Author Topic: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard  (Read 7181 times)

Offline Charlie

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Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« on: November 14, 2014, 02:20:17 AM »
Hey guys I'm currently learning how to do a lard yard and I'm having some trouble. I viewed all the video tutorials I could find and I understand the basic technique but I'm still having trouble. As of now I'm pretty comfortable with stepping up onto my back wheel with the front wheel in the air and I've managed to make one full rotation before losing my balance. My problem is being able to hold my balance long enough to do more than one rotation. Also, it seems to me like most people stand on the back peg with their left foot while dragging and kicking the tire with their right foot. I've been finding it much easier to stand on my right foot while dragging and kicking with my left foot, mainly because its easier to jump out of the trick when i lose my balance. Should I be practicing more standing on my left foot? and does anyone have any other helpful tips for this trick?

Offline letsgo

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2014, 06:22:46 AM »
First just keep stepping up into the lardyard and you will get better at it.  I think you need to plan out how you will ride into the trick and which foot goes to the peg and which goes to scuff the tire.

Offline SiC

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2014, 02:33:31 AM »
Charlie, you should post a video of you trying.  That way people can give you tips on how to improve or what you are doing wrong.
Old school newbie from Japan

Offline Charlie

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2014, 03:11:13 AM »
Yea I’ve been repeatedly stepping up into the trick and I have been getting a little better each time I practice. I just started stepping onto my left foot and scuffing with my right instead of the other way around and now I actually find this way much easier. Still not able to do a full rotation that way yet but I’m getting there. When I get a chance, maybe tomorrow or in a couple days, I can post a quick video of my attempts so you guys can see what I'm doing wrong. Thanks for the help guys.

Offline Charlie

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2014, 02:00:55 PM »
I video taped myself trying this trick yesterday and I definitely improved since a couple days ago. Getting a lot more comfortable with scuffing. I guess all I can do now is keep practicing and I'll be able to hold the trick longer but if you guys have any suggestions on what I can do better or whatever let me know. Here's what I've been able to do so far...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdpGPkE00Wg&feature=youtu.be

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2014, 07:30:07 PM »
Hi,
I think you are close in terms of the balance point, but you might improve you scuffing technique. Can you do other basic scuffing tricks like Funky Chicken? Your foot looses contact from your tire quite often. The idea of scuffing is to keep the foot on the tire. This might help to keep in control. I guess you just need some more sessions (maybe weeks, depends on you) and you will have it.
Nice spot by the way!

Offline Charlie

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2014, 10:09:12 PM »
Yea dragging my foot on the tire is the main thing I need to work on I haven't tried any other scuffing tricks yet because the lard yard seemed like the easiest way to learn how to scuff. The funky chicken will probably be the next trick I learn after I get the lard yard down. And yea lucky for me the gym I work at has a fantastic spot for me to practice!

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2014, 11:45:19 PM »
I personnaly think that the Funky Chicken is easier because the bike is in a more upwards position. Tricks like the Lard Yard include another difficulty: If you change the circle, you have to adapt the speed and the leaning. I found it more difficult because of that. I think you can practise scuffing while learing Funky Chickens quite good.
But it is personal preference. Some people can do time machines before they learn to scuff, for me a time machine is much harder than various scuffing tricks...
Try it out!  :)

Offline Charlie

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2014, 08:11:44 AM »
The thing that makes the funky chicken seem harder to learn for me is the process of getting comfortable getting into the position. Unlike the lard yard, your legs are tangled up in the bike so it’s easier to fall on your ass. With the lard yard u can effortlessly hop right off the bike when u lose ur balance. I recently attempted to get into the funky chicken position and it felt incredibly awkward. What do you think the easiest way to get into the position is? When it comes to learning this trick I don’t even know where to start and I haven’t really found and helpful tutorials.

