Jason Mitchell, Seismic Nationals 2007, Hybrid Slalom.  Photo by Greg Fadell Northern California Downhill Skateboarding Association
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Riding Safety (377 Posts)
Topic Riding Safety
On 6/21/2000 Kanoa wrote in from (38.29.nnn.nnn)

when I was young boards were way different, I would bomb a hill with the same board I would take to the park. Boards now have seem to split for the most part in to shorts and longs other then your long doubles. Anyway most short boarders don't wear gear. Give it time and when you start getting good enough to ride 15ft bowls, verts and anything else at that level the only one that looks stupid is the only guy that's not wearing one. I don't ever remember wearing gear when I was young, I thought it would inhibit my ridding, you get used to it. Believe it or not you'll be trying stuff you never would with it because you know it doesn't hurt as bad to fall, you'll get much better faster as well.

 
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On 6/12/2000 DOOBIE wrote in from (168.191.nnn.nnn)

Herbn-
I like the cliffs notes version of Rob's long story!
-RIDE WITH PRIDE-
-- DOOBIE --

 
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On 6/12/2000 Herbn wrote in from (207.198.nnn.nnn)

Yeah,yeah,very wordy,skate safe,wear all your gear,cops will just talk to you if you wear a helmet and other gear,and it might save your life if you get hit by a car,big might,another Herbn timesaving summary post.

 
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On 6/7/2000 Rob wrote in from (209.255.nnn.nnn)

Hey this is VERY WORDY so be patient,
I'm gonna be fifteen this August, and I cannot remember when I would NOT get some smart-ass remark from some kid about me having to wear a helmet. My parents, since they gave me my first skateboard on Christmas, almost ten years ago, have always made sure I knew the importance of wearing a helmet. They got me a ash-colored protec and even bought me some nice blue and yellow Rector pads(80's). I eventually got sick of wearing them and so I just wore a helmet, which was the rule. And even when I would ride my bike I also had to wear one. I grew to hate wearing a helmet cause I was such a "nerd" by wearing it. I moved to Jacksonville, FL from the San Fernando Valley in CA (outside of L.A.). and I was finally able to ride my bike to school and so I did. I also "lost" my helmet because I wasn't going to take the Bu@#-Sh!t from all of these little third grade kids. So I ended up getting a Foamer Fruit-Booter type helmet, and I "lost" that too. finally I ended up getting a shiny new Pro-Tec by 6th grade when I got a new bike and skateboard on my KMart special. I ended up being able to go to Kona skatepark (one of the best skateparks EVER) and you had to wear helmets there, so it was not a big deal. As I skated more and more I finally got a Hook-Ups shortboard and then soon got a local surf shop's longboard with Tracker B-52's, being the only thing without a cheesy "Waves surf shop" sticker on it. that became worn out and I got my first Good longboard, a Sector 9 "Big Stiffy" and I began to ride that more seriously, and 10 months after that I got a new "Big Stiffy" and entered the Kona longboard championships (March 2000) in the 16 and under division and got last place, 5th. Pretty sad. I then Moved to Kansas city over a sh!tty job transfer, again. I got a S9 Pintail and am a bombin a few of da hills. Although it is illegal to skateboard in the streets, I do so anyway, and a few cops have talked with me about it, but they are totally cool with it being I am wearing gloves and a helmet, one even offered use of his radar gun for me bombing this huge hill, but I haven't bombed it yet, I am workin on my skills. that has saved my but, a friend of mine got his board confiscated (A shortboarder, as am the only longboarded in Kansas city). Annyways, I was talking with a girl that I was friends with in FL online and it turns out that a kid that we knew, Gavin Conwell, was hit by a speeding Car that didn't see him. Pads probably wouldn't have mattered, but my point is, Skate safe. Don't do it for yourself, do it for those that love you, do it for the kids who look up to you, do it for whatever, Just do it.
-_-RIDE-SAFELY-_-
_-_Rob-Rob-Rob_-_

 
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On 6/5/2000 Mad Hack wrote in from (203.216.nnn.nnn)

On the helmet thing: if you have a look at the slalom page you'll read of
a downhill death. Of course the guy was protected but even so s**t happens, eh?
I, too, disdained my helmet at home or on the street, when I was thirteen or fourteen,
but after landing on your head from eight or ten feet up, or doing thirty or forty down
a hill and a guy backs out of his driveway and you land on a HELMETED head, the notion
of not wearing one in those instances will strike you as insane. With a helmet it still hurts
like hell sometimes. I notice the pictures I see these days are all minus pads/ helmets. I didn't much like the michelin man
thing that started in the eighties, but is that Dennis Shufeldt c"competition t-shirt really
going to protect your elbows?

