Mastering the Toeside Predrift: A Downhill Skateboarding Guide

The toeside predrift, also known as the backside predrift, is a fundamental skill for downhill skateboarders. This guide will walk you through the steps to master this technique, essential for both racing and open-road riding. This skill allows you to control your speed while maintaining a smooth line through corners.

Table of Contents

Understanding the Toeside Predrift

The toeside predrift is a hands-down slide where your board is angled less than 90 degrees to your direction of travel, allowing you to steer while scrubbing speed. It’s primarily used to manage speed before entering toeside corners, allowing you to maintain maximum speed through the turn. This is a key technique for downhill skateboarding, and you should learn this after mastering the toeside and heelside pendulum slides.

Prerequisites for Learning the Toeside Predrift

Before attempting the toeside predrift, ensure you have mastered the following skills:

Toeside and Heelside Pendulum Slides: These slides provide the foundational understanding of how to slide and serve as emergency braking techniques. If you haven’t already, familiarize yourself with them first.

Perfecting Your Body Positioning

Let’s start with the basics of body positioning, both off and on your board:

Toeside Position: Get into a basic toeside slide position on your board. Pay attention to the following:
- Hand Position: Your hand should be placed ahead of your front foot, towards the side of your board. If your hand is inline with or behind your trucks, you will tend to over-rotate into a 90 degree slide. The hand should be well ahead of the trucks during this slide.
  Correct hand position for toeside predrift
- Shoulder Alignment: Ensure your shoulders are aligned directly above your wrist. This will provide proper support and keep your hand from being too far from your board.
  Proper shoulder alignment over wrist
- Stance Over Front Foot: It’s critical to be properly positioned over your front foot. This will help you drive weight into your front foot, maintain control during the slide and allow your front hand to be placed correctly.
  Correct stance over front foot for toeside predrift
- Lean Away: Lean away from your feet or lower body. This will allow you to drive weight into your toes and help you maintain the slide, preventing highsides.
  Correct lean away from the board for toeside predrift

These three points are crucial for a successful toeside predrift.

Head and Shoulder Direction: Keep your head and shoulders pointed towards the apex of the corner or direction you are sliding. Avoid unnecessary movement with your upper body, as your board will follow your shoulder and hip movements, potentially causing over-rotation or a highside.
Isolate Upper Body: All the slide action should come from your legs. Your upper body, specifically your shoulders, chest, and hips, should remain stable, pointing towards your intended direction. To maintain this, look where you want to go or towards the apex of the corner.
Foot Positioning: Maintain the same foot position as your toeside pendulum slide. If you need a refresher, there are plenty of resources available online that go into further detail.

Understanding Weight Distribution

A good starting point for weight distribution is to have 60-70% of your weight on your front leg and 30-40% on your back leg, with a small amount of weight on your hand for balance. Instead of weighting your back leg, you should use it to push and exert pressure into the board. The majority of your weight should be on your front leg, with a bit on your hand. This helps keep you planted and prevents highsides.

It’s crucial to maintain a planted front leg. If you can’t keep planted, check for issues like:

Poor griptape
Too grippy wheels
Improper board setup
Too much concave on your board
Incorrect foot position
Poor setup carve
Lack of flexibility

Choosing the Right Location

Find a corner to practice on. Corners make it easier to point your body in the right direction and hold the slide at a low angle. They also help you hook up into your trajectory without adjusting. Straight roads make it difficult to maintain body position and to adjust trajectory after the slide. Choose a corner on a hill to get enough speed for practice.

Steps to Execute the Toeside Predrift

Step 0: Warm-up with Hand Drag Carving

Start your practice with hand drag carving, including 180-degree hand drag carves. This will help you get comfortable in the slide position and increase your confidence.

Step 1: Initiate a Setup Carve

Always begin with a setup carve to bring your board to the edge of traction, where initiating a slide is easier.
Setup carve for toeside predrift

Step 2: Hand Placement and Weight Shift

At the peak of your setup carve, get into the toeside position, place your hand on the ground and lean off your board, shifting your weight to the right places. This crucial step dictates your comfort, balance, and ability to execute the slide smoothly. Keep your upper body stable once your hand is down. Lean off the board to make kicking out easier.
Hand placement and weight shift for toeside predriftLeaning off the board before kickout

Step 3: The Kickout

Kick out your back leg forcefully, but controlled. Push down as you push out with your back leg. Focus the weight and pressure on the toes of your front leg to break the front wheels free.
Kickout for toeside predriftPushing into the board during a toeside predriftProper pressure on front foot

Step 4: Maintain the Slide

Maintain pressure on your front foot and lean off your board to prevent highsides. Hold the slide as you approach the apex of the corner.

Step 5: Hookup

To hookup, decrease pressure on your back foot while maintaining pressure on your front foot. This will allow the board to rotate back in the direction you are traveling. Once you feel the board hook up, you can lift your hand off the ground.

Bend your front knee as you hook up to absorb the momentum and maintain stability. This practice will lead to consistent and controlled hookups.

Additional Tips for Success

Footstop: Use a footstop to help your feet stay planted on the board.
Speed: Make sure you are moving fast enough.
Front Foot as Pivot: Treat your front foot as a pivot and your back leg as a rudder.
Pressure on Toes: Maintain pressure on the toeside of your board to reduce the likelihood of a highside.
Straighten Front Leg: Push your front leg straight and into the board to maintain pressure.
Kickout Strength: The angle of your board when sliding dictates how hard you kick out.
Load the Board: After the setup carve, load the board into a turn before kicking out for better control.
Back Foot Push: The back foot should push down, back and to the side at the same time for better control.

Conclusion

Mastering the toeside predrift is essential for any serious downhill skateboarder. By understanding the mechanics and practicing diligently, you’ll be able to navigate corners with more speed and control. Remember to take it slow, practice, and enjoy the process. If you found this guide helpful, feel free to reach out with any questions.