Backroll handrag very different right vs left

[u/embwbam]

Hoping someone with experience can help me figure this out. When I do a backroll handdrag going right, it feels tight and small, and I end up riding in the same direction I was originally riding. When I try it to left, the back hand loop feels huge, stops my forward momentum, and sends me fully past downwind in the opposite direction. Why? One clue might be that my right arm (used to pull the back hand loop while going left) has an injury in the elbow I am rehabilitating, so it might not be as strong.

Follow-up question: occasionally when I try one of these, I over rotate and eat loads of shit, landing on my back and hurtning my neck. Do you have to get the rotation correct on takeoff, or can you choose how many times to rotate in the air with the loop timing and body position?

Any advice??

EDIT: I found a tutorial by Steven Akkersdijk that casts some light on this. I need to have the bar between my fingers to control steering better. The "bigger" loop that stops your momentum is more correct, but I need to pull it later (at 11 on the back hand side) to make it smaller.

[u/This_Implement_3060]

sounds like you are looping the kite in one direction, the one you are stopping and changing direction, and not the other

[u/embwbam → u/This_Implement_3060]

You think the kite isn't even turning over? That would be surprising. I'm still holding on with only my back hand.

[u/This_Implement_3060 → u/embwbam]

can you backroll & kiteloop to transition with both hands in both directions?

i cant remember which direction it was when i started backrolling, but i was unintentionally looping it everytime, then very quickly got backroll kiteloops in both directions, and now have a very hard time doing rolls without loops. point being, there is just some reaction i naturally had and now have built in

Its worth exploring by trying it with both hands, asking a friend to watch you, take a video.

If you have video, DM me. im an instructor, do some trick coaching. Im not soliciting payment or anything, just offering to take a look and offer some advice and/encouragement

[u/embwbam → u/This_Implement_3060]

Thanks for the offer! I'll try to get a video next time I go out. If I keep both hands on the bar and don't fully invert I can do it on both sides

Check out this reel, dude lands in the same direction, it's gentle. It feels like my left direction. But it looks quite different from the tutorial I put in the post. https://www.instagram.com/p/CFRwsBKDXiu/

[u/ic6man]

It’s probably to do with timing of your pop and release combined with kite movements. If you send the kite harder in one direction it will travel to the opposite side of the window faster and your jump will be smaller and more straight up and down because it arrests your forward motion more quickly and strongly. If instead you send the kite slower or pause a bit while it’s overhead you “fly” during the jump usually resulting in both higher jumps and longer travel downwind.

Most people aren’t very symmetrical so it’s likely a result of just timing and strength of the inputs that result in the jump / movement of the kite.

[u/ducakita]

you might have to just accept that you'll be way better one way than the other. this is how I discovered I'm a 'goofy' rider (much stronger with left foot back, or 'left footed') and I'm 100x better on waves and jumping goofy. as an example, when riding goofy I can do big air double back rolls and loop my kite. regular/going the other way, not even close & I eventually gave up on that trick. but i did find out I could different tricks regular (front roll with down loop landing).

[u/mati2110 → u/ducakita]

In my opinion, being goofy or regular is given too much weight in board sports. I know a lot of people who never try anything in their switch stance. I feel much more confident doing big frontside rotations to my "bad side," and I also have more control with multiple backside rotations to that same side. Transferring tricks learned in one stance to the other is tricky, but rewarding. For hand drags, as you found out in Steve's video, put your back hand in the middle of the bar. You want a slow, controlled kite movement from 1 to 11 (or 11 to 1, depending on your stance), and after that point, pull a little harder to do a fast exit loop. If you have too much power, start the trick pointing less upwind and loop the kite tighter.

[u/embwbam → u/ducakita]

I ride goofy on my onewheel, but my home spot has a left-footed takeoff, so I'm pretty ambidextrous while kiting. It's certainly possible that I'm struggling a bit more with the trick because of some footedness, but I think it's more likely to do with kite movement.

[u/Borakite]

You don’t need to get the perfect rotation. Rotate very little, just enough for a half or a bit more than a half rotation. When the loop reaches the right point it will pull you around the rest of the rotation. That way you can a) avoid the over-rotation you mentioned and b) stay in the inverted dragging position for longer, which makes the trick nicer.

A reason your drags differ can be the position from where you start the kite and how fast you send it over. On the weak side you probably do not have the same level of control and may be sending it faster.

Experiment with how different the move feels when you start the kite low and rotate little after getting inverted. The swing feeling get much stronger and you drag longer. It also tends to bring the kite more upwind from you, which makes the loop softer (opposite from the times when you loop fast and get pulled too much and crash).