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Hi, I'm Seb, and this is Aymer.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this new episode
of the show 1001 Belges.
1001 Belges is an internet site which allows you to share your passion.
You create a nice, friendly workshop, and invite friends over.
All with just a few clicks.
So, if you're passionate about dance,
scrapbooking, coffee,
curling, video games,
karate, organic food,
biking, soccer,
basketball, fashion...
Only one place: 1001Belges.be
From all the proposed workshops, we'll choose a few,
and will come and film at yours,
With stars like Maureen Louys,
Sandrine Scourneau or even Troy McClure
Let's go back now to today's passion:
Magnéto Serge!
♪ (music) ♪
My name is Cédric,
I'm a sports instructor and I'm 26.
Today I'll present the workshop on longboarding.
♪ (music) ♪
♪ (music - Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Since the age of 6 or 7, I've been hooked on boardsports,
surfing, snowboarding, skinboarding, bodyboarding, or kite-surfing.
But always with the problem of having to travel far,
of needing a car, of needing places to go.
And that's when I discovered the longboard,
in fact you can do it everyday, on your way out the door, easily.
Now the goal of today's workshop is, if we're presenting it to 1001 Belgians,
it's so that we can make people aware
that we have our place on public roads.
And that we're not just some crazies,
who go down hills at full speed.
We master our gear.
It's pretty easy to get around the city,
with a board, safely, and certainly without polluting our beautiful planet.
(Man) Hello.
(Cédric) Hello, how are you?
(Man) Cool, Jonathan, nice to meet you.
(Woman) Hello, Christelle.
(Jonathan) I see that you've already set up what we need.
(Cédric) Yeah, everything's ready, there.
The boards, the helmets, important. Let's take advantage,
before the others arrive, to try on helmets.
My name is Nathan, I'm 22.
I'm looking for a job. I live in Boitsfort.
My name is Christelle, I'm 22.
I live in Brussels and I'm studying graphic design.
Hello. Cédric. I'm the one organizing the workshop.
Hello.
My name is Arnaud. I live in Wezembeek Oppem. I'm 22.
I'm working on my Master's at Louvain-La-Neuve, in agro-management.
My name is Hélène, I'm 23.
I live in Louvain-La-Neuve,
and I'm studying for a Master's in international relations.
(Arnaud) I learned about longboarding from friends.
I see it's getting more and more popular, on the internet and in Brussels.
I'd like to learn more about this sport.
I heard about 1001 Belges from some friends on social media.
And I saw an ad asking for people
to participate in Cédric's workshop on longboarding
I thought it would be a chance to try something
that I didn't know.
(Cédric) Have you ridden before? (Hélène) Never.
(Arnaud) Never. I've skated, but only to get from one place to another.
♪ (music) ♪
Okay, here we are!
I'm here to help out with Cédric's longboarding workshop.
I'm not really dressed for longboarding.
But no worries, we can fix that.
And anyway, I've never skateboarded in my life.
Not a problem!
(Cédric) If not, we have boards which are pretty flexible.
You just get on and you can cruise,
ride a bit to get the feeling.
(Anne-Laure) Hello!
(Cédric) Hello. Welcome.
- (Anne-Laure) Hi Cédric! - (Cédric) How are you?
(Anne-Laure) Good, good. Hello, everyone!
- Okay, so you're already set up. - (Guys) Ready.
(Anne-Laure) They already have helmets.
I guess I won't escape that either.
Of course! They're really motivated.
Shall we gear up?
- Let's gear up. - Ready.
I'm going to try to find a helmet that fits you right.
It may not seem so, but I have a big head.
- (Anne-Laure) Okay? - (Cédric) That feels good?
Okay? It works?
Within longboarding there are different types.
There's slalom, which is known.
Actually these are small boards which are very maneuverable.
Then there's dancing, that will work well with
the board you have, or the one you see there.
with the raised edges, which lets you do turns
and dance while on the longboard
Then there's boardwalking, turning.
(Anne-Laure) I don't think we'll dance right away!
We'll just try to stay upright. I'm going to put on my sneakers.
- (Cédric) And off we go! - (Anne-Laure) Okay? Here we go.
When it comes to skating or surfing, with the longboard,
you're not on the back of the longboard,
you're near its front end.
This allows you to be more stable,
and to direct the longboard, by bending your foot.
To start, here's what you'll do:
Put your back foot behind the front trucks.
Now let's try to give one push,
and to more or less balance on the longboard.
Now, to make you feel better, two pieces of advice.
Bend your legs.
This will stabilize you and allow you to turn more easily.
Don't hesitate to stretch your arms out, too.
♪ (music) ♪
(Cédric) Let's slow down for a moment, since you didn't learn yet how to brake.
I'm going to slow you down.
Now, in your opinion, what's important to know
after moving, after getting on the longboard?
- (Anne-Laure) To stop. - (Cédric) To stop.
