MOUNTAINBOARD STORY CONTEST

There were some great submissions from all around the world. From Tennessee to the UK to Africa and New Zealand and back to Oregon. BEWARE! These storys are un-edited.




COULDN'T ASK FOR BETTER

BY: Ryan Saunders - AK
 
“Watch out for that cactus,” Sean reminds me as I click into my bindings.
 
“Thanks,” I laugh as I remember the small cactus at the edge of the drop that would began my descent. The thought of getting snagged in the leg right as I drop onto the firebreak road below wouldn‘t make for a very good start, “I’ll do my best.”
 
I finish with my bindings and stand up straight facing the thin dirt trail ahead of me. The trail, after only a few feet turned slightly to the left and then shot straight for the edge of a small cliff about four to five feet high. Below the drop was the dusty firebreak road that carved itself into the hillside and wound downward for a good mile and a half.


 
“Hold up!” shouts Sean from below. Then, in a more quiet tone, “We got a biker coming.”
As much as I would love to see the look on the oncoming biker’s face as I drop over the edge right in front of him, I felt it best to approach the situation more responsibly. I dusted off the little patience I could find inside of me, mixed it with a hit of common courtesy and waited for the biker to pass. With the sport of mountainboarding being almost completely unknown in my little corner of Southern California, I do my best to prevent any negative collateral damage of the beautifully chaotic sport I’ve come to love.
 
“How’s it going?” I hear Sean say to the man as he slowly peddles up the hill.
 
“Good.” he replies as he starts to come into my view, “You plan on going down with that thing,” he says to Sean motioning to his board.
 
“That’s the plan,” Sean answers, politely stating the obvious.
 
“Huh.” The man says looking as if he couldn’t decided if he should be concerned or intrigued.
He noticed me soon after for the first time. Glancing at the board strapped to my feet, my helmet and pads strapped tight and then to the small cliff below. From his mouth he said nothing, but from his face he seemed to simply say, “Why.” There are some that just can’t grasp the concept of mountainboarding, they just can’t figure out what drives us, what inspires us, what could possibly make us decide that a good day is a day that starts with a cliff drop and a possible mouth full of dust.


 
As he passes clear of my landing a smile stretches across my face. I soak in my surroundings to calm my nerves and channel my excitement. The ocean stretches across the horizon reflecting the afternoon sun against its waters. The heat of the day ripples the air in the distance. A light smell of dirt from the dry dusty road below drifts slowly into my senses. It’s a good smell. Perhaps not on a normal day, but on a mountainboarding day it’s a thing of beauty.
It’s time. I hop my board ninety degrees so it faces forward down the trail. Gravity greets me with it’s invisible smile as I barrel down the path and over the thin roots of the surrounding bushes. I lean slightly to take the turn and now the drop is just ahead. The world slows down around me and seems to grow quiet. I stomp my back end into the dirt below and lean hard and quick to align myself with the cliffs edge. The firebreak road comes into focus below, I hop off the edge just short of the cactus. The drop is smooth, my balance feels right, the ground is coming fast. Sean appears to doubt my landing because he’s running to get out of the way. I land with a slight tweak but I recover somehow and the ride begins.
 
I blow out a breath of air that I was unintentionally holding and the adrenaline rush lessens slightly. Behind me I hear Sean yelling something in excitement but I can’t quite make out what he says. The sound of my wheels tearing across the dirt below and sliding over the occasional spots of gravel and rock are all I hear as I slash my way down the path.
 
Reaching a straight section I glace back to watch the huge dust trail raging behind me. From it explodes Sean as he hops over a deep rut in the road. His red bandana covering his face to keep him from eating more dust then he needs to. I face forward again and slash up the side of the dirt wall to my left, then back down onto the path (a little surf influence from the California Coasts). My cut back allows time for Sean to catch up some.
 
The road levels out some and allows for some slower more chill riding. I carve wide to allow Sean to take the lead. This is his favorite type of riding. He’s not so much into the high speed, dirt tossing carves, and adrenaline pumping recklessness. He’s more into the flow of the ride; relaxed, gentle carves that let you really feel the ride under your feet.
 
Sean begins a series of picture perfect carves. Left, right, left, right. He breaks free of the carving for a moment, just long enough to run his hand through the tall grass that lines the right side of the road. The slower riding allows time for the senses to pull in more details of the moment. The wind against my face feels more like a breeze now instead of the loud, violent thrashing it carried just moments before. The ocean, the sky, a hawk soaring overhead. The day seems peaceful and quiet.
 
As we round the corner I see the path ahead seem to drop. A steep section lies ahead of us ready to disrupt our almost dream-like state. Sean uses a few sharp carves to kill his speed a little as we near the edge. I can’t help but smile a little as the wind whistling through my helmet begins to get louder. The chill, while enjoyable, left me with slight energy build up and I was anxious to release it.
 
Tearing past Sean I gain speed with each rotation of my dirt hungry tires. Narrow carves keep my speed where I want it. My eyes dart from place to place as I try my best to take in any upcoming obstacles that might be waiting for me. Ahead, the road veers to the left against a nice embankment of dirt. I envision myself slashing it as I take the corner. It seems like a great idea and soon I‘m there.


 
Bad angle! Soft dirt! My front wheels plunge into the ground and stop suddenly. I fly up onto the embankment and roll for several feet before coming to a stop. My heart still pounding I find myself in a ball of dust that is slowly falling back to the ground. I sit up and do a quick check. My protective gear seems to have done its job and soon I’m back on my feet.
 
Sean slides to a stop next to the crash site. “Nice one,” he says, watching as I wipe the dirt from my eyes.
 
“Thanks,” I laugh.
 
Pulling a water bottle from my backpack, I attempt to rinse some of the dirt from my mouth. From the embankment I can see out over the ocean not far from us. A light breeze drifts by and in the distance I notice a sailboat on the water. “A nice day for to go sailing,” I think to myself as I watch the sun reflect off the wind filled sails. My thoughts wander for a moment.
 
Turning to Sean I notice he’s still on his board. His gaze fixed not on the beautiful scenery, but on the dirt path ahead. He’s ready to go, ready to mountainboard. My thoughts of sailing over the smooth surface of the water dissolve as I grab my board and strap back in. I feel a trickle of excitement flow through me as I hear the last click of my bindings. It’s then I realize that while the sailor on the water might be having the best time of his life, for me, I’m right where I want to be. Dirt in my mouth, a board under my feet, and a seemingly endless road twisting downward, couldn’t ask for a better day of mountainboarding.




BEST SUMMER EVER!

BY: JON "LONGBALL" SEVER - PA

"Whadup J asking me to write a story is like telling a fish to stay in the water.  I'm not in it to win nothin just wanted to drop a line, and a story of one crazy summer.  Some of the facts may be skewed. But damn was it fun.  Can any thing ever beat the area two summer?  That was sick as far as the accommodations comradery and general debauchery.  We tried to ride a bit between stops but it was mostly hittin the kicker.  The best real riding had to be that summer when Patrick stayed up in Vermont.  We rode all the ASC resorts, and loved it.  I remember being stuck in Manhattan for 18 hours riding the streets. I got to Curtis' rode more, drove back to VT.  There were other stops along the way t5hat I don't really remember.  I do remember Killington's 3 mile downhill, so cool.  We somehow got to Sunday river with that Keith dude, he was cool.  I remember getting first chair up one day, as I was starting down I saw a pack /group of all these red foxes, like twenty.  They ran along side me but got smoked.  I got 23 runs top to bottom that day.  NORBA dudes were there timing and cheering us on.  This reminded me of the time back home when I kicked up some deer, and saw the look of confusion in there eyes when they couldn't out run me.  Lucky for them my strap was in the car.  Any way after I juked the foxes I was ridin switch down the hill.  I ate s&@t, and blew up my elbow.  I thought there was blood all over me, and then I realized I was in a giant straw berry patch.  I writhed in pain as I ate as many berries as I could.  Upon further inspection of my surroundings I saw a snake curled up about 10 feet away.  So I blazed up and got the heck outta there.  When I got to the bottom everyone was relieved to se me seeing how I had been gone for a while.  Of course no one believed me but I had the bloody elbow to validate some of my tale.  The reason I cut my elbow was that on the way up I dropped an elbow pad, so put it on your front arm right, yeah unless your riding switch.  Sunday river capped off the epic run of resorts that one year, but the best was to come.  Vegas baby was the shit, I think the best summer however had to be when Me, Akoni, Leafe and Kody went on a nationwide Rampage, then came back to PA to do some wakeboarding.  I would give more details but this is a family show.  But I’d like to tell those fellas whadup as it’s been a minute.  I remember Kody seeing his first lightning bug, and New York with Mancuso was definitely to graphic for this story.  There is so much to pick from, driving from Denver to Salt Lake with paddycake, ridin outside their old factory with J and Sansone,  doing school tour, riding out front of that parade in cedar rapids.  All good times.  But the essence of mtnboarding in my opinion is being original, don't bite the dude in front of you come correct, and don't forget how good the boards ride downhill. They aren’t just for jumpin.  But for the generation of instant gratification they want it now.  Go get a shovel and rake, and be in the next newsletter.  As for Pa riding you got all your roads trails, etc.  But for the real deal look up Curtis Kelley after the apple season, and try to keep up with the locals, and remember we don’t need to ride everyday to be better then you, and if your not riding an MBS board don't embarrass Yourself."

MY NAME IS DEVIN GARLAND AND I AM A PRO MOUNTAINBOARDER

Devin Garland - CO

"This is my story of where people say I went crazy. To me it's when I found my Zen. I was born in Nebraska Moved to Colorado, right after I was born. At age 11 I would move to Texas and two years later that's where this story begins.

My love for board sports started at age 13 when my grandfather got me my first skateboard. From then on I didn't do anything but go skate with friends I was hooked on Skateboarding. At the time I lived in Fort Worth Texas. My friends where all races, from all extreme sports, miss lead youth and rejects from school and social life. We found strength in Unity on the street. Misfits to almost everyone around us but looked up to and cheered on by our own clique as we gave our best and over came our fears and doubts.

We would teach people new things, make them do tricks they said they "can't do" and watching them overcome and be happy, having fun pushing the limits of life but not being destructive. Coming from broken or dysfunctional houses, we had to learn a lot on our own. There was people even out to hurt us at times but we stood up to it together, and walked away with stronger bonds and fun memories that would help us through tougher times that where soon to come.

Riding made me feel like I could do anything I would think it and try my hardest and I could do it. It was a turnaround from all the other team `sports where I was singled out and picked on. No one was yelling at me for dropping a ball or leaving me out of the game. I was a part of something and it took away the stress in my life but I still faced many hard times in life. I felt like I was nothing any place I went, but when I skated none of that mattered for some reason I was able to get away and be with people I could call friends that were very close to me. Later a friend got a mountainboard we rode it for one day, goofing around and I wanted on from that day.

Around this time I was also going back to Colorado for the summer it see my grandfather and met a group, well call the Apartment Krew, so I had boarding buddies in both states. We go to skateparks and ride around town with nothing better to do but have fun and enjoy life. Some of the happiest days of my life where going with my parents and grandfather to go get new skateboards, my family didn't have a lot of money but they always were willing to help me get a new skateboard to keep me going, they made sacrifices just to do it so I wanted to work hard to pay them back for giving me all these fun times. There was times that I didn't get birthday presents and Christmas presents because I had broken my skateboards before thoes dates came, but it didn't matter as long as I could go and ride with friends and meet new ones that I still see today at skateparks.

Even though there were a lot of crazy thing happening with my life there was a way to get a way when tempers get to hot, the energy could come out in a different way and give us time to think so we didn't say or do stupid things, rather being humble and apologizing. I also gained mentors with friends' parents showing me that I am just being a kid and that I need to respect life no matter what.

Later at age 16 I moved back to Colorado and joined forces with the Apartment Krew these are some of my closest friends ever, I see them as brothers. We skated and as we got older it felt like it was us vs. the world. We were always trying harder every time teaching one another about life and strong convictions. I never knew where I wanted to go with this life and I still don't, but we had something to always work for and the possibilities were endless to what we wanted and could do. For the time it was the happiest days. I got a job and one of my friends had seen a mountainboard in a skate shop, Thrifty Stick. I would save for 2 months 4 pay checks later I would by my first mountainboard and feel a new drive and passion. As we grew up we grew apart and one by one my friends stopped skateboarding with me. As they did I started to mountainboard more.

