The other day I was riding Onewheels with my nephew Easton and he asked me if we could practice crashing in the grass. He and I recently created a list of achievements that could be his goals and I had just asked him what skill he wanted to master that day. Learning to crash isn’t actually on the list but Easton has learned that some scrapes and bruises will be part of his pursuit. I was really impressed that he decided to choose that challenge because taking a tumble, even if it’s practice, is rarely anyone’s first choice.
When you know you will go down at some point it’s important to learn to crash well. We learn to crash so we are ready to respond correctly when it inevitably happens. At lower speeds on a Onewheel you can simply hop off the board but when you are going fast, and you can’t always rely on your feet to be under you, an instinctive roll becomes essential to avoid serious injury.
I didn’t practice rolling when beginning my Onewheel adventure but one nice long slide across the pavement made me prioritize learning the skill. I began intentionally coming off the board, hurtling toward the ground with my feet trailing my head. At first it seemed completely counterintuitive but I just kept repeating it in practice until the reaction became familiar.
“But the wise ones took their lamps and also brought containers of oil.” Matthew 25:4 CEB
It’s a lot easier to recover from being scratched than from being broken. Admittedly, we all prefer order in our lives, but rarely do we ever have complete control of the order of today. When plans change, when the board comes out from under us, we rely on our ability to adapt. It is important for us to put into practice more positive and constructive ways to respond. This level of preparedness may require us to get a little more familiar with being upside down on occasion. While that may be uncomfortable, brief moments of chaos now help us get back on our feet more easily when those inevitable bigger tumbles occur.
Ramblings of a Faithjunkie 