Backslide

The backslide is like a frontside, except that you lift your front foot, and only grind on the back foot.

The backslide is like a frontside, except that you lift your front foot, and only grind on the back foot. It is preferably done grinding on the outside frame and outside boot as well, like in a royale. If you can do the royale, this should not be a big problem. If you can't do the royale, - well go learn the royale first!

When comfortable with the royale, and your weight is on the back foot, try to lift the front foot a little, not much, only a few inches. When you feel comfortable with this, do the royale grind again, and lift it even more. When you can lift it about one foot, or 30 cm, try to grab it too. Now you're backsliding. You've got the balance now - grinding in the groove from your outside frame and outside boot, and leaning forwards, but having your weight on your back foot.

Now we need to look at the locking in part, that might be a little hard. If you're not careful, you will fall backwards really fast, so you need to land in the groove, and lean forwards a lot. That should be it!

You can grab your non-grinding skate in different grabs - safetygrab being the most common. It used to be the rocket grab that was the most common, but it has gone oldschool a long time ago. Another oldschool combination is the christgrind, where you rest your non-grinding skate on top of the grinding skate and look like Jesus! A more newschool approach is the 'freestyle backslide' - a no-grab backslide.