Which board to try snowboarding from these for first time ?

Hello- I am a skier some where between a level 6 and 7, and I have been offered a free snow board if I will try it out on a trip with some newer freinds. There are 3 choices and they are listed below. This will be my first time snowboarding and if I do not spend too much time on my rear I may continue.  

I am 6' and 190 lbs.

      1. Burton Mayhem 155cm
      2. Ride Dose 159 cm
      3. Rossi Circuit 161cm

The binding in each case would be a Ride middle of the line - nothing fancy. These are all last year or year before models so they are all all equal in that respect. I am not thinking anything beyond learning to get the feel and get down the mountian as smoothly as I can. No half pipes or fancy terrain park - just down the hill. If I really want to pick it up I would probably research it and get a board next year.

I am sure some will have the perfect new board I should do instead but that will not beat free. It needs to be one of these. Not knowing snowbard specs or charecteristics at all like I would many skis I don't have the first clue. 

Which would be my best pick?
Thanks, Tom

 Your best bet is to find a mountain that has a Burton Learn to Ride center and use their equipment.  Seriously!  LTR boards are designed specifically to be forgiving to beginners, and are the best way to go!

+1

Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge, and several others all have BURTON LTR Programs.  Don't let your friends try to teach you to snowboard...otherwise you will fall down alot, possibly hurt yourself, and you won't continue with snowboarding.

Take the all day LTR program.  You'll learn on an LTR board with a more forgiving bevel and a beginner flex. 

Don't buy a board till you've tried it out the first time.  I've had too many people show up at a never-ever lesson with brand new equipment that wasn't suited to learn on at all.   They struggled.  

Unless you are a big jib skater, don't expect to hit the half-pipe for a few seasons.

The reasons the LTR is the best bet for beginners are that the edge bevel is set so high that it's hard to catch a downhill edge and the board is so flexible that it's much easier to learn to twist it onto edge. Of course, people were learning to ride successfully long before LTR boards and you are getting one for free. So ...

From Sierrasnowboard.com...
The Mayhem is an intermediate all-mountain freestyle board.

The Ride does is for the big-footed guy wanting to rip it up in the park like everyone else.
The Rossi circuit is an economically efficient board for the beginning rider, the Circuit is a killer progressive all-mountain snowboard.

My recommendation is to go with the Rossi, but consider doing an LTR lesson as a package on day one.

Many skiers have similar troubles learning to ride. They instinctively try move sideways (against the edge - you won't know that you're doing this except for the feeling of "fighting" the board) and get tired very quickly. Modern snowboard lessons will teach the four possible ways you can make a board turn and the body movements that make that happen. Learning this way, it's possible to not spend the whole day on your butt. There are two critical success factors: learning to ride the edge in a traverse and keeping weight off the back foot (i.e. get centered or forward). Once you get those, the number of falls decreases rapidly. To the extent that these success factors are difficult to achieve, you may find it best to limit your exposure to riding to smaller doses. I worked my way up from an hour to two to a half day.
 

If you've surfed, skateboarded or wake boarded, riding will be much easier to learn. If you haven't, try skateboarding now. It will make your first day on the slopes much more productive.

Reminder: a helmet and wrist guards are a real good idea. The number one injury to beginner riders is wrists. Remember Rusty's secret sound is "Ooooffff". When you fall, ball your hands into fists, cross your arms and say "oooofffff" on contact. You won't have to remember all that, but if you think "ooofff", you can do the first two steps automatically. Otherwise you're natural reaction will be to try to break your fall by extending your arms. That's how wrists get hurt,

 As a snowboard instructor myself Id recommend the Rossi or the Dose. Just because your weight more closely corresponds with the 159cm board than the 155cm.

The Dose has an advantage because it provides a little bit more flex and is more forgiving when traveling down hills, vs the Rossignol.

Burton LTR programs are nice and convenient but they also cost money. Which alot of people do not have. I quite often provide friends with free lessons outside of my classes just to get people on the hills.

Here is a short list of ways to get going.

1. make sure you know how to push. This isn't usually the first thing on a new riders mind but it helps.

Determine your lead foot, Strap in a foot and push with your back foot. Whichever feels more comfortable is a good place to start. Work on pushing around the flats for a little while to get comfortable with the feeling of moving sideways.


2. Since I imagine the lift wont be a problem to get on, I find skiers have the hardest time getting off the lift because they tend to turn their bodies while they come down the transition. As you come to the end of your chair lift ride straighten your board, youll have to sit a little sideways but thats ok, when the chair slows down and your board touches the snow, find the board with your back foot, make sure you have it seated and stand up. Keep your shoulders in line with the direction of your board and youll coast in a straight line.

3. First thing to work on is always stopping. Fortunately the same motion that goes into stopping is also the same motion used for turning. Strap in both feet and position yourself so your facing down the hill. Your board should be perpendicular to the hill grade. Stand up and find your balance, Work your toes like a gas pedal, when you lower them youll move forward, when you raise them youll come to a stop. Continue to do this until you reach the bottom.

4. When your on top of the hill again, get in the same position. Stand on your heel edge, and work on the gas pedal motion again, this time work on shifting your weight from foot to foot. This will cause you to "leaf" back and forth across the hill. This is the first step to turning, this motion gets you used to controlling your board so that you are familiar with how your board reacts to your weight change.

Thats about all I usually fit into an hour lesson for beginners, When you get more comfortable you can load your lead foot with weight and it will begin to point down hill, When you do this make sure your weight is either centered or forward. and to slow down its a combined motion of rotating your shoulders, leaning onto your heels and shifting your weight as the board turns. But dont get ahead of yourself. take it nice and slow, make sure to get helmets and as someone already mentioned never put your hands down when you fall. try to fall on your forearms as a sprained wrist is never fun.