Hey all - I had a question for anyone out there. I am a new longboarder, so new in fact that my first ever board is still on its way here! I am starting off on a Loaded Vanguard with RII-180's for all around fun riding (I hope).
Any way, I found these great forums some time back and have been slowly reading about sliding, LDP, dancing, and then racing. I really dont ever think I will be into DH. It just isnt my style anymore. But.... this cone carving is looking intriguing! Especially after checking out some vids.
Here is the deal - I have been snowboarding since it was illegal on most hills/mountains. I got into racing and did slalom, GS, Super G and then BoarderCross. I also used to race on skiis both in Slalom and GS. Top it off with autocrossing during the summer months and I love to dodge cones/poles/panels!
I was curious if anyone here ever raced on a snowboard or skiis and how it translated over to the skateboard. TS looks crazy to me. From an outside watcher, it reminded me of controlled speed wobbles! From a skiier standpoint it looked like racing through a flush for the entire course. I feel like I should be pretty quick edge to edge but nothing I have ever been on turns as fast as a slalom skateboard. The Hybrid and GS courses looked a lot more my style, but I could be wrong.
So anyone out there able to give any comparisons?
Oh, I am also a tech and gadget nut and some of the dedicated race decks and trucks really got my interest going! Reminded me a lot of my custom boards and billet alum bindings...
hey to a fellow snowboarder. i haven't done much competitive snowboarding, but i do ride boarder cross courses when they take they fences down. i wish i lived close to the mountains. anyways looks like you picked a sweet board to start on, i just picked up a dervish off here and love it a ton more than my s9.
you might wanna look at neversummer, they are trying their hand at longboards, and seem to be doing a good job.i've heard their snowboards were very good, so I would expect the longboards to be up to par.
many to slalom pros are also very good snowboarders. John Gilmour (excellent slalom skater and snowboarder) could probably talk about this for as long as you'd listen.
You'd probably have a lot of fun on a nice GS/HS setup
Yeah - Love the Hardboots & Raceplates! You may want to check out Bomberonline.com....it's an Alpine Snowboard website with a forum dedicated to longboarding. JP
I did a bit of ski racing in college. However (and a big however) CU was one of the top schools for skiing, and I was on the hack squad. Back in the day, we skated parallel style for even more similarity to skiing and to keep ourselves in shape for the winter.
The concepts are very similar, be early, maintain a fast line etc etc. But if you hit a cone, it costs you time, so you can't intentionally straight line the course.
dont worry, you'll be doing topped out make your eyes water under your goggles edge to edge carves in no time.
but i've never put any real time in on a vanguard so i couldnt tell you how they handle at speed.
Although I never ski raced (which I regret) I have skiied in CA and Utah for 20+ years and skateboard slalom raced for a full year and 1 race. I would have to equate skateboarding TS to skiing bumps. It's all about fast twitch muscles, getting good acceleration and line off the start ramp/gate, keeping your limbs in tight, and looking ahead 2-3 moguls or 5-6 cones. I get the same rush from doing both, where my mind seems to "slow down" and shuts out everything else, while my body is moving at double/triple speed. If you don't ski bumps, but more gates then hybrid and GS skateboarding will be your deal. There are alot of similarities with picking a clean, efficient line, compressing into the cone and releasing at/after the cone, staying in an arms down "aero" body position for GS.....etc. I'm coming off of ortho knee surgery (knee cap isn't tracking correctly) and hope to ski and slalom race next year.
Good luck, and once you try it, you will be hooked with your endless winter "summer ski" sessions on a skateboard.
Yeah - Love the Hardboots & Raceplates! You may want to check out Bomberonline.com....it's an Alpine Snowboard website with a forum dedicated to longboarding. JP
I will check that out! I have two pair of old Bomber TD bindings along with my Catek's. I did not know they had a longboard forum. Of course, I never looked into longboarding until this summer!
Although I never ski raced (which I regret) I have skiied in CA and Utah for 20+ years and skateboard slalom raced for a full year and 1 race. I would have to equate skateboarding TS to skiing bumps. It's all about fast twitch muscles, getting good acceleration and line off the start ramp/gate, keeping your limbs in tight, and looking ahead 2-3 moguls or 5-6 cones. I get the same rush from doing both, where my mind seems to "slow down" and shuts out everything else, while my body is moving at double/triple speed. If you don't ski bumps, but more gates then hybrid and GS skateboarding will be your deal. There are alot of similarities with picking a clean, efficient line, compressing into the cone and releasing at/after the cone, staying in an arms down "aero" body position for GS.....etc. I'm coming off of ortho knee surgery (knee cap isn't tracking correctly) and hope to ski and slalom race next year.
