Trucks, Wheels, & Decks

Pete Yee

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Tracking down longboarder Mike Sanders at the downhill slalom course on the edge of Louise McKinney Park an hour earlier was a relief. He hadn’t been answering his cell phone, but that wasn’t odd — no one could be expected to casually answer a call while flying uphill and downhill through the concrete surf pipe of the River Valley faster than a horse can run.

Sanders, co-owner of Edmonton longboard store Local 124, was accompanied by Nick and Kevin Breton, members of 124’s street team and frequent riding companions. The brothers are U of A students in Science and Engineering, respectively, and they haven’t had to come far from campus to reach our destination: a winding bike path beginning on the edge of Saskatchewan Drive and 97 Street, ending at the
bottom of the River Valley behind the Equine Centre.

“It can be used for basic travel, but what we do is racing. That sort of scene is all gravity–based,” Sanders says. “You’re trying to go fast and down something. You’re not going off stairs and doing rails or tricks. The tricks are a little more style-oriented — surf, snowboard, that sort of thing. Speed is a huge part. We can go pretty damn fast on these things. Nick here’s broken 100 [km/h] a couple of times. I’ve broken 90. Kevin’s hit 95. That would be on a race hill or on a course.”

Longboarding has been picking up speed, too, Sanders admits. The annual downhill race sponsored in part by his store has grown by leaps and bounds each year. This past August saw the third year of the competition with over 140 participants, up two-thirds from the previous year, and from around only 60 in the inaugural race.

“It’s really taking off with the general populace as far as a way to cruise around like a bicycle. It’s easy to store, you don’t have to lock it up, it’s really fun, it looks good,” he adds.

But the three haven’t come here just to look good. We arrive at an eye-catching patch of light through the trees of the River Valley, but the others have stopped for another reason: we’ve reached a giant, hard-cut S-shape in the trail. Pulling in two sharp, sequential 180-degree turns to drop elevation, the road forms curves that a Ferrari’s wheel-base wouldn’t even fit on.

The origin of skateboarding is from surfing, explained Sanders. Aside from the stylistic differences between long- and short–boarding, there are also physical ones. The longer wheel base of the board and bigger wheels allow riders to pass easily over rough terrain, and the inability to jump or “ollie,” as one would on a short board, leads to a slaloming, carving style.

The great speeds are also a result of this design difference, and are what make the River Valley as valuable real estate to them as to any Edmontonian with a passion for leisure and exercise.

The three begin rolling down the hill steadily, building speed, and cut sharply into the corner. They bring their bodies back into tight, low form and place their padded hands on the ground to lean into the turn. Coming around the corner, though, their speed is too great, and the brothers, jockeying for position, crash into one another and come to a sliding stop across the asphalt and into the foliage. Surprisingly, the two quickly spring up, laughing.

“I’ve fallen at 80 before and gotten up and been fine. We wear anything from this kind of padding to full leather outfits — motorcycle leather,” Nick says, pointing to his fully padded arms and legs. “Knowing how to fall can allow you to fall at ridiculous speeds and get up and get back on.”

But the combination of speed and hairpin turns still makes the sport undeniably dangerous to those that choose to pursue it to the lengths of 124’s team. Nick lifts his chin to show a still-red swatch.
“And that’s just the bit you could see,” Sanders chuckles.

“There was a ditch with a hard edge at the bottom. I hit that and my hand buckled. It took about a month to heal. My thumb ended up getting broken and I had to get it pinned. It’s not really a typical longboard fall — more bad luck than anything. Without my gear, I would be a corpse.”

“If people refuse to wear the padding, which a lot of people still do, they usually refuse to wear it until their first wipe out,” Sanders adds.

“Or until their first shower after getting road rash,” Kevin finishes.

Not to let their only run of the day be a fall, they begin ascending the hill again.

“It’s not like we do this without brakes,” Nick says. “We have brakes with the wheels themselves.” He pushes off on his board and then gets low, palming the pavement and sliding his wheels sideways like a snowboard, coming to a stop in a second.

“The easiest way is to brake with your foot, but that’s hard on the shoe budget,” Sanders added, sliding his foot against the concrete to bring himself to a stop.

Between an increase in the sports profile around the city and in the amount of safety-conscious riders, one might assume that the sport has achieved a certain level of legitimacy not enjoyed by standard skateboarders until decades after the popularization of their sport.

Still, like its short-board predecessor, longboarding has maintained a certain outlaw aspect in the public eye that even a fully padded, smiling, and respectably adult–looking Sanders admits to encountering. Although, even he confesses to taking the occasional run off the marked trail on a careless morning.

“Skateboarding of all types has always been a little bit underground. That’s the way it should be, and most attempts to bring it out of that have failed. Skaters will always find a way to do it and a way we want to do it,” he says, while adding that mutual respect among riders of all kinds was the obvious way for everyone to stay satisfied.

“We don’t need longboarders being jerks to bikers and joggers on the trails. Edmonton, apart from its River Valley, is a very flat place. All you have to do is stay to the right, wear a helmet, share the trail. And if someone cuts you off, be nice, let it slide.”