# Help with side gap rails



## ryguy15 (Oct 11, 2013)

I can do ride on rails or boxes with a several different slides and feel that I am ready to do a side gap rail.I was wondering if any one has any tips.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Don't eat the yellow snow.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

The main mistake people make with hopping onto rails/boxes from the side is they try to jump too high to try to hop onto the very top of the rail.

The trick is you don't have to do that. Pop gently as you approach from the side and aim to land slightly lower down on the rail. By doing this you don't actually have to pop very high because where you end up landing on the rail is often the same height as your take-off.

That's the main thing. Besides that it's a lot like ride on rails, except getting your line right is a little more tricky (you have less margin for error since you aren't hopping on from straight in front). Remember all your basic ride-on rail technique such as trying to line up with the end of the rail, keeping your eye on the end etc.

When you advance even further to round rails it'll also add another level of difficulty because you have to land slightly at an angle against the rail and use ankle flex to avoid just hopping on and sliding straight off the other side.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

A little trick I've learned is to start on small down rails by gapping to the landing, this warms you up for the gap to the rail and you get to feel what the landing is going to be like. Then gap over the rail, this gets you familiar with speed you'll need to get over and onto it. 

Like Jed said, a common mistake is to try and jump onto the rail at the top. You really want to be aiming down the rail. Jumping up onto it is dificult because it's hard to get your tail over without clipping, which turns to disaster. Coasting out down the rail will put your board over the rail naturally. And after you've gotten comfortable gapping to the landing and over the rail, it won't seem as scary to jump on and slide to the landing. 

But remember, start small.


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## slyder (Jan 18, 2010)

Extremo said:


> A little trick I've learned is to start on small down rails by gapping to the landing, this warms you up for the gap to the rail and you get to feel what the landing is going to be like. Then gap over the rail, this gets you familiar with speed you'll need to get over and onto it.


I'm at this point too, and have done some small street style rails. 

Sorry for the noob question but what is gapping to the landing? 
I assume jumping from the take off over the entire rail if it is a short one?

Is it best to carry a fair amount of speed. I know for my ride on's I've been practicing more and more speed. Going slow sometimes is not the best


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## Casual (Feb 9, 2011)

Pretty sure he means gapping from the take off to the landing along side the rail, just airing beside it so you can see how much height you have and get a feel for where you would land on the rail.

I think having some speed is always good, it might be scarier but it gives you more balance on the rail and for the most part falling hurts less becuase you have some momentum, you might not even land on the rail but past it... going slow you just slam straight down on top of it and it's never good.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Yeah it just means gaping from the take off to the landing. I do it just to get a feel of the maximum speed it would take to clear the rail. 

As a general rule I've found it's better to gap too far down the rail, and only slide the end, than it is to come up short and clip it at the top.


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## ryguy15 (Oct 11, 2013)

thanks for the replies guys. I really appreciate it. Also what slide should it try first?


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

50/50s is always the safe one to start with, then you can move to presses and boardslides.

With getting started, I'd recommend not just gapping to the landing, but also try gapping over the rail a few times to get a feeling for the take-off and speed.

So you can basically just ride into the rail with more angle than you'd normally take and just jump over the rail (eg - if you come in from the right, gap over the rail and land to the left of the rail). This lets you play around with speed and just get comfortable with airing onto the rail.

Once you're ready to try it for real and land on the rail, you just adjust your line to come in with less angle again.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

So for me it's easier to backside boardslide than it is to 50-50. I also have a skate background so that may be why. For others boardsliding may be a little scarier. 

When 50-50'ing onto a rail, you have to know how to get up over it, and catch it at an angle from the side to stop from rolling over it (or sliding sideways and catching an edge), which I find to be a little more difficult than it is jumping onto a rail in the boardslide position. 

It also helps to learn this stuff on fat round rails with only a slight downward pitch. There is more surface area to catch the rail with your board which reduces room for error, and you can really get the feeling of rolling onto the top of the rail.


