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| Sidewalk Surfing (537 Posts)
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skaters who surf, surfers who skate
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On 2/10/2003 G. Mark
wrote in from
(199.46.nnn.nnn)
It's funny how these things work out sometimes. I live in Dallas, TX, which is five hours from the nearest beach and (small) waves. I started skateboarding because my older brothers were into it in the mid-1960's. When they got old enough to start driving cars, I got their boards. Skateboarding then was a by-product of the surf-culture boom, so it was all about "surf style", and that's how I learned it.
I always loved to watch surfing when it came on Wide World Of Sports, and I loved the music of the Beach Boys (didn't know any other 'surf music' at the time), so even as a kid growing up in Texas I was into this stuff. I'm not really sure why, but it appealed to me.
So then, after I'm older, I start thinking to myself: why don't you get a surfboard and start going to the beach a few times a year? Why don't you - after years of skating 'surf style' - actually learn to surf and start doing it? Well, I did, and it's one of the best feelings in the world. Being in the ocean, tasting the salty water, feeling the power of the waves (even little ones), and the triumphant feel of standing and gliding down the line on a huge longboard, trimming for speed. It's second only to making love in my book. It's also more of a workout than you would ever imagine, but a thoroughly enjoyable one.
I'd much rather surf than skate, and I think I felt that way before I ever tried surfing, but, you make the most of whatever environment you're in. 'Surf style' rules, because surfing rules. The Z-Boys knew it, and they were right.
-Mark Colden
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Sidewalk Surfers Who Have Never Surfed
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On 2/7/2003 lbk
wrote in from
(64.157.nnn.nnn)
I don't think you have to know how to surf to be a "Sidewalk Surfer". Some of the most stylish skateboarders I know are not surfers. It is all in the ability to flow while skateboarding.
Guess I'm just lucky to be a surfer. Everytime I ride a skateboard, I have it in the back of the mind that I'm surfing my skateboard. Same thing if not more so with snowboarding.
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surfing vs skating
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On 2/7/2003 erik
wrote in from
(68.99.nnn.nnn)
Brian I totally agre with you. I started surfing late in life, mid 20's but I was hooked the first wave that I caught and slid down the face, even though I didnt stand up. After that day all I could think about and do was surf, until I moved away from the ocean to go to school. So I started longboarding, and I have found something that comes as close to surfing as you can find on dry land. Like you say, when you are close to the ocean you will surf, if it is good, otherwise you can longboard....carve it up.
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surfing?
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On 2/7/2003 brian
wrote in from
(67.250.nnn.nnn)
i admit that i wouldn't skate nearly as much if i lived close to waves: my skating is in large part a vicarious exercise. however i've noticed lately that my appreciation for skating, to a growing degree, transcends the similarity of the skate/surf phyisical sensations. big downhill fronside slides have nothing much to do with surfing. the feeling of pulling a pendulum is not analagous to a particular surfing maneuver as carving or pumping might be. the irony is that good sessions or good rides, surfing or skating, all 'feel' basically the same. the individual movements feel more or less different from one wave to another or from surfing to skating but the overall outcome does not change (different means, same end). that is to say that the 'skating high' and 'surfing high' are essentially identical, at least in kind, if not in degree and the variation of the degree of the 'high' has perhaps more to do with the particulars of the situation or maneuver than it does with a distinction between disciplines except in as much as an individual skater/surfer is turned off by the distinction itself as a sign. that said, i s'pose i'll surf if the waves are good and close and skate otherwise.
brian
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surfing?
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On 2/7/2003 crowley
wrote in from
(209.129.nnn.nnn)
sidewalk surfing rules, but do most people who do this actually surf or they just wishing, or maybe can't even really skate at all?
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Newby
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On 2/6/2003
Speedy
wrote in from
(63.205.nnn.nnn)
Hey,
I highly recomend the Lush Longboards Kisiwa, if you're in Britain (And into the long(surf)board thing).
