Hey all,
Chiming in on some breakthroughs I've had as I try to learn proper BS slappies and recover from ACL recon back in early March.
I'm lucky to have a perfect curb cut by my house to work with, and I've been using the cut as a ramp to get up there grinding... I had grown very comfy with this kind of grind before my surgery, but I'm chasing the real goods here as I'm sure so many are.
I've posted my curb here for reference not because it's a great pic, but to illustrate the changes in how I'm approaching it, and my weight distribution as I hit.
I've moved from a really shallow 25-30 degree angle of approach and just ramping up into a 50-50, to a 90 degree approach with a deep carve into the cut. As I've worked on the timing and deepened the carve into the curb cut, I've begun to feel out the beginnings of ramming into the curb like a proper slappy.
I force myself to place my front foot almost in the pocket and always covering all my bolts, back foot in just a bit from the end of the tail and with both front and back feet slightly "opened" (or heels slightly closer together than toes). This helps with the "back truck following the front" deal, and it helps open my shoulders as I find the balance point up into the fifty.
I'm working on weighting into my toes now to rely less and less on the cut. I'm almost powersliding for a split-second and hitting the middle of the cut! My front heelside wheel is hitting the top corner of the cut, and the ramp of the cut is helping ease my weight up into the slappy.
I'm unlocking this trick piece by piece, and as I heal and get more confident that I'm not gonna rip out my graft, I can sense the full slappy is really close!