Keeping speed in a tiny bowl

[aleksander]

I've made it my mission to learn how to skate this little thing at my town's one skatepark, and it's not going well. I've never really skated transition, never lived near a bowl, only mini ramp tricks I've ever done are axle stalls and 5050s.

I've only seen a handful of people try to skate it, and they just use the skinny sides as a mini ramp. I want to learn to pump around and skate it like a real bowl, but I just can't keep speed after like two walls.

Do I need to be on or at the coping on every wall in order to get a big enough pump going back down (as opposed to just carving around halfway up)? Where would be the best spot to drop in? I'm regular footed and can carve backside and frontside okay in the wider end, but then it just all goes to shit.

It seems like it could be so fun and I'm down to put in the effort to learn, but honestly I'm just lost. Tips?

[back smith]

I mean "the whole bowl is for skating" sure but why would you want to mess about half way up in a small bowl like that. The higher up you come from the more potential energy will be transformed into speed on the way down. And sure you can get speed from carving around the corners with power but even then the idea is to gain more and more speed not to fiddle about in the bottom, get on the coping and do a long grind..

Best place to drop in probably the corner behind the kid on the bike, deepest and steepest.

[Teethcanbesexy]

I would “hug the walls” and carve close to the coping, dip down and back up to get speed.  Not endlessly but a stall could lead back into that and you will go faster with grind. 

Learn how to pump over that hip fs and bs, for me getting speed over hips bs is fun.

Best advice anyone gave me for skating transition is that it’s like a swing.  You’re going up a curve/radius you have to actively pump both up and down the transition to maintain speed or hit coping. It looks more natural after people get really good at it and it seems like they just riding but they are still pumping

[back smith]

Ok so I went and tried it out for science. It's totally possible to get speed staying low in a mellow bowl.

Here's how to do it. When going around the bowl frontside, do a backside carve into a wall, then a frontside kickturn out, then as soon as you hit the flat bottom do another backside carve into the same wall, and so on.. Change backside to frontside if you want to go in the other direction.

[aleksander]

Ok so I went and tried it out for science. It's totally possible to get speed staying low in a mellow bowl.

Here's how to do it. When going around the bowl frontside, do a backside carve into a wall, then a frontside kickturn out, then as soon as you hit the flat bottom do another backside carve into the same wall, and so on.. Change backside to frontside if you want to go in the other direction.

Haha that’s rad, appreciate the experimentation. So kinda like a surfy thing if I’m caught down low and desperate for speed.

And @Teethcanbesexy , I am gonna work on hitting every pump up, down, corners, whatever I can get.

I thought as I got older that transition skills would just magically come into my life somehow, but I’ve gotta put the work in. I’ll try to update this thread with pics or vids after I’ve figured some shit out. Transition skating is a whole new world for me but seems fun.

[mfweeno]

Lots of good advice in this thread. The “swing” analogy is especially true in my experience  - height on the wall creates momentum, and a correctly timed pump translates that into speed. It can be a bit harder to achieve this in a smaller bowl actually, but the bowl in your photos looks like it has just enough height to generate speed and lines.

The first few minutes of this Mitchie tutorial explain and demonstrate the concept of using carving height to generate speed very well in my opinion:



About the skill acquisition piece - I’ve always considered transition skating to have the opposite learning curve of street skating. Street skating basics have a fairly low learning timeline that increases as you start to try more advanced stuff. Learning how to properly skate transition is somewhat challenging at first because the physics and technique are very specific (plus the fear factor with skating ramps and bowls in general is higher in my personal experience + doing skate lessons for a bit). Over time, as you get more familiar with using the physics of the bowl or ramp to your advantage and build better technique, a lot of tricks are just variations on a theme - for example, backside kick turns will build up to backside axle stalls, which can build into backside pivots, back disasters, back tails, etc.

Got a little scatter brained on this reply but hope it’s helpful along with everything else mentioned here.

[Mbrimson88]

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Looking at something that is not just a square with rounded corners, or a basic shape, I think even doing figure 8s or similar might work better than trying to just do laps round and round.

There was something very similar in oblong semi triangle shape I used to skate a fair bit and the key to it was learning how to get in and out of the sharp corners more than the flat or longer walls, which were good for longer fifties or similar grinds, or even just carving up across and out.

I guess having trucks loose enough to carve but getting up on the angle to get round those corners is key, but finding any pocket you can pump in and round and out of is the best way to get the most out of something like that with weird or unique shapes.


If you have any video of it, even if it is attempts you don't quite make, it would be interesting to see.

Expand Quote

Ok so I went and tried it out for science. It's totally possible to get speed staying low in a mellow bowl.

