9. The fakie
We are now going to learn to ride a flat bank to fakie (come out backwards). We’re going to use a mellow flat bank you can find in the skatepark. This is a skill we can learn quite early on and good for developing balance.
Required building blocks
You should be able to push along and carve on your skateboard.
Steps to ride a bank to fakie
Get into riding stance before you reach the bank
Push towards the bank ensuring you get both feet on your board in a good wide riding stance before you get to the bank. As long as you follow what you’ve learnt about foot positioning this should be easy.
Lean on the back leg as you go up the bank
Move weight onto your back leg before the front wheels mount the bank. Weight on the front will kill your speed.
Keep leaning back as your back wheels mount the bank, this will increase your speed, getting you higher up the bank
When both sets of wheels are on the bank shift your weight to be 5050 between each leg. As you slow to a stop you might find your weight moves over the front leg, and this is when everyone falls over, so don’t favour the front leg.
Exit the bank
Turn to look backwards as you start coming back down. Anticipate your back wheels returning to flat ground and only then move weight to the front leg. This will reduce the impact as the back wheels hit to the flat. Let the front wheels follow.
Try again going higher
Now try again, and try and get higher up the bank.
The key takeway is to get into a good centred stance before you get near to the bank, and to lean back to avoid falling forwards..
Next steps
Once you can go up and down comfortably you can start to pump to get more speed. Like pumping on transition, lean back on the way up, then as you come to a stop at the top, shift your weight from the back leg to the front. Straighten your legs as you leave the bank for extra speed.
Next take it to the transition. Find a mellow quarterpipe, like the one at Charlton skatepark. If you want a challenge try riding down the bank from the top fakie.
Get your flat bank to fakie featured here
Simply tag your Instagram video with #sosbanktofakie to be featured here!
