Getting Comfortable on Mini-ramps

[Madam, I'm Adam]

So full disclosure, I can do some of the standard transition tricks on quarterpipes. Still very limited, like ten tricks. However, I can't string them together in lines on a mini. The best I can do is a few axle stalls/ little grinds in a row.

It's weird, it's almost like I can't do any tricks b/c I feel like I don't have enough time to prepare or set up for a new trick. Like I can't do rock fakies coming out of an axle stall, for example. But I can do one fine on a quarter.

Is it all just mental and I should try harder to string lines together, or is there something specific I need to do?

Any help's appreciated!

[Urtripping]

Adam, I'm going through something very similar. I've been working on thinking about lines ahead of time and just getting comfortable with the flow and timing doing simple things like pivots, fs slashes, and 50's. When I wanna get spicy, I'll think of like 2 or 3 trick strings that are a little out of my comfort zone for a line. I have found that being very intentional about direction changes (start fs, then go bs and vice versa) opens up doors and provides some variance in a line. It is almost like putting together a little routine, and your body gets used to flowing out of one thing and into another with practice. Also always helps to have a "reset" trick like a tail stall or a pivot/axel stall that you can sit in for a quick second to collect your thoughts before getting back in.

When you watch someone fucking up a mini ramp, they're so comfortable and in control that it seems they're always thinking one trick ahead. They have their balance points dialed and can improvise if need be. That comes with time and confidence I suppose!

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Totally, I need to think ahead for sure. Good idea as well to switch up going frontside or backside!

I think it would help if I had access to a small mini, then went to a slightly larger mini, then larger, etc. Just like learning anything, baby steps. But it's hard to find a small mini around these parts.

[dofrenzy]

So full disclosure, I can do some of the standard transition tricks on quarterpipes. Still very limited, like ten tricks. However, I can't string them together in lines on a mini. The best I can do is a few axle stalls/ little grinds in a row.

It's weird, it's almost like I can't do any tricks b/c I feel like I don't have enough time to prepare or set up for a new trick. Like I can't do rock fakies coming out of an axle stall, for example. But I can do one fine on a quarter.

Is it all just mental and I should try harder to string lines together, or is there something specific I need to do?

Any help's appreciated!

All based on my very limited experience:

My mini is gnarly for me and when I first started skating it I began to regret not having more flat.  Everything was happening so fast I had no time to setup for the next logical trick in the line I was trying to put together.

But I didn’t need more flat, I just needed more practice and more experience with the various ways my feet shift around the board doing tricks.  My body needed to learn all the different ways the board could move or slide on the coping or land in a rock a little crooked.

Maybe start with baby steps, as you say.  E.G. - don’t ride up into the axle stall, just put your board on the coping and step onto it.  I fully deck the deck-side wheels, step on, then scoot the back wheels forward so the deck-side back wheel hits the coping.

Drop-in from there with the intention of doing a rock-fakie. You’ll get it within a handful of tries.  Then doing it in a line will be easy.

For me, I have had to delineate work and play.  What I want to do is just add a rock-n-roll to my line and have fun, but what I *need* to do is drop-in and attempt rock-n-roll many, many times before I can add it to my line. 

My favorite number is 4, so for practice parts of my sessions, I attempt 4 rock-n-rolls dropping in from one side, then 4 from the other side, etc. until I get 16 practices.  If I feel like it’s getting dialed in, I then have some fun and try to incorporate the trick, or I’ll keep going in sets of 4.

Pick a number.  If No favorite number, count the letters in the trick you want and practice that many times.  Whatever works to get you stoked for focused practice.  To me, focused practice is like “work”, and the payoff is a higher level of “play”.

[Frank and Fred]

Really it is just familiarity and having a few set-up/ breather/ recovery tricks such as backside  50 50,  Frontside stand up 5 Os and fakie ollie hang ups.

Just don't get stuck in the tail stall/ fakie rock vortex that we all did when learning... ha ha...

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Great ideas @dofrenzy and I'm glad you chimed in seeing as how your mini-ramp skating speaks for itself 

Really it is just familiarity and having a few set-up/ breather/ recovery tricks such as backside  50 50,  Frontside stand up 5 Os and fakie ollie hang ups.

Just don't get stuck in the tail stall/ fakie rock vortex that we all did when learning... ha ha...

