Learning to Ride a Cruiser Board
By Jenise Jackson
Blog Content Contributor
Are you thinking about picking up a new hobby? Have there been days where walking just doesn’t seem very appealing? If this sounds like you, cruiser boarding may just be something you could be interested in. Learning how to ride a cruiser board can be a little intimidating at first, but can be a lot of fun once you get the gist of it. To get you started, here are some essential steps to becoming a cruiser board master (or at least a skillful amateur).
Find the Proper Stance. Finding your stance is important for balancing on the cruiser board. There are two stances you could choose from, the regular or goofy. The regular stance is where your left foot is in the front and your right foot rests on the tail of the board. It is vice versa for the goofy stance, your right foot is now in front and the left foot is on the tail. Choosing a stance is really dependent upon your preference and what feels comfortable for you. After testing out both stances, whichever one feels natural is the one you should stick with.
Learn How to Push Yourself. If you don’t learn how to push yourself on the cruiser board, you probably won’t get anywhere on it. To practice pushing, start off in your natural stance but make sure your lead foot is straight. From there, push off with your other foot. You should continue to push yourself until you pick up enough speed. Once you have done that, place your back foot on the rear of the board. Your feet should be placed in a way to which they are parallel. This skill is key in learning how to do tricks in the future, so take the time to focus on it until it feels comfortable.
“Learn How to Turn the Board. To keep yourself from running into obstacles like people, you should definitely learn how to turn on your cruiser board. To turn properly, you want to make sure your feet are parallel. You can now shift your weight to make your turn. If you want to turn right with the regular stance, shift your weight and lean towards the toe-side edge. When turning left with the regular stance, lean towards the heel-side edge. With the goofy stance, lean towards the heel-side edge if you want to turn right and lean towards the toe-side edge if you want to turn left. It is very important that you check your truck tightness when learning how to turn. If you aren’t applying that much pressure to turn, your trucks are probably too loose. This puts you at a greater risk for losing control of the board, so make sure you pay attention to these signs.
Learn How To Stop the Board. Stopping the cruiser board is an easy step because there are different ways to do it. Because most cruiser boards are made of plastic, I would suggest using the foot-to-brake method. To do this, just kick out your rear foot while you’re riding and lean on the board with your heel. Keep your foot tilted and toes pointed, then drag your toes to slow down and stop.
Try to remember that you are just a beginner and learning how to ride a cruiser board takes patience. Even though safety gear doesn’t seem very attractive, I suggest you wear some when starting out. If you tackle these steps, you should be successfully riding a cruiser board in no time. Be safe and happy learning!
Featured image by Jenise Jackson.
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