not really a surfing question

[ken]

i bought a longboard skateboard and i want to be able to slide but i just cant do it i thought some of you guys must be able to do this so can you help me please?

[PapaW]

Thats why it goes int he General section!

Try shifing your weight slightly to the front trucks and grabing your outside rail leaning back. Its all about putting your weight into it on a longboard.

[GowerCharger]

put olive oil on your wheels.

[LovintheSurf]

i skateboard, but not with the longboard type ones. But just to let u know, ur not gonna get it immediatley just cause u know the techinique, u gotta practice. anyway what i do is im riding with a fair amount of speed , and then ill sort of push the board out from under me really hard and to the side. You DONT wanna concentrate on the front truck however, you want to be really pushing out on the back truck and focuses most of the push on the back. its hard to explain, but imagine doing a normal pivot 180 while riding, now do that exact same motion much much harder and without lifting up the nose of your board. Just practice, it will seem hard at first, and after it will be a breeze to do, and will be super fun as well.

let me know if that helps any

[surfishlife]

hmm...i can't get the hang of it. where do you place your weight? do you distribute it evenly, or should you be on your toes most of the time? i've been trying to be on my toes and leaning, but most of the time (on a flat and even surface) I find i move only a few feet (like 2 or 3) before I have to push off again.

i feel like it shouldn't be that hard...i watch guys all the time who can continually do tricks (or not) on their board without stopping (i.e. they only have to push off once or twice) to keep their board moving.

someone suggested i get a longboard, or get a skateboard with wider trucks, but i want to figure it out.

[LovintheSurf]

it isnt hard once you get it down because you eventualy get the movement and it comes with ease after a while, in the beinning however, you usually wont use enough force to slide out the wheels cause your not used to it. u should just practice it, because in the end i could just talk about how to do it forever and it wont really help you. just watch some skate videos see how they move and practcie, practcie, practcie, and ull get it. your weight should only be more on your toes if your doing it backside, if your doing it frontside then you should have your weight more on your heels, but dont think about it to much. just try and feel it u know. Have your weight kinda centered, but then when making the slide move alot of your weight to the back of the board. and your board shouldnt be the problem, i use a regular skateboard, with regular trucks, and actually pretty small wheels, maybe like 50's or less cause their really worn down. you just should be able to get eventually

[surfishlife]

thanks dude. sorry, i know it was a kinda lame question.

[LovintheSurf]

naw it wasnt lame at all, learning a new trick is always hard, good luck with it!

[cj]

I can't believe I am typing on here at 5 in the morning...

To answer your question about sliding...

Pretty simple really. I long board, have for years now, I learned how to slide by taking my slalom to the next level...

basically, you start out at the top of a hill... Slalom down it.

Once you are good at slalom, start to carve, it is the same thing as slalom except you are turning harder...

Once you can carve hard, the next step is sliding.

Downhill skateboarding isn't something that you get good at without getting some scars, fair warning.

No one can tell you how to slide, at least I can't think of a way to explain it that you would understand. It is just the next progression from being able to balance at one angle to being able to balance at the next greatest angle.

Kind of like the first time you stand on a skateboard, xxxxx, I can't remember that, I was a little kid, but I have had a lot of people try to stand on my long board that have never been on one before and they all fall down... Why??? answer is obvious.

They think of the board as something that they have to control, like it is seperate from them, it is something that thier feet are standing on... That is not the way to think about it, once you get good, it isn't something anymore, it is an extension of you. I can't feel the board under my feet anymore, the board is the part of me that just happens to be located under my feet.

After you spend enough time on one, eventually you develop the balance, sensitivity, confindence, muscles, reflexes and everything else... The secret is really is spending time making it a part of you...

I take long trips on my long board, the first year I had one, I would go skateboard on a 10 mile journey, stopping at stores for food, or just to look around, and at the end of it, my legs killed... Now I can go on 20 mile jounreys and my legs get sore, but no more than if I would have walked half as far.

So, what I am saying is... Practice leads to progression.

The balance that is required for a slide, is the same exact balance that is required to stand up on the board, just developed a little better.