Great catch and a slippery time

Sorry I haven’t written a while, but I just got a new Loaded Fish. I got it for only 60 bucks because it was a blem model, but I see absolutely nothing wrong with, so for over 50 percent off, I have to say it is a great catch. I also picked up some tracker rts for the fish and some slide A superballs from Earthwing. I have only word to describe this: awesome.

This is by far the most fun board I have ever ridden on. The fish is so much lighter than my vanguard and it pumps like crazy. It also has a kicktail so you can do ollies and other skate tricks, which I really suck at and cannot do. However, what amazed me most were the earthwing slide a superballs. These are the best slide wheels I have ever tired, and I have to say they made me a much better slider.

I know that people say its 90 percent rider and 10 percent gear, but these superballs were such an enormous improvement from the clear kryptos that I have to say it’s the wheels that made me better. I did my first 360 slide, and I can hold out coleman slides for crazy long, even when not going fast. And speaking of fast, these wheels are so hard they feel almost plasticy, and because of that, I had a hard time getting speed. Fortunately you don’t need much speed because these wheels are so damn slippery.

The only downside I see to this is, like I said, they are very slow. Since these are the only sets of wheels I have available for my fish right now, it’s not quite the best cruiser. However I will be getting some new wheels so I can turn my fish into the ultimate crusing/pumping/sliding/grocery store run/ whatever board ever. Even if you have a cruiser already or even a mini, I recommend checking this board out because it is way different from any board I’ve ever ridden and tons of five.

How to Start DH

Ok, so I’ve already written a how to on just longboarding, but now I’ll write one on specifically downhill longboarding.

The first, and most important thing (other than a board), is to wear protection. Longboards can go up to speeds as high as 79 mph, and a crash at that speed can be fatal. Of course, for beginner,s there’s no need to worry about that, but protecting your head is just as important. Your just as likely to suffer a concussion or crack your skull open at lower speeds. So….WEAR A HELMET.

Other safety gear to wear include knee pads, which are useful in bailing; elbow pads are nice, and also slide gloves. Slide gloves are essential to DH longboarding, whether to drift corners or to slide to a stop. You can make your own gloves or just buy some. Whatever you do, get some slide glvoes. (Also, a lot of pros wear fullface helmets and leather suits, but for a beginner, this is complete overkill so don’t worry about it.)

Once you’re all padded up, you’re ready to go. The first thing you should practice is footbreaking. Footbreaking is the most useful technique in downhilling. The ability to slow down before corners and shave off speed is the key to longboarding. You wouldn’t want to bomb a hill not knowing how to stop, so learn how to footbreak. Another useful skill is sliding. Safety slides are when you put your back hand to the ground and pull into a hockey stop and come to a complete stop. Sliding can help you stop when you are about to run into a car, or off a cliff or whatever. Another common method for slowing down is to carve it out. However, you can only carve out so much speed, and in races or freerides, when there are a lot of people around, carving can cause others to crash when you get in their way, so it’s generally not the best idea.

As a beginner, I would have to say learn to carve first, and at the same time learn to footbreak. When you start to get to higher speeds than you can run, then practice sliding.

As for the actual riding downhill, it’s pretty much like riding a longboard on flat ground, except you don’t have to push. Bend you knees and do not stiffen up, or you will cause speed wobbles. Relax and take it down the hill. One thing about speed wobbles is that it is mostly in your mind. If you think you will get wobbles you will. So just relax and take it easy.

Remember to work your way up the hill. Do not start at the very top. Instead take it to where you are comfortable. After a while, find you comfort zone, and start a bit higher to push yourself, otherwise you will be stuck on the same spot forever and never get better. Also, bring your friends or find a crew, especially in case something goes wrong, which is inevitable. You will fall. You will scrape your arms. You will get hurt. However, wearing protection will minimize these injuries. I have never heard of a speedboarder that has not gotten hurt, so always be prepared for a spill.

