Skating those big gnarly hills can really put your skills to the test and being properly prepared is vital to being safe and having fun. You need to be comfortable on your board and know how to do the basics such as carving and footbreaking (sliding certainly helps too). Once you start feeling confident about bombing hills, follow these short guidelines to help defeat that big hill you’ve had your eye on.
1. Proper Safety Gear – Having adequate safety gear such as a helmet, gloves, knee/elbow pads is crucial to being confident on hills and can really help prevent injury. At the very least you should be wearing a helmet (full face for high speeds) and slide gloves as these areas are the most prone to injury. Slide gloves also help with cornering and sliding to help kill speed, so it really is a no brainer to have a pair.
2. Scout the Road – Make sure to walk the whole downhill run to look for areas of loose gravel and big potholes that may send you flying off your board. It’s important to make sure you have enough space to ride out your speed at the end (especially if you are unable to slide or footbreak at high speed).
3. Proper Downhill Gear – Not all skateboards are made the same and some are just not adequate for doing downhill skateboarding safely. Generally downhill boards are much stiffer as having flex in the board makes it really squirrely at higher speeds. Longboards such as the Loaded Dervish are notoriously flexy and should be avoided at all costs for downhill skateboarding. Shorter wheelbases will also make the ride more unstable and generally the lower the board the more stable it is at higher speeds.
4. Inspect Your Gear – You must inspect all your gear before bombing that big hill, simple things like a loose axle nut can really ruin your day believe me. I’ve had two separate instances of finishing a downhill run picking up my board and having the truck hanger just drop off my board, pretty scary to think if that happened at high speed. Also make sure your trucks are tightened/loose enough for what your doing. Too lose and you may get speed wobbles, too tight and you may not be able to carve enough which again can cause speed wobbles. Also make sure your bearings are clean and lubed, the last thing you want is a bearing to sieze up while at 40 mph (yes it can happen).
5. Avoid Traffic – If the downhill run your thinking about doing has a lot of car traffic on it, then think about finding a different hill. Cars are your number one enemy and obstacle and people in cars really don’t understand longboarders so try and avoid them at all costs. If you do decide to skate a high traffic road, make sure you know how to shutdown slide and footbreak effectively.
6. Play it Safe – On your first run make sure to try and play it safe, try taking the hill from halfway up instead of the full thing to see how you handle the corners and turns. Many times I’ve went to bomb a hill only to end up going way faster than expected. Make sure to just take it easy and airbrake and footbreak before corners to shave speed off so you can make the turn safely.
7. Follow Car – Having a follow car is certainly a nice thing to have but isn’t as necessary as the other steps. A follow car can stay behind the skater blocking any traffic from riding up behind the skaters dangerously as cars often love to do. I definitely recommend having one if the option is there (its nice to have a lift back up the hill too!)
8. Blind Corners – Always make sure to STAY in your lane when taking a blind corner and make sure your at a safe speed. Always try to be conservative when it comes to cornering as it’s very easy to get runover if your not paying attention completely.
9. Have fun – Downhill skateboarding is all about having fun so get out there and bomb those gnarly hills. Just make sure to do it right and safely and you will become much more comfortable on your board at those high speeds. Remember having the right gear is vital to being a successful downhill rider.
