Vert ramps weren’t and still aren’t accessible to everyone.
If you’re dropping in on something above head height with at least a foot of vert, you’re good.
I’ve never ticked these boxes:
- Dodge traffic in New York
- Have a hard, dumb opinion about an unimportant thing
Otherwise, I’m all good.
And no, I will not be discussing the ins and outs of #20. It just has never happened. Okay?
I’ve never done #14 (popped my bearing shields) because of #20 (hard, dumb opinion about something unimportant). I just think it doesn’t make them any faster but it does make them collect crap and wear out quicker. For the sake of them sounding louder.
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Jheez how was that?
I tried the one at OWP BITD and fucking ate shit, never again.
Vert drop in is all in the mind. Physically it’s one of the safest and easiest things to do, but in your head it feels like you’re going to die. That’s what’s so hard about it.
Once you’ve set your tail and then put your front foot on there’s like a switch that flips in your head that makes it feel ok. If that happens and you fully commit, it feels like a piece of piss. You don’t feel like you’re dropping through the air. You don’t feel unsafe. One instant you’re on the platform and the next instant you’re riding down the transition.
If you can do that you can do variations, like sweeper drop ins (hold the nose, step on with your front foot first) and bomb drops (hold your board by the tail, let go and jump on as it falls).
But if you can’t flip that switch in your head - and I can’t anymore - it’s impossible to make yourself do it.
I’m 64 now. The last time I did it was on the Skaterham vert ramp a week after my 50th birthday. It’s a big ambition of mine to get it back before I’m 70, but I’m not holding my breath,
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Took me 15 mins stood on top of PlayStation vert ramp only for it to go like this
I went back as Trev was kicking people out of the park and just nailed it. Felt like Tony Hawk.
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Easy to eat shit on. I recently stuck f/s boardsliding a low square flat bar, fell back and slid down a flatbank on my back
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37 out of 50. Technically never dropped in on vert (bottled it at Radlands a few times) but did drop in on an over-vert pool once, not sure if that counts. Cool guyed Shier once. Back in the late 90’s our crew were highly suspect of that whole slick back hair, fleece gilet look he had going on.
Definitely counts, welcome to the club
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I did drop in on big quarter pipes that had like 2 feet of vert or something but I didn’t think that counted as I never dropped in on an actual vert ramp. Kinda want to, but those things are so much bigger than the low ledges I usually skate. 
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That counts in my book. It’s actually dropping in on vert that fucks with your head, not riding up another wall on the other side once you’ve made it. Same thing for the over vert pool..
I dropped in the Y2Sk8 vert ramp CMOAC
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I too bottled it at Radlands. Me and my mate were gonna do it. He went first. He was wearing a Hensley style keychain, slammed and the chain embedded itself into his hip.
I was like, nah.
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I once did a backside roll in on the Redlands vert ramp with the insane overconfidence of youth that makes me go cold now. Rode along the platform at an angle, lifted my front wheels, felt my back truck grind, kickturned in and rode away. God knows how I didn’t die, but I’d never even dream of trying that now.
It’s why little kids are often so good at vert drop ins: nothing really bad has ever happened to them yet so they haven’t yet developed the fear that puts off older skaters.
The first time I ever dropped in was on a soaking wet mini ramp in the middle of a random field in Carnforth. I’d probably been skating 5 months.
Dropped in, fell back and smashed my head on the coping. Luckily, I was wearing the helmet my parents had made me wear, which cracked from the impact. If not for that, I’d probably have died. What a way to go…
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First time I learnt to drop in on a ramp was a fiberglass bowl shaped like a penis in Grenoble. Dropped in but slid out on my bare knee. Friction burn taught me not to bail again.
Years later at the old skatepark in Lyon, they built a new 6ft quarterpipe for the street course. Loads of us were having ago except for a friend of ours who had never skated transition despite being a rad street skater. We all egged him on and he reluctantly went for it. He slipped out backwards sullying hid fresh beige cargos and swore never to skate tranny again.
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Dropping in on vert with a chain on is mental.
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First drop in was on a roughly constructed mini ramp made from wood thieved from god knows what plus road signs, located in a rough DIY in a sibsiding retail park unit just by Bidston train station on the Wirral. Sketch as fuck. After I think it was either the Monkmoor ramps in Shrewsbury or the metal at central park Wallasy.
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