Dealing with obstacles

Fuck format. Just write something. Get started, talk about what you're here to talk about. #blogtips101

I think one of the most critical skills for new skaters to learn is how to deal with obstacles. The better you get at skating and the more disciplines you master, the more creative and beautiful ways you have to deal with things like cracks, bumps, dips, gaps, and even paper cups that constantly suggest for you to "Take a Break".

But even the most beginner skater (using myself as an example) who has at least two months of experience skating on the street can deal with the normal obstacles reliably.

The first way is to master control of your speed. Honestly, this is a basic tenet of any sport, wheels or otherwise. If you're going too fast or slow to do what you need to do then you're going to get hurt, or at least just fail. For skating, you need to learn how to slow down and speed up and stop. You also need to learn when it's appropriate to do each of these things.

• For small cracks or shifted pavement, it's often easier to speed up than it is to slow down. But if you don't see it, you'll get hurt.
• Scissors skating will get you over anything that isn't more than 2 feet high.
• Lift your toes over obstacles. Lean your body in the direction you are going, but lean on your heels, just a little. Skating this way means when you hit obstacles you didn't see, your skates are likely to roll over them rather than stop and throw you over. Just don't lean TOO far back...
• Take off that brake. Learn to drag stop. The brake is more of a hazard than any crack or curb or cone will ever be, because it's stuck to you.
• Learn to turn stop. Once you master the drag stop, you're ready to learn how to turn your forward momentum into stationary rotation. Pillage youtube for slowmotion video tutorials.

Personally, I find myself doing two things most often.

Over small cracks and bumps, I simply raise the toe wheel of my lead foot up over the obstacle. My second or third wheel snags the edge and throws my toe wheel down, letting my back wheel roll over. Then I lean on my lead foot to let my supporting leg roll over.

Over larger stoppers, I simply step over them. For curbs, I started with holding my lead foot up over the obstacle and letting my back foot slam into the curb. As I learned the timing, I started hopping over. For large cracks or broken asphalt, I time my strides so my wheels hit as few bumps as possible.

As you get better, you find your own ways of dealing with obstacles, but I find that these ways are the easiest and most reliable until you develop higher skills. Learn them and love them.