How to learn to brake properly on a skateboard at high speed for beginners?
Learning to ride a skateboard is half the trouble. Once you can at least ride a skateboard, you must learn how to brake on it. After all, it is almost impossible to stop on this “carpet” without braking.
Different segments of the population have different opinions regarding skateboard braking, and some of them are plausible, but they are often more confusing than they explain. Therefore, let’s look at all the most common types of braking on a skateboard and find out which is more effective, and which one should start learning to brake on a skateboard.
Types of braking on a skateboard
There are several types of braking on any motor vehicle. Let’s take the car:
- Braking using the brake pedal;
- Engine braking due to downshifting;
- Braking with hand brake.
Any of these actions somehow leads to the car stopping. With a skateboard, when you roll down the mountain. exactly the same situation.
Tail braking
This method is one of the simplest, but not as effective as others. Its essence is that when you eat, you place the board on the manual until the tail of the board touches the ground. Due to the frictional force of the deck against asphalt, concrete, etc., you will stop. But this method has its disadvantages:
- Due to such braking, the click of the deck is spoiled, since you simply erase it;
- In the early stages of training, this method will in most cases lead to falls, since you either will not be able to help but tilt your body back when pressing the tail, or due to the untwisted suspension, you will immediately be pulled to the side, which will cause the deck to slip out.
Moreover, this method can be unique if you place your heel far behind the tail. This way you can brake with your heel and wash the sole of your shoe.
Sole braking
This is one of the most common types of braking on skateboards of any variety. In order to slow down like this you need:
- transfer body weight when riding to the front leg;
- put your back foot behind the board next to the skateboard;
- smoothly squatting on the front leg to begin contacting the leg with the asphalt;
- try to place your foot parallel to the braking surface;
- regulate the pressure force by squatting the front leg.
This type of braking can be honed on site. The only disadvantage of this method is that if you brake very often from high speeds on a highly abrasive surface, then there is unlikely to be anything left from the sole of your skateboarding shoes.
Braking due to powerslide
This is a professional braking method and is only available to those who have been skating for a very long time. A powerslide is sliding onto the wheels of a skateboard perpendicular to your trajectory. Here, the braking effect is achieved due to the fact that you change the position of the skateboard relative to its trajectory of movement and the wheels no longer roll it, but slow it down, since when positioned perpendicular to the axis of movement they cannot rotate.
The powerslide principle is based on braking in snowboarding. You also cut yourself and slow down your speed. The weight of the body is on the front leg, and with the back leg, with a “pushing” force, you strive to rotate the deck 90 degrees to the axis of movement.
Jumping off your skateboard is the surest way to slow down in any situation.
Everything is simple here – when riding, you must jump off the skateboard to the left or right, but in the direction of your movement. Do not jump backwards under any circumstances, as there is a high chance that you will fall. Of course, a jump from high speed gives you great acceleration and you can fall due to inertia, since you yourself did not participate in its damping. But at low speeds and while learning to ride, this will be the best method of braking.