Good luck, and once you try it, you will be hooked with your endless winter "summer ski" sessions on a skateboard.
I used to ski and board bumps. I stopped skiing bumps when my knees started getting too crunchy sounding. I was mainly an East Coast rider so all the boilerplate ice didnt help the knees either. Made it fun to go fast on my boards though!
This sounds more and more fun. For now I am going to go play on my Vanguard and have fun but it looks like I will be definitily looking into this more in the near future! I dont even know if I want to get into the comp aspect of it, but I am pretty sure once I start dodging cones I wont be able to resist for long.
The fastest woman in Slalom, Lynn Kramer (World record holder, multiple world championships, consistent qualifier in the MEN's PRO brackets,) won either a California state or U.S. National snowboard title of some sort a couple of years ago. I don't keep up with snowboarding enough to know all the competitions and titles awarded but I know at the time a big deal was made out of Lynn's accomplishment.
Also, Adam Schwippert is a Roe team rider out of Vermont who is sponsored by a snowboard manufacturer. Again, I don't know all the details but I know he missed some skate races this year because he was snowboard racing in New Zealand instead.
Someone mentioned Gilmour as an instructor. John Dillon out of Baltimore is also a reputed snowboard instructor on the East Coast. Again, he misses a lot of skate races because he's committed to travel to some resort or park on various weekends to hold clinics and offer instruction. I believe Dave Riordan (who recently relocated from Virginia to Colorado) is also in instructor. There are more East Coast guys who crossover (Chris Stepanek in New York, Rick Floyd in Vermont, Noah Heinle on skis out of New Jersey) but I don't know specifically their level of involvement.
So, to answer the OP, yes, there are a LOT of snowboarders and skiers who slalom skateboarder.
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Last edited by Parallel Man; 10-09-2008 at 11:06 AM.
Here is the deal - I have been snowboarding since it was illegal on most hills/mountains. I got into racing and did slalom, GS, Super G and then BoarderCross......
I was curious if anyone here ever raced on a snowboard or skiis and how it translated over to the skateboard......
OK, in addition to the people that others have mentioned, here's a couple of names you might recognize:
Kevin Delaney
Chris Pappas
George Pappas
A quick glance at the results from the US Nationals this year, and you'l see all of those names. (Along with many other races...) I'm pretty sure all of them spent some time racing snowboards at some point.
In other words, yes there is an immense ammount of crossover between slalom skateboarding and snowboarding. I'm a hardbooter myself and slalom skateboarding is what got me back into skateboarding and longboarding in general...
OK, in addition to the people that others have mentioned, here's a couple of names you might recognize:
Kevin Delaney
Chris Pappas
George Pappas
A quick glance at the results from the US Nationals this year, and you'l see all of those names. (Along with many other races...) I'm pretty sure all of them spent some time racing snowboards at some point.
In other words, yes there is an immense ammount of crossover between slalom skateboarding and snowboarding. I'm a hardbooter myself and slalom skateboarding is what got me back into skateboarding and longboarding in general...
Holy **** I didnt know those guys were into racing on asphalt too. Talk about old school legends of snowboarding. Small world after all.
On another note, its nice seeing fellow hardboot riders. Everything now is hitting rails, boxes, and other crap. Half the people I see on the hill couldnt carve a clean line to save themselves - but they can do a switch 270 boardslide on the double kinked rail... I would rather carve a trench deep enough to make them catch an edge as they sideslip down to the lift.
Location: diamond bar, pasadena, and all the other secret places
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Re: Any snowboard or ski racers?
i've been snowboarding for the past 17 years. this winter will be the first time i'm actually competing in boardercross competitions. i just picked up on longboarding last year. comparing the two wouldn't be right. snowboarding is more like freeboarding. but snowboarding slalom and boardercross and speedboarding are more similar when compared next to surfing. so each sport (to me) compliments the other.
i'll tell you one thing, if it wasn't for the snowboarding, i wouldn't of learn as fast as i did. and since i can longboard during the spring, summer and fall, this totally helps me out for the winter snowboarding season.
Any snowboard or ski racers?
Re: Any snowboard or ski racers?
