what's the difference

What’s the difference?

            As an avid longboard rider I can honestly say that there is difference between skateboarding and longboarding. Obviously as my friends and my classmates have seen I rarely go anywhere without my board. Longboarding is a more about going out cruising around and just trying to have fun. While skateboarding is about going out and trying to look cool. When I first got started with skating I actually started on a skateboard, but quickly got bored do to the fact that there is only so much you can do on a skateboard, plus having to push that thing all around town is ridiculous. It wasn’t until one day that I saw my friends new longboard that got me started on my love for this new and upcoming sport. 

            One question that you should ask yourself is when the last time you saw a skateboard with a different shape was. Longboarding has come a long way from surfers out in California taking their skateboard wheels and trucks and mounting them on their surf boards. Today longboards are categorized into two categories with many subcategories. The first major type of board is a top-mounted board. These types of boards are boards were the trucks are mounted underneath the deck or the part that you stand on are meant for cruising and doing some tricks. The next type of deck is call a drop-through deck which is a more stable board at high speeds which allows you to go faster and cruise longer.  

            Longboards today are far more advanced to the point that people will go out and spend thousands of dollars to get a new board for every type of ride. As I’ve been sitting here writing this blog I looked over and saw that I myself have three different boards. Which to people who don’t have a longboard seems excessive but all three boards have a purpose and I still enjoy riding them all on the weekend with my friends.

            The only difficulty about bringing my longboards to school is trying to balance school work and riding my longboard, but that doesn’t matter because these kids from University of Kanas. Yes it would be nice to have a longboarding club here on campus but there is two issues. One we already have a club; and two the one that we have no one knows about including myself. If it wasn’t for a colleague at work I wouldn’t have found out about the club.

            Most boards that are seen on campus come from three major companies, one is Bustin Boards, the next is Landyachtz Skateboards, and lastly the one is Sector 9. All three of these make good boards, but my personal favorite out of all three is Bustin boards. The board that I’m currently riding now is my newest one the Bustin Maestro Mini which is displayed left. I recently got this board because the board the two boards that I originally brought were both forty one inches. This new that I got is only thirty two inches which is better for campus because the smaller the board the faster you can turn and the easier it is to maneuver. The longer the board is the faster you can go. If you interested about finding more out there are going to be hyperlinks at the bottom.

            If I had the ability to go back in time and give my younger self some advice it would have been to skip skateboarding and just go straight to longboarding. This would have saved me three hospital visits for concussions, and a lot of stitches on my side.  Longboarding when I first got started was easy and difficult at the same time. It was easy because I started skating so the same mechanics were being used but, at the same time it was difficult because the first two weeks I got my longboard Chicago had a major heat wave for 3 weeks which meant I couldn’t go outside and skate because it was too hot. 

            Now that I’ve been skating for almost three years I can officially say that I prefer longboarding so much more than skateboarding because skateboarding gets old and repetitive. While yes longboarding can get old it never has to be repetitive because you can take a longboard anywhere but you can’ take a skateboard everywhere.   

Carving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXqmRAUsn9U

Sliding: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW-J2pQrlsw             

downhill competetion: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_R3tGdFTSM