-Speedy
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On 2/6/2003
Aaron
wrote in from
(12.227.nnn.nnn)
Hi all i'm a newbe when it comes to longboards and i'm looking for a good first time board that i could cruse, carve and do the old surf skate tricks like walking the nose and berts. I would appreciate any input thanks
Email: aberentson@hotmail.com
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Weave
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On 2/5/2003
JO
wrote in from
(198.81.nnn.nnn)
I saw Weaver skate at the origonal Carlsbad park when I was a kid and he was by far the most stylish skater I've ever seen. Total surf cool and skill, way better then many skaters who gained later recognition. Weaver is one of the most underrated skate icons of all time. Check out his boardwalking in Downhill Motion.
JO
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cruising when I should be working
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On 2/4/2003 Goose
wrote in from
(161.76.nnn.nnn)
Hey, just been reading the posts chilling coz its too wet outside, 'sept for sliding an I dont feel like that today. I have 3 decks now, a 47" hypercarve for fun an flow, a lush legend 48 with randalls for the speed need in me and my pride and joy, finally, theres my homegrown board a 5 an a half footer of solid mahogony (sp?) which just got set up fpr riding.
I'm a happy man =) Its all come together and I havnt got a care in the world.... I even have a spare set of new bearings!!!
wish you all beautiful carving and freedom to let your soul fly.
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Snoball...Bozi...hills...
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On 2/2/2003
Chuck
wrote in from
(63.62.nnn.nnn)
But...but...snoball, you're in Florida....what hills? Where? Huh, huh, where? I wanna get a Mad Bomber one of these days....now if I could only find a hill...LOL.
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cement surfing a Bozi
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On 1/31/2003 snoball
wrote in from
(65.32.nnn.nnn)
Ah Geezer, you have a Bozi! Good story. Shweeeeeet board, no?
I get such stoke from riding mine just about anywhere...
sidewalks, garages, hills etc...
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flow
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On 1/24/2003
Geezer-X
wrote in from
(149.2.nnn.nnn)
I race slalom, but I love skateboarding. And skateboards. I really like the mood in this forum; it's a refreshing change from the acrimonious shouting one finds in other places on this board. While I enjoy dialing in a slalom board so it works perfectly on the days course, practicing my pump, my lines, my attack, my starts...I still love just skateboarding around my neighborhood. A plank, 2 trucks, 4 wheels, limitless possibilities. Flow.
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flow
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On 1/22/2003
eric
wrote in from
(209.240.nnn.nnn)
read the story 2 posts down, this is such a true post, while reading this post i was riding along with in my head, imagining carving with speed and feeling free and not thinking of anything else in life, what an awsome feeling it is, and to try to tell the wife you got a new deck without a grin on your face! excellent story
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flow
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On 1/21/2003 me
wrote in from
(24.126.nnn.nnn)
that is chin......................
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Flow.
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On 1/20/2003
Geezer-X
wrote in from
(149.2.nnn.nnn)
47" Bozi bentnose. Randal 180s, 74mm Flywheels, cutdown stimulator and soft blue conical bushings, PT ceramics. Bigass 5 level new parking garage with flawless clean concrete on Rockville pike in Rockville MD. 10pm, after dinner out w/ my wife. I drive to the top of the garage. "I'm gonna try my new board. Follow me down..." "you bought another skateboard?" "yeah but it's way cheaper than another Turner. Isn't it pretty?" "oh... (faking being annoyed)...ok..." I push off, and start carving S turns...it pumps really well. Building speed, I get lower and lower as I carve. I trace a long arcing turn from the far outside of one ramp to outside of the next, rear foot on it's side, my hand skimming the pavement, all Gregg Weaver, 1975. I S turn the final ramp, scrubbing speed off. Drag my foot to a stop. My wife pulls up. "Drive me back up, ok? I wanna go again" I repeat the first run, but alot faster, actually drifting some turns. It's completely awesome. It's maybe the first thing I reveisited from high school thats exactly as much fun as it was then, but better because of better hardware. At the bottom, I put the board in the back of my car. We drive down Rockville pike for a few blocks in silence. My wife finally says "That really looks like fun...it looks like you must feel like you're flying" "That's exactly what it feels like" I say "but with more flow" .
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god
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On 1/19/2003 me
wrote in from
(24.126.nnn.nnn)
nishi is the real animal chin.........do you know chin....???
