4d - Fall Longboard Fails

The days are getting shorter, and the multi-coloured leaves are scattered across the ground.  I always hate this time of year because it's cold outside and it rains constantly. With the longboarding season coming to an end, I find myself going out as much as possible, building confidence, and trying out new tricks while I still can.



Yesterday I went out with my roommate, Mark, and tried to duplicate some of the slides and dancing tricks that i've been studying on the internet.  Loaded Longboards has numerous trick tip videos on YouTube that explain the moves in a step-by-step guide.  I've been trying my hardest to follow these steps but I keep falling... Hard!   I really should start wearing more safety equipment, like slide gloves and my helmet, when I try these things. I am a hurtin' unit these days.

Fail #1

We were cruising through Brookmede Park, down the long easy pathway, and came across a nice hairpin turn.  I yelled at Mark to stop and wait while I tried my standup slides. I went far back enough to build more speed.  When I reached my starting point, I turned around, faced towards the corner, dropped the board from my left hand, and landed on it before it hit the ground.  I started pumping with my right leg.  One pump, two pumps, three, and I had enough speed.

I eyed up the corner and decided to first veer right, and then carve sharply to the left.  During my first attempt, I took the corner pretty wide, but lost a lot of speed when I waited too long for my left hand carve. Of course, my back wheels whipped around only about 90 degrees, not the full 180, and I stopped in my tracks.  With the board at a stand-still, I was immediately thrown off.  I tried to run and get my footing, but the speed was too great.  I looked like a big idiot and went running off the path, and rolled into the grass.  At least it wasn't on the pavement... this time.

Here is a video of one of my attempts.  I didn't fall, but I didn't slide very well.  I just needed more speed this time.  Trust me, sliding is harder than it looks!

Fail #2

Mark, being discouraged after watching me fall to the ground, wouldn't even try to slide.  So, I grabbed the board out of his hand and said, "watch, you can do it, your board will be easier to slide than mine."  Why I was so confident after I just bailed so hard, I do not know.

I went  up the path again, this time moving my starting point back a little further.  I dropped the board from my left hand again, I landed on the bamboo platform and I was immediately reminded of how much flex it had.  It felt like the middle of the deck, where my feet landed, was almost touching the ground.   I started pumping again.  One pump, two pumps, three, and I was on my way.  I lined up my left foot on the nose of the board, and my right further near the back.   I veered right and made sure to carve left sharper this time.  As i went into my left turn and tried to slide out the back end, I was again stopped in my tracks.  This time my left foot on the front of the board got wedged between the deck and the wheel.  I was unable to stay upright and actually rolled onto my left shoulder.  What a fail, maybe I should've stuck to my own board. 

Fail #3

  After a few more attempts on the hairpin pathway, I was successful with my stand-up slides.  Mark and I continued down our favourite downhill route, past Erindale Highschool and towards Homestead.  On the wide, newly paved road, I pulled off a few more freestyle tricks.  Hippy jump 180's, shovits, and cross-stepping.  My confidence was now soaring.  We came around the corner, pulled onto Redstart Drive, and we passed a middle aged lady walking her dog.  Mark, being the friendly guy that he is, waved and smiled as he bombed the hill past her.  I, on the other hand, was taking the hill a little slower because I wanted to try the slide again.  Why do I do this to myself!

I carved gently to the right, then carved a hard left, while I tried to whip my back wheels around.  This time I actually swung the board all the way around, which felt awesome at the speed I was going.  But, as soon as the board completed its rotation, and I was stuck riding goofy, and the board flew out from under my feet and smacked into the curb.  I fell backwards off the board, landing on my ass, and slapping the pavement with my right hand.  I'm glad it didn't rip my jeans right off of me!  Mark was now pretty far away, but he said he could hear the lady's gasps as I hit the ground.  She didn't say anything at all, but the gasp was enough.  I avoided looking at her, shook it off, and rode away because I was so embarrassed. 

Although I wipe out and fail all the time, I never really hurt myself too badly. -- knock on wood--
Sometimes terrible things happen and people are seriously injured, or even killed while longboarding.  Thats why it is important to use  safety equipment.  I know that I am definitely going to buy some slide gloves before I try those high speed slides again.

Here is a compilation of some funny and some scary longboard wipeouts.  I hope this will teach you that longboarding can be very dangerous at times.  You'll see some boarders in a tuck position, holding their line down the hill, and some who stand up with no balance, getting speed-wobbles.  (watch the guy at 0:53) 

3e - Good Cop, Bad Cop - A Personal Longboarding Narrative

    JaHwan’s board flew out from under his feet and smashed into the wall.  He laid on the ground for a few seconds and laughed it off.  He and I were longboarding on the bottom floor of the parking garage at UTM.  The entire floor was empty and brightly lit and there was only one car parked in the far corner.  We sped around the pillars, got down really low and held onto the inside of the board while tried to kick out the tail end at high speeds.    We boarded around the glossy floor and tried to master our slides for about an hour before the campus police arrived.

...

    Two policemen slowly crept down the ramp in the cruiser and another policewomen came down the stairwell in the opposite corner.  We were surrounded.  I immediately stopped riding, got off my board and started walking towards our pile of jackets, hoodies, and backpacks in the middle of the room.  I dropped my mitts on the ground and leaned my green Sector Nine board against the pillar.  As I lifted my jacket off the ground I heard angry shouts from behind me.  The young male officer barked, “What do you think you’re doing, you know we hate skateboarders down here!” 

    “Sorry, I wasn’t aware.  We’ll get out of here right away,” I said in the nicest possible tone.

    I told the police that we wouldn’t skate there anymore, but instead they took our boards and ordered us to get in the cruiser.  As we squished into the tiny area of the back seat, I overheard the officers talking.

    “So, we’ll go up to the top of the ramp and give these guys their tickets.”  I knew I didn’t have long to make my point, so I started with my defence.

    “I can’t afford a ticket, I’m a student at U of T, I have tuition payments and books and rent and food and phone bills to worry about.  We weren’t causing any trouble down there.” 

    The young officer answered with, “There’s a shit load of signs and cameras down there.  Skateboarders burn things and leave garbage everywhere.”

    I snarled, “It’s pretty shitty that we get stereotyped with those people, just because we like to longboard.”  This comment was followed by silence.

   
    We sat uncomfortably in the back seat of the cruiser while the older officer wrote out our tickets.  He continuously leaned over to the young officer and asked him to read out a sentence.  After helping him a few times, the young officer said, “This writing is so fucking small.” JaHwan and I looked at each other and shook our heads.  Very unprofessional, I thought.  The older officer tried to relate with me by talking about my hometown, Dryden. 

    “I’ve travelled through Northwestern Ontario a few times. Nice place up there,” he said.

    “Yep,”  I started replying with only one word answers and stared out the window.

    JaHwan was handed his ticket and ID, and we were let out of the cruiser.  I gathered my longboard and my backpack and my mitts from the trunk, and the old officer pulled me aside.  He returned my ID, gave me the sixty-five dollar ticket and rested his hand on my shoulder.  He looked down at me and said, “you are the straightest guy I could’ve given this ticket to, so don’t take it personally.”  The young cop interrupted again with another stupid comment.

    “If you get mad about other skaters in the garage, you can tell us about it.”  All I said was “cheaaa, okay,” and we walked away. 

    “Where do you want to board now?”  JaHwan laughed.

    “I dunno man, to the Courthouse, the Justice of the Peace?  There’s no freaking way I’m paying sixty-five dollars for this!”

Why can't all cops be this cool?