Towards the end of high school, I had a friend Brandy, who asked me about my board and wondered if I ever took it anywhere. I didn't even know of any spots but she knew of a BMX track and a new chapter in my life would start to unfold. I would meet Dav Starfighter, who saw me at the track with my friend and showed me some jumps he had made. After a while I would be so taken back by everything that I wanted more. This lead me to going to my first comp where I would find a new passion for the sport of mountainboarding.

The event was "Cloud Nine" and it got rained out, we all when to High Drive and from this point on I couldn't get enough. I dropped High Drive not even knowing how to power slide and fell hard many times but I loved every second.

At this point I knew what I wanted to do with my life no matter what, I would get on line and go to all the sessions. I would then later meet Brain Bishop who had started Mountainboarding Magazine and we would go everywhere finding new spots going to Moab, UT, and Grand Junction, CO. These friends I was making would guide me and encourage me saying I would be the best, but it looked like I would never be as good as some of the top pros.

I remember Moab like it was yesterday we were all a Denney's I really didn't know any one I was there with my two girl friends from school Brandy and Taylor. I was sting next to Jason Lee, I knew who he was but I never think that this point I be sitting next to him. I was star struck and these guys had a crazy passion I wanted to share more than anything.

I just remember stopping and looking at madness that was going on and people were everywhere and doing things I use to dream about, on the slick rock. I remember boarding Bartlet Wash and Slick Rock and I would do the craziest things I have ever done. I even dropped a cave while it was snowing in strong winds in spring in the Utah desert, nothing would compare to that day. Even more I wanted these guys to be my friends and ride with them.

Later I would do a series of competitions in Colorado at various resorts, and then go by myself to the 2002 Nationals 2 boards on the bus all the way to Des Moines, Iowa. I been living off nothing and had to ask friends and family for money they were all willing to help me out the rest was money I saved. I went out with the attitude that I would win and nothing could stop me I'd show them what I could do. Bold and brave I stood there with a smile and tried my best to be one of the group, it seemed that it would be harder then I thought.

Looking at the pros being a amateur is like walking down the great wall of china its just seems that there is no way you'll ever do it in a life time. I would ride Armature for a few years staying in the top 3 almost every competition. I would start the Pro class in 2004 placing 3rd at Chaos in Kansas Boarder Cross.

From being start stuck and in aw of all the pros I was now going head to head and I wasn't sure if I was ready but I had no other option step up or out, I wasn't giving up so I had to train harder if I was going to try to ever stack with the big dogs.

A year pasted me by as everyday I was at a skatepark working on my jumps, grinds. I was doing everything I could from down hill to dirt to street. My mountainboard is how I get around most of the time so when I was just going down the street I was working on my skills, pushing harder every time because its feels like I am going some place even thou I have had no place to go to for a long time.

I would work on anything that I thought no one was doing and I was telling myself that I need to keep pushing that I wont lose if I work and know what to work on.

I even flew out to Cali to learn back flips, I met up with Matt Newman and from then on it seemed like there was going to be nothing that was going to stop me and I really felt that I had friends in every state. Like I could call anyone and hang out, and be a part of the times of peoples lives that they wont soon forget.

Pushing my way in the top 3 in the pro was like a breath of fresh air I remember thing that I had to work as hard in one year as the other pros did in five years in order to be there so I knew that my hard work was paying off.

At this point I started to hit the learning curve for pros, and started to feel I couldn't get any better then what I was which was still not number one in the world. Well thats kinds of where I am at right now, not the best but wanting to be the best. It might be because I want to so I am the best in the world at something but for some reason I want it more then anything else out there.

It has been a long road with many bumps and turns, but every time I wanted to give up some one would hold on to me and hold me up till I could stand again. I remember when I had my own profile in Mountainboarding Magazine my friend Joe's mom and dad Linda and Jack, before she died of cancer I singed a copy and gave it to them, they told me how proud they where of me and they knew I make it big some day. Sometimes its just my drive to do something different and new that keeps me going, others days its the people that have had faith in me no matter what the out come looked like.

I asked a lot from my parents and grandfather who helped me to almost every competition or gathering and they never asked for anything thing back, knowing that they couldn't give me much they gave what they could to help me live my dream.

There are not many places for someone like me in this world and people tend to not like me for many reasons but my friends and family were proud of me and what I've been doing. They worried I wouldn't make it, and that I was throwing my life away but to me if I give up on this dream to be the best there would be nothing left for a outcast such as me. So there is no choice but to keep going making new memories and friends and hope that one day I'll be able to pay back the people that gave me all they could money, love, and support.

Best Road Trip Kite Landboarding Story

By Sam Lawman - UK

The road trip started on a Bank Holiday Friday morning in the South West of England. We packed our kit into our kiting van the night before to prepare us for the maddest kiting weekend yet. We set off at 11.30 as my Dad had to work in the morning.

Our first location of the weekend was Essex Kite Park to join the Big Air Event land event, organised by the Jason at Up4kiting & the Essex crew. We arrived at 6pm after a 6 ½ hour drive, with our excitement building along the way. It was still light with a few kites in the air, so I joined them for a bit of chilled out flying, however very little wind. Already the marquees were up and running ready for the night’s action/chaos! After a bit of raving to the tunes we went and chilled by the camp fire, as a very cold night. But this gave us a chance to catch up with faces from last year old & some new ones too.

On Saturday the wind again was low, so the comp was moved to the next day. I got up late & after brunch did some unhooked free riding, enjoying some unhooked powered kiteloops and also got to learn Flat 3 Handlepasses off the kicker, with some help from Lewis Wilby. It turned into a good day after all & we again hung in the party tent & pulled some shapes.

I woke earlier on Sunday, the day of the comp. The wind was still pretty low, but slowly picked up to 12mph, gusting to about 16mph. The competition started with the junior buggy, and then the adult boarding, 2 rounds of adult buggying, the junior boarding then the adult buggy final.

My round in the junior boarding went well, the wind was down pretty low gusting to a max of 12mph, Using my 10m Manta II, my freestyle weapon of choice, I pulled some 360 foot outs and secured the 1st position by landing a unhooked 1080 backloop smoothly and powered. I was pretty chuffed with that in the low winds. The comp was judged by 3 officials including the one and only Lewis Wilby!

Sunday night was when the presentation was held, where I collected the 1st trophy and received some other prizes, Trampa T shirts, Frisbee and a back protector, which was put together nicely in a bin liner! We then headed back for a BBQ and to ‘chillax’ by the campfire, with a beer or two.

Monday was an early start for the kitesurf day, and everyone headed down to East Beach after a bite to eat, to catch the strong winds (about 25-30mph). We looked at the spot and first we noticed was how far the water was & how close to the shipping lane it was. With a few doubtful minds with such rough conditions, we went for it! Walking out a fair way (about 1/2mile) across the beach over the sharp mussel beds and silt covered beach without any boots! I was out on my old skool 9m 04 Slingshot Fuel and everyone was having a good time pulling some massive airs and watching the cargo ships glide on by..

Jason (an instructor) and I decided to go on a bit of an explore so we made our way out away from the beach going right around the military chair, a reminant of World War 2. This was also at the start of the shipping lanes where massive cargo ships were passing through, probably in amazement that some nutters would actually come out that far! So we went round the chair tower and made the tack back, having to do a few airs to refresh the leg strengths! That was a scary but amazing trip to go out that far, which seemed like a good mile away and was made hard by the massive rolling waves and strong currents. After a tiring solid 4 hours of kite surfing, we headed back in.

My Dad & I decided that we were still hungry for more action! So we said goodbye to everyone & headed on down the coast to Camber to catch the morning tide for even more kiting! We went for a nice meal just in time of last orders, but unfortunately couldn’t get into the campsite due to it being too late, Gutted!

So we had no choice but to sleep in the van, so we searched for ages to try and find a suitable place where we wouldn’t get caught, however everywhere was obvious. We spoke to a few locals about favourite spots to park and sleep it didn’t sound good, so we thought we’d stay well away from there and ended up outside the pub in the car park. We moved all our gear into the front including a Flexi buggy, making it pretty obvious and set up our beds. We knew it was easy to spot but we were so tired we risked it and hoped we don’t get moved along at some ridiculous time in the night! The next day, we got up early after making through the night with out incident. We found a café had breakfast & headed to the beach & eventually the kite area. The wind was cross shore & we had only two sand bars showing with deep streams in between. We had a good few hours in what started as 10mph and then picked up to a strong and smooth 18mph winds, giving me the opportunity to pull off some slick board varials and big old skool 360 foot outs.

We packed our gear up exhausted from a long weekend & drove the long trip home to Kingsbridge in good time with the assistance of some Red Bull & a stop for food.

Overall, it was a superb 760 mile journey meeting some new and amazing people, going to some new and amazing sites and more importantly some cracking kiting sessions! A weekend not to forget!

How I have spread mountain boarding.

By: Jon Hulet - NV

As the holidays came and went I couldn’t help but look back with delight and heartache at the life of the Ambush Warrior. Now hanging on the wall, in his former life he was my tool to spread peace and good mountain boarding to all men. Only a shadow of his former self, he had been relegated to an existence as a mantelpiece holding up the Christmas stockings. Life was not always this way.

     I got my first taste of mountain boarding a few years back in the mountains of Oregon while visiting a camp for troubled youth my wife volunteered at every summer. After a few runs down a dusty logging road on a Jeep series board with nearly flat tires, I was hooked. I had to have one of these.

     Moving to the Nevada desert to be a youth pastor brought new experiences to me and my bride of one month. I had often desired to get into white water kayaking. Now realizing that was an impossibility I resolved to take up mountain boarding in order to make the move to the desert a little more palatable. As far as I know I don’t know anyone else here who rides in our town of 40k.

     The group of people I have constant contact with are the young and the restless. This crowd is always looking to push the limits. Mountain boarding is the perfect tool to test the testosterone. To be honest, most teenagers are a little intimidated by mountain boarding, and rightfully so. In the Nevada desert, there is little forgiveness. Our soil is the result of massive volcanic and hydrologic catastrophe and the rocks are rough, these are not the smooth river rocks of Oregon. One bad move and the mountain boarder will need to determine whether cactus, razor sharp rock or prickly goat burs will break his fall. Mountain boarding is already an unforgiving sport, even more so in the desert.

      Many of the times I have spread the good news of mountain boarding have come in the gentle hills of Nevada. One local road offers me a mild coast down gravel road for about two miles, that’s good considering most of our terrain, is nearly vertical or flat not to mention sharp rocks. Its always fun to bring a couple of guy to see a new sport.  

      One particularly sad time of spreading the news of mountain boarding came right before our Wednesday meeting right next to my house. There were at least half a dozen young bucks present that fateful evening. Some were trying the mountain board out for the first time. Others familiar with skateboarding looked and felt smooth on the board. Those who were less graceful looked more like a mule trying to balance on a beach ball. There is nothing like a good wipe out with a little carnage by the inexperienced to bring joy to the old guy and make me feel juvenile again. I could be the dad to some of these kids.
 

       Not one to be content with an average jump, I was ready to push the limits a little myself and show the newbies my sick skill. However, the flat approach was greatly limiting my take off speed. One guy I’ll call Mike, because that’s his name, thought a tow in would work pretty well.

        Grabbing his BMX out of the back of his truck he brought it to the jump site. I retrieved my tow rope from my house that I use when my wife tows me around our dry lake bed with the truck. (one day I rode ten miles) After the rope was firmly fastened around the seat post of the bike, I was ready, and he was locked in.

         We decided a proper run in was about two hundred feet. The tension of the rope felt good as the handle dug deeply into my hand. I gave it a good squeeze as mike accelerated toward the lip. A small dip halfway to the jump allowed me to maintain my precious speed and even gain a little. Shortly over halfway to the take off, my speed was more than adequate and I knew this jump had potential. Knowing the back contained a good transition, a bad landing was nearly impossible. As I prepared for my run in, I began to veer right slightly right toward the jump allowing him to maintain a straight course and maximizing his speed. As the lip came closer, speed became even more essential, there is no such thing as too much; well most of the time. I pulled back solidly on the rope to increase my velocity and as Mike felt the pull, he leaned hard over the bars to put a little more leverage on his two wheeler.

         Without warning I released the tow rope and launched the little jump. This is when things all went wrong. As I released the line with mike leaning over the bars the sudden tension instantly vanished. The laws of physics kicked in launching mike over the bars. Even his experience at riding couldn’t pull off this landing. As he approached the ground his car keys quickly positioned themselves perpendicular to his thigh in order to become embedded upon landing. I’m not sure if it was the house key or the truck key that buried itself in his leg. Landing hard on the field of dirt he suddenly felt the bite of the keys alerting him that things had not gone as planned.

