Location: Halfway between Dogtown and the Badlands
Age: 47
Posts: 1,103
Re: Mongo or Non Mongo?
Quote:
Originally Posted by geolemon
Well, I'll give you that there would be less repositioning on most of our boards than when riding a shortboard, where your normal riding stance involves having your rear foot on the tail.
(and that is what I teach to the young 'uns)
But that raises yet another handicap - why close any doors? Why limit future options?
You might want to ride a shortboard in the future.
Why make any of it awkward?
I've always used various size boards. I rarely ride shorter boards these days, but back in the day I routinely switched back and forth, riding 32" and 40" boards about equally. And my riding has always been more of a shortboard style, even on the longer boards (including vert and freestyle).
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They aren't in a genre that even involves pushing to be competitive... so of course it doesn't help them either.
All three mentioned are/were slalom racers. We don't always have start ramps (especially at the outlaw races, where Hackett and Chaput have done rather well). Back in the day, Hester was known for having the fastest start. In many interviews, he attributed much of his success to his starts...
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I hear "feeling offended" more than counter-arguments - I think the arguees are missing the points...
1) Some (granted, not all) people will have to reposition their feet when stepping on the board, because many skateboards ARE meant to be ridden with the back foot on the tail (ie. shortboards, as one example). OR - even on other skateboards - it's wise to ride that way in certain conditions (uneven pavement, large sidewalk cracks, stones, pebbles, twigs, leaves, etc) so you can unweight your front wheels rather than screeching to a halt and later tending to your bloody road rash. Not an issue if you push regular. Repositioning issue if you push mongo in both cases.
2) There's no BENEFIT to pushing mongo. Hackett and Chaput didn't GAIN because of pushing mongo. The best you can say is "they overcame it, so it didn't handicap them". And likewise, these are citations of some one-off particular person who didn't suffer for it in one particular situation/niche/circumstance/scenario. For example, for those cited above:
3) It's slalom - much of the time, there IS a starting ramp. So, it's completely and totally not a factor there. But outlaw or not, even in that situation - it's a mad scramble of a few pushes to get up to speed, and then you step on your board and pump it out - no more pushing involved. It's a minority of the time in the race. By nature of that, you mitigate the whole "stepping off your board at speed to push" issue of having your board get squirrelly - and in fact, by nature of it being a race the surface is much more perfect anyway. Or are you arguing that if you ride Mongo and only ride near-perfect, broom-swept surfaces, THEN pushing Mongo doesn't handicap you? It still doesn't HELP you, and it still DOES potentially limit you.
That's all I'm saying - that's why I (and others, professionals) say it's a bad habit.
Regardless of whether you'd agree or not, you certainly wouldn't argue that it's a GOOD habit, because it doesn't provide ANY benefit over pushing normally.
And these are just objective.
Subjective / opinion would be... what, style?
I personally don't like it stylewise either. If I did, it still wouldn't change my points.
1) Some (granted, not all) people will have to reposition their feet when stepping on the board, because many skateboards ARE meant to be ridden with the back foot on the tail (ie. shortboards, as one example).
What are you babbling about? Your front foot is pointed straight ahead when pushing. Everyone re-positions their front foot at an angle when they put their back pushing foot on the board regardless of where they place the back foot.
Mongo pushers re-position their back foot when they place their pushing foot on the front of the board. In either case, riders re-position the non-pushing foot that is already on the board.
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"Are you looking to have a super gee-whiz board or do you want to be a faster rider/racer? If it's the former, spend your money however you want. If, however, it's the latter, save your money for travel costs and race entry fees. Riding different terrain and with other skaters will make you a better/faster skater than dropping a grand on a toy." - Mile High Mark
^^^^^^^Quoted for the goddamn truth^^^^^^^^^
I've apparently exceeded your shallow imagination. Or, you are just trying to be obnoxious. Either way, don't swim deeper- there aren't any lifeguards here...
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Your front foot is pointed straight ahead when pushing. Everyone re-positions their front foot at an angle when they put their back pushing foot on the board regardless of where they place the back foot.
And likewise that occurs when pushing mongo - you rotate your foot. That's because it's attached to your body.
So, that common issue naturally factors out. (edit... nevermind )
Don't scroll back, let me recap for you:
The repositioning issue (as pretty thorougly overdescribed at this point) is that your back foot is actually standing over or in front of your rear truck. There's an actual stepping backward required to put it on the tail, if/when you need to do so (what types of boards, circumstances, etc have also been pretty thoroughly overdescribed at this point). And you can't leave it there when you push - so back up front it goes just so you can step off to push again.
...some people who push mongo additionally let their foot move forward a bit, to the middle of the board - like pushing switch - my guess is because they HAVE experienced the other downside of pushing mongo (ie rear weighting/steering/leverage). That causes an additional step too, even if you don't need/have a tail.
Go on - envision it. Imagine.
That repositioning affects weight distribution on the board as you skate, front to rear.
Twisting your foot as you skate normal (or mongo) doesn't. Draw an X on your board at the ball of your foot. It won't leave it.
That repositioning affects weight distribution on the board as you skate, front to rear.
Twisting your foot as you skate normal (or mongo) doesn't. Draw an X on your board at the ball of your foot. It won't leave it.
when speedboarding and pushing mongo, i actualy do not move my back foot, i push and right into my tuck, its very fluid. but for a short board you are correct. Mongo is very bad form if you are a street skater, cause there is not the proper amount of time to readjust before hitting the rail in most cases.
Re: Mongo or Non Mongo?
(especially at the outlaw races, where Hackett and Chaput have done rather well). Back in the day, Hester was known for having the fastest start. In many interviews, he attributed much of his success to his starts...
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