Other than that, just skate and have fun. It’s not exactly the hardest sport to do, but it is pretty damn tough to master. IF you have any questions just hit me up. I’ll also write more about tucking and how to maximize speed later, but for now, just go out and skate my fellow boarders. Skate hard, Skate smart, Skate safely.

Brush With Death

Whew, I’m still shaking just from thinking about it. This wasn’t the first time, but it was certainly the cloest I’ve felt with the grim reaper

So here’s the story. I was going down a hill, around 40s maybe a little bit higher, when I round a corner on a two lane street. I come around and see two cars parked in my lane. I could not see any opening, so I though about going into the other lane, but I was about to round another blind corner so there was no way to tell if a car was coming up. I decided to wait a second before making a decision. and sure enough, there was a car speeding up the hill. If I had gone into the other lane, I would have been dead for sure.

So right after I notice the car, my options were dwindling. I could A) try sliding, which I sucked at B) tried to footbreak, which was really hard to do when scared shitless and hauling ass C) do nothing and crash into the car, which would have meant a lot of broken bones

I wasn’t really sure what to do until I noticed a three foot wide gap between the two cars, so without thinking I shot right through the gap literally brushing my hands along one of the cars. I stood perfectly still, not wanting my wheels to hit the cars which would have caused me to fly forward and eat the pavement. Luckily, I managed to speed through without hurting myself at all.

Man do I still feel chills just thinking about this. I think the lesson we can all learn is to learn how to safety slide without thinking about it. Had I been able to do so without thinking, there would have been no question to whether I could stop in time or not. Also, I forgot I was wearing leathers, so I could have just hit the pavement and let the leathers take the fall instead of risking such a dangerous maneuver. And even though I escaped without any damage, I’m still kind of mad at myself for not taking a safer route.

March Update

What’s up fellow skaters. Well I haven’t really had time to skate too much as I’m busy with school and taking all these tests. Man junior year really sucks. Anyways, not really sure what else to write about, but if something comes up later on I will. I’m also gonna be going on a college tour down California and checking out the longboard scenes nearby, and I’m totally stoked for that.

Cheers.

Always remember to wear a helmet.

Sliding

Longboard sliding, difficult, yet essential. Today I will teach you how to do pendulums and slide to a stop, because, quite honestly, that’s all I can do. Doing basic slides and pendys is the bare minimum for DH longboarding. While footbreaking could arguable be more important, it’s not going to stop you quick enough when you realized you took the wrong turn into a dead end wall.

Speed. When sliding, you need to remember one word. Speed. Speed. Speed.  It’s hard to do slides without speed, especially for trick slides. Since I am teaching you basic slides you do not need to worry about trick slides yet. In order to do a pendy slide, you should be going a decent amount of speed. If you find that you are not able to complete the slide, then you’re probably going too slow, and better off just footbreaking or running off if you really need to stop. The first step is to drop down into a squat. For regular riders, lean toward your left side and put your left hand a bit backwards. Then lean back and kick the board out with your right foot until you spin into a 180. After this, quickly kick back again with your left foot so the board returns to it’s original position.

While you are doing this, you have several options to do with you other hand. One common method is to keep it in the air and use it to twist your body more. Then swing it back again to complete the pendy. What I like to do is to put my right hand behind me as well. This will slow me down more though, so trick sliders will probably pick a different method. One thing you should not do is to grab your board as you are sliding. Although this will help you go into the first 180, it restricts your movement and you will not be able to return back, which can be a problem when going 30-40 mph in an awkward position

If you find that you can 180 but cannot come back, then you are probably not getting enough speed. The faster you are, the smoother the slides will become.

To slow down even more, hold out the time it takes to go from 180 and back. This will wear out your wheels faster, but when you have to stop, you do what you have to do.

Here’s a website dedicated to learning the art of sliding. If you are interested in trick skating this is a very valuable resource

http://www.faltownskateboards.com/faltownskateboards_slideskool.asp

Have fun, be safe, and always use protection.

