Results for longboarding

Wow, it’s really cooled off in the deserts of AZ.  Finally getting out to ride again.  Took a little trip to Oregon finally.  The Lincoln City skate park is amazing.  And saw plenty of skaters just riding around Portland.  They build what they call “rain boards,”  just big soft wheels on smaller decks, for cruising the city even when it’s wet out.  Hopefully pictures and new adventures soon.

Okay guys, if ever there is someone we’d all like to meet, it’s got to be Laura Hatwell of Happy Skater.
She was nice enough to answer a few questions about her life, skating, and her projects for us via email.  Check out her site, contribute to it, and keep an eye out for whatever she does next!  Thank you Laura!

Well, somehow I’ve managed to live within spitting distance of this area for years and have only recently discovered it.  Perfect asphalt, hardly any traffic, wide roads with easy bailout curbs, variety of hills/flat areas, and even friendly people who seem to be cool with a couple chicks on longboards out for a ride.  One gentleman even went so far as to tell me about a great road nearby that he thought would be fun because it was long and windy.  He literally offered up the info without us even asking.  Incredible!  Anyway, this is my buddy Sarah, snowboarder girl I’m excited to say has the skating bug now too.  Yay!  The crew grows!

….because I’m looking forward to skating some more! Ladies, what are your skating goals for 2009? Here are mine:

1) Skate at least once a week. Work, commuting, and other life stuff have been getting in the way of my skating, especially the last several months. So, I hope to skate at least once a week for a couple of hours at my local skatepark, around the neighborhood, or anyplace that looks like its worth skating.

2) Learn to shred a bowl. Hmm…..I can ride fakie and my pumping is getting better but riding a bowl is my goal. I suppose the next step would be to learn how to carve in a bowl.

3) Longboard. Before I do this, I need to buy a longboard! Marye wrote a great post about longboarding equipment and I plan on using it as my purchasing guide. I found a parkway by where I live, and I think it’ll be a great place to do some longboarding. It has a nice, low decline, a couple of small hills, and very little traffic. The parkway is scenic so I think it’ll be a chill ride.

Happy New Year everyone!

I finally got a Tahoe Fusion 44, which I’ve been wanting for about three years!  The shape is amazing, and with such a long and steep tail, it is really easy to kick turn when necessary.  I took it out to the “wave road” today to try it out some more.  All I can say is I can’t wait for it to cool down around here.  I had a few rides, but it was so hot still.  I managed a few pictures!

I’ve been craving some longboarding lately , and I know some of you have been talking about it a bit.  So here’s some basic info to get you started, and some resources for more info.

Longboards are essentially 34 inches or longer, about 8.5 inches wide or more  (seems to be around 9 or 10 inches wide usually), and have a longer wheelbase due to their length. They can be flat, concave, cambered, a kicktail or two, or some combination of these things.  I personally like having a kicktail because I can maneuver more quickly if needed.

Trucks are wider for a longboard because of deck width.  Randal makes some excellent trucks and is one of the big names in longboards.  I also have some Tracker trucks that I like.  You’ll need risers because of wheel size.  Angled risers help the trucks turn a little tighter, although you likely don’t need them with Randals because of their design.

Wheels–get them big and soft.  Like around 65mm-70mm  (although they make them bigger), and around 80a or 78a.  Softness is measured in durometers, the smaller the number, the softer the wheel.  The softness lets you ride over all kinds of terrain with relative ease.  The bigger wheel means it covers more distance with each revolution.  Combined, these two things mean you can glide along happily, for longer distances, with less pushing.  Just give it a good push, get both your feet on, and experiment with how shifting your weight, leaning, and foot position help you control the board.  Some wheel companies are Kryptonics, ABEC 11, and also the wheels from Sector 9 or Gravity.  There are many many more.  But you can’t beat at basic 70mm Krypto.  Also, remember that you’re going to gain speed really quickly.  The weight of the board, the way it will just keep rolling, it doesn’t take much of an incline to suddenly be racing along very quickly, more quickly that you might expect.  So get used to carving to trim speed, learn how to stop (there are a variety of ways, don’t go faster than you can run, especially in the beginning).

The appeal of longboarding for me has been about several things.   First, I find that when I’m teaching someone to skate, they get immediate joy out of a longboard. If we’re on a flat empty street or parking lot or playground, and they can get their foot placement and balance right, then one or two pushes and they get that immediate fun of gliding along across the concrete. They’re not as likely to get stopped by little pebbles, they don’t have to put their foot down as much to push, and there’s maybe a little more room for error as they correct their balance here and there on such a long and wide deck.

Cruising is also part of the appeal. It’s just very zen to just go out for a ride, not try any tricks or to really learn something, and just sort of surf around.  It’s a perfect combination of relaxation and excitement.  If you feel like it, you can see how much of a hill you can handle, how tight you can make your turns, but really, you’re just out for a ride. It’s a way to really enjoy some of the urban/street skating elements inbetween actually learning to street skate. So you can’t bust a huge ollie off a ledge yet or grind some handrail? You can still cruise around the environment and take in the sights and the city or whatever it happens to be from the perspective of a skater, albeit a different type of skating. Cruising is a blast in its own right.

