Use the Force

Yesterday I went on another night skate with my friend. Armed with helmets and gloves, we hit up the usual runs on campus.

Except the skate was far from the usual skate. I had it in my mind that I was going to learn how to footbrake.

It’s a difficult thing to describe. Where to begin? I think I must start with my stance on the board. I ride goofy footed. That means I’ve got my left foot behind and my right foot up front. The opposite of the way that most people would ride. Which makes sense, since I’m left handed. But even stranger, I push with my right foot, the foot in front. I’ve been told this style is called Mongol. Either way, it isn’t optimal, because when you push with the front foot, you have to awkwardly bring it all the way back to the front of the board. For me, always on an electric, it wasn’t such a big deal, because I never did a lot of pushing anyway.

Back to foot brakes. In order to do it, you need to have one foot on the front of the board, and the other breaking. But in my case, the other foot was one I’d never had doing anything before. Other than steering the board like the rudder of a ship.

To finally learn how to foot break, I had to realize that I needed one foot in the front of the board, and the other breaking. Then we found a nice hill, and I started rolling. I balanced my weight on my front foot, and tried to break with my left. The result was a funny, hopping kind of motion. I was hopping down the hill with one foot, while the other dragged the skateboard along for the ride.

Then, like the calculus of a series of straight lines becoming a curve, I found an equilibrium. Before I knew it, I was sliding down the hill at a very manageable speed. But the I had no steering. Until a few practice runs later, I was able to break with my left foot, and even steer the board with my right foot.

The next obstacle was the parking garage. When I first stepped onto a longboard many years ago, it was at the top of a parking garage. I bravely went down the ramp, and quickly wiped out. I shyed away from longboards ever since.

But last night, I resolved to face the beast again. Using only foot brakes, and my skate skills, I managed to skate down the parking garage. With my board turned off. It was a great feeling, to be able to do that without having to rely on the board.

It’s worth mentioning here, that at one point in the skate, I did use my brakes. And I heard a very not good sounding clicking coming from the motor when I did. As a computer guy, that usually scares me shitless. Like my hard drive is about to blow. But I’ve only heard the clicking sound once before. And even then, only during a hard break. Still, I know it may be a sign that the motor is coming to the end of its life. Thank god brushless motors aren’t too expensive. And on the bright side, the board still seems to work perfectly fine. And I won’t be breaking quite so much in the future.

So you might say it took me half a year of skating to get to the point where I could learn to foot break in an evening. But it sure was six of the best months of my life.

Last thing. Evolve fixed my board. They’re shipping it back to me, today. I hope to have it by the end of the week, and after I do, I’ll be sure to type my shenanigans to you.