Racing Leathers

    As I continue to push my own limits, I become more aware of my safety. So, I decided to finally pick up a leather suit. I found my from a friend off of silverfishlongboarding.com. It’s a gray/black suit from Motogearusa, which recently went out of business.

When I first received the leathers, I was shocked because of how tight the suit felt. The pants felt fine, but the jacket was so small my little sister barely fit in it. However, after I zipped up the two pieces together, the leathers started becoming looser and a better fit. Unlike most clothes, trying on leathers at a store won’t really help that much. The best fit leathers are actually ones that feel really tight and uncomfortable at first. After breaking them in, the leathers will feel much better.

Also, when picking leathers, avoid as many design patterns as you can. More patterns equals more stitching, meaning it will tear apart more easily. Most riders will only pick one or two colors and simple designs to avoid the suit from falling apart. Also, try and avoid perforations. While they may be good on a hot day, perforations will tear up very easily.

Most suits will also come with padding. However, for longboarding, not every pad i necessary. Suits are designed for motorcycles, so they are designed not only to slide, but also for impact. In longboarding, there is generally less slamming down on the ground and more sliding, so I have taken out most of my pads. I do this also because pads restrict my movement. However, the most important pads are your knee pads. After falling, most people will roll onto their hands and knees. Having sliding pucks and knee pads are a must. Of course, I’m not saying avoid the other pads altogether. There will be times where you have hard falls, so pads are generally good if it doesn’t restrict mobility. There’s nothing more dangerous then coming around a hairpin and not being able to crouch down and make the turn.

Leather suits are a great investment if you like skin. Although they may cost a lot, think about how much you value your life. Of course, you don’t need it if you barely DH, but it’s a good idea. I picked mine up for under 200, and you can always find better deals at craigslist and ebay. Skate hard and have fun.

Rain Riding. It’s what the cool kids do.

    So it’s pouring like crazy and you wanna go skate. Well, then do it. While most people will head for the nearest parking garage, maybe you want more speed. Then go outside and ride.

First things first. You may think rain riding is a bit more dangerous, because it is. The water on the ground is going to make it more dangerous, but also more fun. Always remember to wear a helmet, and probably some gloves and pads. Also, water is bad for the bearings, so maybe swap them out for some cheaper ones. Another thing to worry about is your board. Unless it’s a Roger Bro’s metal deck, the board can get delaminated. However, this is rare and only happens if you ride out in the rain a lot. To prevent this, you can seal the edges of your board, but it’s not really needed unless you’re rain riding a lot. Other than that, there’s not much to worry about when rain riding.

Remember to start out slow. Your wheels are going to be more drifty and harder to control. This is probably your best opportunity to learn how to slide. Slides become much easier to initiate and break out of. However, if you really need more grip, you can make rain wheels by cutting grooves into your wheels. If you have an extra set of wheels this might be a good idea so you can do a little DH in the rain.

Now go out and skate. Rain or shine it don’t matter. Always remember to wear a helmet and skate safe.

Landy Evo

Well I finally got my hands on the legendary Evo. My friend recently purchased it from Black Diamond Sports and he had it setup with 42/52 grizzlies and red khiros. His wheels are clear kyrptos (the shitty kind).

The first thing I noticed was how heavy this board was. Damn! Well, I guess I am kinda small, but this is one heavy board. Of course, it is meant to be ridden and not carried, but this board seems pretty sturdy and big. This is the first drop through I have ridden, so it did take a little bit of time for me to get used to it. But once I did get used to the Evo it was pretty stable. The thing I liked most was how I could push off on my back foot. I was able to force my weight onto the front trucks, thus keeping the wobbles away. Well, not like I was getting any wobbles in the first place. This board has a low center of gravity, so it was pretty much the most stable feeling board I have every felt. Plus, the drop down design kept me feet locked in.

