Unless you’re really at the park just to show off your new hoody/pants combo, you probably want to learn a thing or two while you’re there.

There are lots of ways of looking at progression from strict training regimes to James O’Hara’s recently published method. I recently met up with an old riding buddy, and even though it had only been a couple of months since I’d last time seen him ride, I was impressed by how much his style had improved in such a short time.

After lecturing me for an hour on how Austrian parks are so much better than French ones, he revealed that he started watching several pros riding his local big jump and spent at hour or two a day, practising the same small spins with different grabs. Gradually he worked his way up to super-smooth sevens.

Everyone is different and will have their own theories. My personal experience is that I can only learn something if I’m in a good mood. I find it damn near impossible to land anything, let alone learn new stuff if I’m angry or hungry (or “hangry”). So keep well fed and stay stoked!