Carving is the other thing I love. Figuring out how tight or lose to make each carving turn relative to the speed and steepness of a hill, getting into a rhythm, finding a long mellow hill that goes for a while but never gets out of hand with its steepness. This is so relaxing and fun. A wider street makes it even more so.

Even as I progress in other types of skating (street, transition), I will always keep longboarding in my life. It is its own enjoyment, its own thing, and will never fail to put a smile on my face.

I recommend calling around your local skate shops and finding out what types and how many longboards they carry. Go in and look at them, feel them, squeeze the wheels, stand on a few. See the different shapes. Buy one locally if it makes sense for you to do so.

You can also buy them online, especially if you’ve handled a few and know what you’re looking at. You can by from Sector 9 or Gravity, they make some of the more popular, widely used longboards out there. Landyachtz is also widely known and sells direct from their own site.  Also take a look at Soulboards.  It’s an online site with good prices, a variety of boards, and quality components  (Randal trucks, Krypto wheels).  It’s possible to find some older graphics, from a year or so ago from them as well.  Soulboards offer their own decks too.  I had a 40 inch deck, Randal Trucks, Krypto wheels, a kicktail.  It was great, basic, and high quality.  I recently let a friend have it for an indefinite amount of time because it’s such a perfect board to get used to skating on.

For an excellent list of longboard related companies and resources, check out the longboard directory. There are tons of companies, big and small, making all kinds of cool stuff. But the basics will bring you a lot of fun. Something around 40-44 inches long, some 70mm wheels, some Randal trucks, you’re going to have a blast on something like that.

Be sure to check out Silverfishlongboarding.com and the longboarding 101 section of the site.

And most of all, have fun!

I remember having the thought, “Gee - I should post on the OMA forum and ask if there is anyone in my area who’d like to skate with me.” Several days later after posting my “Random Thoughts” post, Marye provided a wealth of wonderful suggestions, which included posting on OMA to find someone to skate with. So, with Marye’s prompt, I posted on OMA. Sure enough, someone responded. (yay!) Patti, a Skateboard Mom, invited me to skate with her and Karen, another Skateboard Mom, on Sunday.

My Sunday adventure with Patti and Karen was absolutely a fun and wonderful learning experience. It was my first outing with fellow skaters so I was quite nervous about it. I had all these thoughts doubting my skating level and abilities. The fear of the uncertain and unknown crept up inside of me. I think we all struggle with these things at different points in our lives; it’s just funny how they sometimes grab a hold of you.

I didn’t have the right gear to skate the streets and sidewalks of Capitol Hill. Lucky for me, the Skateboard Moms were prepared; they both brought an extra longboard. I never skated a longboard so I was surprised how smooth the ride was over the brick and cracked sidewalks. I didn’t think I’d be a fan of the longboards but, after riding one, I am now officially a fan!

After meeting Patti and Karen, most of my doubts and fears dissipated. I was still uncertain about a few things but, in all, it didn’t matter because of the awesome company I was in. Patti and Karen gave me lots of pointers and suggestions about my skating. (It’s great having others observe your skating and provide you with feedback — don’t you agree?) They motivated and encouraged me, answered my skating questions, and taught me a few things.

We skated the streets and sidewalks of D.C. and ended up at a small DIY skatepark under a bridge. Patti encouraged me to ride up the ramp and ride fakie. She told me to stay perpendicular to the board as I rode up/down the ramp. With little steps, I started to ride up the ramp and hold my balance as I rode back down. It was such a weird and incredible experience balancing yourself while you’re moving backwards. I rode fakie!

As I rode the Metro home that Sunday afternoon, I felt excited and motivated to implement the things that the Skateboard Moms suggested. I made a mental note of the things I’d like to work on. Looking back, I’m glad I went skating with Patti and Karen because it was a great experience. Y’know, if there’s one key thing I’ve learned through this process of learning to skateboard, it is that a skating support community (whether online or face-to-face) is a must! No doubt.

Hey everyone–Just wondering how many of you longboard too? I haven’t been doing nearly enough of it lately because I’ve been so focused on learning to ride transition. But it was longboarding that got me back into skating, and made me take it more seriously. If any of you haven’t tried it, I really recommend it. The smooth long ride, the carving, the ability to go over all kinds of cracks, rocks, messed up terrain, challenging yourself on better hills (know your limits!), the way one push will send you gliding for seemingly forever!

Anyway, these are a couple pics from the old version of the site because I haven’t yet imported the old posts, haven’t decided if I will.  Just thinking about longboarding and how it’s such immediate fun, relaxed.  I would put this post on my own blog, but it’s really a question to everyone, in a general sense.