It's not always easy. - (Anne-Laure) I get it!
(Cédric) Now what we're going to do, what we're going to learn, is sliding.
Sliding is the easiest.
It's still the method most used in the city these days.
You have your foot in the back, now flex your front knee.
Now try to slide your back foot to the ground. Okay?
(Arnaud) Great for your soles!
(Cédric) Really great for your soles.
You can see, by the way, that the sole is smooth.
(Cédric) Think about flexing your front knee,
and putting your weight on your front leg,
before sliding off your back foot. Shall we try it?
Let's go back up and come down again.
We can already push up to the top.
- (Anne-Laure) Hey, you have momentum! - (Cédric) That's it! Shall we try again?
Okay, now we're on top, don't be afraid to go slow,
don't try to go too fast in the beginning.
Try to let yourself go and see what you did in the beginning.
Feel good on the longboard.
When you're comfortable, take your right foot
and try to slide.
Not bad! Did it feel good?
(Hélène) Yeah! Very cool!
(Anne-Laure) When I start rolling, going down, I love it!
(Cédric) When you're going downhill, when you get behind someone
who doesn't see you coming, you clap your hands.
You say "left". That let's them know you're passing on the left.
And that he should move to the right.
That's how you communicate when you're going downhill.
Don't hesitate, if you get near someone who doesn't see you,
To clap your hands.
(Anne-Laure) Are there signs between longboarders?
How do you greet each another? You...
(Cédric) Let's continue. Don't hesitate, if you're cruising, to use the space.
And settle yourself well on the longboard.
Let me explain another thing to you.
When you're going downhill,
the curves, you don't take them standing up.
Because if you fall, and you're standing up,
you're like this and you take it full on.
A fall, it's mortal. Well in any event, it would do damage.
So what you do, when you're going downhill, the position of descent,
is like this.
When you want to take a curve, this is what you'll do,
You'll take the longboard and you'll use your hand
to pull on the longboard, to turn it more easily.
When it comes to skateboards, the longboard is much easier,
because its bigger, more stable.
And getting on the longboard, you quickly master it,
and the sensation of sliding, with relative ease.
♪ (music) ♪
Now, if you want to adjust your longboard,
so that it turns a little more or less, you have this bolt here.
The more you tighten it here, the more stable the longboard will be,
and the less it will turn.
So the more you loosen it, the more it will turn.
(Anne-Laure) And kids? At one age can one start?
We've been told that at around eight-years-old, they can start.
I have a little girl who's 17-months old,
and who has started to get up on the skateboard.
(Anne-Laure) She was born on it!
(Arnaud) Internationally, are there world championships?
(Cédric) There are world championships.
There are French championships you can participate in,
because there aren't enough championships in Belgium.
(Anne-Laure) And the speeds, do they vary by course?
Yes. The world speed record is 130 km/h.
That's really a straight line, everything is calculated
so that they can go as fast as possible.
Otherwise, the median, the roads we have in the Ardennes,
go at about 70-75 km/h.
What about the mentality? I have the impression they've evolved a bit.
Because the first thing they said to us was, "Put on your helmet.
Be careful. Protection. Learn to brake fast.
Watch out for cars." So the mentality is evolving.
It's not an extreme sport for the sake of being extreme.
It's the sensations, yes.
But with all these necessary security measures.
(Cédric) That's it. But in this sport, the crazy ones don't make it.
When you're crazy, you get hurt. You get hurt quickly and then you're out.
We try to show that there's something behind.
To make things safe.
And now, we're hoping that communities and the authorities
will help us to close down places, open up places.
Right now it's hard, since we're not too many.
Here in Brussels, it's horrible. We're always in danger
of being run over, even when we're in bike lanes.
♪ (music) ♪
Okay, workshop's over. I had a great day.
I met five really nice people, who I'll see again,
which whom I share my passion, which is longboarding.
If you too have a passion, don't hesitate to share it,
like me, on the site 1001belges.be
(Christelle) That's really awesome. We made a group of friends.
It's cool. I'll see you next Monday.
I found some new sensations. I told myself I'll do it again.
Cédric : It was awesome to see you guys with us,
and to have the participants who wanted to be here.
In any event, it makes me happy to see you smiling,
and that you liked it.
Can't we take the longboard?
(Cédric) Umm...
Isn't that the gift at the end of the workshop?
- (Cédric) Your gift is a smile. - (Anne-Laure) That's good too.
Today
thanks to Cédric
I learned
how to longboard.
If I had a workshop to suggest for 1001 Belges it would be roller derby.
Roller derby is a feminine sport, a contact sport, a passionate sport,
on skates, how about that!
If I had a workshop to suggest, it would be climbing.
I do it all the time and it's an activity I'd like to help others to discover.
My passion is travelling. And the workshop I'd propose
would be to organize low-cost travel for students,
for backpacking and travel.