Lateral slide on rails/boxes
I’m a little new to rails and jibbing so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I find when I pop onto boxes/rails (whether it be 50-50, boardslide) and I approach the rail/box at an angle from the side, I tend to carry too much momentum and end up sliding laterally (across) the rail or box.
As a result, I usually can’t slide all the way to the end of the rail, but end up having fall/pop off earlier as I’m about to slide off to a side.
Any techniques I can try in order to stay straight on the rail?
https://www.boardworld.com.au/content/category/jibbing/
Here man. They’ve got quite good stuff about jibbing and might be able to answer your question. Theres some about body position and all that.
Is it a simple flat funbox you are talking about or a down rail which requires that you approach from the side?
Because the one simple solution would be to align yourself with the feature and just 50-50 it without coming in from the side.
I’ve read through whats here on boardworld and it doesn’t really answer my question.
I looking to progress beyond approaching the box/rail front on and doing plain 50-50s.
I’m attempting FS/BS 50-50 and FS/BS board slides now and I find I’m slipping across the feature…
I’ve noticed that if I keep my body position straight, my lateral inertia drags me across the rail..
Should I be leaning back a little against my direction of motion to counter-balance this?
i dont think that will help too much if you lean against your direct of motion. a funbox is almost frictionless so trying to change your direction on it is very hard.
a rail, on the other hand,you might be able to.
if you are approaching it from the side, maybe try to narrow this angle down a little? or aim to get onto the second half of the rail so if your intertia does drag you across, you’d be out of the feature before you slide off sideways.
Hey T-spec, well i understand your issue here, the good news is that a lot of features you jump onto from the side are single bars or other items that allow you to adjust your balance once you’re on, so this isn’t gonna be an issue a lot of the time. What i go for when approaching features like you describe is a mixture of two things, firstly golfpunks advice about narrowing your approach angle is good advice, combine this with looking towards and aiming your body’s momentum towards the end of the feature should help a lot. The other thing to do is to practice little pops off your toe and heel edges. The aim of these pops is to move you laterally about 6-10 inches or so (ie the distance between your take off at the side of the feature and being square on top of it. You can practice on the piste, just go straight down the fallline and pop off your toe edge (for example) and try and land on a flat base still travelling straight down the fall line but about a boardtrack along. Its not the easiest thing to describe….now i’ve just made this next bit up so take it with a pinch of salt if you see fit….I try and incline a little just before i pop and the act of popping brings my feet underneath me so i’m straight over my board again, just a little bit moved sideways (over the rail hopefully). Imagine your leaning against a wall from say a foot away and you jump and land straight up, you’ll probably land halfway between your take off and the wall (about 6 inches from the wall), i guess thats what i do when popping on from the side on features. My advice would be to watch the video from snowbaord addiction (on this site in the videos section i believe) regarding front boards, loads of the ideas on that awesome video relate to jumping on from the side to do any trick not just front boards! And front boards are dope anyhows!
Anyways hope i’ve given you some ideas let us know how you get on.
T-spec, aidy’s got down some great advice here. On rails, you can approach from the side and balance yourself quite easily as how Aidy has described. However, on a funbox, it is still best to approach it front on because you cannot control your direction of motion on the funbox whilst you are moving.
Perhaps on a short funbox you can make it to the end of the feature approaching from a narrow angle off the side, but on a slightly longer feature, you will slide off before the end.
Good advice all read said:
- Reduce your angle of approach. dont approach dead straight, but at less of an angle to reduce a possible stimulus to the problem.
- I have heard the good advice stated many times of focusing at the END of the rail / box.
I think a lot of my advice really starts with the first comment over and over again.
According to your description that you give, I really feel that your approach angle could well be the problem.
Come at it a little more straight.
Even if NEXT to the rail, your approach should be straight and not at an angle. you are next to the rail, but your momentum is directed toward the end of the rail… like Aidy said.
When you WANT to rotate while on the rail coming at more of an angle may be advantageous.
Watch a lot of videos and study the angle of approach vs what the body position is on the rail…. what part of the rider’s body moved to get on the rail… was it thier whole body or just the lower body (legs)? while on the rail did they stay on it in the same position they landed? or did they rotate while on it?
Looking at videos may be a big help.
I did a very simple search and came across this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwBPVzw6PzE
He approached straight on, and rotated 90deg (dont ask if this is a FSboard or BS board… like in the other topic LOL)
but it was his lower body that did the rotation, and he had his DIRECTIONAL momentum directed to the end of the rail… yet the ROTATIONAL momentum that turned the 90degrees, as you can see was still rotating during the whole slide, and he came off switch with that momentum.