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snow and skates
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On 1/13/2003
brian
wrote in from
(67.250.nnn.nnn)
good snow days with few or no people or just your bros can be fun, but it doesn't cost me anything to go skate; i like that. the other thing is i can't stand having my feet stuck in one spot on my board. but if i didn't live on a budget, or if i lived somewhere close to big hills and lots of snow and friends with snowshoes, i'd own a snowboard again. you can sure get in a lot of good turns in a day on the snow.
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Snowboarding is my winter Sidewalk Surfing
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On 1/13/2003 lbk
wrote in from
(165.247.nnn.nnn)
For those of us that have winters, try out snowboarding for that longboard skateboard surf feeling.
Check out www.freecarve.com and go to the "Freeriding" forum.
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Golf course pouching
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On 1/5/2003
Jason
wrote in from
(67.27.nnn.nnn)
I have found that hilly golf courses are great fun to ride. I have a golf course near my house and I have made a tradition of carving it every full moon. Its good to walk the cart paths first to scope out the best lines to ride.
Later on
Jason
Littletreelongboards@yahoo.com
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First Timer
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On 1/3/2003 cj
wrote in from
(198.78.nnn.nnn)
Thanks for all your tips.
I've been cruising up and down parking lots and sidewalks now for about a week. I love the longboard, at the end of a session my left knee isn't killing me like it was on the shortboard. I've gotten used to it being so soft and turny, and my feet have found a home all on their own.
There's a skate park just down the street from here and there're no kids in it at dawn when I'm on my way to work, so I'm going to try it out sometime next week.
cj
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foot placement
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On 1/1/2003
Speedy
wrote in from
(67.121.nnn.nnn)
cj,
Generally, I move my feet around depending on the kind of riding I do: squared, low and wide for hard turns, feet forward, straighter legs and narrower stance for cruising. As far as where you want to be, that's really a matter of taste, but think of this: if the weight's in the back, the back tends to slide out more, weight in the front and it slides less. This doesn't gennerally happen 'till you hit mach .4 or so, but still applies: the farther back your weight is, the harder you can turn it, but you lose grip.
I'm not sure how wide your board is, but you may want to try having the left foot a bit to the left of the center line, and the right a bit to the right. That way you can easily turn simply by shifting your weight back and forth from the hips. It's lethal at high speeds, but looks awsome and is really easy and fun (and quite safe) if you're going at a low to medium speed.
Enjoy your new board my friend, and welcome to the best addiction in the world!
-Speedy
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Learning to Longboard
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On 12/31/2002 lbk
wrote in from
(165.247.nnn.nnn)
cj,
Cruise that 40” Kryp Mod Pop on a mellow hill by making wide sweeping turns like you are weaving from one side of the road to the other side. Don’t worry about kickturning a longboard. Those soft wheels are made to glide over typical road surfaces. Ever wondered why new school kids carry their kickflip boards when traveling from one place to another. It is because those small hard wheels are made for ollieing the board at moderate to slow speeds and not for enjoying the ride on the street.
As far as foot placement, longboards allow you to move about on the board for more advanced riding. But normally I like to place my front foot closer to the front truck and use the same stance width as I do for a short board (about shoulder width apart). Your back foot ends up way up away from back truck. I then slant my feet more parallel toward the nose. My longboard stance is unlike the stance I ride a short board (on a short board, my feet are almost perpendicular to the board).
As far as your torso, on a longboard you end up squaring your shoulders up with the fall line of the hill. In other words, you are facing the bottom of the hill and are attacking the turns much like a slalom skateboarder does. Street skaters and park skaters for the most part have their body bladed while riding (shoulder are in line with their feet just like they were standing straight on the kickflip board).
Once you get comfortable carving back and forth down a mellow hill, you will start to figure out how to pump up some speed. Basically you use those turny trucks in sync with the soft sticky wheels to convert sideways forces when carving the board into forward motion aka speed.
When I longboard skateboard, I vision myself as I am on a wave driving down the line for speed. I then toss in stylish carves like I’m throwing some spray off the top of the wave or soul arching a bottom turn.
cj, to learn more, pick up some of the longboard skateboard videos by Gravity, Sector9, or even the Kryptonic “Monkey” video. Guys like Cabbage and Brad Edwards are my favorite longboard skateboarders to watch. And if you want to kickturn that new longboard of yours at your local banks or ditch, check out Bob Loftin’s page http://www.texaslongboarder.com. BTW, longboard skateboarding in a park is a whole different topic and requires much harder wheels.