         Meanwhile as I was in the air I had no idea that Mike had taken a quality spill. I was simply enjoying gravitational freedom for what seemed like an eternity. I just knew sponsors would be knocking down my door any day with smooth and clean air like this. Sometime during this period of bliss reality began to sink set in. Not only was I slightly heavier that what my board was rated, but I was about to overshoot the landing. Nearing the ground, I began hoping for the best and thinking, “this could be bad”. On impact my nightmare became a reality as the resounding crack told me that things had not gone as planned. I am what most people would consider a grown man, but I think at that moment I could feel a tear in my eye. No amount of screws or plywood was going to restore him to his former glory. A new deck from MBS was soon in the mail.

     Still, I could not bear to part with my old warrior. It then hit me a few weeks later that he would make a perfect addition permanently mounted to my living room wall. I have been given an amazing wife who supports me with ideas that most would consider crazy. All the kids in my youth group are now aware of this sport, who before had no idea it even existed. I am glad to spread mountain boarding outside or inside my house.  The shelf has become a good conversation piece. Just the other day a girl was eye balling it and wishing she had one of her own. I have received many compliments on the addition to the room. The grip tape holds items very securely and the curved ends make natural bookends and assist in holding items on the shelf really well. Thanks to the new shelf, the warrior will be spreading the message of mountain boarding to all who enter our house for many years to come.

How Mountainboarding Has Changed My Life

By: Kelby Clark - GA

In early June 2007 I was watching “Johnny Kapahala Back on Board”  I took one look at those boards and what you could do on them and all I could think was” I have got to learn how to do that!”

After doing a search on the internet and finding MBS I started asking my mom for a board. Mom who will eventually get me almost anything said no.( She said no to a hover board also )You won’t be able to use it around here,she explained.We live in South Georgia. It is flat here.They were on mountains and slopes in the movie. “But they used it on ramps,” I said. “We don’t have a skate park here either,” she replied. Besides that was a movie.They can make anything happen in a movie. It would be a waste of money and you would be disappointed when it didn’t work out.(Boy was she wrong!) So I did what any desperate 10 year old would do…….. I asked my grandmother.

I am now the proud owner of 8 boards including 2 vintage boards and my mom even has one of her own. I had never ridden any kind of board before and not having anyone to ride with or learn from I taught myself and researched the internet for information on tricks and riding tips. (If I could have gotten a hold of one of those ride guides earlier it would have made my learning experience a whole lot faster and easier).We would ride around looking for any slope or hill to ride on that we could find and I would practice on that.In desperation my mom would tow me behind our electric car through the pecan field using a makeshift ski rope hooked to the car.

When I finally discovered peddling it opened up a whole new area of possibilities. Then one day I was doing a search for places to ride and discovered one in Atlanta “The Trailer Park”.

Atlanta was 3 hours away but we were going in a couple of weeks and my mom contacted the owner and he said we could come ride.

We arrived at the trailer park a little early and no one was there. I thought I would die if I could not get inside and try those jumps. I wanted to climb the fence but my mom kept telling me “No, they said the dogs bite!” Finally the owner Ted Ladue arrived and I got to ride. It was heaven.My favorite place on earth still. Ted was the first mountainboarder I ever got to meet and the first one I saw ride in person.

While we were at “The Trailer Park” Ted told us about some chat boards that would keep you in touch with other mountainboarders and informed about events and rides.

In the meantime I was doing everything I could to introduce mountainboarding to my friends and get them interested.

My mom,dad and a friend’s dad had built me a half pipe for Christmas in our backyard that year and after seeing “The Trailer Park” my mom had decided that we could build something similar behind our house.We started on our backyard setup on spring break and I’ve lost count at how many times we have changed it. Everytime  it got bigger and better.

Finally two of my friends got boards of their own and started riding. I do everything I can to get the word out about mountainboarding. My school binder is covered with photos of me and the pros from the US Open last July.My lunchbox is covered with MBS,Hillbilly and US Open stickers. They are great conversation starters.

My teachers say I can turn any lesson into something about mountainboarding.I wrote an essay ,a poem and did a demonstrative speech on mountainboarding. Oh yeah and Math……180,360,540,720.900,1080 no one got that lesson as quick as I did that day!

I have been to eight different BMX and skate parks in seven different cities. Whenever we go to one people always ask me about my board and want to try it out. At first hardly anyone would know what it was …….now when we go to new places there are always at least a few people who recognize a mountainboard.

After I broke my arm (and then later my collarbone) you can’t believe how many doctors, nurses and technicians I have been able to tell about mountainboarding .( A couple of them even knew what it was.) They all think it sounds so cool! One nurse came back into my room to find out where she could get a board for herself…….we told her MBS.com.

Getting to go to the US Open and the Fall Classic this year was a dream come true.I got to meet so many cool people and hang out with some of the best people on earth.We always put pictures and articles in the paper after I go somewhere and so many people at school ask me about mountain boarding and tell me how awesome it sounds, even my teachers.

So far I have gotten seven people to actually buy a board and start riding.

One of my favorite things to do is to go into the woods behind my house and ride on anything I can find. Tree stumps, logs you name it I’ll try it. I also like to go around town looking for places to ride. Our middle school and high school are two of the places I like best. I can find curbs for grinding and stalling, natural quarter pipes and hips, rollers and an occasional slope.

Kite landboarding: my drug of choice!

Sanne van Schie - Holland

I’m sure I’ve never, ever been any higher than that Saturday, there, on my local beach in IJmuiden, Holland. Not even back in the nineties if you catch my drift. And believe me when I say I’ve had some very high times back then.

Amongst me and my friends it was kind of common to do a bit of experimenting with getting high and we did our share big time. I’m not gonna go into details about all the stuff we did but I think I can safely say I experimented  more in those days than my chemistry teacher. The stuff we used was easily available and it didn't take very long, before being high - as a kite - was my natural state of unconsciousness. I wasn't a junkie or anything but surely a serious pot-head. 

All of that is in the past now, because I said goodbye to that whole lifestyle not very long after the moment my feet touched a mountainboard for the first time. About one and a half year ago now. Flyboarding, as we like to call kite mountainboarding over in Holland, was magical to me from the start, and I realized that this was, what I wanted to do as much as possible.

I already loved snow sports like skiing, and later snowboarding, that's why I had always hated the fact that Holland was flatter than a pancake, the closest thing we have to a mountain over here, is about a foot below sea level if you ask me! But that didn’t matter anymore because EUREKA! Here it was! I had found something that beat the hell out of skiing in terms of thrill and made me miles higher than any dope I’ve ever stumbled upon did! And the best thing: I could do it for free whenever there was wind, right here on my own local beach which also happened to be the best kite landboarding spot in the Netherlands!

So there I was, on that particular Saturday in November, I took my new kite - a Rasta colored Synergy - out for a fly for the first time since I bought her. The wind must have been around 15 knots when I pulled her towards the zenith (at twelve o clock, right above my head). Graciously she went up and I did some first jumps before I took a stand on the mountainboard. Then I steered the kite down and crossed away. From there on, it was like a something, much bigger than myself, controlled my body.

Effortless was I doing the most difficult tricks whilst I was fully present to enjoy them. I remember doing a huge, massive jump and it felt like I was up in the air for eternity. There was no time up there anymore, neither space. I saw all kinds of things up there. Revelations I couldn’t even begin to describe, appeared before me, like pulsating images on a screen. For a brief moment, it felt like I was connected to everything and everyone. It seemed like my whole life had pushed me towards this very moment in the air above the beach. Of course, I realize that my hole life had pushed me into taking a dump too, a couple of hours earlier, but that didn’t seem to matter.

As I was still in the air I looked down and began to realize that this was my first jump ever and I was at least ten feet of the ground! But I didn’t panic though, instead I was stunned and amazed by the beauty of the MBS board I was looking at. It looked really incredibly nice and the white twistar hubs were shimmering in the red-golden beams from the rising sun. The board felt so lightweight that it didn’t feel like I had a mountainboard at my feet at all. Instead it felt like those nice lightweight shoes you can only wear during summertime. Boy, was I happy with my board!

As I was so tight up with being so very content with my mountainboard that it suddenly shocked me because the awareness came to me that I didn’t even own a beautiful board like this! My board had cracks in it, and it looks old and worn out. It's hubs aren't shiny white at all, they are black and scratched all over! How could this be? Had I accidentally switched it with somebody else’s because I was so overwhelmed by my new kite when I pulled her towards the zenith? I was forced to stop thinking about how this brand-new MBS board got at my feet by a violent meeting with the ground! Only to wake up from a beautiful dream.

That’s right; kite landboarding is all I can think and dream about lately! I must admit I’m a full blown addict to the sport these days but hey, it’s the best addiction anyone can ever have! It's my drug of choice!

I rubbed the sand - from sleeping - out of my eyes and sat down behind the computer to see whether the wind was any good to try out my new kite. For real this time. It turned out to be ideal, about 15 knots, coming from the west. Exactly the same as the wind in my dream! I skipped breakfast and went straight down to the beach as it felt destined to be there, because of my dream. The red, gold and green colored Synergy was really looking damn good and she flew like a dove. It gave me an amazingly confident feeling so I got eager to try new things. Although I was on my old and weary looking mountainboard instead of the new, shiny MBS board from my dream, I jumped my very first jump - honestly - and landed it safely too! It was nowhere near the height of that huge, massive jump I performed the night before, but it gave me an incredible high like I - indeed - never experienced before!

By: Kenny Kerekes - GA

            December 9th 2007, the day I purchased my first board, the core 95. My dad was skeptical about buying it because of my ability to drift away from sports. A year later, I have a pro 100 and I am obsessed with this sport. Out of the 2500 kids at my high school, everybody knows me as the kid who mountainboards. I consider myself a pioneer in the fact that I support the sport in every way I can and always tell people, “go to mbs.com because they have the best quality boards.”

            When I first found out about the sport, I immediately searched it on youtube. I honestly saw many things that impressed me a lot. After I started, I appreciated every single trick ten times more. Landing the technical tricks takes lots of practice and commitment to the sport.

This summer changed my life completely. Prior to this past summer, I just liked the sport. I now love it! My friend and I were in Idaho visiting my mom (I am from Georgia). We were just driving around looking for some spots to hit. He looked to left and noticed a track for BMX bikes. We then turned around and checked it out. It was like mountainboard paradise. It has plenty of rollers to pump and some big burms. It even has some huge drop offs I found by the track. In addition to all that, there were some really big jumps that were just as smooth as butter. David and I tore it up for days.

My friend flew home after a week and I stayed for a whole month. A couple days after he was gone, I went back to the track. For the next month I would go there everyday. It was probably my 3rd day going there after David had left, when a man named Terrance approached me. He asked me what I was riding and I simply told him a mountainboard and explained all the components to him. He was extremely stoked and wanted to open a shop. I told him to call Jason because once again, MBS until I die.

The story doesn’t end there. My last day in Idaho, I did an un-official demo. It was after race day for the bikers and I just pulled out my board and started shredding. Every single person there had their eyes glued to me and was siked about it. There must have been 150 to 200 people there. It puts an awesome feeling in me to impress everyone that watches me by doing a sport that is in its younger ages. It was something I will never forget. The next day I went home back to Georgia.

This Christmas, I came back to visit my mom. I gave my friend Terrance a call and asked him where the shop was. My mom and I decide to go and hang out with him for a little while. I walk in and what do I see? Mountainboards everywhere. All of them MBS might I add. While I was there, I got a bunch of shirts for free. I also got an amazing deal on my snowboard rental. The shop has never made me so happy in my life. Not to be conceded or anything, but I am pretty much the reason that shop is selling mountainboards. I mean it sells bikes and snowboards and I will admit that Terrance and Ryan did all of that. But if I hadn’t ran into him that day, I don’t think the mountainboards would be there

I am not officially sponsored but I have a great hook up with them. I now wear MBS and Best Bikes and Boards shirts all the time. People always squint at my shirts because they see the word “Mountainboards” on my shirt. Like at school people always want to know and learn more about it. I mean just in the halls people ask me what MBS stands for.

It is hard to describe how much I represent MBS. I have it as my homepage, I am always wearing their clothes, I recommend MBS to everyone interested in buying a board, and the logo is always on my myspace.

Last year when I had my core 95, I broke my vector trucks. I called MBS and Patrick picked up. He was awesome and replaced it for free. Not that I made that story up, but I think MBS is the only company that would replace it without me sending in what I claim to have broken. Once again I didn’t make it up on how I broke the vector. That is another reason why they are the best brand in the business. And because they are the best, is why I choose to represent them in everyway I can.

