posts: 1933 - Karma: 101
then bail?
Dec 13 2010 2:45AM
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TijmenDal
Posts: 4849 - Karma: 1,295
It's easiest to ride along with someone that's hit the jump before. He knows how much speed you need. Just ask him if you can ride with him up to the jump, but just go to the side and make a hockey-stop before the knuckle. See where the guy lands and try to remember how fast you were going. Repeat if you're not sure.

Over- or undershooting is really shitty. On a 20ft jump it doesn't really matter, but when you go bigger it sucks really badly
Dec 13 2010 5:00AM
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Jibberino
Posts: 2089 - Karma: 1,346
This.
Dec 13 2010 8:09AM
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TonyTheTiger
Posts: 863 - Karma: 68
A good trick that I find helps to size the jump when going toward it is to take the inrun not strait to the kick but carving outside to see the jump from an angle.
Dec 13 2010 8:25AM
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Mr.Huck
Posts: 6096 - Karma: 14,896
Advice from an old guy who can't afford to land really deep anymore.  Stand and watch some others go off.  See if they are straight running from a certain spot or if they are carving.  Try to look at guys who are about your size.  It's best if you can find a place on the hill where you are sure that you can straight run and have the right speed.  Once you get a feel for that speed, you can try different approaches. 

A speed check is for when you KNOW that you are going in too hot.  If you speed check on your first attempt, you will probably have the wrong speed.  Most of the really bad over shoots I have seen are in jump lines.  The person gets the speed right on the first jump, then over shoots the 2nd or third.  I try to get my guys to always hit each one separately before they try to combo the whole line.  Once you have figured out the speed you need on each individual hit, you will know if you have to throw in a speed check between two jumps. 
Dec 13 2010 9:54AM
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Banane.
Posts: 3102 - Karma: 414
Jumps where i ski are normal, like 30 - 40 so i just ask for the speed and do a straight air like 2 time toomske sure i have the right speed.
Dec 13 2010 10:06AM
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the-big-lepowski
Posts: 1212 - Karma: 541
could that jump that derek spong crashed on be built any more poorly? having a straight wall be your only greeting if you come up short is not a good idea.  they may be more work to build, but I am a huge advocate for stepups
Dec 13 2010 10:31AM
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CoachG
Posts: 2546 - Karma: 448
I usually do a fair amount of speed checking for rails, for example if i'm going to be doing a switch up, i tend to hit the rail a little slower than normal so when i switch up i actually land back on the rail, as opposed to going too fast and having the end of the rail come up on me before my swap.
Dec 13 2010 11:02AM
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JustDidIt
Posts: 2194 - Karma: 160
That's what I do
Dec 13 2010 11:04AM
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RyCo19
Posts: 365 - Karma: 503
Yeah I was gonna say throw in some sweeping turns in the inrun. It doesn't scrub nearly as much speed so you can have more control
Dec 13 2010 11:28AM
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TheQuailman
Posts: 7382 - Karma: 147

Speedchecks have two definitons: (1) skiing up to a jump at full speed but stopping and not hitting it and (2) making small turns or snowplowing before going off a jump to shave off speed

(1) to check if you will have enough speed, to overcome the fear of rolling in to a big jump for the first time

(2) You can slow down a lot easier than speeding up.  You should roll into a jump with a little extra speed and use a speed check to drop down to the right level.

Dec 13 2010 11:29AM
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
i've never hit anything smaller than 50 feet.
Dec 13 2010 11:32AM
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Alex_G
Posts: 11902 - Karma: 1,019
if you pizza when you're supposed to frenchfry, youre gonna have a bad time!
Dec 13 2010 11:33AM
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Jibberino
Posts: 2089 - Karma: 1,346
Are you hitting extremely small rails, or do you hit them with way too much speed?
Dec 13 2010 11:43AM
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Bar_Down
Posts: 5896 - Karma: 395
this is the best way to do it in my opinion, the key is finding that one point where you can go straight down to the jump without carving and land exactly at the right spot, you'll never fuck up once you know what that spot is
Dec 13 2010 12:12PM
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