No.
MH

 
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On 6/4/2000 Sarah wrote in from (205.188.nnn.nnn)

Sorry, Herbn, I definitely was not trying to lump all shortboarders together, just the real young ones who have a lot to say about nothing at all. I didn't mean to sound high & mighty or anything. I was actually referring to a group of local kids in particular, assuming that there must be others like them elsewhere-I'm sure there are. No hard feelings? You're right-we're all just skaters. On another note, I'd like to say that Hugh makes a very important point. My husband at 23 just got his first ever skateboard, an Envy Twintip XS, and I sometimes cringe when he skates because he doesn't have a helmet yet. I'm buying him one next week! Sorry this is so long, but I had a lot to say. Peace...Sarah

 
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On 6/1/2000 Chris wrote in from (208.164.nnn.nnn)

Yo Herbn,

I don't think that Sarah's clueless. She's just making an observation about shortboarders who talk crap about helmets. She simply said that the ones who talk about helmets are usually very young and usually don't know how to ride. That's what I see too. I don't think she's making a comment about all shortboarders, just the ones who spend more time talking than skating. You're right. We're all skaters, but the ones who just sit around watching (or making pathetic attempts at tricks they never land) and talking crap aren't real skaters.

 
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On 6/1/2000 hugh r wrote in from (205.216.nnn.nnn)

On helmets:

I used to believe that helmets were to protect the person wearing them. But that is not the case at all.

Helmets are to protect the people who love the people wearing them.

By wearing helmets, we can save our mothers and brothers and sisters and friends (fathers too) the pain of having to care for us when all we can do is drool. We save them the pain of having to bury a loved one.

Thats why we wear helmets. Not for ourselves, but for the ones that love us... HR

 
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On 6/1/2000 Herbn wrote in from (207.198.nnn.nnn)

I ride longboards,I prefer downhilling,But Sarah's clueless ,who just happens to see some not so talented or just starting up shortboarders,and lumping them all together,there is no them,there's us,us skaters.If you want to prove longboard superiority,watch a recent skate video,you'd have to clip in and loop the glory hole or something like that,then you you could talk about dangerous.Do what you want, don't try to control whether or not someone wears a helmet,I beleive in freedom.I have a full face helmet and when I do dangerous stuff it's in my car ready to go.

 
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On 5/31/2000 Sarah wrote in from (205.188.nnn.nnn)

The only people I ever see talking crap about helmets are real young kids who ride shortboards.I wuldn't say "ride" beacuse most of the time they are just standing there repeatedly NOT landing kickflips. So what do they need a helmet for anyway-they're not doing anything. Also, 12 year old bones hold up a lot better than my 22 year old bones-most longboarders are older, from what I've seen. While I still think they should wear helamets, I can see why many don't-they're wusses who don't do anything dangerous anyway!! :P

 
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On 5/26/2000 Jake wrote in from (24.16.nnn.nnn)

Can somebody tell me of a site where I can buy a helmet and pads online?

 
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On 5/26/2000 Chris wrote in from (208.164.nnn.nnn)

I wear my helmet pretty much all the time, even when I know I don't need it, like when I'm just doing tricks down at the beach next to all of the short boarders. Sometimes, kids will say something, but they shut up pretty quick when I do something like bust a really long nose wheelie. The funny thing is that it's usually not the short boarders I'm riding with that say things. Most of them know me and know that can ride, even though I couldn't do an ollie if my life depended on it. The ones that usually say things are the ones who are standing on the sides with their boards watching. Real skaters come to skate, and the ones standing on the side can't skate, so they compensate by trying to belittle the longboarder because he's wearing a helmet. I don't care what they say. In my book, their opinion doesn't count.

Chris

 
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On 5/25/2000 hugh r wrote in from (205.216.nnn.nnn)

How about SOF-GOL (slow old fat-guys on longboards)

 
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On 5/24/2000 namon wrote in from (209.209.nnn.nnn)

we should start the UISPWS-BG group.
(United International Skate Pad Wearing Skate-Boarding Guys)
That would rule.
.
.
bomb hills
not people

 
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On 5/24/2000 P.S.R. wrote in from (209.198.nnn.nnn)

Just let any punk criticism bounce off your helmet,and skate away...

 
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On 5/24/2000 jonnieo wrote in from (216.224.nnn.nnn)

I take some criticism for wearing a helmet. People assume that because I don't spend my time trying to jump the board over a curb, there's no danger. I took a hard fall goning slowly the other day (wheelbite while hanging ten on a rough road), and got a nasty gash on my chin. It would have screwed up my head much worse if I didn't have a helmet. I'm kinda a geek, so maybe that makes me the target of more criticism than this popular guy who rides with me and wears a helmet too.

 
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On 5/23/2000 Beachcomber wrote in from (207.62.nnn.nnn)

I'm looking for a way to make a wrist guard/ sliding glove hybrid of some sort. I know the sliding glove won't save my wrist in a fall, but I don't want to destroy my wrist guards. I'm a guitarist, so my wrists are very important to me. I've known them since I was very young.

thanks!

