[pengaru]

Dragging your foot on a skateboard leaves your other foot planted on the board, meaning the board is vulnerable to catching on any crack or edge while carrying most your weight, which will send you tumbling.

You can drag your foot exactly the same way to lose speed on skates by dragging one perpendicular to the direction of travel, while your other foot is still perfectly capable of jumping you over any cracks or edges since the skates are strapped to your feet.

I'll admit it's easier to never go too fast for comfort on a skateboard, by simply not riding the skateboard; you get off and walk on shoes. Which is a problem for rollerblades. But that's kind of irrelevant beginner territory isn't it?

Once you're competent enough to be riding either at speeds above a run, the skateboard has significant speed governing challenges, as do rollerblades.

I street skated for years and never became competent enough to use power-slides for governing speed on anything but the most ideal uniform asphalt surfaces. To propose that as some kind of accessible braking method strikes me as disingenuous at best. For most, attempting that'll be a spectacular prelude to a broken clavicle.

[jhchabran]

To shed some lights on why power sliding is so unreliable, doing so requires to be familiar the surface on which you’re attempting it. Being familiar with it means that you basically failed to and fell down multiples times before getting it right, which already requires a good skill level.

And you cannot assume that power sliding on a surface will be similar to another one that looked the same because a slight change of humidity, dust or grease may totally change the outcome and transform the slide into a hang up that will throw you at the floor pretty hard.

So if you combine a really thin margin of error with the inability to confidently execute it on new surfaces, it makes powersliding a pretty unreliable way of braking unless it’s an emergency, in which case jumping off the board is much easier.

Meanwhile, you can power slide at will in the skate park because you know the surface by heart, and it’s easy to get it consistent by how many times you just rode it.

[mthoms]

Your point is valid. Power sliding on the street, with speed, is definitely for advanced skaters. Particularly for the reasons you mentioned (unpredictable surfaces).

See my other comment.

[mthoms]

>Dragging your foot on a skateboard leaves your other foot planted on the board, meaning the board is vulnerable to catching on any crack or edge while carrying most your weight, which will send you tumbling

You're doing it wrong. If you catch a crack with your weight planted dead center of your board (which is how this is done) then you're already in dangerous territory. Speed is not your issue - the terrain (or your lack of proper technique) is.

>I street skated for years and never became competent enough to use power-slides for governing speed on anything but the most ideal uniform asphalt surfaces. To propose that as some kind of accessible braking method strikes me as disingenuous at best.

Disingenuous? How rude. That's how me and my friends did it. Maybe if you were below advanced-intemediate level then power-sliding to control for speed might seem impossible (but it isn't - that's the beauty of skateboarding). I will concede it's an unreliable method because of the variance of the surface (which the other commenter mentioned). It does come with risks and requires sufficient skill.

Curiously, your comment left out the obvious thing I mentioned. You can jump off the damn skateboard. It's one of the very first things you learn.

You can jump off.

My 8 year old does it every day. You know what he and his sister do when they get going too fast on 'blades? Look for a grass patch and hope for the best.

You seem to be slighted by the mere suggestion that one measly aspect of 'blading is harder or requires a different approach.

I skated for two decades, and worked in the industry for over half of that. If there's one thing I learned it's that skaters are funny creatures. Especially when it comes to beefs with their "adversaries" like rollerblading, BMX and scooters.

It really makes me chuckle.