This sport is truly amazing in every aspect. I have gotten almost all of my best friends to try and share the love for it. I mean come on, a board on any surface? It can’t get much better than that. All my friends think it’s awesome. Even the ones who have never tried any board sport.

Before mountainboarding, I didn’t really have a sport that I actually liked a lot. I mean I played baseball for a long time and have done all the board sports; but now I focus 100% of my free time into practice and advertising. I am involved in mountainboard forums and am always on youtube watching the progression of this awesome sport.

I have been to countless shops just dropping MBS’s number and letting them know if they want to become a dealer, this is the best and most reliable company to get the boards from.

One my favorite part of this sport is the speed you can get. I personally come from a downhill skateboarding background so to have these channel trucks is killer. Just today I was bombing a massive hill and just able to get the gnarliest carves in at high speed. The point I am trying to make is that it is such an open sport in the fact that no matter what background you come from, mountainboarding incorporates something for everyone.

The awesome sites of Southern England

By: Tom Sharp - UK

I’m Tom Sharp, 17, avid freerider and Boarder X nut. For the past few months I have been working as an instructor at Haredown ATB in Sussex, England. This, just a few weeks after my first mountain boarding experience, probably shows how badly I was bitten by the boarding bug. After boarding twice I bought a MBS comp 16 pro from eBay, customised by the previous owner with flow bindings for added freeriding mentalism. When I’m not working spreading the mountain boarding gospel, I spend hours searching for top local freeriding spots and one stands out in particular as the most dangerous and downright impressive spot in the South (apart from Haredown of course, the greatest centre of them all). This spot is Coombe Hill, near Rogate, a half hour drive from my place. I’ll try and describe it for journalistic purposes; its set over about a square mile at about 25°, full of nice soft obstacles like trees and large rocks. Almost every inch of ground is covered with single or dual track trails, step ups, step downs, table tops, huge doubles (the largest being about 35 ft from tip to tail), drops and the infamous road gap, a 45 ft clearing over a track that usually breaks several bones a week. The course is designed for downhill bikes. Which is why it so extreme, but if you has little self preservation or common sense, go for it!

Two downhill bikers who are very good friends of mine first introduced me to Rogate during the summer of last year and one meeting stands out particularly well, as it was the first. And, well, it was eventful to say the least. We had caught the train to a nearby station and cycled the remaining few miles, which hurt when you have a comp 16 pro hanging off your rucksack! All three of us congregated at a reasonably flat and sheltered point next to a well made 1.5 meter drop that looked fairly boardable. As I set up my pads and turned on my camera, I looked up to see my friend Jonny on his first run. He is a great guy, but has the coordination of a sleep deprived ape. Hi nickname: “The marsupial”, as in kangaroo. This piece of biking remains the only thing I have ever seen him do on a bike. He landed front heavy, flew over the handlebars and then ran around making choking sounds. “You’re just winded, walk it off.” We said, as this was a fairly regular occurrence, Sam (the other friend) assured me. When he went to hospital that night, the X-ray showed four broken ribs and a punctured lung, which we had told him to “walk off”. Jonny was out of it, so it was my turn. The jump was great, I even added a shifty which was the limit of my freestyle ability at the time. I landed it well – then picked up speed, then some more speed. I hadn’t looked ahead down the course, and couldn’t powerslide to stop, so I flew over a small berm and punctured my front right tyre in the process. That was me out of it. To add insult to many injuries, at that moment a downhill biker cleared the huge road gap and flew past. At the bottom he removed his helmet, and must have been 55 years old. Great, I’m broken, my board’s broken and a pensioner just saw us fail, and is better than us.

After being rescued my a friend who lived nearby, who very kindly brought us a spanner and some puncture repair stuff, we got back to work, minus Jonny who spent the next nine days in hospital with a chest drain. The rest of the day couldn’t have gone any better. Nothing beats the adrenalin rush of flying past trees and landing sketchy jumps, especially with good company. This trip has installed my love of freeriding, just because it was so insane, and because I have to clear that road gap one day!

Two other top freeriding sites that nobody except me seems to have heard of are Stoughton down, which is currently under construction by me and my downhill buddies, and Halnaker Chalk Pits. Stoughton It may only be one track, but mark my words, it will be better than Winterberg one day! I shall try and take you on a verbal journey down our home made course. You start at the top, funnily enough looking down a deceptively steep straight with two small table tops made from chalk leading onto a very tight berm to the right. You then plough along a twisting single track with numerous kickers before entering a wide track bordered with trees, picking up speed and then jumping a 10 ft track into two tight berms leading onto a drop off and a berm rivalry those on a world class boarder x course – because we didn’t build it!

Halnaker is just a man made bowl covering about a square mile with cliff like sides peppered with tracks made by trials bikes. The sides shallow out towards the centre with seemingly limitless trails leading to kickers, doubles and drops. All of the locations I have mentioned are in my freeride video on youtube (hint hint!) called freeride 08 if anyone is interested!

MBS Rider Story Contest

By: Tyler Startin

"The thrill, the excitement, everything about it is great. Just to feel the warm summer breeze rushing through your hair as you fly down the side of a mountain. This great thing is what changed my boring, inactive life into an exhilarating, fun, and extreme life! But what could this great thing be, well I’ll gladly tell you, its called mountainboarding! This sport has changed my life completely; it got me off the couch and outside doing something! It also gave me something fun and exciting to do in my spare time. Not only those things but it let me meet a lot of awesome people that do the sport too! When I got my first mountainboard I wasn’t sure, maybe I should stick with skateboarding, maybe I made a mistake. But as I got into it, and once I landed my first 180 and my friends started coming over just to ride it with me, there was no doubt that this was the sport for me. Now, when I look back, I’m glad I worked and saved up the money for my first mountainboard because I know if I hadn’t, I would still be on the couch or on the phone and probably 20 pounds heavier than I am right now! So the basic point is this, mountainboarding changed my life in some great ways, by making me more enthused to have this wonderful life to live, by giving me new great people to make friends with and talk to, and by letting me see the bright side of life, the extreme side! Mountainboarding changed my life, and it can change yours too, so grab some dirt and ride it!"

With the utmost respect and sincerity,

MBS Story Contest – By Jack Brindley
 
 
 
When I was 10, I used to be a boy who sat at home watching TV on the weekend and doing other stuff like that. My dad and my brother flew kites up the lickey hills. So one day I decided to go with them and see what it was like.
We then got the kites out and my brother started to fly, he was good. He then stepped on a mountain board he started to do some good tricks. When he stopped flying I had a closer look at the board. It had a logo on it (MBS). I had to find what this was.
 
On my brothers birthday we went up the lickeys and he let me have go on his board with a kite. I hopped on and it was brilliant, I was moving without pushing myself. I started to pick a bit of speed up it was scary but what an adrenaline rush. Then I had to stop witch I didn't know how to. So I jumped off the board and crashed with a thud. I then crashed the kite into a tree. I was gutted because my dad came over started shouting at me for crashing his kite. When I got in the car on the way home I felt the buzz, I wanted to do this a lot more.
 
I bought my first mountain board it was a MBS core 1 it was perfect for me as I was small. I remember flying my kite and also going through sheep poo on the field I was flying on it was disgusting. I was using my brand new board on a mucky field. Going through the sheep poo with my tyres covered in it. Now I fly at EKS (extremekiteshop) their new field. The grass is smooth no sheep poo getting in my way. I started to do tricks from that point on and i'm really trying to up the game. I'm also customizing my board. My favourite attraction on my board are the MBS ti trucks they are fantastic compared to my old skate trucks. They are lighter, stronger and overall a whole lot better. Also the twister hubs I really like they are mint and really easy to put on my board. 
 
My best flying day using my mountain board was a day in summer at EKS jumping off the hill it was amazing. The float you get is such a powerful feeling. The tricks you can do on these boards is just a thrilling experience you can't beat it. This has changed my life because lots of other people won't know what this is like. Questions I ask myself. What would I being on a weekend if I didn't have this? Why is it so addictive?
 
My core 1 which I still used today is looking a bit worn out, but still I try and use it to the max every session. This board is very good for younger people as it's an ideal size. Me and my mate Gregga have been flying at EKS making videos showing our equipment off. Showing high performance tricks and showing the best of our ability's.
 
My best road trip is when I went black rock sands with the whole of the lickey hill flyer club. As we went we was all in row in the cars, we couldn't wait until we got there. We hired a little barn we could all sleep in. At least we was all sheltered. We set off on Friday night and came home on Sunday morning. On the Friday night the atmosphere in the barn was ecstatic. People were having a laugh everywhere I looked. There was beam which came across the top of the barn I started doing inverts and stuff off it on my board, and before you know it everyone had their boards and was on it swinging of it. The next day we all went to the beach but the wind was low. So we decided to make a small kicker which everyone enjoyed. If that kicker wasn't there people probably wouldn't of flew how much they did. One other thing my dad had a go on the ramp he was hilarious  as he went up the ramp on his board ,he didn't even jump he rolled over it.
 
On no wind days up the lickey hills we get bored so we all go into the woods with our mountain boards and we roll down the hills. There was this one big one no one went down it was way to steep. As we was walking down I turned round to see if everyone was following and then, suddenly one of my mates came flying down this hill. He was travelling fast, and at the bottom you have to stop. He came down and did great big power slide and came flying off his mountain board. All I could see was a great big pile of dust, from where he slid. We all ran to the bottom as fast as we could he was on floor. He had a few cuts and bruises and next time he knows to wear safety gear. We had helmets but we forgot to put our pads on. 
 
I fly at EKS as you know but now I am looking for sponsorship. I have recently wrote to you about sponsorship and really looking forward to the future. I think MBS boards are the best because they have made me progress for what I am today and, still am progressing to the best I can. My kit is what makes me perform to my standard, and without my  core 1 I don't think I would be as good as I am. Me and my mate Greg really want to promote different kind of things like MBS. We are starting to make videos in HD and put all our effort in them. So many things are being produced by MBS like the pro 90 which Greg owns. MBS are always going up a level in mountain boards which I really admire.
 
Tricks i'm working on at the moment are crazy and I love to try carry on to go up the next level like MBS do. My board is knackered but still rolling... 





GOING CRAZY

By: Hyo Kim - NJ

Going crazy

The week waiting for my MBS was the worst. I would come back from school every day and check if there was a box outside my house, BUT NO BOX WOULD BE THERE WAITING FOR ME. It was spring, starting to get warm outside. Days would pass and nothing would come. I started going crazy for the reason that the snowboard season was over and the board so called to be similar to snowboarding would NEVER arrive….and I had spent all my savings on that mountainboard.

Caught up

Twenty-four hours had gone by but nothing had come. I chose the cheapest shipping method, so I thought “Oh well, I should have chosen the fastest and most expensive”.  Fifty hours had gone by. I started talking about the mountainboard I ordered online and how “sick” it would be to ride a “snowboard” with wheels during the summer. I would look for videos and articles talking about mountainboard every single day because I was so caught up to know how that “thing” worked and what I could do on it.

The e-mail

              I finally receive an e-mail from the shipping agency saying that my merchandise had arrived in their company and that it would be coming on the following that. It was the worst day in school. I waited and waited. The clock seemed to be moving too sluggish. It was moving so slow that the time seemed to have stopped during that slow, black and white movie about Teddy Roosevelt I was watching during history class.

D-Day

              School ended, I rushed to my car, turned on the engine, released the hand break, put on drive, hit 90 on the 25 miles per hour street, drifted every turn, almost got pulled over, got home, there was a box sitting outside my box, it was tall, it was brown, I parked, ran upstairs, got the box, opened the box, I could not opened the box, got a knife, sliced the box opened, this bright white light hit my face, I closed my eyes, and as I opened them up, I see Jesus holding my mountainboard and words coming out of his mouth which came out to be “-Here it go soon. Use it as God would wish.”

Trying it out

              The day I got the board I went out to check it out. I rode down the street; it was a little different than what I thought it would be like. The straps were pretty weird as well. I practiced a little outside my house, and then called some friends up “-Yo man let’s skate, I gotta show you my new board”. My friends came over and they all tried riding it but they thought it was too weird and it was not their thing, so they just gave up.

Fresh Start

              My friends and I went around town street mountainboarding and shredding everything we saw. I tried doing Ollies, 180s, little grabs and other easy trick. However, there was one thing I did not like at all; the straps. I thought I needed more like a snowboard feeling to it, I wanted something that would make my feet stay stuck on the board even if it meant, more dangerous.

