Longboarding is painful. Ow.
Through the miracles of Facebook I managed to find a group of local(ish) longboarders who happened to be meeting up today in Greenwich park. So, I decided to drop by and see if they could impart some wisdom. As it happens, they're a lovely bunch of people, but way, way, way more advanced than me. Still, I did get some handy tips from them and some encouragement (along with remonstrations for not yet having a helmet, pads or sliding gloves - a Decathlon trip is going to happen this week I think).
I had only tried boarding up and down the fairly gently gradient in the car park so far, and that's been fine, but the hills in Greenwich park are just terrifying. I think partly it's the board though - I have now experienced the dreaded speed wobbles and I'm told this means I need tighter trucks. I could also do with working on my balance, and carving right, and...well, there's lots to learn really :)
I stayed around for 3 hours or so, and tried the very bottom part of the hill a couple of times, but really wasn't prepared for the speed even from that shallow run. Anything more than about 15mph just feels too fast at the moment, which is the entire reason I came off on my first attempt - I was too terrified not to crash. I did try to aim for the grass verge, but fell backwards on to the tarmac when I hit the edge jarring my wrists and landing heavily on my backside. Thankfully I didn't land on my coccyx, and was wearing wrist-guards, but my right wrist is still very bruised and sore.
I definitely need to practice more on the relative flat before trying hills again, but I may well meet up with these guys again next Sunday, weather permitting.
I had only tried boarding up and down the fairly gently gradient in the car park so far, and that's been fine, but the hills in Greenwich park are just terrifying. I think partly it's the board though - I have now experienced the dreaded speed wobbles and I'm told this means I need tighter trucks. I could also do with working on my balance, and carving right, and...well, there's lots to learn really :)
I stayed around for 3 hours or so, and tried the very bottom part of the hill a couple of times, but really wasn't prepared for the speed even from that shallow run. Anything more than about 15mph just feels too fast at the moment, which is the entire reason I came off on my first attempt - I was too terrified not to crash. I did try to aim for the grass verge, but fell backwards on to the tarmac when I hit the edge jarring my wrists and landing heavily on my backside. Thankfully I didn't land on my coccyx, and was wearing wrist-guards, but my right wrist is still very bruised and sore.
I definitely need to practice more on the relative flat before trying hills again, but I may well meet up with these guys again next Sunday, weather permitting.