Here's how to do it. When going around the bowl frontside, do a backside carve into a wall, then a frontside kickturn out, then as soon as you hit the flat bottom do another backside carve into the same wall, and so on.. Change backside to frontside if you want to go in the other direction.

[close]

Haha that’s rad, appreciate the experimentation. So kinda like a surfy thing if I’m caught down low and desperate for speed.

And @Teethcanbesexy , I am gonna work on hitting every pump up, down, corners, whatever I can get.

I thought as I got older that transition skills would just magically come into my life somehow, but I’ve gotta put the work in. I’ll try to update this thread with pics or vids after I’ve figured some shit out. Transition skating is a whole new world for me but seems fun.

Yeah all of this.  Just go at it without any expectations or thoughts of "I want to do this trick here and that trick there" but as you get more used to it, some things will become easier, some other lines might work, going long on the main walls, then cross over and go tight into the ends - like figure 8 - only work out which way is easier, or better, especially with those couple of other bumps / hips / different bits in there too.

Staying low and loose, as body position, so just rolling around, carve or lift to turn, whatever works, adjust trucks as needed, but don't just loosen them off a whole turn and expect things to work - seen people do that and it makes the board unstable for them and didn't help at all.

[aleksander]

Lots of good advice in this thread. The “swing” analogy is especially true in my experience  - height on the wall creates momentum, and a correctly timed pump translates that into speed. It can be a bit harder to achieve this in a smaller bowl actually, but the bowl in your photos looks like it has just enough height to generate speed and lines.

The first few minutes of this Mitchie tutorial explain and demonstrate the concept of using carving height to generate speed very well in my opinion:



About the skill acquisition piece - I’ve always considered transition skating to have the opposite learning curve of street skating. Street skating basics have a fairly low learning timeline that increases as you start to try more advanced stuff. Learning how to properly skate transition is somewhat challenging at first because the physics and technique are very specific (plus the fear factor with skating ramps and bowls in general is higher in my personal experience + doing skate lessons for a bit). Over time, as you get more familiar with using the physics of the bowl or ramp to your advantage and build better technique, a lot of tricks are just variations on a theme - for example, backside kick turns will build up to backside axle stalls, which can build into backside pivots, back disasters, back tails, etc.

Got a little scatter brained on this reply but hope it’s helpful along with everything else mentioned here.

Man, I had seen this guy pop up on Instagram and thought he was like the Scientology guy or some scammer selling courses. Well, joke’s on me because he apparently did a FUCKING 1260, so yeah he definitely knows about transition.

I went again this morning and really focused on staying as high as I could every time, like brushing the coping rather than just trying to zip around low in the corners and it definitely helped with overall speed.

And @Mbrimson88 I’ll definitely post some attempts in like a month, but honestly I gotta put some work in so there’s something more critiquable. It’s pretty humbling to feel like a total beginner again after decades of skating, but good motivation and a fun new challenge.

Also don’t want to blame my setup bc it’s 100% my technique and not the equipment, but I did order some new wheels, 97a 58s, because my current ones are 75a 56s. I originally got those because the whole park is so chunky and full of cracks, but hopefully the new ones will help a little.

[Plan9Customs]

As stated before stay close to the coping, do figure 8 carves, and definitely do grinds (f/b) so you can pump out of them, and you have to learn how to roll out and in(bonus points for a Sacto roll in).

[biaherl]

Can you air that little hip?

As a regular footed skater myself when I think of lines in that bowl I would have to be able to air that hip, or at least ride over it like a Boss.

In the pictures the hip is behind the bike kid and the shadow of your left arm elbow is pointing to it.

I don't do tricks or grinds anymore (that bowl is so mellow I probably would) but I would chicken scratch the shit out of that thing till I got dizzy


Also where is this bowl so we can go skate it with you

[aleksander]

Can you air that little hip?

As a regular footed skater myself when I think of lines in that bowl I would have to be able to air that hip, or at least ride over it like a Boss.

In the pictures the hip is behind the bike kid and the shadow of your left arm elbow is pointing to it.

I don't do tricks or grinds anymore (that bowl is so mellow I probably would) but I would chicken scratch the shit out of that thing till I got dizzy


Also where is this bowl so we can go skate it with you

Right now that hip is causing me nothing but problems going into that corner frontside, but an ollie into that corner would indeed be sweet. Going backside I can sometimes pump off it and hit like a figure 8 to go frontside off the wider corner.

I’ve been skating it a ton and gradually getting the kickturns out of my carves. I think I’ve been every day for a week straight, sometimes twice a day.

It’s in a little pueblo in Colombia, kinda near the Venezuela border. I’d imagine that’s a pretty good hike for most, but you are all cordially invited to session it!