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## bmaniga (Sep 26, 2012)

Extremo said:


> So* for me it's easier to backside boardslide than it is to 50-50. I also have a skate background so that may be why*. For others boardsliding may be a little scarier.
> 
> When 50-50'ing onto a rail, you have to know how to get up over it, and catch it at an angle from the side to stop from rolling over it (or sliding sideways and catching an edge), which I find to be a little more difficult than it is jumping onto a rail in the boardslide position.
> 
> *It also helps to learn this stuff on fat round rails with only a slight downward pitch.* There is more surface area to catch the rail with your board which reduces room for error, and you can really get the feeling of rolling onto the top of the rail.


Both of these statements apply to my learning curve. I just started pop on rails last season and found a board slide to be the least intimidating trick to learn ( same skateboarding history). Also nothing could be more true than the ease of learning on a fat round rail for any rail trick. As always start small and be confident in your own abilities. 

PS. lets see that progress throughout the season. I'll probably post a few 30 second banger's this season of mostly falls and that ever so elusive first make. :laugh:


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## Casual (Feb 9, 2011)

Extremo said:


> So for me it's easier to backside boardslide than it is to 50-50. I also have a skate background so that may be why. For others boardsliding may be a little scarier.
> 
> When 50-50'ing onto a rail, you have to know how to get up over it, and catch it at an angle from the side to stop from rolling over it (or sliding sideways and catching an edge), which I find to be a little more difficult than it is jumping onto a rail in the boardslide position.
> 
> It also helps to learn this stuff on fat round rails with only a slight downward pitch. There is more surface area to catch the rail with your board which reduces room for error, and you can really get the feeling of rolling onto the top of the rail.


Ya aside from slipping out and landing on your back boardslides are easier. I think people say learn 50-50's first because most people are starting on boxes so you just ride on, but on rails boardslides are easier. Both are essential building blocks though and you can try them at the same time.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

So since I'm pretty sure the OP will look at this and be confused at where to start, here's the deal:

- Learn whichever one you're more comfortable with first, 50/50s or boardslides, either is fine to start with depending on which you find more comfortable

I said 50/50s first because I find people hitting their first street style hop on boxes have issues with slipping out onto their back on boardslides (basically they don't keep their board flat and lean backwards too much while trying to lock in the boardslide), whereas with 50/50s if you screw up it's easier to just hop off instead of crashing.

However, if you're comfortable with boardslides already and you're fine with the occasional slip out onto your back when learning, go for it, no reason you can't learn one or the other first since they're both basic rail tricks.

So go with what you're comfortable doing, but if you go with boardslides first, just be careful with keeping your board flat and not leaning back too much because that's how most people slip out and crash when trying boardslides on street style boxes/rails.


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## ryguy15 (Oct 11, 2013)

I skate alot so I think I am going to go with a back board. Once again thank you so much for the replies


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## Vonde (Nov 26, 2013)

*Landing on rails/boxes*

Hi guys, I was wandering if someone can give me some info...my question is when you ollie onto a rail/box be it front or backside, trying board slides or what ever, do you ever look at the rail/box and your board to spot your landing on the feature, and than look to the end, or must you always look to the end of the feature through the whole process and just kinda feel for the landing? Thx Vonde


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

Vonde said:


> Hi guys, I was wandering if someone can give me some info...my question is when you ollie onto a rail/box be it front or backside, trying board slides or what ever, do you ever look at the rail/box and your board to spot your landing on the feature, and than look to the end, or must you always look to the end of the feature through the whole process and just kinda feel for the landing? Thx Vonde


You can do either, but personally I look towards the end as I take off to make sure my line is set right, then as I come down to land on the box/rail I look at where I'm landing, then back towards the end again (assuming it's a trick where I can spot the end of the rail).

Also, don't ollie onto rails (unless you're adding the ollie on purpose to add to the trick). You usually want to pop, not ollie.

Pop = push off with both feet evenly
Ollie = springing off the tail of your snowboard (more air, but less stable)

Use ollie for flatground or specific tricks requiring an ollie, but use pop for basically any other situation where you want the most stable set up air for a trick.


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## Vonde (Nov 26, 2013)

Jed said:


> You can do either, but personally I look towards the end as I take off to make sure my line is set right, then as I come down to land on the box/rail I look at where I'm landing, then back towards the end again (assuming it's a trick where I can spot the end of the rail).
> 
> Also, don't ollie onto rails (unless you're adding the ollie on purpose to add to the trick). You usually want to pop, not ollie.
> 
> ...