I can't even do fakie tail stalls! Haha I need to learn those stat. Thanks for the reply, always enjoy seeing your clips!

[dofrenzy]

Great ideas @dofrenzy and I'm glad you chimed in seeing as how your mini-ramp skating speaks for itself 

Expand Quote

Really it is just familiarity and having a few set-up/ breather/ recovery tricks such as backside  50 50,  Frontside stand up 5 Os and fakie ollie hang ups.

Just don't get stuck in the tail stall/ fakie rock vortex that we all did when learning... ha ha...

[close]

I can't even do fakie tail stalls! Haha I need to learn those stat. Thanks for the reply, always enjoy seeing your clips!

Thanks brother.  Life with a backyard mini is pretty damn sweet.

I like how Frank and Fred said everything I said but in only 3 sentences.  I’m a wordy dork but I do enjoy wording.

[typeischeap]

For me, I have had to delineate work and play.  What I want to do is just add a rock-n-roll to my line and have fun, but what I *need* to do is drop-in and attempt rock-n-roll many, many times before I can add it to my line. 

This. Whenever I skate alone at home it's drill time and it has helped with lines immensely. Take every trick in your bag and then mix them up and practice previous/next combos over and over. Axle stall on one wall to rock and roll on the opposite. Tail stall to frontside slash instead of rock to fakie. Backside slash to rock to fakie. It helps to break that habit of only knowing how to do a specific trick when perfectly setup from a specific last trick. Learn to get into a trick in imperfect foot position/balance and your body will eventually learn to adapt in the flat without being overly conscious of setting up.

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Expand Quote

For me, I have had to delineate work and play.  What I want to do is just add a rock-n-roll to my line and have fun, but what I *need* to do is drop-in and attempt rock-n-roll many, many times before I can add it to my line. 

[close]

This. Whenever I skate alone at home it's drill time and it has helped with lines immensely. Take every trick in your bag and then mix them up and practice previous/next combos over and over. Axle stall on one wall to rock and roll on the opposite. Tail stall to frontside slash instead of rock to fakie. Backside slash to rock to fakie. It helps to break that habit of only knowing how to do a specific trick when perfectly setup from a specific last trick. Learn to get into a trick in imperfect foot position/balance and your body will eventually learn to adapt in the flat without being overly conscious of setting up.

Great ideas! I should practice my tricks one by one on a mini, then start to do little lines with some variety. The foot placement thing honestly gets to me, I think I'm so used having a lot of time to set up b/c I mainly skate quarterpipes that it's actually been detrimental.

[tranny in the streets]

Definitely think a couple of steps ahead at first when you're starting out. I'm no mini ramp god but I can string together a few tricks on a mini, even though sometimes it looks pretty rushed like I'm on crack or something. It definitely helps to have a few tricks dialed down, for example back disasters are a pretty decent set-up trick rather than doing axle stalls all the time. Learn to grind your tricks if you haven't already because it does give you a breather from just stalling over and over again.

Not sure what else to add as of now, will probably come back to this thread once I get better at my own mini ramp adventures, but honestly just go for it and the most important thing is to relax and not be so rigid, because that's a good way to slam!

[Madam, I'm Adam]

Definitely think a couple of steps ahead at first when you're starting out. I'm no mini ramp god but I can string together a few tricks on a mini, even though sometimes it looks pretty rushed like I'm on crack or something. It definitely helps to have a few tricks dialed down, for example back disasters are a pretty decent set-up trick rather than doing axle stalls all the time. Learn to grind your tricks if you haven't already because it does give you a breather from just stalling over and over again.

Not sure what else to add as of now, will probably come back to this thread once I get better at my own mini ramp adventures, but honestly just go for it and the most important thing is to relax and not be so rigid, because that's a good way to slam!

Hell yeah, good stuff! Definitely trying to have my tricks in mind before I drop in.

I've been skating a 4 - foot mini recently and I've been getting comfortable with doing a few axle stalls and b/s grinds in a row. They're pretty dusty - I sit on them way too long for example - but it's honestly the best I've ever skated a mini haha.

Also starting to adapt the few other tranny tricks I have to the ramp. Working on b/s rocks right now. It just takes time I guess. It'll be awhile before I can take my b/s disaster to this mini.