Customizing

              After a my first day mountainboarding I went home and thought “-Well, I need new straps but I don’t want to spend any money.” So I looked around, checking to see if I had anything that could be used for a custom binding. I stopped, looked around, and I thought “-Maybe I should use snowboard bindings!.” So I got these old bindings and then transformed them into a binding that would hold my feet when I am spinning, grinding or jumping; but not too tight because I need to take my back foot off to push since I ride on the streets.

Practicing

              I started riding almost every day of the week. I really wanted to get good at it since it was a pretty weird board to have on the streets of New Jersey and New York. I practiced and practiced day after day. I had my ollies down, 180s, 360s, butter, nose grabs, tail grabs, and I even had hit some rails and boxes with it.

Hurting and learning

              I am not going to lie. I fell many and many times as I practiced. I mean, we all have to fall to get up and learn right? I got cuts of all kinds of sizes but nothing really major.

Thinking ahead

            I got better after riding for a few months. Now I ride pretty much anywhere. I ride on pavement; I ride on grass, dirt, sand, or pretty much anything else in my way. Telling you the truth I am looking forward to get sponsored since there are not that many people riding this thing around. I do not think I am good enough to get sponsored however I am trying hard to get better at it so that I could spread the word about MBS in the east coast and even convince the snowboard shops in the area that sponsors me for snowboarding to have MBS in their shops as well as opening a little camp for mountainboarders.

Once upon a time?

            Once upon a time I rode my snowboard on the mountains around the world. However, dragons spitted fire on the mountains, melting down all the snow.

              But there was a knight. Riding with his MBS wherever the snow used to cover. He rode days and nights on mountains and roads. With his MBS on his feet and an energy drink he killed every obstacles that came ahead of him.

              It started snowing again. A smile in his face surged. HOWEVER, he kept on riding his MBS, even with the snow falling on his feet.

              He rode his MBS during days and nights, as well as his snowboard.

              Slaughtering the parks and hills that came ahead.

              He never lost a fight.

              And he will never lose one.

              Because with his head up and his board on the feet. He will conquer the roads, parks, forests, villages, woods, mountains, and everything else that comes his way.

              ….and shredding he lived.

Mountain boarding The Flats Of Texas

Anton Plauche - TX

              I don’t exactly live in an area where one would expect to see a sport with the name of mountain boarding. I live in Austin, Texas in the middle of some of the flattest areas in the entire United States. Yet as I began to get involved in the sport I soon found that the boarding scene was just as big as in some of the most mountainous regions of the country.

              I first saw mountain boarding on a youtube video and was immediately hooked on the idea of purchasing a mountain board for myself. For months I diligently checked craigslist postings each day hoping for a new posting in my area. Nothing. Finally one day I checked and found that there was a posting for an ambush scout mountain board costing $35. The board had one wheel where the rubber tire had been warped into the shape of the oval and had pieces of someone’s belt nailed onto the deck instead of bindings. The deck was also so short I had almost no stance whatsoever, and so weak that I bottomed out an even the slightest bump or jump. Still I rode it almost everyday practicing jumps on a hill at my middle school just a few blocks from my house. Finally one day the oval shaped tire came off of its plastic hub as I was approaching a jump, I jumped and landed on concrete splintering the plastic hub. It was time for a new mountain board.  Since then I have been riding the core 90, a midrange board, and have driven it just short of the point of snapping in two.

              When I first began participating in the sport I thought that the mountain boarding “scene” in Austin was nonexistent, but I was wrong. Riding in my area isn’t the kind of blazing down mountains riding of Colorado, it is a completely different breed. One afternoon I was watching mountain boarding videos on my computer at home when I saw in the “related videos” sidebar a video entitled “kite land boarding”.  Kite surfing has always been something I have wanted to try so I was immediately entranced watching people on mountain boards be dragged and carried through the air by giant parachute shaped kites called power kites. I researched online where I could buy one of these kites and found there was a dealer in my own hometown. I went up to the shop the next day and my eyes were opened to the mountain boarding world of the flats of Texas.

              There are dozens of kite mountain boarders in Austin alone, a group called the “cloud chasers” meets twice a moth and consists of anywhere between five and fifteen guys at any one meeting. Soon after the kite shop visit I purchased my own kite and began kite boarding the fields of Austin. Every time I went out to kite board there was someone else there doing what I was doing. I had finally found the community of mountain boarders I had been looking for that whole first year.

              Since then I have been going out pretty much everyday that there is a substantial wind with my kite to the nearest soccer fields and staying out boarding for hours, taking the occasional breaks only to chat with other riders about upcoming events, gear for sale, weather reports, and new tricks they might be working on.  Even with just fifteen to twenty mile-per-hour winds we can achieve speeds of up to thirty miles an hour on our boards and jump five feet into the air from flat ground pulling aerial maneuvers such as board-offs, grabs, handle passes, and spins. Beyond the community of kiters on the field there are a number of websites specifically devoted to kite boarding in the central Texas area.

              Through meeting these kite land boarders I was made aware of the scene of mountain boarding beyond the bounds of the open fields.  There were many more mountain boarders appearing in the city all the time, each bringing a new style to the sport. Suddenly I started to see mountain boarders ripping up skate parks across town, jumping stair sets, and even riding off-road in an area called “gus-fruh”, a valley reserve in the middle of Austin.

              I started to participate in all of these disciplines in addition to my kite boarding in the following months and up to this day. In just this short time I have seen a fairly dramatic increase in the number of boarders around the area, particularly in the Freestyle Park and urban disciplines.  I have even started my own group of urban freestyle mountain boarders that meet once a week for freestyle jams across the city.  We have ridden through skate parks, school campuses, or just anything that looks like an area with good potential.  We also have the occasional slope style competition where we all bring our homemade ramps and rails to a big hill in the city and have a slope style throw down with all of our gear. Because of the amazing suspension and flex on our oversized boards, the limits of free styling are dramatically increased from that of a normal skateboard.  We can jump things that none of us would ever dream of jumping on a normal board. We go flying off roofs and jump four-foot ramps with no problem. Wherever we take our jams people want to know where to get their own board and so the mountain boarding scene continues to grow all the time.

              Through this kite boarding and freestyle community that my fellow riders and I have formed I have realized that mountain boarding is a deceiving name. One does not need a mountain to participate in this adrenaline sport. All that the twenty or so riders I ride with here have is their board, their passion, and some creativity. Mountain boarding here is all about pushing limits in creative manners: grinding bent over sign posts, jumping off roofs, and tearing up fields on huge power kites. Mountain boarding is a sport that can truly be done any season, in any style, and anywhere.

Mountainboard Road Trip

By: Jaron Rogers - CO

ROAD TRIP!

By: Brittany - NZ

Finally is was June 4th 2006 the “ROAD TRIP” that all us mountain boarders in the area had planned, we planned on driving all around new Zealand in search of sweet hills and track to ride all summer long.

We arrived in a small town by the name of Hamilton , set up camp and got all out mountain boarding gear ready for the next Moring. We stayed up most of the night planning the best location and hills to ride.

Before we knew it, the Moring had began , the riders  and i swallowed some breakfast and set off for the day we had been waiting for for over a year.

We climbed the sweetest hill we could find , looked down the trees looked so small , we were so high up. We all said good luck to each other and buckled up for the ride.

First went john then went Stephen , Alana waited for the clearing and took off down the steep track, so far no had fallen. I was last to go , my hands were shaking and the adrenalin went all through my body like a bolt of lightning. I buckled up and jumped......

Before I knew it I was half way down the track , I could hear the riders yelling out my name ..”GO BRITTANY YEAHH” I was at the last bit of the hill jumped and did my famous method air grab and landed perfectly . I busted my board from the impact but I was so worth it.

Day one gone and now only 2 days to go

One board down one board left

It was Sunday Moring our 2nd day in, we found a new location the hills  were a lot smaller but there was double the amount enough to share 3 medium sized hills between the 2 of us. We spill up into groups of three and four, group A went to the south side hills and ground B,C which was me took on the West side hills. The south side hills where much bigger but where covered in trees . We dirt boarded all day and a bit into the night , my knees where busted and my legs where throbbing but I still continued to ride like a true mountain board would do.  We headed back and  packed up and got back to camp around 10 and a few hours to sleep.

Day 2 down  this was our final day of dirt boarding

Still one board left.

Since this had been our last day we had saved the best hills for last, the most popular hill on the island, they were steep enough to ride us to the bottom and still long enough to do some tricks  and get a bit of air. The drive took about 2 hours, the time flew by we talked about whose tricks  are better and whose board was better.

The car stopped and we all jumped out. All we could see was hundreds of mountain boarder taking our area and riding our mountains. They came over and started defending their hills and tracks.

We talked things through and said we would ride for the area and the loser goes home.

They quickly agreed and, they  chose their best rider a boy who had ridden these mountain still he was a small boy. They choose me the youngest and least experienced to prove to me that I was ready. To no surprise I jumped and missed the first turn and went flying of my board, I  broke the board into to two and same with my left arm and right shoulder. I woke up in hospital three days later we a cast and brace.

Both my mountain boards were broken. The riders had came in and showed me the video we all had a bit of a laugh and sent it to all the grommets in our school.

Holidays  were over and so was the best summer of my life, all thanks to my riders and mountain board. I was the most popular grommet in the school for about and month until another guy go the sweetest mountain board anyone had ever seen.

= MOUNTAIN BOARDS FOR LIFE =

MBS Story Contest

by Richard Jiang - UT
   

              Up Salt Lake City’s Millcreek Canyon, I got my first taste of “mountain boarding”. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was autumn, red and yellow leaves flying everywhere, and absolutely perfect weather as I slid into the make-shift bindings. I had several friends with me, one of which I had gotten this board from. I discovered it in his basement, and having no use for it, he gave it to me. It was nothing more than a flat board with skateboard trucks, oversized wheels, and duct tape bindings. Carving my way through the canyon, I jumped off every three hundred feet or so trying to figure out how to stop efficiently; that is, without burning the soles off of my shoes. My efforts that day were basically futile, but the experience made me want to take a deeper look into the sport.

              I attempted to improve and reinforce the board, plating it with sheets of wood, while hoping to still retain the board’s natural flexibility. But the old board - having spent the majority of its life gathering dust in a cardboard box – would not last long at all. Two months after my first try, everything began to fall apart. Literally.  First, the trucks collapsed, and then two of the tires began leaking air and eventually just went flat. In the end, I was just left with not a board, but a scattered array of seven pieces; four wheels, two trucks, and the board. 

              I first heard about MBS from my friend Trent, who had won a board from one of the monthly sweepstakes MBS holds.  Eventually, I convinced him to let me have just one ride on it. It was my first formal introduction to mountainboarding. The board, though extremely beefy, still had a plush feeling to it.  I was impressed by how easily it took on any terrain I put it up against. 

With Trent’s board in hand, I headed over to Tanner’s Park to check out the terrain and take on some of the slopes.  I’m pretty positive my friends found great joy and entertainment every time I fell over. I had a lot of fun that day - but of course, I had to return the board back to Trent.  Since then, I have been doing my best to pay for one. The local skate shop, Salty Peaks, was very helpful and knowledgeable as they showed me their selection. Unfortunately, I’m still quite a bit short on money, and no doubt I will be for a while.

              Utah has been known for having the best snow on Earth. This also means that the mountains here are much, much larger and put the mountain into mountainboarding.  Usually, every year, Utah’s ski resorts open for events during the off-season for biking and boarding. Park City and the Canyons participate by hosting their events with groomed and un-groomed runs. They have a brilliant park area and several exhilarating slalom runs. Usually at the events, they have professionals put on a show for all the boarders who are new to the sport. It’s breathtaking to watch them soar through the air. Not only do you watch them, you have the opportunity to get items autographed and talk to them about their passion for their sport.  It’s a very casual event, and many people attend every year.

               Once, at an event, my friend accidentally overturned his board while trying to spray us with dirt. He said something about how “in-control” he was. He flipped over and careened through the air, rolling several times on the dirt before coming to a stop. After landing about six feet from where he fell, he crumpled. We quickly rushed to him hoping that not too much damage had been done. Amazingly, he managed to stand back up, regain his balance, and dust himself off. He grinned, almost smugly, as if he had planned the fall to scare us. We stood there in complete disbelief.  He was lucky that he had on all of the right gear. He would have been pretty torn up otherwise.

              Like anywhere else, the police patrol the city, and keep kids off property where there is potential trouble or injury. A couple times a year, my neighbor will drive his golf cart and tow us up the large hill that my friends and I like to carve on. But when there are no hills available, we do with what we can, attempting to gap stairs, hop ledges, and jump loading docks. Most of the time I’m only a spectator, but every once in a while, I take a shot at it myself.  Just about all of the time, I biff it, but there are a few very rare occasions when I somehow, miraculously nail it. I’m as astonished as my friends are when I land those few tricks.  A lot of my friends attempt flat land tricks as well, since they don’t have as easy access to the mountains. 

