this morning we're here at the awesome kauffman skate park and i'm going to be learning the front side lay back rock and roll [Music] okay let's take a look at what we're aiming for we're going to come straight up the ramp get the front wheels over as we rock the board place the backhand onto the coping start to bring the back wheels down look round take the back hand off push off pivot and then come back down the ramp and ride away some of the problems i've been having with this one is i've been coming up and not getting the wheels far enough over and catching those as i pivot on the way back in another thing i've been having a problem with is not looking over my shoulder enough so when the wheels do come over it gets caught and doesn't pivot all the way around um what my goal is today is really to come up get this fully locked out with the back wheels right up to the coping just put my hand on the coping at the moment i've got it up on the deck because it feels a bit more secure but obviously if i put it on the coping it will send me into a more radical turn and my other goal is to try and get this pivot in one motion sometimes the board can just wash backwards and then go forwards in sort of a three-motion uh affair which is not quite what i'm aiming for so let's give a few a go [Music] okay first attempt not looking around with the head didn't do the full rotation okay on that one i got too far on top didn't push off enough need to just make sure my hand goes right on the coping [Music] okay that's one of the dangers the board just whips out underneath and whizzes backwards [Music] okay that one felt better i just remembered a tip my mate rich gave me which is to put your toe on the back of the board and face it forwards that means you can really get some good back knee bend i still feel like i need to get a lot lower and i need to push off the coping a little bit earlier as i go for the turn [Music] that's what happens if you don't push off early enough i just went for the turn but just washed out because i wasn't far enough into the transition okay that's the first one i felt locked out and committed back into the transition i still feel i can get lower and more committed i'm finding i just need to dab the coping for a microsecond i don't really need to hold on to it for very long at all just go up touch it and then immediately push back it's the pushing off that allows your body to stay in the transition and stops that washing out still feel i can get lower on this one i'm going to really go for it as low as i can really look with the head and push off early i'm just going to commit see what happens okay that felt good i think i can claim that one one big solid movement no wheel squeak no fudging it back in i'm gonna do some more [Music] okay starting to get a feel for the timing now it's going to be rock hand head and then push off um as you do the head you literally push off a microsecond just after that and that will send you back in it's quite a ballsy maneuver though it just feels very very exposed going backwards into the transition and turning [Music] it's starting to get them quite consistently now the thing that i changed was looking a little bit earlier than i thought i needed to so literally as soon as i get up near the coping i'm already looking and if you can look as far around as possible that seems to help the whole thing come round i got a bit of spare time so i'm going to try it on the next level up this four foot section [Music] [Music] it's only a foot more but it feels a little bit more committed just gotta go for it [Music] okay that felt better but i wasn't fully rocked out didn't fully rotate my head [Music] okay success i think i can claim that on the big section it actually feels a little bit easier because you've got more time to swoop back in but the commitment levels are much higher because obviously if you come off whoa okay that's it for the front side laid back rock and roll i think the key points for me were to come up and get this board really locked out that gave me a stable platform to push off of when i was pivoting the next key point was to just put your hand lightly on the coping not up on the top because that meant that the body is still out in the transition the next key point was to really look with the head and look with the head earlier than i thought as you look with the head let go with the backhand pivot in one clean motion so that you can come straight back down the ramp and generate speed rather than scrub off a load of speed with a power slide i think the tip that my mate rich gave me with regards to the back foot is absolutely key just the toe on the back foot facing forwards it allows the knee to bend forwards and collapse the back so you can stay out in the transition and also helps with the pivot coming back in as it gives somewhere for the board to pivot to overall i'm really happy to have got some on the big section and these felt super cruisy there was a lot more time and a lot more swoop back in many thanks to keith cummings for the loan of the brilliant eco spirit deck felt super for this maneuver and many thanks to rich pugh for all of his help and support and tips trying to get this one together as ever my name's been john bishop and i'm a middle-aged guy learning how to skate [Music]