Why am I scared to drop in?

[busterhymen]

I used to drop in on anything and then stopped skating for a few months now I have this fear of dropping in when I never had any issues before it makes no sense.

[in love w/ fs shuvs]

On flat put ur back foot on tail and mimic the stance you take on coping, then out ur front foot on bolts. Slam down. Repeat 100x. If you can do that you can drop in. Just don't go in the deep end ur first try.

[Ray C. Usery]

I voted Fred Gall

[menachem begin jr]

i've dropped in on little ramps but anything over my waste is scary. i leaned back once and did a wheelie onto my hip. had to put an ice pack on it.

[Easy Slider]

I dropped in on regular halfpipes as a kid.

Then stopped for 20 years and when I came back didn‘t even dare to drop in on a small quarterpipe (those standard concrete qp‘s they put everywhere until they found out kids couldn‘t skate them). I guess adult brain just thinks too much about consequences.

I had to start lower. Find a really low non scary ramp and work yourself up from there. I can now drop in on those qp‘s again but haven‘t stepped to anything higher yet. It‘s not my priority anyway but it stings if you see 10 year old kids drop in on stuff your 44 year old ass is afraid of. Same for stairsets and gaps tho.

[cucktard]

Not dropping in, but in snowboarding I used to spin 3s of of any jump without a second thought.

Now even on small jumps I need to warm up to them to get my confidence back. If I don’t, I tend to crouch down (scared posture) and not do them properly.

Dropping in hasn’t given me much problems yet, but I definitely need to pump the transition and get used to the speed if I’m going to do vert.

Actually now that I think about it, I have the same problem as you with rolling in on mid-size transitions

[JugeL]

More you overthink it, more harder it will be

[biaherl]

i've dropped in on little ramps but anything over my waste is scary. i leaned back once and did a wheelie onto my hip. had to put an ice pack on it.

It actually gets easier the taller and longer the transition is. Making sure your front wheels make contract quick is the most important thing. I'm a baby stepper too, start small and move up gradually

Commitment is the only thing that separates Skaters from people who skate

Edit: Fred Gall is the correct answer

[Hedgehog In Da Fog]

Getting over the mental hurdle of dropping in on vert is a doozy. It looks like the ramp goes inward when you look down. It also gave me speed wobblers the first time. I can't do anything else on a vert ramp.

[Skatebeard]

I can drop 3ft QPs but don't like doing anything bigger - I wasn't a huge fan of dropping in or coping tricks back in the day, and that has only diminished as i've gotten older.

it's 50% confidence, 50% technique. You really have to commit that front foot and weight forward.

[STEEPLESLAMMER]

I can drop 3ft QPs but don't like doing anything bigger - I wasn't a huge fan of dropping in or coping tricks back in the day, and that has only diminished as i've gotten older.

it's 50% confidence, 50% technique. You really have to commit that front foot and weight forward.

i'd disagree and say it's more like 10% on the tek and 90% just commit, i've seen quite a few people drop in looking like they're about to die, but they just believed in themselves so it worked lol

[layzieyez]

I'll drop in but never roll in. I messed up one time and took a headfirst dive to flat luckily with a newish helmet. It cracked the hard foam instead of my skull. I can't bring myself to even try it again even though I used to do them without a thought before that.

[iskateventures]

go to the top of the ramp put your board on the coping and drop in. dont waste anytime contemplating when your at the top youll just get scared. if youve done it before you can do it again

[Raccoon Manne]

I'm an old skater that is new to transition, there weren't even half the amount of parks of today back in the 90s. I avoided dropping in for a while but I felt like a wimp after I saw a little girl drop in. I'm building up my confidence on 4' to 6' quarter pipes but I think that's the sweet spot for me. I feel like I am pinching to the left though, does any goofy footers do this? It's difficult though because I don't like skating around other people so I have to get up early or skate in the dark when the skatepark is involved.

OP, listen to your gut but change your mindset. Start on a bank and then move up to mellow transition; work your way up. It feels good to overcome your fear. Also, do rock to fakies and think about how you are keeping your weight away from the coping, be inside the ramp.

[The.Skate.Father]

When the ankle goes pop, that's when you stop!

[somedudefromnj]

because your a wuss

whenever I notice im being a bitch about dropping in I go do it just to get it over with. You know how to do it and I believe in you, just dont let that stupid ramp win

when I first learned how to drop in I only did it because some shit head with a scooter who never dropped in before did it first try on a skateboard

most unrewarding thing to learn in that situation but opened a world of good times with the homies

you got it man its okay if u eat shit

EDIT

story time. I was scared to drop in the other day, so went nd did it and missed the fifty on the other side, fell straight to the bottom. Ended up stuck in the ramp all day after that

EDIT EDIT

Dont let that fuckin ramp win

[Sativa Lung]

Just make sure when you do succeed you fist bump the air and say out loud "thanks gravity, I fux wit u"

[dallou]

do it, put all weight on the board and be ready to fall. if you re old just wear protection.You know after one try the fear will be gone

[GrapeApeAffe]

48 here, and started again 2 years ago after not skating since the 80s

Best advice I’ve had is to practice just doing kickturns up to the spot your going to drop from.   Once your comfortable with that, dropping in at the same spot is then just a mental game, because physically you’ve already done 90% of the drop.