As usual, Utah has a ton of snow that falls in the winter, which shuts off any type of summer activity. But during any other season, everything is green and the sky is blue. It’s a picturesque scene for riding and boarding.

              Utah is a desert, meaning that we don’t have any forests. We don’t have much green here, period. What we do have are large backyards and a lot of free time.  After finishing up with work and whatever we need to do, we usually hang out. One of us had a huge, unfinished backyard, and we decided to make some use out of the area. We got to work and soon had for ourselves some small, rough ledges and jumps.  We kept digging and piling the dirt for a while, making banks and tabletops. After about two weeks of working on it, we had ourselves a decent course. Well, one of us had to try it out. Thank God it wasn’t me. We forgot to pack the landing spot down, and Connor took off nicely then got the board stuck in the dirt while he went flying. He was rushed to the hospital, and got off with a broken arm. Fortunately, it healed quickly and he got back on his board a month and a half later.

Whether you’re in the city, scaling stairways, rails, and cement, or feeling invincible as you carve down a steep mountain path, Mountainboarding is a great extreme sport!

How I stumbled upon Mountainboarding

Rufus Haynes - CO

Growing up in rural Missouri, there wasn’t much to do when I was a kid.  I had a skateboard, but no where to ride.  Skateparks didn’t exist in the farmland community I grew up in.  My biggest thrill at the time was stepping on my board and going down the street on the hill nearby.  Since the extreme sports culture hadn’t reached its way into my area yet, I had no one to teach me how to ollie.  I thought the skateboard was just a toy to take down hills.  There was a problem with my skateboard.  When I ran out of street, I had to jump off.  Even if I could jump the curb, I would have to ride through grass.  I knew that wasn’t going to work.  This small board couldn’t handle the things I wanted to ride.  I knew I needed bigger wheels and to somehow attach my feet to the board.  Only then, would I have a setup that could tend to my riding needs.  Maybe someday I would run across a board that would fit what I was dreaming of. 

I was probably about eight years old and I remember watching television with my grandmother.  We were watching a program that included some skateboarding.  This was rare for television programming in my area.  They were showing people riding a halfpipe and going bigger than I had ever seen.  I wanted to do that one day.  Further into the episode, they did a special on some kind of off-road skate board.  They were showing people ripping down trails and having total control.  I needed one!  When I first saw that clip, I imagined myself riding through the nearby state park on trails I had walked a hundred times.  No one had ever seen an off-road skateboard before.  I knew from the start, this was going to be my next big thing.

For the next few years, we searched every mall and skate shop from St. Louis to Kansas City for this off-road skateboard.  No one had ever heard of it before.  No one knew where we could get one either.  I remember keeping an eye out and searching constantly for one of these steroidic skateboards for years.  I then forgot about the concept and it went to the back of my head.

My life journey had brought me to the state of Colorado.  I came out here not knowing anything, or what the mountains had in store for me.  I was already an avid mountain biker and had taken up rollerblading a year before my move to Colorado.  I had a good extreme sports mindset and had a thirst for the downhill application.  There was so much to do in Colorado.  I was living in one of the most outdoorsy states and I didn’t know where I wanted to start.  I didn’t have anyone to take me up to the mountains and show me how to ski or snowboard.  Everyone I knew at that point was either boring or a “flatlander.”  Camping was about the only excitement my crew would give in to. 

After living in Colorado for a year and seeing much of the state, I had settled down in the city of Fort Collins.  I was working at the local cd store and enjoying life.  I can’t remember what sparked the repressed memory of the off-road skateboard, but I turned to my co-worker and asked if he had ever seen an off-road skateboard.  He said he hadn’t heard of it.  I told him what the concept was and he was into it too.

That same week, I go into the local pawn shop to see what treasures lay ahead of me.  I went around the corner to the sporting section and looked at the snowboards.  I hadn’t even ridden one at that point.  I paced around that section browsing the equipment displayed on the rack.   Something caught my eyes.  It was out of place.  It didn’t belong there.  I had never seen anything like it before.  This thing was long and had 4 huge wheels on it.  I then saw places where I could secure my feet to the board.  Could this be a better version of the board I had dreamed about for 15 years?  It was, but it was way better than a skateboard.  I knew it right off the bat.  Why would anyone pawn off a rare one of a kind board such as this one? 

I took this board and set it on the ground.  I slid my feet into the bindings.  I pushed off with my right foot and propelled myself forward.  Was the clerk going to see me and tell me to get off the board?  I didn’t care. I was going to buy this board regardless.  I was just giving her a little test drive before the purchase.  I took the board and went to the front to pay for it.  $70 was a very fair price and I didn’t even talk the guy down in price.  I knew this was the start of something different for me.  Little did I know it was going to become my lifestyle.

I took out that board to the biggest hill in town.  I decided to be cautious and start halfway.  I pointed the board downhill and hobbled on trying to keep my balance.  I remember my first ride being slow.  I knew this board could handle more speed than I was giving it.  At this slow speed, I learned how to steer and turn.  After I ran out of momentum, I decided to take the board all the way up the hill this time.  I was new at this.  I wasn’t sure what the outcome was going to be.  Again, I pointed the board downhill and slipped my feet into the bindings.  I was going faster than my last run.  I started taking sharp turns.  Carving back and forth on the pavement gave me the best ride I have ever had.  I had never experienced anything like it. I was hooked. 

Here you go.

Nick - PA

Hi, my name is Nick and I am very glad that I have this opportunity because I signed up for the MBS online newsletter. I was ecstatic when I was reading my first newsletter and found that I had an opportunity to win a new mountain board and get a free hat just for trying and all I had to do was just type 1000 words. I am in middle school in Southeastern Pennsylvania. My English teacher makes the students bring in something we are interested about and this past month I brought in an article about mountain boarding. After we are done reading, the other classmates have to write a response and about half of the class said that they would like to learn how to mountain board including the teacher. I am planning on giving them lessons after Christmas. I also told them the order of how the boards are in quality (pro 100, pro 95, pro 90, comp 95x, comp 95, comp 90, core 95, core 95x, core 90, and the atom series). I also explained long boarding even though that it is off topic for this essay. I really would like to get a new board, so my friends and I could all board at once. I am the only one of my friends with a mountain board. Of course, everyone is jealous that I actually have a board and like all parents mine are worried instantly when they hear the phrase “ I’m going mountain boarding. Be back later.” Then I come home with cuts and bruises and lecture me on wearing pads. I only wear a helmet and knee guards even though I should wear more than that.

Mountain boarding has changed my life drastically forever. Also, my friend’s lives forever. I have really gotten all of my friends into this really awesome extreme sport. We all love going to our big hill near where we live and just take a whole day just to hang out and ride the hill. We all started mountain boarding after we saw the movie “Johnny Kapahala Back on Board”. After I saw that movie, I immediately got on the internet to look up the sport. I saw that at that time I didn’t have enough money for one, so I asked for one for my birthday and my parents gave me money. They told me that I could use my own money to get a board if I wanted to. My parents didn’t know what the sport was and I think they might have been nervous that I was going to get hurt. I quickly got online and found a perfect board for me. I had picked a comp 90, but then I noticed the price and said maybe when I’m older. Then I looked for a good board on the board selector menu on the MBS website, but with a low price. I came upon an awesome board called the Atom 95x. I know now that they sell that board without the brake, but I am glad that I got it with the brake, so I could practice basic skills. I got it in the mail and ever since then I have gone riding a lot. Also, I would like to get some more decks so that I can try them out over time.

My first time mountain boarding was in my neighborhood. I walked down to the hill in my area and started riding. I had gone down it once or twice before I noticed that the garbage men in our neighborhood had started watching me while they were on their break. Then, of course, with my luck it starts raining. Then I called my friend to come over and when it stopped raining we went back out. We got my friend’s ramp and started jumping off it. We went in after a couple of hours and started looking up more cool stuff on mountain boarding. At first we found videos of some of the MBS team videos and of the school tour that they do. Then we had found info on kite boarding. We had found a new extreme sport that is awesome. We went out to huge hill and started riding with about five other friends. We went home and started looking up cool kites on the MBS website. We then looked up all the items that each brand of kite had and we found the Ozone imp quatro and the original Ozone imp. He went home and we hung out the next day. We talked on the internet and decided to try to spread the sport to the kids of the neighborhood. That didn’t work out as well as we thought. First, we didn’t know how to get kids to come. Then, once we actually got some kids there, what would we do for them. We still haven’t gotten a lot of kids to come, but we are getting there. We usually just show them the parts of the board and how to turn or carve.

The friend I was talking about earlier is a scooter rider and a novice skateboarder, so he wants to make a half pipe behind his house. I suggested we make a foam pit for everyone’s benefit. It would help him with his tricks and it would definitely help me with speed and some tricks. We didn’t find out until we got on the internet and found out that making a foam pit costs a LOT of money that we don’t have. Also, I could use the half pipe to practice jumps and dropping in. Again, I will mention that we don’t have a lot of money, so making the half pipe and foam pit are unrealistic at the moment. I do hope that at sometime in my life, maybe in a couple years, it will become a reality or we will have enough money to make it a reality. I don’t know how long that will take though. I hope very soon.

I am not expecting to win the new mountain board, but at least I get a free hat.

MBS STORY CONTEST

By: Marcikic Predrag - Serbia

     I was standing on the top of the hill with concern on my mind. It was only one week left before the scheduled race. We wanted to make small two-men boarder cross with our friends on our new track for grand opening. Guests from Romania and Czech confirmed their coming.  But the track was only half finished. First we couldn't find money for bulldozer.

We asked Government and they sad - Sorry, we spent it all on Olimpics...sponsors said - Sorry, we have other things now, you should contact us earlier... It was all on us.

We paid 100 bucks for tracing, and marking the track, but we needed another 400 to finish it. Somehow, we've found guy who will do it, but don't have to pay it in advance.

But then, rain started... And he said he needs 3 days without rain so he can bring the bulldozer to the hill. Of course, it rained every third day. Damn! So we lost one month in no time.

     Now, rain finally stopped, but we had only few days to do something. But the bulldozer guy was busy now! He said he will come on Thursday, two days before race.Well, better late then never! And he came on Thursday, and he did the job. Finished the track form start to the finish line in ten hours. At least the first version of the 550 meters long track. Only problem was that after the bulldozer, ground looks like plowed field. We couldn't ride on it! A lot of dirt beating had to be done.

     And Friday was the day for that. Spades in hands and hit the ground. And jump, jump, jump like you never jumped before! And then someone came with idea to drive the car along the track...downhill and uphill. In no time (it means several hours) track was ready for test ride. But we was so tired and tried it only few times. But new bad news came.

     My Comp 16 board was already broken in nose area, but now it became dangerous. Crack was now wider and  board couldn't be used in race. So now we had leonly two useful boards in Serbia - Jeremy Leafe and Comp 95. Damn! And that wasn't the end of the bad news! All Serbian started to pull out from competition, one by one. Slo had important test on work that day, Brzak had swimming competition at the same time, Jovan left to Austria to play american football game, Acid fell from motorcycle and injured his neck, Gaja had injured his knee, Stavro and Paja got sick.. Referees also couldn't come. The world was falling apart.Perhaps this was haunted land and we shouldn't built track on it? Hope not! Maybe the way to heaven leaded through spiked road? I believed so. And I was right.

     The day of the race came. Sun was high and the weather was lovely.

Ground was ready for testing. Our friends from Czech and Romania arrived. Welcome guys! Nice to see you again! C'mon let's see the track. You will love it, I said.

     And we started to walk. From the top of the hill, you can see only first half oh the track. And it looks nice and interesting. But when you go to the other part, you can see how steep and difficult it becomes. Curve after curve, each one harder then the one before, with not so big (for now) side walls. All of them stopped and stared at track. The chin went down and eye browns flew up. If they could, they would gone up in the sky. It's scary!, they said. Suicidal! And it really looked that way. But we are mountainboarders! We do not know what fear is. Some of us put it on our pizza. Either that, or go play some chick sports like tennis or volleyball.

     We put our protective gear on and started riding. Whoa! This is great- everybody said. The speed, dust clouds behind you, drift, rush in your veins, heart jumping in chest... all of it was making this track testing rad and freakin' awesome! We were falling, getting up, sliding away and coming back on track, enjoying every meter of it. Only problem was coming back. Slow walk uphill isn't that easy, especially after that powerful ride which is also exhausting. People who don't ride mountainboard, don't believe me when I tell them that my pulse goes on almost 180 beats per minute after one downhill. Well, they should try. It's not easy. And after that you have to climb back to the start line. And do it again. Not easy, for sure.But fun.

