Outdoor Roller Skating Skills - SPEED BUMPS!

Hey skaters, I'm Dirty Debra Harry with the Dirty School of Skate at Sure Grip Roller Skate. I'm here today in Fountain Valley, California to talk to you about how to get over speed bumps. This has been a much requested video because we all are skating outdoors these days and you're coming across speed bumps all over the place. So I'm going to keep this video nice, sweet and short because in actuality it's quite simple to go over a speed bump. Let's go check it out. Did I even say who this video was sponsored by? Did I forget that crucial part? You guys, this exciting video is brought to you by Pigeon Skates.com. They have a brick and mortar store here in Long Beach, California and if you go to them either online or at their store, they'll take good care of you and get you everything you need to get rolling. Alright skaters, let's get started. Here is a speed bump. Now I'm going to tell you, most speed bumps you're going to encounter aren't going to be all tore up like this one. This one is actually not as smooth as the ones I encounter most often in the streets. So this is kind of a good one to show you on, alright? When you encounter a speed bump, it's just a tiny little hill, just a tiny little hill. You basically have to keep yourself from doing anything too aggressive. When people encounter speed bumps, they usually stare at it and think, oh my god, this is something I have to step over. I want you to forget about picking up your feet and stepping over anything. This is going to be like a tiny little roller coaster that I just need you to ride. So here's the important things that you need to think about. When you approach the speed bump, I need you in a staggered stance. A staggered stance means one foot slightly ahead of the other with the majority of your body weight firmly on the back foot. That way the front foot can negotiate right over the bump, riding right over the bump nice and easy. Now I don't need you to get into your staggered stance way back there in anticipation. This is what it looks like. You're skating along minding your own business and you're like, there's a speed bump coming. I need you to get in your staggered stance right before you hit the bump. Right before. Don't be premature. Okay? We're going to skate forward right as you get up to it. Get into your staggered stance right as you get up to it. You're going to approach it and be like, speed bump. You're going to approach it with your body weight down. Have we not seen this in like every other video I've ever made? Your fun zone down. One foot in front of the other. As you ascend the hill that is the speed bump, your fun zone area is going to rise up just a little bit till you get to the crest and then you're going to drop it back down to ride down the other side. Let's go for it again. I'm going to skate forward. I get right up to it. Down, up, up, up, down. That means body weight is down at the start. It's up and down. Literally. Keep your arms out to your sides. It's going to be very important as always. Shoulders are straight across. Your snack area is nice and tight, mamas. Put those arms out like that. A little bit of pressure on the heel of the palm of your hand will keep your arms out nice and tight. One foot in front of the other and down. Let's talk briefly about what foot you put in front. People always say to me, I'm going to put my dominant foot and they tell me that their dominant foot is the one in front. Your dominant foot needs to be the one in the back because that's the one that's really skating. That's the one that's holding you up. That's the one that's got all the weight on it. Your front is just steering. Put your dominant foot in the back. I know that all the weight is on my back foot. You know how I know? My hip sticks out just like that and I got my front foot with barely any weight. The other reason why it's super important to be in your staggered stance with your weight on the back foot is the front foot may encounter a real janky speed bump like this that is not smooth at all and the tip or the front truck of your skate that's in front may need to come up a little bit. If it needs to rise up a little bit to negotiate this speed bump, it can't have a bunch of weight on it. If it has a bunch of weight on it, you're going to hit it and fly forward and that's no good for anyone. Alright? Going forward. Get down low. Up up up. Down down down. Right? So fun. Now, if you get going faster, and I hate to say this, but these things, it's better to go faster. It's easier to go faster and I know what you're going to say, but it's scary dirty and I'm going to say, I know, I feel your pain and I understand, but you're going to have to go faster and faster and faster as you get better and when that happens, you naturally get a little bit of air and it looks like this. You're going to skate and it's down and up. Woo! All I need you to do is hold your position for the landing. Keep your chin up, shoulders straight across, neck's tight, arms out and you're going to be just fine. Okay? So we're going to hit it with a little bit of speed. I'm down, up, down. I did say a little bit of air. It's a little. It's a lot to get all this up off the ground. Okay? Let's do it one more time. You're going to skate and a little. All right, skaters, a little bonus to this lesson today because where you find speed bumps, you often find little dips, you know, where the water goes. So I found some here in this parking lot and let's go over there and see if we can't skate through the dips. Come on. If you were unsure what I was talking about, hello! These little dips here in the parking lot, you often encounter these when skating outdoors. All right, the same technique. I need you in a staggered stance right before you hit the dip. I need you to mimic the space, meaning we are higher up as we approach it, as we get right to it, we drop our body weight down and then we rise up to get out of it. Just mimicking the space. So Lordy, Lordy, I almost killed myself. Okay. I'm going to skate forward. I'm up, up, up, up, up, up, down, down, down, up, up, up. Okay? I'm just mimicking the space. I am up high when it is up high, I'm down low when it's low, and I'm up to go up. It's like that, okay? So I'm up, down, up. If you just focus on your hips, this is going to be real simple. So I'm thinking with my hips are my fun zone. I'm up, down, up. One of the most common difficulties for doing this are for people who can't keep their legs together. Are you one of those people that has trouble keeping your legs together in your staggered stance? One of the best tips I have for you is the leg in back. Focus on your kneecap. Focus on the bend of the knee and then take this knee and turn it inward. So it's supporting the other leg, supporting the back of the other knee. So my feet are like this. I drop my fun zone. I take this knee and pressure it into the other leg. If you do that, you're going to be able to keep a staggered stance just a little bit better. Okay. We are done, people. That's the end of this video, except for this one thing I forgot, I almost forgot, just super important. You guys check the helmet out. Is it not great? S1 Helmets provided me with this helmet so I don't knock my noggin when I'm out here. I'm going to put their link in the video description box so you guys can get one too. Now, as always, I need you to practice. Don't be afraid. Go out, find a kind of closed off parking lot that's got some speed bumps. Do one after another, after another, after another, and pretty soon you won't be afraid of them at all. You are going to be the best at speed bumps ever and you'll wonder, why was I ever afraid of speed bumps? All right, skaters. You got to go practice. Go practice. I too am going to practice, but a little something else. Okay. See you guys later. Bye.