When do you level up?

[kmenard]

Got some Terry Winter video coaching and I started working on it this weekend. First day GARBAGE, any thought of moving to the next speed was laughed at by my ski that whispered...stop sucking, THEN ask the driver to bump it. Stupid ski.

 

Next day, was much better, still plenty to work on, like...plenty. I used the small amount of self control I have and stayed at that speed, but I was wondering when do YOU decide to bump it or cut the rope?

[Horton]

My method is always been to spend most of my effort on the hardest pass that I can run consistently.

[matthewbrown]

@kmenard if you are getting instructions from Terry, he would also be the best person to tell you when to move on with either the speed or rope length.

[Fastguy888]

@kmenard I had the pleasure of asking myself the same question yesterday after clearing 6@15Off 30.4MPH for the 3rd time. My answer for myself was have fun with the sport. Fun for me was trying 32MPH; felt like Mach 5 and I blew past 1 ball 5 feet before I could think about turning. I had more fun failing at 32MPH than a back up 30.4MPH. Having skied the course 10 times in the last 20 years, 10 of those days in the last year, 6 of those days in the last 6 weeks; my progression is much different than the 38 Off 34 MPH ski partner that has probably skied 600 Days over the last 10 years. He would probably not bump the speed to 36 MPH after clearing 6@38Off; rather, if he was feeling good, he may try 39.5 or another 38.

A professionally ski coach like Terry could probably tell if you were technically sound enough to progress without further enforcing bad habits; habits that could haunt you and your ability to have fun progressing at a later stage.

The better we get at something the harder it becomes to make incremental improvements; however, possibly further slowing our progression is the mental fog we develop along the way that makes us reluctant to try new things.