     Ten riders were ready.Seven from Romania, one from Czech and only two from Serbia! Including me. I decided to go first. At my first try, I was ridding with deflated tires. It was slower, but without mistakes and falling. But then, all other riders, one by one, had better time than I did. Wrong tactic for sure. In no time, I had inflated my tires and prepared for second try. First eight goes through. I wouldn't want to ninth. So on I did it again with harder tires and gained greater speed. I fell few times but I still had better time for 30 seconds. And I ended on second place. Right after first favorite  - Bobi from Romania.

     It was time for races now. Four quoter-finals, four two men boarder cross races. Second rider from Serbia had springs failure on his board, so he ended ninth. Out of further competition. But he decided to be our transporter from finish back to the start line. He drove after each race down with his car and pick us up. Life saver! It was much easier to ride now. So races were tight and exciting now, full of fight and fun. Czech rider Ondre and Romanian  rider Marcu had the toughest race. On first curve they bumped to each other, there was little pushing and a crash.

But they continued with the race and it was uncertainly all the way to the finish line.Somehow, Marcu went through. Another race was also good- between godfather of Romanian mountainboarding George and Sam  - young rider who is getting better and better each time I see him. After first two curves, Sam was in the lead, and it looked like the younger rider will easily defeat older one.

But right on the middle of the track, he just stopped. We wondered what happened but then he took his board and threw it in bushes as the George was passing him. Oh, no!- someone said.

He has flat tire again! Unbelievable! Romanians said that he is the FLAT TIRE MASTER. Each time someone have a flat tire, it's usually Sam. Poor guy. He was on such a good run.

     Finally, four guys left. But everyone knew that I will be racing with Bobi in finals. We waited so long for that clash. So George and Marcu didn't have any chance against us. I'm not saying that we are that better from them, it was just meant to be. And that moment came. Me against Bobi. I was pretty tired, but he wasn't in better shape also. Our fists confronted, but in the friendly way, and after the mark, we started the last race of the day. It was close, but he succeeded to get in the front, and I was the one who was eating his dirt. It was going to my eyes also.

So on second curve, I've lost control for moment, what he used to run away. I was trying to follow him but lack of speed was obviously. His lead was increasing more and more. That went into my mind mixing with other feelings and that caused loosing focus on next curve. Another  mistake caused even bigger gap between us. And this one was fatal for me. Bobi had some problems in the second part of the track, and even slided away from the track, but he succeeded to get back before I came. Even though I had better ridding in second part, his lead was big enough to win the race and competition. I came to the finish line few second after him with my heart beating through my mouth, but I wasn't said about that.

     Nevertheless, I was very glad I was in such an good race, such an good competition. Bobi came and hugged me, with happiness flowing from his ears.

     -Great men! -he said. What a great race.I never had such a great day of boarding! This is mine best mountainboarding ever!

     -Mine also, I've said. And I meant it. I was happy that it all came up so good.

     -Now, I want to eat some goulash!, Bobi said, and I said no problem. Later that day, during diner, we had long talk about that race, that track, that day, and agreed to do it next year again, on even better and improved track, with more riders. And I am sure that everyone who comes, will have same experience as we did.

Inspiration

By: Andrew Smedley - AL

              As a mountainboarder living in Alabama, there are not many places to ride, but on one occasion I discovered a new aspect of mountainboarding while on a road trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. One of the best things about an Alabama winter is that it is not very cold. Although some may consider that as a disadvantage, I think of it as an advantage. While other mountainboard riders must store their boards for the winter, I continually ride year round helping me to improve a lot faster than someone in Colorado.

The Thanksgiving of 2008 our family packed our van, mountainboard strapped to the roof and headed up to Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee’s winters are much like Alabama’s -- not much snow. In Knoxville, my family met up with my grandparents as well as relatives from North Carolina and Colorado. Knoxville has a relatively new all concrete skatepark. Since Thanksgiving was on a Thursday and we came on a Tuesday, my dad offered to take me to the skatepark. Last time I was visiting my grandparents I had brought my custom MBS Comp 16 to the skatepark yet found it disappointing because the skatepark was mostly flat. So on this trip to the skatepark I only brought my skateboard. The trip to the skatepark was uneventful and cold. The next day my cousins came from North Carolina including my 10 year old cousin Sam. Sam thought my mountainboard was awesome, so I began teaching him how to ride and how to feel comfortable with the board. Little did I know this would play to my advantage. Thanksgiving Day my dad offered again to take me to the skatepark, stating, “We might as well get as much out of the trip as we can.” Gratefully I took him up on the offer. My little cousin Sam had never been to a skatepark before so he was pumped. I was headed to the car with my skateboard, when he came out of the garage with my mountainboard trailing behind him. I thought, “He can bring it if he likes but he is not going to find anything to do.” Being Thanksgiving Day, it was very quiet at the skatepark, yet it only took a chance meeting with one man to make this the best mountainboarding road trip of my life.

 I did not know his name, how old he was, or anything about him. But that one skateboarder noticed I was keeping a sharp eye on my cousin for the safety of him and my mountainboard. “Hey” he asked, “is that your board?” “Yeah,” I replied, “that’s my little cousin.” “I have a motorized mountainboard that’s really fun. Have you heard of Big Foot Trails?” “No” I said, “What is it?” Big Foot Trails turned out to be a mountain bike park on the top of a mountain. We wrote down directions and headed towards the trails. We only had a few hours because Thanksgiving Dinner was quickly approaching. I got in a few runs on some of the rollers, but that was just the beginning of what I discovered there. The only real trail that was open was one which curved around the side of the hill going back down to the parking lot then it merged with the path which travels straight to the top. Riding down this trail was exuberating, adrenaline pumping, and incredible! I am not really sure how to describe it except that it was like a cross between snowboarding and wake boarding. The trail was perfectly manicured for my mountainboard. My tires PSI were perfect. It seemed that every ramp, roller or tabletop I rode up slowed me down perfectly for the next set, not letting me get out of control. I was riding at breakneck speeds but thanks to my Matrix Light trucks with red egg shocks I never experienced the slightest speed wobble. Every turn I took I uttered a silent prayer that my tires wouldn’t slip on the loose rocks and dirt sending me hard into the ground. Every swell sent me floating lightly across the top to careen down the other side. With the end of the trail in sight, the only thing left was to stop. Pulling together my brain fragments, I powerslid to a stop right before the metal gate at the entrance of the park. Letting out a sigh of relief and excitement I just stood there, contemplating what had taken place. This adrenaline pumping aspect of mountainboarding was completely new to me. I had never felt the fluidity of motion which such a trail could produce. The effortless motion which occurred spontaneously while riding down this trail left me dumbfounded. I always thought that you needed to do a bigger jump or a larger trick to get more adrenaline yet this effortless motion had enough adrenaline pumping though my body to run a marathon.

Throughout the next few hours, I continued to ride the trail getting more comfortable with each run. I started thinking maybe I could pump down the hills and jump a little harder off the ramps  in order to catch some real air. That was not the best idea. I was riding sketchily the whole way down the trail because of my new ideas of forcing the jumps. Coming to the last tabletop, I approached it at an angle. Catching some air, my back tires slid out and I slid to a stop using my rear end as a brake. This tore through my back pocket and through my pants. I put my hands down to catch myself as I fell. Thankfully I was wearing protective gloves, but even that didn’t stop a foreign object from puncturing my hand. Feeling some slight pain, I examined my glove. Observing a small perforation in my glove, I thought I might have a thorn stuck in my skin. Removing the glove, I scrutinized my wound. To my dismay, there was a pool of blood quickly forming in my palm. An object had seemingly pierced my leather Hillbilly glove and my hand. Two minutes later, I found myself standing at the bottom of the trail clutching my hand, yet trying not to get my clothes bloody. Luckily, there were vast arrays of antibacterial wipes at my disposal. Our day at the trails ended bloodily. However, my wound was not serious, thanks to my Hillbilly protective gloves.

What a day!!

By: Kyle Specer - Kenya, Africa

Hi guys my name is Kyle Spencer I'm 13 years old and live in Kenya, Africa. I live in a small town called Mombasa which is on the Indian Ocean just below the equator so it's really hot here! The sun rises and sets at about 6.30am and 6.30pm the whole year round!                                                                                                                                

I got my first mountain board while I was in England visiting my grandparents with my mum. We were actually looking for a skateboard but my mum saw it first, well I had no idea at that time what it was. We asked the shop attendant and he said it was a mountain board that could go almost anywhere so my mum and I decided whether to go for a skateboard or a mountain board since there weren't many places to go skateboarding in Mombasa we got the mountain board. I had no clue what to do with it but one thing is for sure I was dying to try it out!

My mum and I got on the long bus journey to my grandparents house. I was taking up one extra seat just for my mountain board. We got back at about 11pm and I went up in my room with my mountain board of course and started to get the feel of it. One thing that I was sure about was it was very stable and easy to jump. My grandpa didn't like me jumping because it interrupted his movie.

The next day I woke up and immediately got ready for the cold winter morning. My mum was taking my grandma's dog Daisy out for a walk so I tagged along so could try out my mountain board. We got out of the house and straight away daisy went ahead of us I got on my board on the pavement and the wheels started to roll. It felt like surfing (and I do a lot of that at home!) because you can carve about, it also felt like skateboarding because that's where it originated from.

We got to the grassy slopes and hills of the park. Daisy started to bark and growl at the squirrels in the trees sometimes she imagines them. I walked over to the top of one of the hills and put my feet in the bindings with my pads on and rolled away with such excitement and amusement. I went up the same hill and went down it again and again. Soon I became bored and went exploring for a new hill. There it was, a muddy leafy long slope. I first checked out to see if it was all right. I zoomed down it with a feeling that I can't explain. As soon as I was feeling over confident a root that was covered with some leaves brought me down with a smash right into a thorn bush with stinging nettles I came out of it with a few bruises and a lot of cuts but I was all right.

Just like in a movie a man appeared out of the blue saying "first time riding hay" "Ya" I said a little shocked as I didn't seem him coming. "Well you should not really be riding this hill for your first ride maybe something like that" he said and pointed to the longest hill practically, it was just made for beginners! He reached over and shook my hand. "My name is Chris Jones I have been mountain boarding for six years I don't do it any more because I tore my right knee cartilage while I was in America looking for the ultimate place to have fun and mountain board " he said with a sad voice.  "Kyle Spencer" I introduce myself. "Chris will you be around tomorrow, I sure would love to get some tips!." "No problem lets meet here tomorrow morning at 9am and we'll head to the long hill." He said. "Fantastic thanks, see you then, I'd better get going now as my mum is probably starting to get worried I've been here for hours! ". "You're right I should go as well see you tomorrow" he said as he got up from the ground. 

I woke up ready for my lesson, went down stairs to the kitchen and grabbed an apple and some water then wrote a note on the fridge to my mum saying "I have gone to mountain board with a friend I met yesterday come and watch me when you take Daisy for a walk see you Kyle". I walked out of the door with my mountain board in one hand and eating my apple in the other. On my shoulder I had a small black bag with my water and my pads and helmet in it. I got to the place we were going to meet up but no one was there. I looked every where but still no sight of Chris then I heard a man calling my name I looked to the voice and there I saw Chris at the long hill. I walked towards him and saw about three other people mountain boarding down the same hill but they were doing tricks on a ramp.

 "Sleep well?" Chris said while he looked at my mountain board "Ya I did is the right board for me do you think? "I asked .He said with encouragement "Well there is only one way to see get on and ride down" "Ok" I said while I put my feet in the bindings. "Ready" he said like a starts man "Ready" I said while I was admiring the slop in front of me. I started to roll away again but this was much more fun. I was going smoothly and even managed to do a jump at the end of the hill. Chris shouted "That was awesome, you're a natural, are sure you haven't done this before?!"  I explained that I live in Kenya and spend a lot of time in the sea and surf when ever the swell is up. 

Chris knew quite a few of the guys mountain boarding and before I knew we had all become friends! What a day!!




Once upon a time, I rode my first mountainboard.

