Longboard Basics - Stopping
English posted,
Dunno who wrote it, but it's a gem!
There are several ways to stop on your longboard. The easiest at first will be footbreaking (dragging your foot). Take the foot you push with, and try dragging it on the pavement. Try and keep the bottom of your foot flat on the pavement when you drag it. This should stop you if you aren't going too fast (which you shouldn't be at this point). Of course, this is easier to do if you're wearing shoes... For more help with footbreaking, read How to Footbreak.
For a more advanced, and much cooler looking way to stop, you can learn the Coleman slide. But, I recomend taking your time at first and getting comfortable just riding and cruising, before tackling the Coleman slide.
If you DO end up going too fast and getting out of control, then try jumping off your longboard! This sounds crazy, but it actually works very well. Try aiming your board at a lawn or something else that won't destroy it when you stop, and jump off the longboard.
To practice this, go to your large flat area, and push a lot and get a good speed going. Then, practice jumping off! You will of course want to land running. This might sound a little nuts, but it'll be good for you to know how fast you can do this. It's a good idea to not longboard faster than you can catch yourself running like this, until you get a little more skill under your belt.
2011 May 23 10:12 PM
Taylor Smith replied,
I'd like to add another method for jumping off. When I KNOW I'm going to end up crashing, like after getting bad wobbles or losing my balance from hitting a crack or bump in the road, I push the board back with my feet, jump off and slide on my kneepads and shoes. Or I might end up sliding on my shoes, knee and elbow pads and pucks. When I do it correctly my board rolls up right behind me and I stop it with my foot, get up and keep going. It's better than trying to hang onto the board and falling off at a weird angle and breaking something.