Find more simple videos and analyze what is going on…
Instructors call it ‘movement analysis’.
option c: just gap that rail :p
when are you next heading up to the snow? The first time i ever hit up a park, i decided that i’d put aside a whole day. and during that whole day, i met a few riders and also managed to pick up a few tips off them.
Most people are very friendly and are more than happy to give you some tips while you are there.
There have been excellent points made already by Aidy and snowslider. If you want to see the video Aidy is talking about, you can view it here: https://www.boardworld.com.au/content/category/front-boardslide/
In the above video, take note on Nev’s approach and his use of the counter-roated body position. This is key for boardslides. Practice this on the flat snow, or even while stationary. Seperate your lower and upper body. Watch the video a couple of times then try the technique for yourself.
You can definately have a straight approach and still pop on from the side. Ride straight, but a few inches to the side of the rail. As you get to the rail, just pop slightly off your toes or heels (depending which way you are approaching). Your momentum should still be carrying you in a straight line.
You really need to focus on the end of the rail/feature. As you lock onto the feature, look straight down it, and get your body balanced in the direction of the feature. If you are looking to the side of the rail, chances are that’s where you will end up. Rotation is a different story, but you should have FS and BS boardslides on lock before you worry about spinning onto rails anyway.
If you have any more questions please let us know.
Thanks for the responses folks.
I’ll definitely give it a shot when I head up next, might have to wait until NEXT weekend though cos of the weather..
I think my problem was a combination of all of the above.
I guess it’s like driving where focusing further down the road allows for more stable steering.
Cheers peeps.
Hey guys and T-Spec
this is Nev from SnowboardAddiction.com
There is some great advice here in the reply’s. Thanks also to the guys who recommended checking out my video on frontboards.
Of all the replies above, I especially like the first sentence from aidy:
“well i understand your issue here, the good news is that a lot of features you jump onto from the side are single bars or other items that allow you to adjust your balance once you’re on, so this isn’t gonna be an issue a lot of the time. “
It quite difficult to explain this in writing but I’ll give it a shot and will spend a few minutes here to expand on what Aidy is talking about when “adjusting your balance.”
I’m gonna keep it real simple and only talk about frontside 50-50s and backside 50-50s.
A street style rail (or skate style) rail is where you have to jump on from either frontside (the rail is in front of your body as you approach) or backside (your back is facing the rail as you approach). Most riders approach at an angle of around 20-30 degrees off being straight but the angle is not important.
When you ollie onto the rail,
your momentum will continue in the exact same direction as your approach angle unless you do something to stop you heading in that direction.
This is where you must “adjust your balance.” This is done by angling you’re board against the rail that your just popped onto. The amount of angle you use is extremely small (maybe around 5 degrees, the amount is not important)
This angluation of your board is very important because it’s whats going to stop your momentum from heading in that 20-30 degree direction and will now line your momentum up in the direction of the rail.
So basically your angling your board against the rail as you first get on so that your board doesn’t slide off the other side.
You only angle your board against the feature as you first connect with the box or rail. You can then flatten out your board and 50-50 the whole length of the feature. This can be done on both boxes and rails but is easier to do on a street style rail.
I understand this may be hard to understand by just reading it with no diagrams or video so here’s the plug you’ve been waiting for.
In my full Snowboard Addiction program there is a video dedicated to 50-50s. It will show you the approach I’ve talked about above for ollieing onto street style features for both frontside and backside 50-50s. It uses slow motion and also pauses it as I connect with the rail to show you the very slight angle that stops my momentum from carrying onto the other side.
I’ve actually just added 2 more DVD’s worth of content to the snowboard addiction program (it doesn’t even say this on the website yet, but it’s there upon purchase) and it’s all backed with our 120% money back guarantee.
T-spec, I hope this helps to answer your original question regarding “carrying too much momentum and sliding off the other side”
Thanks for reading guys
Nev
Great tips man. I hope you absolutely nail your next rail t-spec
biggest thing that helped me to get the 5% or so angulation on the board to ‘stop lateral movement’ was to just look to the end of the feature as soon as you ollie up. itll adjust your body to be balanced and allow you to ride away clean. most people who have crazy lateral movement is because of all aforementioned problems, coupled with them simply looking off to the side of the rail
send it and do some filmin next time youre up if u want more help
Thanks for all the awesome pointers!
I’ll give em a shot tomorrow! heading up to Hotham..
I’ll try and get a video in and we’ll see how we go.
Cheers all
No problems dude.
Let us know how it goes 