By: Dylan Grimmett - CO

        Once upon a time, I rode my first mountainboard. When I first heard about the mountainboard I was ecstatic. Freebording was new but a thing in the past compared to the revolutionary idea of mountainboarding. There are no limitations to what you can accomplish with  this sport. It is a global pandemic that is sweeping the nation; if you  are into freestyle, boarder cross,  flat out cruising, and even kiteboarding, this is what you need to invest in. During the sunny days of zero snow I’m at home banging my head on the kitchen counter mourning the absence of snowboarding. One of those days I went to my room and logged on to  BC surf and sports web to look for a long board, and suddenly I was shocked to see one with massive terrain trucks and bindings. What was this? MBS was the brand and for a year or so I saved what I could to buy the cheapest of all, the Atom 95. But, of course I ran it by my parents and they recognized the safety issue involved which  forced me to save even longer for the Atom 95X, the hand-held reversible V-brake was all I needed, and to be decked out in pads galore before I left the house.

        So there I was, a 16 year old nobody, just like a lot of us, who wants to prove himself to the world. On my left was my best friend Michael Palestino, on the right was my brand spanking new board. We drove out to a local trail and started the session. That was the shakiest start to anything I have ever done, I was falling off attempting straight airs all the while Mike sat and laughed awaiting his try. Ending that day was me and him with nothing but identical scrapes and bruises marking the failures we encountered. Elbows and knees comparable to that of hospital patients, for we don’t stop trying until common sense kicks in, and that takes a lot longer for the both of us than the average bear. The only mistake of that day was stripping off every pad on our body and the disassembly of the break; when we got home we cooked up the excuse that all the layers and pads embodying us didn’t help, since they “slipped” down our arms when we fell.

        After all that, Mike went home and for the rest of the week I dedicated my time to incorporate my snow steez into the dirt. Homework? Nah, those six or so hours after school were strictly given to mountainboarding. I practiced tell the last light went out. Parking lots and streets were my realm, the variety was unbelievable. This sport was changing my life, no longer was I receiving concussions from the previous head banging, but now from the falls I was having to push for something new. Every sport I try has a majority of boring characteristics or rules, mountainboarding has none of that. You do what you want when you want, every citizens dream. There are no limits, and while mountainboarding is at a plateau of  what people have accomplished and a minimum number of riders there is so much opportunity for any nobody, to become a somebody. Just put your own personal steez into what you do and there is a question to the word limitations.

        Promising to do that, the next weekend I was pumped to throw what I had. Even though it wasn’t much it had shown me I can do stuff a lot that people can’t. Yet again, on my left was my friend, on the right was my board. We went to venture to the perfect place, the Valor Christian High School’s stadium parking lot. This heaven had six foot drops off curbs with slopes, soccer goals I have never had seen before that were no more than 4 feet tall, 90 degree curbs, and more. You can do so much with so little. Starting off the day was front side 180’s then some curb stalls with tail grab. Practicing that for an hour or two we decided to slightly step it up to Back side 180’s, front and back half cabs, and lastly incorporating grabs. Nose, tail, melon, method, lemon, etc.. Both of us being stoked over our accomplishments we sought after the six foot ledge. After some runs off without a board beneath the feet to get a feel for the allotted time in the  air, I managed to kick myself in the biscuits by landing on my feet, tucking, and my heel coming up for a strike. We quickly realized to wait on that tell the next weekend. Ending the day with a little more self gratification than the last, I attempted one last half cab. Riding in comfortably by Mike throwing me into the smaller lip I went for it, ollied, twisted my upper body with the board following, and landed, slightly off but still with my butt off the ground. I rode away needing to end the day with a perfect 10, but what stopped me from doing so was the quick wobble and buck I got from my board. The entire  15.5” ATS back truck included in my buy turned almost as much as I did in the trick. I looked at it and didn’t realize what was wrong until I drove to ace hardware to buy a nut and bolt to replace one that was missing from that truck, I thought that was why it freaked out on me but I was wrong. Mike looked at it, and spun the truck in a  complete 360. We realized the problem wasn’t with one bolt that held the truck to the board, but the truck itself.

        There was a crack in the center of the truck causing it to spin freely. We tightened the truck as much as we could in hopes it would let us end the day with a solid trick under our belt. It worked at first tell we started popping for another trick. Disappointed we drove home, an email was all I could do asking for a replacement. To my surprise I had a strike of luck receiving a reply that said, “Hi Dylan, Send us a picture of the truck and we will see about sending a replacement. send some pics of you riding too! sounds like you are ripping! J Lee”. I was stoked, I might not have to wait another month or so to save up and shred! All I could and can do for now is sit and wait for more good news.

My Best Day of  Riding a Mountainboard - The Logging Roads

By Matt Haynes - OR

        It’s nice outside, I get back from school, grab my board, and head up the grueling rocky slopes of the logging road behind my house. As I head up the slopes, I smell the fresh crisp scent that comes with any remote place. Flying overhead is a red-tail hawk, circling for prey. Everywhere there are small birds, juncos and robins, tweeting to each other. I arrive at my first run, it’s off the main path on a narrow dirt trail. On either side, there are blackberry bushes and small alder trees. Both would be pretty painful to crash into considering that I was wearing a short sleeved T-shirt and jeans. I go over the route in my mind and then jump in. I ace the first downhill section with no trouble and head into the flat section. This section is just wide enough for the board to fit through and even a small turn could send you straight into an alder tree. As I enter the section, I manage to stay straight until one of the last trees that stuck out slightly into the path. I swerve to the right to avoid it and then turn back on to the trail but I turn to much and head straight for a patch of blackberries. I try to turn but not enough time, one tire gets caught in the bushes and then everything else gets sucked in, forcing me to fall on my butt. 0uch, I think bluntly. Now that the first minor crash is over with, I can think about what really matters; getting down the rest of the slope. Heading out of the alders and into the final downhill section gives no more trouble. This is my favorite section because you have got more room to maneuver, and you get going the fastest. After making it down once without any trouble, I jog up to do the final downhill again. At the bottom, I take a small side trail that gets me back to the bottom of the main road.

        Again I head up, but further this time to another side road which leads to the biggest, deadliest, hill on the whole road and any other side roads that I’ve discovered so far. This slope is actually better described as three smaller slopes, because there are flat sections in-between them that you can’t get enough momentum on to make it to the next section. I head down the first section picking up speed as I go and trying to stay in the smaller rocks. It takes a lot of concentration to pick out where to go to avoid hitting a huge rock and flipping over. Finally, the ground levels out and the board comes to a steady stop. My legs feel like rubber from being jarred around so much as I head over to the next downhill deathtrap.

        This middle section is much longer then the first and although it isn’t quite as steep, it has a tricky turn at the end. Down I go, again trying to avoid big rocks and preparing for the turn at the end. I reached the turn, maybe a little to much towards the inside but still made it, only to hit a rock on the other side and lose my balance. Barely, I managed to slip my feet out of the bindings and bail out. My mountain board kept rolling down the hill until it hit a rock and flipped over. I gathered up the board and headed down to the next and final hill.

        The last hill consists of a large S-shaped curve and is as steep as the first hill. Plus in this last hill, the rocks that you ride over are almost the size of your fist. I took one last breath and jumped in. The first turn I make nicely but on the second, my tire hits a rock and I lose balance, try to stop, but in the loose gravel it’s hopeless and I come crashing down… hard. First, I feel my shoulder blades hit the jagged earth and scrape against the rocks as I tumble, then I feel my helmet thud as it smacks into a rock. As always, the first thing that I think as I’m laying there is “Am I OK? My mom’s goanna kill me if I’ve broken anything.” I lay there a while longer to make sure before getting up and moving on. When I got up, I noticed that my back was extremely sore but other then that I was fine. Grasping the board, I climb my way back up the three runs and onto the main road. As I approach the top a group of quail, disturbed by my arrival, flutter away out of a bush.

        So far it’s been a pretty good day on the logging road but I decide to hit one last run before it gets dark and I head for home. This last run is located near a couple of water tanks and is my favorite run. The run is basically a big, wide dirt hill with a tight turn at the bottom. No rocks. No trees. Just good, forgiving dirt. Eagerly, I approach the water tanks and head down, confident that this run will give me no more trouble. I head down gaining speed and weaving in and out of small clumps of grass. I reach a bare patch of dirt that signals that the turn is coming up and gives me a good chance to practice my power slide. As I quickly head into the turn, something catches my eye and I come to an immediate stop. By the side of the hill is a huge porcupine, lazily munching on leaves and twigs. Now there’s something you don’t see every boarding day. The porcupine takes no notice of me until I get too close and it slowly waddles away into the bushes.

        It’s getting late so I decide to call it quits. Today was a good day boarding and tomorrow I’ll be back up on the logging road doing it all again.

Time to Board…

By: Bradley - UK

My first experience of mountain boarding was at a ‘mobile centre’ set up at an event about 6 years ago now, I remember thinking how great it was and how I should take it up, my hour session ended and my boarding journey began. I got home and received a phone call from the centre saying I had come 3rd in the raffle and won a full set of pads, a few weeks later they arrived, I checked them over and put them in my wardrobe for ‘a while’. I wouldn’t do much with them at this point because I wasn’t particularly the sporty type.

3 years later I travelled to Cornwall, in the receptionists at the caravan park there was a leaflet stand – and one leaflet in particular caught my eye: IVYLEAF MOUNTAIN BOARDING CENTRE.

I remembered about my last lesson at the event (over 3 years ago at this point) and took the leaflet back to our caravan to find out if I could go, about 4 days after finding the leaflet we set out to board at Ivyleaf, I was so excited I had another chance to try this sport – although nervous at my lack of practise. We arrived and I was hooked up with some gear and had an hour lesson… then an hour to put what I had learnt into practise – it was going great and I was even being a bit daring and trying some of the tracks for the first time – the day was going great up until the point I came off the berm at a funny angle and landed awkwardly on my arm… I was driven to hospital where it was examined and eventually put into a sling… that stopped any boarding for the rest of the holiday and the last few days were spent sleeping on the beach.

Another 2 years passed before I went back to Cornwall, eager to go back to Ivyleaf – although still nervous; this was still only going to be my 3rd go! I started off really carefully – terrified over what happened last time – but eventually went and done the track that had caused the problem in the first place. The DVD we were filming ends with me pointing at one of the biggest tracks there and commenting ‘This track I would never do…’

Now I really want to go back and attempt it… just from this last year of boarding my confidence has shot through the roof:

I started searching for mountain boards online and settled upon the Scrub Photon, I bought it from my local extreme sports stockists about a year ago and then went on the look out for a good boarding spot – my pads finally getting used – I built up my general skills on a gentle slope in my local area, gradually becoming more and more confident. I searched for centres nearby and found Ride The Hill XBP – I thought I would check it out and about 3 weeks after finding out about it I got to go there and attempt my first jumps, I was really pleased with my progress after a few hours of non – stop boarding and by the time I left I was tired but felt brilliant. I’ve been back at the end of every month since I got my board and had a lesson on about my 3rd visit, when I learnt grabs and 180s. I bought my own ramp to use when not at a centre and have been practising tricks ever since.

I personalised my new helmet with boarding stickers and bought some new clothes ready for the winter season and the boggy conditions that winter brings. I set off to Ride the Hill again, this time fullof confidence – and a lot fitter than my first time. The centre was practically deserted; we were the first people there – I guess other boarders didn’t see a point in going because it had been a very wet week. We practically had the centre to our selves for about half an hour. More people started arriving but there was still hardly anyone on the ramps and grind rails. Two youngsters asked me how to do tricks – I was quite shocked; in just a year I had gone from being the asker to being the asked! I showed them on a ramp of their choice (I would have chosen a bigger one) and after a few goes they had got the hang of it. I went on to board for the rest of the day, getting covered in mud and rather wet from the constant rain, eventually being one of the last people to leave.

As I said before I wasn’t particularly a sporty person; I would’ve rather stayed in and watch T.V. thando exercise – but mountain boarding has totally changed that – I drop anything to get some more mountain boarding in, I’m even thinking about going and boarding around outside whilst writing this story. I am also in better shape now than I have been before and so can board for longer. Next year I am determined to try some bigger stuff and I’m going to compete in the next TRAMPA challenge; after watching this years competition I am gonna train every chance I get, ready to compete next year.

Since starting Mountain boarding seriously about 9 months ago now I have already got four people interested; hopefully taking them to a centre next year to start them off on their boarding journey. My 4 year old cousin even likes the sport! He asks to watch the BFC film – {Like This} and I am planning to start him mountain boarding as soon as possible.

I couldn’t have done it without my family, who take time out of their day to take me around boarding. Being under the driving age by two years I have to be driven to centres and even my local freeride spot as there is nowhere within walking distance that is a good enough boarding spot. I was told about some more spots by another local Mountain Boarder that I am gonna hit in the new year, (accompanied by some good weather hopefully!)

Thanks for reading my Boarding story.

THE END : )