You would have seen people around you or on social media displaying tricks and stunts while riding their longboard, and watching them would have made you feel interested in trying it out. Before getting started or thinking about whether or not you want to do longboarding, you definitely need to figure out how to do longboarding and how hard it is. Once you get an idea about the sport intensity, you get either more boasted about trying it or forget about riding aboard.
So it depends longboarding can be either an easy leisure activity if you only want to cruise around or use the board for commuting or a tough sport if you choose to do tricks and stunts. For carving, sliding, or downhill, you need more practice and time to learn.
Related: Best longboard wheels for cruising
Besides the longboarding style you opt for, your ability, the type of longboard you have, and some other factors also affect how hard it will be for you to learn longboarding. However, even for the simplest ride, you must learn to balance, kick the board, turn smoothly, and footbrake when needed.
This article answers your all questions about whether longboarding is hard for you as a beginner and what factors can affect your learning experience.
Practicing Longboarding as a Beginner
As learning everything takes time, you cannot master longboarding overnight. It will be challenging for you at the start. Slowly, learning and practicing can make longboarding easier for you. Also, you can learn some tips and tricks to enhance your experience from expert riders or the internet.
Besides, if you have been interested in other board sports or sports that include riding and balancing, you will find longboarding a little easier as compared to the beginners who have no idea about this sport. But once you learn the basics of longboarding for cruising or commuting, you gradually get comfortable with it for a more intense riding style. Therefore, learn the easy first to get to the hard.
What and How a Beginner Needs to learn for Longboarding?
Pushing the Longboard
The basic practicing of longboarding begins with learning to kick for pushing the longboard and leading a smooth ride. For learning, you should start with smooth surfaces to push easily. As you get practiced on a smooth surface, start practicing on the rough or bumpy surfaces.
You can start with small pushes as it will allow you to balance yourself again and again, and also small pushes will keep the board slower for the beginning. For pushing at the start, keep your one foot balanced on the center of the deck to maintain balance, and keep pushing with the other foot. Also, boards that are lower to the ground are easier to balance. So look for a board that is lower in height.
Turning the Longboard
After you learn how to maintain balance and push the board, you will have to learn to turn your board smoothly. Turning a board is quite different from turning all other vehicles with handles to control them. For a board, a turn is made by leaning on that one side of the board on which you want to make a turn. This will put pressure on that side of the board, and it will turn smoothly.
Therefore, turning on a board is not difficult. Although you will have to figure out when and how much you have to lean to make a turn at the start, it will get easier for you.
For turning, the longboard trucks control the wheels preventing them from moving from side to side. So make sure to keep the wheels straight by tightening the trucks. If the trucks are too loose, the wheels will not make a smooth turn and will become difficult for you.
Carving with a Longboard
What is carving? It is what you are going to enjoy the most about longboarding. As you see people longboarding, you would have sometimes seen them going side by side on the road at a moderate speed. Riding like this, which makes the track of your longboard like an S pattern is carving.
As soon as you master turning smoothly longboard, try learning to carve. Like the same way you lean for a turn, you also have to lean for carving but very slightly and then lean on the other side to make the S pattern. Gradually raise the speed until you feel comfortable. It’s all about maintaining balance at low and high speeds. So don’t hurry for carving until you learn to maintain balance and make smooth turns.
Foot Braking
There are no actual breaks of a longboard that can be pressed to stop the board. Therefore, a longboard can only be stopped by foot braking. You should learn it side by side when learning to maintain balance. Foot braking involves slowly putting the feet you use to kick on the ground. Smoothly, try to stop the longboard with the same foot.
What Factors make Longboarding Hard?
Your Longboarding Style
Cruising, carving, freestyling, sliding, downhill, and some others are the main longboarding styles. Once you get comfortable with the longboard, you try to ride with style. However, some of these riding styles are harder to practice than others.
For instance, freeriding, freestyling, and downhilling are considered hard because they require more balancing and more speed. Therefore, you need to practice a lot for them and be cautious while riding. It involves learning to push and maintain balance at a higher speed as well as turning smoothly at the right time for performing tricks with different styles. Similarly, carving and sliding are also more fun and harder riding style.
On the other hand, cruising or commuting is comparatively easier than these all. So you can cruise around or use the longboard for commuting purposes once you learn the basic skills of longboarding.
Your Age and Ability
Of course, your age matters for the sports you want to learn and adopt. Some sports are for teenagers and some for adults. But besides age, your skill and ability are other factors to affect your longboarding ride.
Even if you are old enough to ride a longboard but aren’t physically able to actively ride or balance a longboard, it will be tough for you. Moreover, longboarding requires balancing as the most necessary aspect. You might find it easy and will learn to maintain balance quite soon if you have the skill for it. But even if you don’t, you will learn it after some practice.
Type of Longboard
For the beginning, you will need a user-friendly and easy-to-ride longboard. There are two main types of a longboard, mount top and drop-through deck. Along with these types, the longboard parts make them suitable for either a beginner or a pro. These include wheels, trucks, decks, bushings, and bearings. The size and shape of all these parts matter to a user.
A long-length board is suitable for beginners who want to learn longboarding as it allows easy balancing. Also, a board with a lower deck is more stable to ride. Make sure that the grip tape of your board is enough for your grip.
Your Environment
Yes! Your environment can also be a factor to effects whether longboarding for you is easy or difficult. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, riding on a rough and bumpy surface is always difficult and takes more effort. Meanwhile, learning to ride on a smooth surface and riding with any style is very easy for both starters and professionals.
Other than that, there is a difference between riding on a busy road, riding in a park leisurely, or racing as a professional. Each of these affects your experience of longboarding as easy or hard.
Some Practices to Make Longboarding Easy and Fun for Yourself
Longboarding might seem very hard to you if you are not considering the following practices or tips:
Decide Your Stance of Riding
You can either be a regular or a goofy rider. It depends upon the way you stand on a longboard. A regular rider means that the rider keeps his left foot forward on the deck, and being a goofy rider means that the rider is comfortable with keeping his right foot forward. At the start, try both ways and choose the one you find comfortable for yourself.
Practicing to Push and Turn
After deciding your stance, it’s time to start practicing. Only practicing can make you a better rider. From maintaining balance to learning different styles, you need to keep practicing. Don’t get disheartened if you can’t do it in one or two tries because you cannot master riding immediately. First, learn to push and turn smoothly on smooth surfaces and then on bumpy surfaces.
Learn to Roll and Stop
While doing practice to maintain the balance, learn how to roll and balance and then how to foot brake and balance. To start, you can roll on the roads that are a little downwards. It will help you to roll easily. But for practicing stopping a longboard, choose to ride on a smooth straight surface.
Conclusion
Longboarding is hard if you choose it as an adventurous sport. But it is not hard if you are riding it for fun only. Some people only like to cruise around or use a longboard as a means of transport and find it very easy. But riders who like to do tricks and stunts and challenge themselves with a difficult riding style find it hard and adventurous.