Backside Flip with Billy Marks
May 31, 2007
I had these dialled. I had these so dialled. They’d been missing for a little while but writing this has make me get this little number back on lick. I’m stoked. It was a firm favourite. It was all about breaking it down. Shoulders and weight distribution. That’s it- along with a half decent kickflip.
1. You are going to need your feet in a kickflip position. I’ve seen some people push their back foot a little more over to the toe edge but sometimes it all goes a bit pressure like and you don’t get the nice clean pop. So, back foot in the centre of the tail. Front foot just below those front bolts in the same position you would use for a kickflip.
2. Get your crouch on. Keep your head directly over those front bolts. Eye them up like they were everything you ever wanted. Don’t even think of glancing elsewhere. As you start to stretch up to pop your weight has to be so precise to get everything going and the simplest way is to do the above – Keep your head directly over those bolts.
3. The shoulders are paramount on this, too. Unlike a regular kickflip where you are pretty much standing sideways – you need to be facing forward. It’s not quite as heavy duty as the wind up and unleash method of the 360 variety, but you do need the extra few degrees to make sure that when your shoulders spin, they have enough force so that your legs make the board turn around a full 180 degrees.
4. So, you are starting to stand up. Give that tail a solid whack. Start to unwind with your shoulders in the direction you need to travel (Backside, dummy).
5. Kickflip time. Front foot flick. Boom.
6. Do you see what is happening? Your feet did a regular kickflip but with your shoulders unwinding it whipped it around 90 degrees with ease.
7. The axis in which the board should be spinning goes right through those front truck bolts. So long as your head is in the right position the rest of your weight from your shoulders to your hips should automatically do their thing.
8. Some people like to catch this trick halfway through and take it to the ground before reverting. If your flick is right and you’ve given the tail a good whack, this should all be able to be taken care of in the air. Push that back leg out behind you and now let your shoulders follow through last.
9. If you are seriously having problems with the revert stuff on the last few degrees take the toe edge idea from step one and give it a whirl. It’s kind of weird, but usually gets the board a full 180 in one crack. Sadly, the board tends to hit the ground around the same time as you catch it. They don’t look too nice this way – unless you are Ronnie Creager. Did you see that one in the ‘What If?’ DVD from last months cover mount? It haunts me. The ease and perfection will make most gasp.
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