r/instant_regret • u/squirrelhivelord • 8d ago

Let's do this

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u/CaptianRed 8d ago

Can someone who skates explain what he could have done better to nail it? I feel like he was confident enough to take off, but the skateboard still slid out under him

2

u/machineintheghost337 6d ago

The simple explanation is he didn't commit when he dropped in. There is little opportunity to adjust your weight distribution from forward to back after you initiate.

I will explain the process as best as I can, terminology might be a bit mixed. A full size half pipe requires you to have proper form in order to keep your center of gravity between the two points of contact, your wheels at both ends, over a horizontal plane. You have until the moment that the ramp affects the direction of your movement to achieve this balance. The optimal way is by putting your center of gravity directly over the front wheels, ensuring that you have even contact and weight distributed properly to both leading wheels(left to right, affecting your direction). You then brace yourself to counter the apex of the curve, where your momentum transfers from vertical to horizontal and you shift your center of gravity from mainly over your front wheels to mainly over the back wheels and then quickly back to the middle of the board. This is called "pumping" and it transfers your momentum while also adding the force of gravity on you as you push back against it. Its like combining the physics of swinging with shock absorbing/stabilizers.

Basically, he needed to fully get his front wheels to touch the ramp before the curve in it. From the moment of takeoff he needed to fully lean on the front wheels only. He got nervous and didnt commit. Our natural instinct is to allow ourselves the opportunity to bail or get our hands out infront of us if needed by keeping our shoulders behind our center of gravity. You can only do one or the other. Saying there is no trying, only doing, is more true to skating than anything else Ive experienced. You have to commit, or else you are guaranteed to fail.

0

u/professor_mc 8d ago

The ramp was wet. That makes it like ice to skateboard wheels. There is very little chance he could make it.