But it's cool because the mini is indoors, and it's just the mini, nothing else to skate in order to distract me. So I can focus as a result.

[Mbrimson88]

I might be a bit ahead of the pack here - broken ankles a long time ago as a teenager and repeated issues with them growing up so having to leave most of the harder impact tricks behind and had a lot more time to skate ramps, in particular smaller half pipes, which only got a lot more intense the last decade of having a mini ramp of my own to skate and all the rest of it but there are some very interesting points to make about learning transition tricks on anything, not just on quarter pipes or half pipes, mini ramps or the like.

Regardless of what you can or can not do on coping, there are many things you can learn well below coping or at least on mellow bank edges or almost anything else that has some sort of lip.  For a normal ramp, have an imaginary line somewhere on the face and do things like frontside and backside fiftys or five ohs and work them up higher and higher, gaining confidence and skill. Same with other things like front or back rock n rolls, fifty reverts and many other things.  The top of a mellow bank is good to take things to that you need an actual lip but are not as confident to do on coping as well, including things like blunt roll outs or pivot to fakie, where you can sit on the top and turn it back to pivot to rock to fakie easily without fear of hanging up.  If that is a little too far ahead, think of it as a future investment in tricks to learn on the most simple and basic of things, to then take up higher and higher or to where ever you are comfortable.


The best example for learning basics is things like fakie tail taps, which can lead into and are almost the same as fakie tail stalls, but you can do them well below coping and you roll up with minimal speed and just tap the tail on the ramp at the moment you are about to stop, where ever that is on the ramp, keeping your weight over the front foot so you cannot slip out.  Work these up higher and higher, staying low until you are at the point where you can just tap the coping, which then gives you better balance to be able to pump a bit more and really put that tail down to stop and then drop back in.


Other tricks that you can do on a curb or even a driveway bank can also be converted to mini ramp easily enough, but having a suitable ramp or even decent quarter is the best place to start, just to get comfortable.  In the event of a quarter, start closer and closer to the face, so you do have to make sure you get your feet in the right place and be ready to hit it with basics or tricks you know and can do, which will make it easier to get used to thinking quickly and doing things back to back on each wall.


Lastly my go to for inspiration is setting up a camera and watching back some of the things I have done - just having a camera out makes me push myself more than if or when I am just rolling around by myself, but also watching it back I can see what I was doing and if there was anything I needed to be doing differently, which for the most part is getting down lower and turning my upper body more to get into some things, especially frontside as I tend to get very lazy and jump off or just let the board go on a lot of tricks I used to be able to do a lot better when I was younger.


I post a fair bit on Instagram (occasionally some of it on Slap too) but really it is more just for me to watch back, or for people who might want help learning tricks, so I will film a trick or something in a line and post it, then send it to them, often putting up the other random things I have done too.

These are the two main tags for this sort of stuff, which I think is probably better than posting actual clips here, the rampjam one is some humour from my love of Jims Ramp Jam video (which was an amazing old video to watch) and the second one is more just everything else, some overlapping, mainly older pics and newer videos too.


https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brimosrampjam/

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brimosskatingpics/

[Madam, I'm Adam]

I might be a bit ahead of the pack here - broken ankles a long time ago as a teenager and repeated issues with them growing up so having to leave most of the harder impact tricks behind and had a lot more time to skate ramps, in particular smaller half pipes, which only got a lot more intense the last decade of having a mini ramp of my own to skate and all the rest of it but there are some very interesting points to make about learning transition tricks on anything, not just on quarter pipes or half pipes, mini ramps or the like.

Regardless of what you can or can not do on coping, there are many things you can learn well below coping or at least on mellow bank edges or almost anything else that has some sort of lip.  For a normal ramp, have an imaginary line somewhere on the face and do things like frontside and backside fiftys or five ohs and work them up higher and higher, gaining confidence and skill. Same with other things like front or back rock n rolls, fifty reverts and many other things.  The top of a mellow bank is good to take things to that you need an actual lip but are not as confident to do on coping as well, including things like blunt roll outs or pivot to fakie, where you can sit on the top and turn it back to pivot to rock to fakie easily without fear of hanging up.  If that is a little too far ahead, think of it as a future investment in tricks to learn on the most simple and basic of things, to then take up higher and higher or to where ever you are comfortable.