Hope this helps out. You are going to be stoked once you get that longboard wired.
DR
39 yrs young
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longboards
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On 12/31/2002
erik
wrote in from
(68.99.nnn.nnn)
Hey cj, I am 30 just a little younger then you and I have been riding for only about 1 year. I picked it up pretty easy cause I surf, and I was looking for an alternative to surfing since I am landlocked right now. First of watch videos of how other people ride, to get an idea of where to put you feet and what not. I guess, also you have to decide what style of longboarding you like best. Check out carveboard.com they have a little 3 minute or so video of these guys carving down hills on carveboards, which is pretty cool. As for myself I ride a 46 inch gravity deck, and I usually stand toward to front of the board. I think my front foot is about 8 inches to a foot from the front of the board. As I am carving down a hill this lessens the weight on the back wheels, allowing for a more loose ride kind of like surfing. I also keep a pretty close stance. I guess my best advice is to just find a small hill or low grade road near you and mess around until it feels right.
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First timer
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On 12/31/2002 cj
wrote in from
(198.78.nnn.nnn)
I'm 33 years old, and I just learned to ride a skateboard a couple of months ago. Not knowing what to do I decided I would get an inexpensive board to learn on, and then when I figured out all about this skating thing I would decide on a proper board when I had the proper information to do so.
I got the cheapest short board I could find, and while I was picking it out I looked at the long Sector Nines hanging on the wall next to it. I thought maybe I should buy one of those, but I stuck to mine plan, spending thirty dollars instead of a hundred and thirty. I was a little embarassed when I had to ask the guy, "Which end is the front?"
I've been riding the short board for the last couple of months, and I'm still not very good at it, but I do enjoy it.
While I learned, I read everything I could get my hands on, and eventually decided to get a long board. It didn't occur to me that I had never stepped on one before, my decision was based purely on what I had read.
Based on Hugh R.'s review (and the fact that we weigh about the same) I decided on the Kryptonics Mod-Pop and I put that at the top of my xmas list.
Christmas came, I got the long board, and the mumps - I really wasn't expecting two big gifts, but I'm not one to complain. It was almost a week before I was feeling better, so my new board sat there in front of the TV teasing my feverish brain.
Yesterday I got to break the board out for the first time. I brought it to work, and afterwards I went across the street to the parking lot of an unoccupied building. The lot was pretty rough and I was a little unsure. I knew I would never skate my shortboard there, but I just wanted to try to stand on this thing a little bit.
Here are my impressions (remember I've only ever ridden a cheap shortboard):
First thing, it's soooooooooooooft. Compared to this, my shortboard is hard as a rock. I felt like I was standing on a beach ball, unfortunately, the softness took away a lot of the stability I was used to, I've got to learn to ride this thing all over again.
It turns on a freaking dime. The short board, of course, had narrow stiff trucks, I wasn't at all prepared for this loose, soft turning. I was turning circles less than ten feet in diameter without a problem. Of course this made it a little harder to balance on the center line, it being so turny and all. It's a little harder to do backside turns, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
Where the fruck do I put my feet? I realize the Mod-Pop is a small longboard, but there's like an acre of board here! When I got home I jumped on my shortboard and realized I hang the heel of my left foot off the back side, and the toe of my right foot off the front side. I can't do this on the Mod-Pop, for one thing it's so much wider, but another is that it's so turny I have to have my left foot on the center line when I kick, which means it's no where near the edge of this wide thing. On my shortboard, I put my left foot just behind and to the backside of the front truck when I kick, I still don't know where to put it on this board.
It's smooth, I kick it once, and even on this rough asphalt it seems to glide forever. Is that a longboard thing, or is it mainly because it doesn't have the cheapest bearnings and wheels money can buy?
The griptape is a little too grippy for my taste. I try to slide my feet into more confortable placement, and the board just grabs ahold of me. I'm hoping it'll wear down in time or I'll get used to it.
I would apreciate any input or advice you guys could give me as a newbie longboarder.
cj
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new on Texas Longboarder
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On 11/29/2002
Bob Loftin
wrote in from
(209.99.nnn.nnn)
I just put up a new trick tip for a board walking move -- a total sidewalk move. Very fun.
http://www.texaslongboarder.com
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