Offline DaddyCool

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2014, 09:25:23 PM »
Hi Charlie,
I recommend to step into the Funky Chicken before you learn a ride-in. When you feel comfortable in the position, you can learn several ways to get in.
If you have a front brake I recommend to use it while stepping in. Place your left foot on the ground behind the handlebar and put your right foot over the handlebar on the tire (the bike is in the Funky Chicken position, back wheel in the air). Pull the brake. Lean a little bit to the front, jump onto the left front peg with you left foot and release the brake. Then you can start to scuff. If you fall to the front, you can land on your right foot in most cases and if you fall back you can step on the left foot and in addition you can brake to slow down the movement backwards. I would say it is not so dangerous. At least you have one foot to step on when falling forwards and the other one for falling backwards. The position itself is not so hard to balance.
Good luck!

Offline FreeEnterprise

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2014, 09:53:49 PM »
First scuffing trick should be the front yard. That way you can step out of it so easy and it teaches you how to balance while scuffing. (keeping your bike/body from going left and right).

I used to teach people using a fork bike while at woodward. It was so much easier without the back of the bike pulling you over.

once you can scuff all the way down the street. Then start working on the funky chicken. Then the lard yard.

Lard yards are easiest when you really HANG the bike to the side. So the seat doesn't hit your legs, and your arm is almost straight holding the bars.

Backyards are easier than lard yards, as the seat against your peg leg keeps the bike vertical.

Offline hijito

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2014, 03:10:12 AM »
I couldn't get lardyards down for my first year of riding and I managed to learn them the second year, took me quite a while - this can give you some idea about the difficulty of the trick. If this is your first scuffing trick, I'd recommend moving onto something easier, there are many things happening at once when doing lardyards and if your scuffing technique is not right, you have to start with something easier.


My first scuffing trick was forkwheelie with back wheel of the ground scuffing it, try that it's fairly easy and you can learn it in one or two sessions, it's also very easy to fall from.


My second trick was squeaker which taught me a lot about scuffing. Remember, you want to keep your foot close to your tire, don't just kick away, that will never work or you might get used to it and it's not a good technique.


The move onto funkychicken. If you get squeakers down first you will learn this trick very quickly. Don't worry about riding into the trick, just step in.


Good starting point for backwheel tricks is scuffing backwards dork wheelie. When you master these tricks  you can move onto lardyards. I'd say that lardyard is actually advanced scuffing trick so don't get discouraged when I'm mentioning all these tricks that are good to know before.


I hear your frustration, when I was starting out I wanted to learn lardyards badly because they are a cool trick but it took me quite a long time to get there. You're getting there too but from watching that video I can see the bike working against you - your scuffing is off a lot. Also you're not leaning properly and you're not fixing the bike in the correct position (handlebar should be closer to your hip). Doing tighter circles is actually harder to balance than wider ones. There is a lot of subtleties. Good news is, once you learn it properly, you'll be able to spin them for really long, also stick-b's are basically the same trick, it leads to another tricks like time machines and backyards.

Offline cmc

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #12 on: January 13, 2015, 02:49:13 AM »
Hey guys I'm currently learning how to do a lard yard and I'm having some trouble. I viewed all the video tutorials I could find and I understand the basic technique but I'm still having trouble. As of now I'm pretty comfortable with stepping up onto my back wheel with the front wheel in the air and I've managed to make one full rotation before losing my balance. My problem is being able to hold my balance long enough to do more than one rotation. Also, it seems to me like most people stand on the back peg with their left foot while dragging and kicking the tire with their right foot. I've been finding it much easier to stand on my right foot while dragging and kicking with my left foot, mainly because its easier to jump out of the trick when i lose my balance. Should I be practicing more standing on my left foot? and does anyone have any other helpful tips for this trick?

When you say you're standing with right foot and kicking left, are you on the left (non-drive-train) side of the bike? Or are you doing a cross-footed lard?  I actually think cross-footed lards are easier.

Offline rawchild

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Re: Tips for mastering a Lard Yard
« Reply #13 on: January 13, 2015, 04:53:20 AM »
Fun trick....keep your foot on tire and keep your handle bars closer to your body.  Your doing good keep at it.
Hey Meg...check this out.