The best example for learning basics is things like fakie tail taps, which can lead into and are almost the same as fakie tail stalls, but you can do them well below coping and you roll up with minimal speed and just tap the tail on the ramp at the moment you are about to stop, where ever that is on the ramp, keeping your weight over the front foot so you cannot slip out.  Work these up higher and higher, staying low until you are at the point where you can just tap the coping, which then gives you better balance to be able to pump a bit more and really put that tail down to stop and then drop back in.


Other tricks that you can do on a curb or even a driveway bank can also be converted to mini ramp easily enough, but having a suitable ramp or even decent quarter is the best place to start, just to get comfortable.  In the event of a quarter, start closer and closer to the face, so you do have to make sure you get your feet in the right place and be ready to hit it with basics or tricks you know and can do, which will make it easier to get used to thinking quickly and doing things back to back on each wall.


Lastly my go to for inspiration is setting up a camera and watching back some of the things I have done - just having a camera out makes me push myself more than if or when I am just rolling around by myself, but also watching it back I can see what I was doing and if there was anything I needed to be doing differently, which for the most part is getting down lower and turning my upper body more to get into some things, especially frontside as I tend to get very lazy and jump off or just let the board go on a lot of tricks I used to be able to do a lot better when I was younger.


I post a fair bit on Instagram (occasionally some of it on Slap too) but really it is more just for me to watch back, or for people who might want help learning tricks, so I will film a trick or something in a line and post it, then send it to them, often putting up the other random things I have done too.

These are the two main tags for this sort of stuff, which I think is probably better than posting actual clips here, the rampjam one is some humour from my love of Jims Ramp Jam video (which was an amazing old video to watch) and the second one is more just everything else, some overlapping, mainly older pics and newer videos too.


https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brimosrampjam/

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/brimosskatingpics/

Great idea about the fakie tail taps, I'll try that out! I learned them years ago on coping but lost them, tried to relearn them on banks but never took the time to get comfortable. I'll definitely try again. I also watch myself on video to see what I'm doing wrong, it helps for sure or at least gets my mind thinking about trying something different.

I'll follow your insta page as well!

[Mbrimson88]

The Transition Help Thread

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=114852.0


I feel like these two threads are good to check, so will put here what I posted in the other one too:


https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=114852.msg3744874#msg3744874


The short bit of it that is relevant (and had someone doing full stand up tail stalls by the end of the session) as per info below, as per my previous post here.


The best example for learning basics is things like fakie tail taps, which can lead into and are almost the same as fakie tail stalls, but you can do them well below coping and you roll up with minimal speed and just tap the tail on the ramp at the moment you are about to stop, where ever that is on the ramp, keeping your weight over the front foot so you cannot slip out.  Work these up higher and higher, staying low until you are at the point where you can just tap the coping, which then gives you better balance to be able to pump a bit more and really put that tail down to stop and then drop back in.



To add to that, from today's session, the main thing I made sure was when the person was coming up they were staying low which helped to control the balance and not go over backwards when getting to the tail.  Sure it is easier for smaller bodies and kids learning, but as adults (especially taller or bigger ones) it is harder to get down lower and keep balanced, so by pumping pretty much so wheels just touch the coping on either side for a few goes and then get a light weight tap on the tail, then repeat a few pumps, tap tail, really helps with repetition for where you need to be.

Before legs get tired or things start to get uncomfortable, jump out for a bit or do something else, then get to about the same place again, pump up or drop in and slow down and get to tapping the tail more so than trying to get right up on it, but by pumping a little harder coming backwards, it is easier to get a more firm tap, then get up to stop on top in a tail stall.

If things go funny or stop working well, go back to the pumping just under or at coping and do some more taps to get back into the balance again.


The only other thing to say is the location can have a lot to do with it as well, eg a mini ramp with mellow transition and minimal to no coping might be harder to do it on than something a bit steeper or something with big coping, but on the bigger coping you want to make sure you are more balanced.


Almost forgot too, body position - in particular being completely side on, just with turned head rolling up and down is important too, not turning your body at all to the direction you are going in and definitely not keeping a slight forward stance when rolling backwards, cause that will throw off your balance more than anything.

Setting up a camera and watching this back often helps to see where you are at too.