Longboarding

Longboard skateboarding is a sport like no other.  Riders all appear with a certain unmasked grace that I have not seen in any other sport. When you first experience riding a 40 inch by 10 inch longboard you may find it difficult to balance or to not fall off the board. If you only force through the awkwardness of first learning you will soon master the longboard. Riding will become second nature and you will no longer have a constant fear of falling off. Once your confidence has risen you may decide to take on a hill. Before you do so you should check a few things. Make sure the hill is free from pot holes or debris, you have a place to ride out your speed, and you must ensure that there is no automotive traffic for you to deal with. Once you’ve decided the hill is safe to run then it’s time for the moment of truth. You’ve reached the top and are about to go past the point of no return. Your back foot leaves the ground and your speeding towards the bottom of the hill. On issue of stopping you don’t have too many options. There are two real ways to spot, you can remove your back foot from the board and drag it on the ground, or you can break traction in the wheels and use their drift to slow you down. The second option is much more difficult; however advanced riders and professionals prefer it when you need to come to a complete stop quickly. As you speed down the hill your feel the wind rushing by you and feel a sense that can’t be felt on through any other sport. You keep speeding up, and you may experience know as speed wobbles. It is where your board wobbles, and due to an instinctual human reflex you may exponentially increase their severity by turning against the wobble. The whole process is very similar to over correcting while driving a car. If you survived the wobbles, or are just barely keeping control of the board you should now be reaching your top speed. Then you’re slowing down and your first hill run was successful.