Trundling along at 80 kilometres per hour is a yawn if you're seated in the comfortable confines of your car, with a seat belt across your chest, and doors and bodywork shielding you from the elements and other road users. But what if the only thing that separates you from the tarmac is a plank of wood on four polyurethane wheels?
Welcome to the world of downhill longboarding, an underground sport that has gathered momentum in the UAE (quite literally) at a huge rate of knots over the past year. The Dubai Longboarding Community was established in December 2013, and now has more than 50 active members. And you’d be mistaken for thinking it’s purely a man’s sport, as the club has about 10 female members within its ranks.
As the name suggests, longboarding is a derivative of skateboarding, with the extra-long boards measuring more than a metre in length to promote greater high-speed stability. They’re also wider than conventional skateboards, and the trucks (axles) on which the wheels are mounted are modified to provide greater control at warp speeds.
Although longboarding was born in the United States in the 1970s, it didn’t begin to achieve widespread popularity until the 1990s, when the California-based skateboard manufacturer Sector 9 started mass-producing longboards.
Longboards can be used for street cruising and freeriding (performing tricks), but the most spectacular discipline is downhill longboarding, which can enable expert riders to achieve speeds in excess of 130kph, given the right terrain. The beauty of it is that this is purely the work of gravity. There’s no motor, brakes or any other mechanical aids. It’s pure simplicity and pure adrenaline.
It sounds epic, and it is, especially when you see it with your own eyes. The National tagged along with a group from the DLC to Jebel Jais in Ras Al Khaimah. Witnessing a skilled longboarder attacking a steep descent is a truly eye-opening sight.
The technique vaguely resembles downhill skiing, with riders assuming a tuck position to minimise wind drag and generate maximum velocity. Believe it or not, there are as many as five different tuck positions – referred to as American, Euro, Hybrid, Brazilian and classic – with each of these involving slightly different positioning of the knees, calves and feet to create the smallest frontal profile.
Fast, sweeping turns are dealt with by leaning in the direction of the corner, but tighter bends require the rider to get down extra low and use their hands (the riders wear gloves, obviously) to scrape across the tarmac and help turn the board quickly in the desired direction.
One of the tricks used by expert downhillers is a “train”, whereby a group of longboarders ride in single file, with the front rider drafting (absorbing wind resistance) for the following riders. The following riders in turn use their hands to push the man (or woman) in front, thereby increasing the overall speed of the entire group. However, this is an extremely advanced technique as the riders are travelling at high speed very close to each other.
Dan Christian Toledo, one of the founding members of the DLC, explains what attracted him to longboarding: “What made me love this sport? Adrenaline – it makes me feel alive. I’m a surfer at heart, but when I moved into the city, going to catch early breaks is a bit of a problem with time, money and transportation. Four years ago, I heard about the growing sport of longboarding, and since the technique is similar to how a surf longboard is ridden, I thought it would ease my surf withdrawal symptoms, and it was also a fun way to cruise around the city.
“Little did I know at the start that there is a lot of discipline in longboarding and that downhill longboarding has such a widespread reach, with race events happening all around the world.”
DLC members range in backgrounds and skill levels, and Toledo says the club is open to anyone interested in taking up the sport. “The main goal of founding DLC was to be a community open to anyone who has an interest in longboarding – more importantly to promote safety and teach the basics.”
He says the tenets of the club are to show respect for road rules and skate venues, and to encourage members to skate within their limits. There’s a spirit of sharing knowledge among club members, with the more experienced longboarders helping novices to enhance their skill.
The club regularly meets at Dubai’s Mushrif Park, where there is a closed bike lane that Toledo says is perfect for beginners. For more intense action, the club heads to the mountains in Ras Al Khaimah or Al Ain, providing the expert members with the opportunity to spike their adrenaline levels and work on their advanced skills.
There’s a mind-boggling array of longboarding equipment and accessories on the market, and what you end up buying will depend on the particular discipline you’re interested in, as well as your budget and level of seriousness.
The most basic essentials of a complete set-up is the longboard deck, trucks (axles), bushings and wheels. Toledo says a starter set-up will cost you a little over Dh1,000, but he also says the club encourages new members to invest in safety equipment, such as a helmet, knee and elbow pads and slide gloves. All this adds another Dh400 or so to the cost, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, he says.
The expenditure goes up exponentially for advanced riders who require precise, high-quality equipment and more comprehensive safety gear for high-speed downhill longboarding. Toledo says precision trucks, a full-face helmet and leather suit can set you back more than Dh4,000, so it’s not a cheap sport if you really want to get serious.
The boards themselves are generally fabricated from wood, with the three most common timbers being maple, Baltic birch and bamboo. Maple is the most durable of these, and is the favoured variety for high-end boards. However, wood isn’t the only material used, as some boards are made from carbon fibre with a foam or balsa core, while others are aluminium.
Given the extreme nature of downhill longboarding, it’s reasonable to expect that every hardcore exponent of the sport would have their war stories to share, and Toledo is no exception. “I had a few close calls back in the Philippines that involved both pedestrians and cars.
“Once, while practising on the open road for an upcoming race, a kid was standing in the middle of the road while my team and I were going downhill at 50kph. We all saw him and others decided to immediately brake so they didn’t crash into the kid. But stupid me decided to push ahead and in a split second the kid ran towards my lane.
“Fortunately, I made a quick decision to veer away and crash on the side of the road. I did a few ninja rolls and quickly got back up on my feet, but felt pain all over because of the huge number of bruises I suffered. The worst pain was because of a sharp stone that had punctured my cheap knee pads all the way to the side of my knee. It could have been much worse. It cost me a few stitches in the knee as a price to pay for my stupidity. Lesson learnt the hard way.”
Given that high-speed downhill longboarding is generally practised on public roads, there’s always the possibility of encountering a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, but Toledo says this is something he and his fellow riders keep in the back of their minds.
“I can’t say this sport is not dangerous, especially downhill longboarding – any kind of extreme sport has risks involved. The more you want to progress, the more risks you are taking. On open-road skating, we have a strict rule called ‘stick to your lane’, which means going downhill only in the proper lane, because even safety gear will not save you if you are on the wrong side of the road and there’s a truck coming the other way.”
Most important, according to Toledo, is to skate within your limits. “If you’re not confident enough with your skills, please don’t try.”
As mentioned earlier, the boards don’t have any brakes, so one way of stopping or slowing down is “foot braking”, which basically involves dragging one foot along the ground to scrub off speed.
Another method of controlling speed – without actually coming to a stop – on steep descents is referred to as “carving”, whereby the rider descends the slope in a continuous “S” path by leaning left and right. The greater the frequency of the weaving, the more the speed is kept down.
A more advanced technique that’s used to come to a quick halt is a “shutdown slide”, which requires the rider to get the board sliding sideways and use their hands to generate added friction against the tarmac. When performing hands-down slides, protective slide gloves must be worn. They’re usually leather gloves with “sliding pucks” made of hard, low-friction plastics such as ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, Corian or Delrin. You can buy these off the shelf, or fabricate your own by affixing the pucks with Velcro or glue.
There’s something inherently breathtaking about sports that involve high-speed movement with the minimum of mechanical aids – be it skydiving, downhill skiing or extreme mountain biking. But for sheer knock-the-wind-out-of-your-lungs drama, nothing comes close to watching a group of expert downhill longboarders whipping down a mountain at 80kph with no brakes or safety nets.
Of course, you can still enjoy participating in the sport without clocking up huge speeds. It’s never too late to get started either.
weekend@thenational.ae
