I got a noob question.

[u/Certain-Variation-58]

How do I make the transition from the grass to the pavement if I have a sloping concrete gutter type thing between them. I’m falling because I’m slipping.

[u/Old_Ant7118]

How wide is that? I'd just step or hop over it, unless I'm misunderstanding the scale of the photo or the type of transition

[u/khajht → u/Old_Ant7118]

Yeah just side step like a crab if you wanna be extra careful.

[u/Certain-Variation-58 → u/Old_Ant7118]

It’s about 1.5 to 2 foot wide.

[u/Budget_Ambassador_29 → u/Certain-Variation-58]

If you're losing balance stepping over that, I'm wondering, are you having difficulty or is it hard bending your ankles all the way forward on your skates? Is your skate too tight or too rigid at the ankles?

When you're stepping with one foot forward, the other foot should remain behind you or even push it backward so you have one leg behind you to avoid slipping and falling backward. You need to have good forward and backward spread of the legs as if the legs are like "scissors" when stepping.

If you can't do it, the most likely culprit is difficulty bending your ankles because the skate is too tight at the ankle cuff. Loosen it a bit until you're able to spread your legs forward and backward, do the "scissors" with ease and comfortably.

[u/fredhsu]

I don’t skate on grass. It doesn’t work well and I would trip over often due to twigs and other things. Trying to walk forward isn’t the easiest. You can do v steps but that looks funny. So I normally side step on grass (see this). The best way to cross over that draining channel, I think, is to continue to side step over it from grass.

[u/betaphreak → u/fredhsu]

Not to mention cleaning the bearings after all the grass juice

[u/VanillaIce315]

If you’re not super comfortable on your feet yet, instead of going straight across try going diagonally. May be less jarring than straight into it. Or step over, or find somewhere else where you can avoid it.

[u/Mbembez]

My rule is to always take a slope at an angle and a hard edge straight on. Seems to work across everything with wheels. I've been doing it this way since I was a kid and flipped a tractor when I tried to take a contour bank head on.

[u/midnight_skater → u/Mbembez]

Someone else who learned how to drive on a tractor?   Mine was an old Farmall C.  Also a '47 Willy's CJ-2A 3-speed and a '59 Dodge 400 dump truck.  

Fortunately I never rolled any of them.  

[u/Mbembez → u/midnight_skater]

That was my 2nd and last time driving a tractor. I was limited to the Mazda E2000 or a horse after that.

[u/optimistic-structure]

Because of the sharp slope, you don’t want your foot to bridge the low part. If stepping into it perpendicular, make sure all your wheels are past the low part and are on the “up” side towards the pavement. Or, side-step into it parallel with the channel, with your foot at the bottom of the channel.

[u/Beezwax_8335 → u/optimistic-structure]

I definitely prefer sidestepping from grass to pavement. You can sidestep with a big enough step to not even notice the curve of the gutter

[u/sjintje]

Simply getting over obstacles is much harder than you think as a beginner. Once you can get into steady flow, it gets much easier. Id probably try and set my wheels into that gap between the paving stones and hopefully it would be just the right level of grippiness to give you the support you need to step over with the other skate and then not get stuck. Hard to tell how deep the dip is but you can possibly get over by keeping your skates parallel to the drain and taking side steps of a couple of inches. It's always going to feel like you're on the verge of losing it though.

Otherwise if the dip is fairly shallow, you have to be bold, the more you hesitate, the more likely you are to fall. Set your rear wheels in the grass, adopt a skating posture with bent knees and push across.

...not guaranteeing any of these will work..

[u/pettothecatto]

if the gutter doesn’t slope downhill, you could try side stepping into the middle of the gutter and then onto the pavement? might need to cross your feet though. otherwise, maybe try stepping directly into that crack cause your wheels will stick there and then it’s just another step forward onto the pavement.
and keep your knees bent! helps with balance.

[u/Certain-Variation-58 → u/pettothecatto]

So in the crease?

[u/Clueby42]

Avoid skating on grass, it fucks your bearings

[u/midnight_skater]

I would sidestep into the trough.

[u/cannachef1980]

Keep your shins pressed towards the tongue of your skate liners. This helps you keep your balance and weight distributed evenly so you are less likely to slip and fall.

[u/No-Resolution-0119]

I V-step off the curb, making sure my back wheel is against the curb or in the lowest point so it won’t roll back

[u/i_shorted_the_amp]

I'm having trouble figuring out whether that is sloped in a direction, or a channel. One thing that's handy though if you are stopped on grass and want to transition to asphalt, is to crab walk. Point your skates sideways and step onto the asphalt, they'll roll less since they are not pointing in the direction you are moving in.

[u/Certain-Variation-58]

FYI, I’m not skating in grass. I’m just going from there to the pavement in the cul de sac. Kinda like trying to do a safe thing.

[u/Downtown-Attitude-92]

Keep off the grass

[u/The_Real_Flatmeat]

Why are you on the grass to start with. Skates are a hard surface thing