October 26, 1999

So you want to learn airs to fakie? Well, listen up kid, 'cause I'm going to tell you how to do it.

First of all, use your head--if you're going to do something, you've got to be committed, and visualizing it first never hurt. So, picture this: you're coming off a nice stylie backside air, haulin' toward your frontside wall, so you want to bend you knees and prepare for takeoff. Here you'll need to make one of the most important decisions you can make in the halfpipe--to pop, or not to pop! If the pipe is under vert, then you have to pop off your tail to stay in the tube. If the wall is vert, just flow off the lip with speed. And finally, if the lip is over vert, you're going to have to absorb so you don't land in the flats.

All right, back to your moves. Come off the lip at a slight angle, so you will drift down the pipe a piece. Grab your board wherever you please--I'm going to tweak the crap out of it, but you don't have to. Now comes the best part: I think free-falling into a backward landing feels grrrreat! You can spot your landing on reentry, but I just like go on feeling. Remember: don't come straight down wen you come in, come with a bit of an angle so as to carry speed to the next wall, where you can whirl-a-million.

So, now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Remember to send out shouts to all you peeps across the border.