Help for New Slalomers! (please read)

[Joe & Nick]

Slalom is finally catching on. It does not translate well in photo or video, but once you've done it, it is addictive. I think 2006 is going to be it's biggest year ever and the longboard community at SF is ripe.

To that end Silverfish has asked me to assist in getting the slalom word out. It's been my pleasure to do so anyway and am taking this on in only a slightly more formal fashion.

What I'd like to do is try to organize topics so that those new to the sport need not spend time searching or asking the same questions over and over.

Nothing beats direct experience in slalom, so keeping an up-to-date calendar of slalom contest and clinics is another major goal.

Lastly, in addition to keeping things organized and updated, I've enlisted the help of my friends to speak on the various topics that interest you. I'm thinking of a series of informal articles on board selection, truck tuning, practice techniques, etc. Please feel free to make suggestions on topics you would like to see covered or other ideas you have for the forum.

Also, please understand that above all things I would like to have this board be a friendly resource for all new slalom racers. Where there is competition, there is often hard feelings and dissention. I certainly hesitate before sending new people to other internet sites on slalom as personal arguments often muddy what should be a great place to ask questions and learn about the sport. In short I will be asserting my duties as moderator whenever necessary. Please feel free to disagree with any opinions listed, but doing so in a positive manor, like suggesting alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to skating with you,

Joe Iacovelli

[Directive0]

big up yourself, joe! Couldn't think of a better dude for the job!

[GPymp]

..Way to go Joe. "Joe's Wiggle Emporium"

[longboardeur]

Hey Joe that's awesome and as always, you will do a hell of a job.

[falcon]

New wiggler here. I certainly look forward to reading anything I can that will help me improve my cone hitting

Thanks for the resource, Joe.

[shapeshifter]

please let me know if i can be of any assistance...

[Rustyfriend]

for all those new slalomer's, don't hesitate to ask Joe....he got me into slalom despite my hesitance to go to my first race after that...I was officially HOOKED. now i slalom all the time!

[Joe & Nick]

SOOO I got my first official question;

"i have a board (a bahne blackhill with traker rts back and wedged seismic yellow springs front, with turner wheels. im gonna get some sort of cones soon enough. so, what i want to know is basically, what are the 'rules' in slalom? how do i set up a course? which cones can i go around? which sides etc? thanks for any help, hopefully, ill catch the bug"

Perfect timing and good questions. While I'll be digging deeper on each of these topics, it's a good time to answer this question and provide a "How to Get Started" resource right now and in one spot.

BOARD SELECTION:

There is A LOT to say here and our new guy above is a step ahead of the game with his Bahne. If you have ANY kind of slalom board you are ahead of this advice. Please skip.

My first advice for someone with out a board would be to take your smallest longboard or a kickfliper deck, put some randals or wedged new school trucks with your softest bushings. You'll need soft wheels, preferably with a square lip.

The only caveat to this is an important one; WHEELRUB. Please make sure that you have enough riser on the board to run you trucks LOOSE. It's vital to be able to turn in slalom (duh), and having a wheel stop your board cold not only sucks, it's dangerous.

START RIDING:

Just go out and ride your board. Cruise it like you would a longboard. Cruise small to medium size hills (be careful of speed wobbles). Try to find your pump. Find a flat spot, take a couple stiff pushes and see if you can keep yourself going.

CONES and ALTERNATIVES:

Cones need to be stiff. Soft cones will wrap around your wheel and take you out. Solo Cups work, but to start bright colored chalk marks, large washers, tennis balls cut in half will all work.

FIRST COURSE:

Make it easy! If you are riding a small longboard, a loose GS is in order. Set it so you can make it at slow or medium speed and then get faster. Picture a straight medium size hill (10-15 MPH) and lets start on the right hand side of the street. Put your first cone 2-3 feet from the curb (watch for dirt & sand), go around the right side, go 8-10 feet and drop another cone and so on for 7 cones.

Then walk down the street and across to the other side. Drop one cone about 4 feet from the curb, walk down and back to the other side and do it again. How far down depends on the width and slope of the hill. Try to set it like you are carving up the hill and the cones are naturally where you would turn anyway. Do this 6-8 times. After that last cone, set another straight line, like at the top of six or seven 8-10 cones.

Don't have a hill? Some slope is helpful, almost necessary to start, but a smallish hill will make the above BORING. On a small hill set the cones in a straight line to start. Again how close together depends upon your equipment. On a slalom board 7.5-8 feet is a good place to start. On a longer board you may need to loosen that up. Do if slow. Do it fast. One you can do it clean tighten up the spacing.

