A skateboard may achieve great speeds. Therefore, it’s crucial to know how to slow it down or perhaps halt it before a calamity arises.
One of the first things rookie skaters learn while riding a skateboard for the first time is to find their balance on the deck and push off to achieve speed.
When they eventually obtain it, they tend to develop more confidence and somehow lose the capacity to deal with unexpected and potentially disastrous events.
A longboard skateboard is able to exceed 90 miles per hour (145 kilometres per hour) on a steep mountain route.
As a result, it might be a lethal weapon in the hands of someone who just doesn’t know how to stop it before it’s too late.
Learning to set the brakes on a lumbuy skateboard is crucial and should always be a top priority when beginning into the sport.
There are several strategies to slow down and stop a skateboard.
Remember that high speeds may be obtained on level grounds and windy days, so you don’t need need a steep mountain or roadway to go too fast and get wounded.
Longboard skateboards: riders commonly combine lay their front hand down on the ground and do powerslides to lower speed | Photo: Shutterstock
The Most Popular Braking Technique
The first skateboard braking method you need to learn is the back-foot deceleration technique. Here’s how to execute it:
- Find a medium to large-sized hill;
- Start moving along the road or street;
- Slightly lower your riding posture;
- Take your rear foot off your board and skid it alongside the ground, leaving your lead foot on the front;
- Add greater pressure to your back-foot for faster stops;
Remember to utilise your front foot to aid balance and influence where the board is heading.
Skateboarding’s primary stopping technique takes practise, and you’re encouraged to wear a helmet while practising it.
The good thing is that after you have it done, it’s quite easy to take your foot off and move it wherever you go once.
Once you feel experienced riding down slopes and knowing how to slow your board down, you may move to power slides.
One of the disadvantages with this braking technique is that you’ll destroy the sole of your shoes fairly rapidly.
Whenever you feel dangerous, hop off the skateboard before reaching unmanageable speeds.
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The Frontside Powerslide
As you get more comfortable with skating, you absolutely need to learn the frontside powerslide.
Not only is it a fantastic trick, but it won’t destroy your shoes or deck either.
Yes, your wheels will progressively become smaller, but it’s one of the finest means of stopping a high-speed skateboard.
The idea is to turn the board from a vertical to a horizontal position and then glide your wheels across the ground.
Here’s how to do the frontside powerslide:
- Gain speed;
- Bend your knees and prepare ready to slide;
- With your rear foot on the board’s tail, apply pressure to your toes;
- Keep your front foot at the nose of the board, on the opposite side of the truck, and apply weight onto the complete sole;
- Maintain your body in the middle of the skateboard;
- Apply pressure on the front foot and utilise it as a turning axis;
- Push the tail of the board forward with your rear foot’s toe;
- To avoiding losing equilibrium, keep your head above the board;
Remember that if your weight travels forward too much, the skateboard may stack on the ground, forcing it to stop unexpectedly.
Never try the frontside powerslide for the first time on a downhill. Practice it on smooth, level areas.
Frontside powerslide: one of the most prevalent means of stopping on skateboard | Photo: Red Bull
The Scraping Techniques
There many scraping techniques that will also help you slow down and finally stop a skateboard.
You can utilise the tail of the board, your rear foot’s heel, or a mix of both to create friction and drag and limit speed.
The bluntslide is likewise a sophisticated combo between a power slide and a tail scrape but will require you to learn each technique independently before trying it for the first time.