I’ve worked my way up to 8 or 9 ft with a foot of vert on pool coping.    Next step is to find a proper vert ramp which should be easier since my local pool has a quick transition.  But will still be scary from 13 ft up.   

[Pbn_jake]

I used to drop in on anything and then stopped skating for a few months now I have this fear of dropping in when I never had any issues before it makes no sense.

Just hit it with your purse

[Raccoon Manne]

You're not ready, that's okay. Just learn the lines of the bowl I'm the morning and at night. I can drop in but I'm can't do much after that. I'm trying to learn how to carve and roll in... There's always something to learn.

[j....soy.....]

It’s because it’s hard….you have all the time in the world to talk yourself out of it….you kinda can’t work your way around it…..

I see girls and children do it all the time by holding hands….maybe we could learn something from this…

[Brguy]

It happens when you're not that fluent in ramps and it is scary when you consider that dropping in is basically falling, like look at pros specially on big transition, it gets to a point where it isn't "stomp your feet until it gets to the ground", they just kindly let themselves fall into the ramps, once they step on the board there is barely any contact with the floor.

[SneakySecrets]

Here’s my little theory:

Millions of years of evolution, since way before human beings even existed, have instilled an innate instinct for self-preservation in our ancestors, and by extension, us. 

This likely includes avoiding nosediving off a higher elevation straight into the ground for no good reason.

So when you’re up there, your frontal cortex is engaged in a brutal war with your lizard brain.  It’s pleading it’s case through logic: you’re on a skateboard, it rolls, and you will be perfectly fine as long as you commit.  Meanwhile the primitive part is like “no, fuck that, you’re not supposed to throw all your weight down towards the ground, you’re going to get us hurt”.

When you think about all the eons of programming you’re trying to override, it’s almost a miracle anyone ever learns to drop in at all.

A hella testament to the power of the human spirit, know what I mean?

[yungthug]

Yep, will not try bs roll ins at all and really have to hype myself up to do a fs one (even then only on small transition)

I got a little overconfident as a kid at a skatepark, hung up on a fs roll in at a small bowl, and got pitched straight to the flat bottom. To this day one of the worst slams I have ever taken in terms of the lasting memory it left and how painful I remember it being.

[Raccoon Manne]

Here’s my little theory:

Millions of years of evolution, since way before human beings even existed, have instilled an innate instinct for self-preservation in our ancestors, and by extension, us. 

This likely includes avoiding nosediving off a higher elevation straight into the ground for no good reason.

So when you’re up there, your frontal cortex is engaged in a brutal war with your lizard brain.  It’s pleading it’s case through logic: you’re on a skateboard, it rolls, and you will be perfectly fine as long as you commit.  Meanwhile the primitive part is like “no, fuck that, you’re not supposed to throw all your weight down towards the ground, you’re going to get us hurt”.

When you think about all the eons of programming you’re trying to override, it’s almost a miracle anyone ever learns to drop in at all.

A hella testament to the power of the human spirit, know what I mean?

You're right, it's good to break out of the matrix. Maybe that explains why you see so many people drinking beer at the park. I feel like it has to do with comfort, once you get comfortable on a ramp, you don't even think about, you just do it.

[rhetoric]

Expand Quote

Here’s my little theory:

Millions of years of evolution, since way before human beings even existed, have instilled an innate instinct for self-preservation in our ancestors, and by extension, us. 

This likely includes avoiding nosediving off a higher elevation straight into the ground for no good reason.

So when you’re up there, your frontal cortex is engaged in a brutal war with your lizard brain.  It’s pleading it’s case through logic: you’re on a skateboard, it rolls, and you will be perfectly fine as long as you commit.  Meanwhile the primitive part is like “no, fuck that, you’re not supposed to throw all your weight down towards the ground, you’re going to get us hurt”.

When you think about all the eons of programming you’re trying to override, it’s almost a miracle anyone ever learns to drop in at all.

A hella testament to the power of the human spirit, know what I mean?

[close]

Maybe that explains why you see so many people drinking beer at the park.

Just be sure to follow the tried and true formula for success: only 1 beer before you skate, warm up, then drink more.

[manysnakes]

More you overthink it, more harder it will be

One thing I’ve noticed is that the longer you stand at the coping looking down, the more likely you are to bail or slam. The only way to do it is to step up and drop.

[Skatebeard]

transition is overrated, just skate flat   

Seriously though, it's mostly just a mind game... find a mellow 3ft QP and just follow through with your weight over the front foot.

I don't drop in much at all anymore, so it's a little head game for me on the odd occasion I do. Just remember that you can do it, and fully commit. Half assing it or hesitating never ends well.

[Raccoon Manne]

I was running up and down after trying fly outs. It's funny how it starts to become smaller the more you hit it in every direction and speed.