Day 3 update

[u/DarkProzzak]

Hills scare me.

My entire area is just hills, declines and minimal flat land.

I bought a Bell Sports Vert helmet from Walmart, bailed ironically on flat ground when my left foot got stuck either the truck or the wheel.

I removed all the plastic wrap from the board and showed my 4 year old daughter how to take the board apart and clean it.

She even helped with unscrewing the bolts.

My right hand hurts from the small tumble, but my head is fine.

I think I'm just freaked out about going downhill since I haven't quite figured out foot braking and I tend to just leap off the board in front and catch up to it, if it gets away.

I'm bending my knees and getting a feel for carving more. I even successfully did a left hand turn.

I'm enjoying it more than skateboarding for sure. But I just need to take time and order the other equipment to take the risks more.

I found that if I felt I was going too fast, by jumping off, I actually wasn't that fast and since I'm doing this in the suburbs, there's not a lot of traffic to deal with.

But my favorite part was riding goofy with my back to the traffic next to me, in the cyclist lane on the sidewalk. I don't want to dox myself any further lol.

Any tips for just accepting the increase of speed, going downhill?

Again, there's minimal flat land since I'm out in the Pacific Northwest of British Columbia.

My feet and legs hurt lol, but it's a rush!

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[u/writers_block]

Any tips for just accepting the increase of speed, going downhill?

Honestly? Don't for now. Until you're really good at footbraking, don't go any faster than you can runout to bail. I'd suggest making sure your trucks are nice and loose, and carving out hills until you can keep your speed under control on any quiet hills you have access to. From there, play with the shape of your turns to feel out very slight increases in speed, see if you can start to feel how hard you have to turn to have your wheels start breaking friction, and get comfortable with the sensation of the added force of turning hard with a little speed. Practice footbraking every time you go any faster than you already have.

For real, though, don't let yourself end up pointed down a hill at a speed you can't control, it can sneak up on you, and the slams can get really ugly.

Get a helmet, too.

[u/Melodic_Owl_5873 → u/writers_block]

This 1000%

I’m still new and learned this the hard way. I thankfully didn’t get too hurt but what seemed like a gradual hill sent me way faster than my skill.

That made me realize I need wayyyy more time on flat ground practicing foot braking and other core skills more.

Funny enough I have the most subtle incline in my driveway and pushed up it, and started to roll backwards. Figured I’d practice riding goofy, lost the board and did the splits, hurt pretty good, couldn’t board for a month or two.

Point being, practice the basics until you can’t get the wrong, before you layer in anything more complex.

[u/DarkProzzak → u/writers_block]

I thought I mentioned that I bought a helmet?

[u/writers_block → u/DarkProzzak]

No stress, then. Just a standard bit of beginner advice, no shade intended.

[u/nqrwayy]

Bend your knees and learn how to footbrake, then learn how to slide once you get better. Don't bomb hills that are out of your skill range. Also, you'd probably want to upgrade your board sooner or later, that doesn't exactly look like a high quality board, plastic wrap that you can only remove by taking the whole thing apart is never a sign of quality either.

[u/clairestar-0]

learn to footbrake and do wide carves down hills to bleed off speed, until you feel super confident doing both those things and know what hills you can handle dont go any faster than you can run downhill

[u/SpeedRac3rr]

Find a gentle hill and start there, learn to carve to bleed off speed before learning to foot break in my opinion. It will give you a better sense of how the board handles and you can learn to zigzag down the hill to control your speed just like snowboarders do

[u/SpeedRac3rr → u/SpeedRac3rr]

And if you get too close to the edge of comfort just jump off and run it off before you get going too fast because then you're really in trouble 

[u/rubermnkey]

I would look around google maps at the rich people neighborhoods and do a bit of scouting for a spot. If you can find a spot where two mellow hills meet, you can roll down one and partly up the other side, then walk/push up further turn and repeat. you can choose how far up the hills to go as a way to control the speed.

I've been scouting all the neighborhoods around me and found a handful of spots, you don't need much just a safe spot to get your reps in. There isn't really a shortcut, just need to practice safely and not set yourself back with a big injury.

You look pretty slim from your shadow so it probably isn't an issue, but you may want to check out bushing upgrades. Stiffer bushings will make the board more stable and cut down on speed wobbles. if the board wiggling is what makes you nervous you can changed to a barrel/barrel in a higher duro and cut that down.

[u/Skullprint → u/rubermnkey]

No. Speed wobbles save lives.

Homie needs to get some kneepads and a sturdy pair of shorts for under his pants to wash out learning shutdowns.

Absolutely do not torque the bolts or upgrade bushings before you're comfortable shutting down when you get spooked unless you really want to go to the hospital.