Take off that brake!

So you just got your new pair of rollerblades. Do you see that rubber block on the back of your right skate? Take it it off! What's that? You've been rollerblading for a while, and still have the brake? Take it off!

That cumbersome rubber block is there for a reason: it makes it very easy to stop on a dime. And it's very easy to learn for beginners. But as you progress through your technique, you'll discover that you can do much more without the brake. It's cramping your style, and here's how:

• Crossovers. Once you're confident in your turning ability, you'll want to try the next step: accelerating while turning. The most efficient way to do this is by mastering crossovers, where both your skates are gliding in the direction opposite to the turn, and you have to cross one skate over the other to keep them from running into each other. This is where the brake can hurt you, physically. It's easy to clip the front wheel of your left skate with the brake, and if you do, you're in for a world of hurt. Sure, you can learn to bring your right skate a bit further in front, but it won't look as stylish, and it won't be as efficient.
• Jumping off curbs. In urban skating, jumping onto and off curbs is a required skill. In fact, you don't actually have to jump off; you can just roll off. It's very easy to do, as long as you keep your balance and don't panic. That is, unless you have that brake attached, which you will surely clip if you try to roll off a curb.
• Developing your maneuverability, due to the fact that you're constantly turning. Turning on a dime will become your new best friend, and stopping entirely will become irrelevant. And it's the maneuvering that makes urban rollerblading fun!
• Not falling on your back if you try to brake with the wrong skate. This isn't a problem for most, but it's a problem for beginners. Taking off the brake pad right away teaches you to never lean back while rollerblading.
• Wheelies. This is a cool trick where you roll on the back wheel of one skate and the front wheel of the other. It's not highly useful, but it will surely impress friends and strangers alike. And do you know what's even more impressive? Being able to do it with either foot forward. And it's only possible without the brake.
• Backward crossovers. Have you ever seen anyone skating backwards, making pattern with their skates that resembles a DNA double-helix? Have you also noticed that they don't have brakes? Yup.

Hopefully, by now I've convinced you to rid of the rubber brake pad. Don't go crazy just yet! It's time to learn a few things:

• Always scope out the space in front of you. You should have a good idea how long and how wide it is, and be able to figure out how fast you can brake in a straight line, and how sharp of a turn you can make. If it seems like you won't be able to do either, slow down.
• Master the T-stop. That's when one of your skates is rolling forward, while the other is dragging behind, perpendicularly. It won't stop you on a dime, and it will take you a while to get your balance right, so that your braking skate doesn't roll away from you. But this will become your primary way to slow down, and slowing down is now much more important than coming to a complete stop.
• Slow down or stop by changing directions. Unless you're rolling down a hill, you're always braking. If you make a bunch of turns instead of going in a straight line, you'll lose quite a bit of speed in the process. By making sharper turns, you can make more turns, and lose more speed. If you're rolling down a hill, you can make a turn sharp enough to get you facing backwards, and then just roll to a stop going uphill! Start practicing at low speeds until you gain confidence. As you make sharper turns, at higher speeds, you'll notice that you start sliding sideways a bit. This is your golden ticket to mastering a "hockey stop", which I will talk about later.
• Lunge stops are arguably the best combination of a safe stop and a quick stop. But it takes a lot of skill to master it. The idea is to make a 180º turn with one skate, which will wind up rolling backwards, and a 90º turn with the other, which will slide in front and brake. Think of it as a T-stop in reverse. It's quicker than a T-stop, because you can put more weight on the braking skate. And it's still pretty safe, because if you clip something with your braking skate, you can shift your weight to the rolling skate and stay on your feet.
• The spinning turn is basically two connected lunge stops. You start with sliding one skate and flipping the other, but this time let the sliding skate roll a little, spinning you around, and winding up as the rolling skate itself. Your other skate will start sliding forward and complete your stop. I find myself using this type of stop most often at low speeds. It's reliable, and it gives me a nice 360º view of my surroundings in the process. But it does confuse the hell out of whoever's behind me.
• Hockey stop – the ultimately coolest and coolestly ultimate way to stop. Once you're able to turn on a dime, hockey stops are just around the corner. Here's a hint: keep your skates somewhat parallel, instead of in a single line, while turning. Get more slide and less turn by putting your front sliding skate further out, angling it more towards the ground. Make sure you have soft wheels if you're doing this on asphalt or concrete, and be warned: if you clip a rock or a crevice, there's a good chance you'll flip sideways over your head. 

So now you know how to rollerblade without a brake pad, and you have a pretty good idea why you should. Yes, there are reasons not to take it off. The pad is cheaper to replace than the wheels, and you'll be wearing out your wheels a lot quicker without it. And sure, the brake lets you stop very quickly while going in a straight line. But it takes a lot of fun, and a lot of style out of rollerblading.