How To Darkslide With Rodney Mullen - TransWorld SKATEboarding

What this video teaches

Rodney Mullen frames the darkslide as a half kickflip in, a slide on the griptape, and a flip out to switch, and he insists the pop out is the part that decides whether you have the trick. His first move at any spot is to caveman the board onto the obstacle repeatedly to learn how that particular surface slides and pops off, before ever trying to flip into it. On the way in he warns against standing on your toes with the front foot, wanting it pressed down along the rail instead, and he notes the entry needs a slight upward push with a frontside flip flavour rather than a straight down pop. His key mechanical cue for the exit is curling and scooping the toes of the back foot to roll the board back over while the front foot gets out of the way and then comes back down to land switch.

Key tips

• 1Caveman the board onto the obstacle over and over first to feel how that surface slides and pops off before trying to flip into it
• 2The exit matters more than the entry: once you can pop out reliably, the trick is basically yours
• 3Front foot should be pressed down along the rail rather than standing up on the toes, which he calls bad policy
• 4Land the slide toward the back truck rather than the middle of the board, because a centered slide lets the deck flex, which stops you and throws you off
• 5The exit comes from curling and scooping the back foot toes over to roll the board back around, with the front foot moving out of the way and then coming back to land switch
• 6The pop into it is pushed up rather than straight down, with a slight frontside flip motion

Summarized from the video transcript.