 
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On 5/18/2000 Blah wrote in from (209.245.nnn.nnn)

Well, there's actually a psychological thing that happens when you wear pads. When people wear pads (or any kind of "safety" feature) they try more dangerous stuff. Kinda like all the safety features on cars tend to make people drive more dangerously (research has been done on this). With football, players wearing pads do things they wouldn't be willing to do if they were not wearing pads. With me personally, I don't wear pads if I use my stick for travel (like around school), but I'll also skate slow, never faster than I run, and I put my foot down before speed gets even a little too fast. If i put my sliders on, then I'll kick up the speed a little, and w/ a helmet, I'll go even faster. This happens because I KNOW I might/will get hurt.
The problem is DEATH happens when people think they are invincible. One guy in my chemistry class in high school died after taking a hill. He ended up in a drug induced coma never made it. The next year a girl in my class had a brother die downhilling. At UCSD (where I go to school), there is a skateboard half buried at the middle of one of the hills w/ a plaque on it in memorial of a student who died on the hill skating in the rain. These stories are what make me wear a helmet, because those who die usually aren't wearing one.

 
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On 5/18/2000 Hizzout wrote in from (170.65.nnn.nnn)

Ha ha...great story Fuzz.

Touche' Herbn. Watch for high school kidz....they try to hit on purpose, at leat on my blocks. :)

Keep Carvin'

 
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On 5/18/2000 Herbn wrote in from (207.198.nnn.nnn)

Football players have other people tring to cream them on purpose.

 
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On 5/18/2000 OLD SKOOL FUZZ wrote in from (193.62.nnn.nnn)

PAH... 'football', that's a laugh. Mate, rugby is a far harder game, and none of those guys wear pads...I ain't advocating skaters not wearing pads (I wear gloves and a wrist brace, sometimes knee pads on big downhill bombs), but the young skaters and kids out there look at it like rugby - IT'S ABOUT HOW HARD THEY THINK THEY ARE and FASHION!
Kids don't wanna look like kooks - I know it's stupid, but that's the truth.
Over here (in the UK), it ain't the law to where a helmet riding a bike (I know it is in Australia, what about the US?), and if any kid is seen wearing a lid, the other kids give him a ribbing and generally take the piss - kid's do don't they...
Shortboard skating is more of a 'fashion' kinda thing - attitude and 'hardness' an integral (and stupid!) part of it... kid's hang around at the skateparks, bowls, etc tryin' to look cool - on Saturday I witnessed two guys at a local halfpipe pulling mad-shit 360's, kickflips, fakies - getting big air, no pads. The other dozen kids were hanging round tryin' to get that 'cool' look. I had to laugh, I lounged on a grass bank, drank my pepsi then kicked off on my stick wearing my gloves and guards. The kids took the piss..."Hey, old guy...be careful ya don't trip", you know the kind of shit! Rather showing offingly, I slid my baby about 3 mtrs, full hand down - real old skool styley...there was gasps and the pisstakin' soon stopped.

Don't be a fashion victim or get a rugby boy mentality...
Wear pads, they're good...especially when you show up these damn pesky youngsters... :)

ZIMMER FUZZ
xxx

 
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On 5/18/2000 Hizzout wrote in from (170.65.nnn.nnn)

I agree to a point Herbn, but by the same rationale (sp?) you could say since our Pro Football players are better than the average joe, they shouldn't need to wear pads because they know what they're doing.....

But now you might be saying, "No, playing pro football without pads is just stupid." Some could argue that skating without pads is stupid.

I'm not preaching pads to anyone, I wear them occasionally when I take on new hills, or spots I know could be sketchy. For my quick beer runs to the liquor store, I don't wear them. But there is always the cloud of unpredictbility that hangs over anyone.

Keep Carvin'

 
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On 5/18/2000 Herbn wrote in from (207.198.nnn.nnn)

It's not a matter of role modling. Pro skaters are gifted people with a lot of tallent,they skate better and fall better than the rest of us,if you think you're pushing your limits if you can't picture the move or the possible fall then fear(most likely justified)should make you wear pads,have them handy you know if you need them.Asking Pro's to wear full pads all the time just so "impressionable youngsters" will want to wear pads to be like their favorite pad wearing pro is kind of unrealistic.

 
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On 5/17/2000 Pre-School Rider wrote in from (209.198.nnn.nnn)

Any time I get heckled for wearing safety equipment,I just show 'em my left arm.About 13 years ago,I peeled the skin off my forearm while luging,and it took the freckles right off a patch 3-1/2"x1-1/2",and the freckles are still mostly gone.That's what happens,IF you're lucky.If you aren't,it is usually worse. Some scars are worth having..;)

 
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On 5/17/2000 Luke wrote in from (150.228.nnn.nnn)

Totally--not that I always wear pads for all the different styles of skating I do, but even when I don't I know I SHOULD. I think it's probably true with most--that can easily explain the phenomenon of getting heckled at a skatepark for wearing pads when not required to--isn't there that unconscious temptation to ridicule that which we know we should do but have chosen not to?
One of the magazines did a story last month on an Australian tour in which Tony Hawk was soing some serious stuff without pads--and they mentioned it in almost every caption. So maybe there's a mentality shift going on & the skaters who are role models are slow to adapt.
I was at a park shortboarding the other day with my knee pads on--full vert Harbingers (the only ones I own) and some grommet yells: "hey; could you get some bigger pads?" Well, you know what they say baout the size of a man's pads . . . .
Hang loose

 
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