Riding Switch

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:28 pm

How do you ride switch? :confused:

Is it just a matter of practice? It just feels SO un-natural! Anyone got any tips?
Will give me something new to practice on on the weekend

Cheers

nimrod · Post by **nimrod** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:32 pm

I'm in same position as you man!!
I was doing 180s off a ramp the other day and had trouble controling myself once i landed :L
Tried riding switzh for a bit of practice but wasn't happening, just ended up couping every time i tried to powerslide, even if i took it gently!!

etchy6 · Post by **etchy6** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:37 pm

get used to it... urmmm... just go through a whole begginers lesson, in switch

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:42 pm

nimrod wrote:I'm in same position as you man!!
I was doing 180s off a ramp the other day and had trouble controling myself once i landed :L
Tried riding switzh for a bit of practice but wasn't happening, just ended up couping every time i tried to powerslide, even if i took it gently!!

Its horrible right!? haha! i can ride down the hill, but picking up any amount of speed, i just start wobbling! its NOT fun! haha!

"get used to it... urmmm... just go through a whole begginers lesson, in switch

" I think this weekend im just going to have to ride switch all the time then! Probably will make good friends with the ground though.. hah!

Jimmy Chaos · Post by **Jimmy Chaos** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:12 pm

Craig wrote:Probably will make good friends with the ground though.. hah!

Probably!

CowboyDan · Post by **CowboyDan** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:29 pm

Yeah dude learning switch SUCKS. You can ride well in one direction, it's really hard to take a few steps back and become a total beginner again.. I'm new to mountainboarding and haven't really tried to learn switch yet but I remember learning switch on a snowboard (still can't do it well though) and I hated it. But I guess it's one of those things you gotta just man up and do if you want to progress..

belac · Post by **belac** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:09 pm

just go foward, but backwards.
hope that helps;)

jono1987 · Post by **jono1987** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 6:14 am

CowboyDan wrote:Yeah dude learning switch SUCKS. You can ride well in one direction, it's really hard to take a few steps back and become a total beginner again.. I'm new to mountainboarding and haven't really tried to learn switch yet but I remember learning switch on a snowboard (still can't do it well though) and I hated it. But I guess it's one of those things you gotta just man up and do if you want to progress..

Im sure you put up a video of you doing 180's, there has to be some switch in there somewhere, this is whats stpping me doing 180's at the moment, i am trying to learn switch for the approach landing in normal stance, do you huys land in switch then ? surely this is harder ?

evilc · Post by **evilc** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:58 am

It's easier if you start early but it's never too late!
If the first time you are trying to learn to ride switch is on landing a jump in the woods, you are probably asking for trouble.
The quickest way to do it would be to use the longest, widest hill you can find and carve it up in switch and regular, doing 180s and such all the way down. Rinse and repeat over and over and it comes. Obviously a centre with a lift helps here. I would even have switch days where I would try and ride the whole day switch - including the bx track!
The biggest bit of advice I can giving to help you ride switch is think agressive and weight more towards front of board - people tend to get scared and lean back too far when riding switch.

Personal preference for me when doing a 180 is a switch takeoff and regular landing. The way I rationalize it in my head is all that I am doing is putting myself back the right way round, so there is less fear of doing the trick. Takeoffs are typically straight, so not too bad riding switch, but landings can be more risky and problematic, so I find landing regular preferable.

Jasper · Post by **Jasper** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:00 am

its way easier to do 180s off a kicker when theres a long run out or its flat. Dunno about switch, im shit at it. Was trying to do 180s off a kicker the other day with crap run out, found i couldnt do switch 180s under pressure at speed lol. Only learnt after the 3rd or 4th time lol

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:31 pm

Cheers for all the responses guys! A switch day is definitely upon me! :O

I can do 180s, and land them switch, and keep riding straight down the hill. But I just jump back into regular again.. i think its because I've spent too much time regular than in switch! HAH!

It seems that perseverance is the key to this whole switch thing..

CowboyDan · Post by **CowboyDan** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:10 pm

jono1987 wrote:Im sure you put up a video of you doing 180's, there has to be some switch in there somewhere, this is whats stpping me doing 180's at the moment, i am trying to learn switch for the approach landing in normal stance, do you huys land in switch then ? surely this is harder ?

Yeah I can land switch and ride it out, but you can see on the video that the landing is stepped up and flat, so I'm not riding switch for long.

But I can't actually ride down a hill switch :P

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:25 pm

CowboyDan wrote:Yeah I can land switch and ride it out, but you can see on the video that the landing is stepped up and flat, so I'm not riding switch for long.

But I can't actually ride down a hill switch :P

I feel your pain.

etchy6 · Post by **etchy6** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:02 pm

Get to bugs boarding...

Il give you a lesson in switch

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:14 pm

Sure thing, I'll be down there at least once in the easter half term, I'll PM you the day i'm going, to check if you'll be there.

TylerStartin · Post by **TylerStartin** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 4:54 pm

Yeah man I know what you mean!! Switch SUCKS. But The more you do it the more natural it feels for sure... I used to not do anything switch, but I've gotten more confident and ridden switch more so now I can do more stuff switch. I think Skateparks are a great place to learn switch riding better.

tom · Post by **tom** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:51 pm

best thing to do is once you have landed nose roll round again thats what i do

shotyrocks123 · Post by **shotyrocks123** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 12:56 pm

I am still learning switch, but what i do is just go down switch and try to keep my balance the whole time, I usually nose roll at the end for the fun of it but other then that I don't have a whole lot of hints. Just practice I guess, thats what I do.

Brennig · Post by **Brennig** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:22 pm

I rode regular for 5 years, then suddenly I decided I was a goofy, and now I'm much better due to the change. Can't believe I rode switch al those years without questioning if it was right. Now atleast I've had practice so I can ride both ways.

Even when I rode regular I longboarded in goofy.

leapb4ulook · Post by **leapb4ulook** » Thu Apr 14, 2011 1:19 am

A mate of mine rides his noSno goofy and his longboard regular. People are weird.

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