However, I did not like everything about this board. First off, it was pretty slow, but that was because of the wheels. The clear kyrptos were not smooth or able to roll very far. On the trails I did, I was forced to push, something I didn’t have to do with the Hellcat or Avenger. But, like I said before, it was probably the wheels. The board was also extremely heavy compared. At times it felt awkward and clumsy. This was especially true at the lower cruising speeds. Also, being a dropthrough, the board wasn’t as good at turning and I ended up drifting corners instead. Lighter boarders should probably check out the 9 ply Evo, which is a bit lighter.

Overall I will probably stick with the Hellcat because the Hellcat is so much more manueverable and lighter. The Evo is a bit more stable than the Hellcat, but experience will erase some of that stability difference. The Hellcat is also a better carver, especially after I added the Jimz Bushings to my crails.

However, the Evo is the winningest board in history so certainly it is a good board. It just isn’t my type of board.

Bearings

    Bearings, bearings, bearings. Everyone seems to stress the importance of bearings.

“Dude I just got some brand new Bones Swiss Ceramic Bearings for only 150 bucks.” Most likely a waste of money. If your friend tells you that, slap him in the face and ask if he really needs that.

Bearings, as you know, sit in the wheel and help it spin. Yes, there is a difference between the crappy Walmart ones and the high end ones, but there’s really no need to get the expensive ones. The high end bearings generally have higher quality parts so they may last longer, and most are easier to clean. That being said, some of the cheaper ones are just as good. Check out some Speedy Lunatic Bearings or some Mini Logos. Those are under 10 bucks and they last really long, as long as you clean them out every so often. When you keep them clean, you won’t really notice a difference between those and the more expensive ones. The only time you’ll probably feel a difference is when you start going higher and higher speeds, like 60+ mph. The ceramic bearings have a higher top speed and will spin faster at really high speeds. However, most of us don’t go that fast so there’s really no need. But when I say they have a higher top speed, it doesn’t really mean much because pretty much all bearings are created to withstand speeds over 100 mph, which is pretty much impossible on a skateboard.

The exception to these rules, is of course, those crappy bearings you get at Target and K-mart. Those bearings will rust and break down by the time you even pull it out of the box. In fact, you probably shouldn’t even buy boards if you ever want to learn how to skate.

So, skip the K-mart Bearings, and skip the expensive ones, unless you’re doing intense racing. Some good choices are Mini Logos, Speedy Lunatics, Biltins, and Abec 7’s off of pleasuretool.com. Just remember to take care of your bearings and you won’t have to worry about them. Skate hard and be safe.

Rayne Avenger

My friend finally got his Rayne Avenger and I got to take it out for a spin, and boy is it fun. He had his board set up with Bear Grizzlies with red Khiro bushings and some lime Bigzigs.

The first thing I did was to loosen the trucks, because I just like them that way. I would rather get wobbles and be able to carve it out then to ride them super tight and unable to turn. I took it to a little over 30 with no problems and the lime zigs rolled smoothly. I noticed it was much quieter then my Hellcat, but I think that’s because I need to clean out my bearings. I also tried to slide the zigs but they were gripping to the road too well, so if you guys want grip, the lime zigs are a good choice. Also, since it is a topmount, I have tons more control when I was cornering, but I wasn’t able to drift it. The wheels are brand new, so maybe after a couple more runs they’ll start to break free. Overall it is a pretty sick board, just not as nice as my Hellcat :).

The Avenger also has barely any concave and didn’t really grip my feet to the board, so I had to look down a couple times to position my feet. This can be good or bad, depending on if you like to keep you feet locked or if you like to move around for doing corners. However, the Avenger has much more foot space then my Hellcat, so it’s a bit easier to do the Brazillian Tuck and if you have big feet. However, I’m kinda small so I still prefer the Hellcat a bit more as it is also lighter. If you’re looking for a good downhill board with tons of control, the Avenger may be a good choice. Also check out the Kebbek Revenger, which has a bit more concave to keep you feet locked in.

Skate hard and stay safe.