Once this gets boring you can experiment with setting the cones in a curve, you can set cones about a foot off your straight line (offsets), use your imagination. I'll be posting pictures of courses in the future. Regardless of how you set the course, making a chalk mark where your cones go is helpful for when they get knocked down. You'll know where to put them back.

NEXT

There is NO solitary pursuit that can prepare you for your first race or clinic. To see slalom in person is very different. Please do not be intimidated. I refused to ride my first race and only helped replace knocked cones (coneheading). My second race I took 2 runs total. You should be more brave.

Here is the fact. You will not find a more accommodating group in skateboarding than slalom. It is a sport that is still sort of new, so even the fastest guys can remember how they struggled to start. Even the World Champions take time to assist the new guys. Where else does that happen? Ever get help from Tiger Woods on your backswing?

Just show up and try. I will be listing events all over the world where you can do so. Admittedly some contests will be more new guy friendly than others and that will be noted, but if you can make it, GO! You can learn a lot by coneheading and watching.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This is by no means complete. I will be expanding on each of these topics in the future. We'll need to talk about foot placement, dig deeper on wedging and bushings, etc. This is the rough starters guide.

**PLEASE** Wear at least a helmet. Slalom can cause your board to slide out or stop like it never has before. It happens very quickly and without warning and can rocket your head to the ground as you fall backwards.

ALSO, we share the road with the cars, but in a collision, they win. Be aware of where cars are don't expect them to stop. Try and set your courses close to the curb to allow for the free flow of traffic or expect police involvement. I smile and wave to my neighbors all the time. I help old ladies in with their groceries. Watch "My Name is Earl" and feed your good karma.

I'll leave this post open to comment and question. Please remember though, I will be covering each of these topics in depth, so I may defer your question to another post. Please ask any and all questions though either on the forum or in a PM. It will help me.

Thank you,
Joe

[lettucefresh]

Watch "My Name is Earl" and feed your good karma.

so... everyone knows that Jason Lee (Earl) used to be a pro skater.... right?

[Joe & Nick]

Jason Lee rocks. Great in all the Kevin Smith movies.

As promised here are some pictures of courses. You can use the descriptions if you like. They are resonable baselines, but definatively describing a course is impossible as it varies based upon the hill, it's length, width, surface, etc.

http://grassrootsslalom.homestead.com/course_types.html

Its a couple of years old and incomplete, but it's helpful.

Joe

[bpz]

**PLEASE** Wear at least a helmet. Slalom can cause your board to slide out or stop like it never has before. It happens very quickly and without warning and can rocket your head to the ground as you fall backwards.

I learned this when riding at my first race. I rarely wear a helmet when skating, but Joe made sure I was wearing one at the race, luckily it was my fullface. I was going around a cone toeside, slid the back wheels out, and the board stopped when it was sideways. I got tossed straight back, and whipped my head into the pavement. Joe can vouch, it was a damn good crash, and I was freaking LUCKY it was my fullface I was wearing. I didn't even get dazed, I don't think I'd be walking much if it was a smaller helmet nor would I be breathing if I had no helmet.

[wombat boarder]

just wondering, will having a seismic wedged front and rts back combo cause any problems? just having concerns that as the front turns faster that the tail might swing out? esp. as i bought it with the front dewedged?
any thoughts are great

[telecaster]

wombat,

I ran that exact setup on a Roe Unlimited for about a year and had good success with it.... I'm assuming you have a 45* baseplate for the front?

Just be sure the fat end of your wedges face the tail on both trucks and you'll have a good starting point. And actually a 30* seismic rear is a great "traction" truck if you're slaloming on the cheap....

Tod

[YachtRat]

what are some good affordable choices for slalom. How is the subsonic polywog or swift 29?? Other affordable brands?

[Joe & Nick]

what are some good affordable choices for slalom. How is the subsonic polywog or swift 29?? Other affordable brands?

Tough question. What is a good car? or Bike? or Kayak?

Depends upon what you want it for, right? TS, GS, Hybrid, or one boardd that does all-around?

Pauliwog is a great choice for all around as it has thhree wheelsbases, 17.5, 18.75, and 20 inches. SUbsonic is now making a GS board called the scout with a 21 inch wb.

The Fatboy Fatass has 4 wheels basses, 18.5, 19.5, 20.5, and 21.5.

Either of those choices let you ride multiple courses by simoly moving your trucks around.

If you are of the quiver opinion there are plenty of good brands at or under $100. Skaterbuilt and SkateKings buth come in multiple sizes and have built in concave and kicktail. Pocket Pistol has a hardcore series that comes in 5-6 sizes. Roe and Bahne both have boards that make good starters.

