Stopping is essential for safe longboarding. As typically longboarding takes place on public roads and walkways there are vehicles and pedestrians as well as many other potential dangers. Controlling your speed in order to deal with these dangers and avoid them, or stopping completely requires the rider to be confident in his abilities.
When first starting out I recommend finding a mellow hill, and practising rolling and immediately lowering your rear foot to the ground. Remember to make sure your heel touches the ground first and your weight remains on the front foot. Keeping your knees bent helps maintain your balance. After braking almost to a stop lift your foot back onto the board, gain some speed again then repeat.
Once you have practised this over and over and feel confident, then it is time to try at higher speeds. Braking is easy when you are going slow, but balancing on one foot when you are going quickly is much harder.
If you are finding you are wearing your shoes down a lot then you will be needing a source of cheap skate shoes.
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