Ok thanks a lot man appreciate your reply!! Just waiting on some snow than gonna give it a go this season once I get 50/50s down!


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## onthefence (Dec 16, 2010)

Finding this thread pretty helpful, thx Jed and others for the tips.

Thinking about it in my head, it makes sense to know fs 180s before I start attempting bs boardslide to fakie... Is this a correct assumption or am I overthinking it? Or is it visa versa?


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## Casual (Feb 9, 2011)

onthefence said:


> Finding this thread pretty helpful, thx Jed and others for the tips.
> 
> Thinking about it in my head, it makes sense to know fs 180s before I start attempting bs boardslide to fakie... Is this a correct assumption or am I overthinking it? Or is it visa versa?


Ya it's a good idea, helps with the motions and the landing.


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

onthefence said:


> Finding this thread pretty helpful, thx Jed and others for the tips.
> 
> Thinking about it in my head, it makes sense to know fs 180s before I start attempting bs boardslide to fakie... Is this a correct assumption or am I overthinking it? Or is it visa versa?


Your welcome man, glad it helps you.

And yes fs 180s can help, it's not required, but it does help you with understanding and being comfortable with the movement if you can do them first.

On a whole, just having all 4 180s (and later all 4 360s) is a huge huge advantage to learning many tricks because rotation movements are used in so much of freestyle snowboardng, so it's never a bad idea to have all 4 180s and 360s high up on your list of 'must learn' techniques in freestyle.

It just makes everything a hundred times easier once you master basic rotation in all 4 directions.


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

I'm just going to throw out there that if you can't do 180's already then you probably aren't quite ready to be jumping on a rail. Take a few days to learn the 180's first. They're easy, and pretty much a prerequisite to the progression of most all other tricks. 

Is this the rule, no. But do yourself a favor and get the 180's down. At least frontside.


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## ryguy15 (Oct 11, 2013)

I can do fs 180 and Bs 180 no problem and switch fs 180 no problem so I think I am good


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## ryguy15 (Oct 11, 2013)

Just as an update:

Today I went out and found a side gap rail with a small size gap. First I just gapped on the side of the rail a couple of times and then I gapped over it a couple times. However when i went to gap onto it, I would only get my nose onto the rail(like a willy grind on a skateboard) or I would freakout thinking i wouldnt make the gap and turn sideways into a front lip. How do i fix this


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## Krato (Apr 29, 2013)

ryguy15 said:


> Just as an update:
> 
> Today I went out and found a side gap rail with a small size gap. First I just gapped on the side of the rail a couple of times and then I gapped over it a couple times. However when i went to gap onto it, I would only get my nose onto the rail(like a willy grind on a skateboard) or I would freakout thinking i wouldnt make the gap and turn sideways into a front lip. How do i fix this


You aren't committing, go faster. Just be fluid and relaxed in your motions always with rails. The more you trick yourself into thinking you can do a trick then, like water, you go through the motions with 100% commitment and confidence and WALA!


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## Jed (May 11, 2011)

ryguy15 said:


> Just as an update:
> 
> Today I went out and found a side gap rail with a small size gap. First I just gapped on the side of the rail a couple of times and then I gapped over it a couple times. However when i went to gap onto it, I would only get my nose onto the rail(like a willy grind on a skateboard) or I would freakout thinking i wouldnt make the gap and turn sideways into a front lip. How do i fix this


Sounds like you have more of a mental block than anything else and are psyching yourself out of committing to the trick.

Honestly this is one of the reasons I suggested 50/50s first, it'll make you more used to gapping onto the rail before you start adding any rotation and doing boardslides.

Try some 50/50s, it doesn't matter if you can't get the line right and can't make it to the end, it'll get you more comfortable with the whole 'gapping' part and once you get past that you'll realize that it's really not as scary as it looks.

Then you can also start doing 50/50s onto the rail and rotating it into a boardslide mid way down the rail to get used to that body position of a boardslide.

Or another thing you can also try is modifying your gap over the rail by gapping over the rail, but shiftying your body into a boardslide position in the air, then shifting back to land (so you're not actually landing on the rail, just doing a shifty in mid air as you gap over the rail, then un-shiftying and landing on the other side of the rail). This can help get you used to popping, then shifting your body into the boardslide position without you actually landing on the rail and doing the boardslide.


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