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Persuasive Essay On Downhill Longboarding

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Downhill Longboarding–Safe or Sorry?
Many youngsters have taken to the extreme sport of Downhill longboarding as a means to satisfy their need for speed. Speed. People nowadays can’t get enough of it. There are ample ways to reach ridiculous speeds: fast cars, to racing bikes, superbikes and skiing all break the bounds of ‘too fast’. However, a group of the longboarding community-a subset of the skateboarding community-seem to disagree. They ride their longboards, long, wide skateboards with big grippy wheels, down mountain roads at speeds between 30mph and 70mph, reaching 80mph at the professional end of the sport.
30mph. “Only 30mph!” you might say, “I can reach 65mph on a good downhill ski run”. Yes, I agree, it does sound a little slow. Yet, the first time I reached 25mph -and fell - on a small hill near my house I realised something: 30mph on a piece of wood on four urethane wheels over hard tarmac with just a helmet to protect your head and some flimsy gloves (not forgetting the snagging worry of the “death wobble”) all makes for a pretty terrifying experience. Then imagine what 70mph would feel like. Also, I have not mentioned how long boarders change their direction when they are faced with a sharp corner, typical of a meandering mountain road. They slide. At 70mph, they actively lose grip …show more content…

As Karl Kinley says, his son was not informed means of the dangers of the death wobble and the need to wear a helmet: skateboard adverts show helmet-less skaters. Companies need to wake up to the dangers, shops too, and inform people of safety gear needed for downhill longboarding. Longboards and longboard parts should come with manuals warning people of the dangers of longboarding and how to be safe. I’m all for the sport and will continue to pursue my need for speed, but I will always keep in mind what Karl Kinley states: “This information would have saved his

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