How do you pump and kick turn on really tight transitons?

[flowboarder]

There is a nice little pipe near where I live with a really tight transition with almost no flat bottom. I am having lots of trouble pumping and kickturning on tight transitions. Any advice?

[bpz]

It's exactly the same as on big, mellow transition - just more challenging. Tight tranny is not a good place to learn these skills because as I'm sure you noticed, it can be tough to skate. Keep practicing the basics on an easier ramp to ride: roll up and back down fakie, roll up and kickturn both frontside and backside. Get used to the motions until they're second nature and you don't even have to think about them. Then head back to the tight spot and give 'er!

All you really need to be able to ride tight tranny is confidence and good presence as you go up and down the wall. Tight tranny is quick so be ready!

[msk]

For me, the trick is to "pull" the board up to me. I learned to skate vert in tight backyard pools, a few years before the first skateparks, so to me 7' transitions are big If you look at old pool shots from the 70s (especially of the Z-boys), you'll notice that everyone was really compressed at the coping, and often grabbed the board when kickturning, which is still the way I skate, even on the bigger stuff:



As I start going up the transition, I lean forward just a little (too much, and you'll both kill your forward momentum, and faceplant right into the wall), and begin compressing my body. What this does is allow your upper body to move in a bigger arc than if your body stayed fully extended. As you compress more and go higher on the transition, "pull" the board up to you with your feet (wish I could think of a better, clearer way to describe this). I find that the tighter the transition, the more I need to compress.

Don't know if this makes any sense, but its what works for me...