My best honest advice is either get yourself to a race where you can try all kinds of boards. Otherwise it's not a bad idea to try and buy used. That way when you decide to move on, you have less invested and can pass it on cheaply to the next new guy.

Please look for more reviews and suggestions in the weeks to come.

Joe

[Parallel Man]

Rat,

I don't want to argue with Joe, but I'll add something EVERY NEWBIE SHOULD KNOW: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "STARTER" SLALOM SKATEBOARD . . . SOME BOARDS JUST COST MORE THAN OTHERS!

Don't get the idea that if a board isn't some $700 whizbanger that you can't go fast enough to win. Yes, there are very expensive options in Slalom that some fast guys ride: $200 trucks, $300 decks and $20 wheels with $100 bearings. And those same people do LOSE to guys riding a $175 board with stock Trackers and Abec 5 bearings. It's not the board, it's the rider.

Two of the fastest guys on the East Coast are Vlad Popov and Wes Easteridge (WesE) of Northern Virginia. They literally ride fence pickets they cut out with a jigsaw in their garage. Vlad occassionally rides a $400 PVD truck, but he also rides the simple stuff. It's not the board, it's the skater.

If you want some advice (and you did ask,) all I would say is that no matter what you do, DON'T SKIMP ON THE WHEELS. Find the extra bucks to afford some new 3DMs, Manxs or ZigZags. Don't try and slalom on some marble-sized rock you'd use to rail slide and park ride or on some soft gooey monster that's great for cruising on a longboard. It ain't gonna work. You need traction, you need control and most importantly you need confidence. That's what a slalom-specific wheel will do for you.

Get the Roe PS, the Bahne Blackhill, the Fatboy, the Axe or the PPS wood series. They'll all do you good. Some flex, some don't and they have different shapes to suit how you ride. Just don't delude yourself into thinking this board is just a "starter" until you decide to go into hock to get some fancy custom cone killer. It will be fun when you do, but it ain't necessarily a requirement to be competitive. All the money in the world won't replace some sweat and time running cones and getting your act together for race day.

[Joe & Nick]

WT,

I disagree. Slalom is a sport that demands a quiver of 3 boards, and you could have more right? Super GS, GS, Hybrid, Tight, and Super Tight can all require specific setups. That is discouraging to new riders. Who wants a sport that requires that kind of initial investment?

I've also seen entusiastic new guys buy their first board too far on the TS or GS side. Then they show up and cannot make the particular course, and leave disgruntled to perhaps never return

My idea is that a good $100 or less deck with multiple wheelbases, rtx/s, maybe an offset later, and two sets of wheels (small and large) is where it's at for new guys.

Add in a helmet, pads, gloves, some chalk and cones and that's a "starter kit". Would you prefer entry level? I understand your examples of Vlad & Wes E, but don't you think our audience would prefer clear direction?

Joe

[Parallel Man]

Joe,

My point was that I don't want anyone discouraged from participating in a race because they feel their equipment is for "starters." I don't want skaters to assume that "entry level" equipment means they should only look forward to "entry level" racing. A Roe PS Unlimited with Trackers and Avalons can win a GS just like a foam-core PPS with Radikals costing three times as much. It depends on who's riding the Unlimited and who's riding the foam core.

I don't want skaters to put so much emphasis on equipment. It's all about skating, practicing, competing and racing. Current World Champion Jason Mitchell isn't fast because of his board, his board is fast because Jason is on it. That same attitude can work for ANYONE who wants to start racing.

As for quivers and different stuff for different situations, that comes with growth and experience. What I don't want is someone saying to themselves, "well, all I got is a Bahne Black Hill. I guess I won't go to the GS race." Go to the race, run the course, charge it and have fun.

YachtRat, buy what you can afford and RIDE IT A LOT! I think you'll be surprised how much faster your board is three months from now than when the day you got it. Funny thing is, though, the board didn't change: you did.

[Joe & Nick]

Right, great point Wesley.

I'm suggesting entry level boards, like a Fatboy, and that's what i won the B class on in Texas. CFavero was on one of his $65 CHIXLL when he took third. All the entry boards I am talking about can remain a vital part of your quiver.

Joe

[Momona Boe]

jeez, you go away for a week and there's some new douchebag in charge............

Hahahahahahaha!!!! Those of you that don't already know Joe, you should! Those of you that do, how can I get that burning and itching to stop?


okay seriously, there is NO ONE better suited for this job than Joe. His knowledge is surpassed only by his kindness and patience There are at least a dozen people on here that can say, " if it wasn't for Joe, I never would have even TRIED slalom" = myself included. LISTEN to what he says!!!!!!!!!!