Read Snowboard Maverick for Free Online Page B

was his safety equipment: a helmet, along with elbow, wrist, and knee guards. Luckily, he
     had them all fromskateboarding. “Check it out, dudes!” he said, offering Gizmo up for Robbie and Tasha to admire.
    It had taken Dennis the better part of half an hour to get himself dressed for this outing. He’d had to search deep in his
     drawers for a pair of nylon ski pants and gloves. He’d put on long underwear, too. Dennis figured he’d be doing a lot of falling
     at the beginning — and he knew how quickly you could get chilled once your clothes got wet.
    He had on his warmest insulated jacket, and in his bag was a knitted ski mask and a pair of sunglasses with UV protection,
     so he wouldn’t get blinded by the glare of the sun off the snow. To top it all off, his mom had reminded him to sunscreen
     his nose. “You can get a bad sunburn out there in the snow,” she’d said.
    “Mad cool board,” Robbie said, smiling wide and showing his braces. “I told your dad to pick out the coolest-looking board
     in the store, and he did. Gizmo, huh? Awesome!”
    “I notice your parents were smart enough to get the straps mounted goofy style,” Tasha said.
    Dennis nodded. His parents knew from the way he skateboarded that Dennis rode right foot forward,and they had taken care to have his snowboard mounted properly.
    “Goofy, that’s me,” he said happily, and Robbie giggled again.
    “Here we are!” Robbie’s mom called out, pulling the car over to the side of the road. “Everybody out. I’ll be back at four
     o’clock, okay? It gets dark early this time of year, and I don’t want you snowboarding when you can’t see where you’re going.”
    “Bye, Mom!” Robbie shouted as he leapt from the minivan, snowboard in hand. “See ya later!”
    “Bye, Mrs. McIntyre,” Tasha and Dennis waved as the van pulled away.
    Dennis turned and surveyed the scene. There were maybe half a dozen snowboarders scattered over the Breakers.
    Dennis smiled. Good. He could embarrass himself privately here, and concentrate on learning the basics.

7
    O kay,” Dennis said, turning to Tasha and Robbie. “Where do we start?”
    “Right here,” Tasha replied. They were standing in a gently sloping area between two bigger hills. “First you’ve got to practice
     falling.”
    “Gotcha.” Dennis understood. He knew from his skateboarding experience that learning to fall without hurting yourself is the
     most important basic of any boarding sport. At least falling in snow wouldn’t be as painful as falling on concrete.
    “All snowboarders fall,” Robbie said. “Even the pros. You can’t learn new tricks or break speed records without biffing.”
    “Biffing?”
    “You know, falling,” Robbie explained.
    “Oh. Okay,” Dennis said. “So what do I do now?”
    “Just strap your front foot in,” Tasha said. “That way, you can use your back foot to push yourself around. Now stand with
     the board sideways across the hill. Otherwise, gravity will pull you right down the fall line — that’s the most direct route
     down the hill.”
    “Oh,” Dennis said. “Yeah, I sure don’t want to get pulled down the fall line. It even
sounds
dangerous.” He maneuvered himself sideways on the gently sloping hill. “There. Now what?”
    “Okay, bend your knees and waist, like you’re skateboarding,” Tasha instructed him. “Turn your head to look ahead of yourself
     — over your shoulder, that’s it. Now lift up your arms, and without using your hands, fall!”
    Dennis did — over and over again, to Robbie’s hysterical delight. Time after time, he came up with his face covered with snow.
     Pretty soon, they were all laughing.
    “Now try it backward,” Tasha said, and more merriment followed.
    Next it was time to try sideslipping, sliding to a stop with the board sideways across the hill. Dennis mastered this quickly
     because it was so muchlike skateboarding. And he already knew how to turn. Still, it was cool how different