Stacy Tatman Photography

Skatepark Earth
By Stacy Tatman

I woke up on a warm spring morning last April in a bit of a panic realizing that a few slushy days were all I had left of the snowboarding season. I was daydreaming about a plane ticket to New Zealand when I received a call from Kevin Delaney of "Dirtheads" inviting me to check out a free All-Terrain Boarding session at Mission Peak Park in Fremont, California. I was quick to RSVP. Arriving at the park, I found the day was perfect the way it is in movies like The Sound of Music -- perfect sunshine, rolling hills, and grazing cows (who later regretted coming too close to the action.)

Shortly after pulling in, I was greeted by friendly mountainboarders who escorted me to the bottom of the long, steep hill we would be riding down. On the way up, while trying to hide my gasps for air, (I thought I was in shape!) I managed to ask how mountainboarding got started.

According to legend...actually, according to Mountainboard Sports (www.mountainboard.com), snowboarders who were "dreading the off-season" built them because they couldn't buy them. "A few months without snow... and desperation overrides common sense."

That was eight years ago, and since then there have been many modifications to that original design. Companies such as Terraboard, NPD Landboards, and Outback, offer a variety of boards. Some have hard tires, some have pneumatic tires, and some have only three tires. All have some form of toe clip and one even has a braking system. In fact, it seemed there were as many designs as boards represented at this session.

Luckily for me, Lance Null & Chris Pincetich from NPD All-Terrain Skateboards were on hand to break it down for me. They started NPD back in '92 when they designed their first board in their UCSC dorm room. These two were certainly the informed source on the sport I was looking for. They explained that each kind of board has a unique feel, and rides differently. But I wanted to know which board potentially deserved between 200 and 400 of my scarce dollars. Lance explained, "it depends on your style and aggression level." The Outback has three wheels, which makes it very maneuverable. The NPD Landboard has hard tires and runs off regular skateboard trucks, so their patented all-terrain skateboard is great for riding streets and mountains. Combined with comfortable footclips, the Landboard is small and versatile. (www.npdlandboard.com).

About this time, we finally reached the top of the hill, and I was met by a pack of wild "Dirtheads." No, really, these are among the nicest guys I've met. Super friendly and encouraging, they make the sport very approachable. Their love for mountainboarding is contagious, and soon they'd Jedi mind-tricked several innocent park-goers into thinking they could just cruise down this big hill. And they did! And they loved it! In fact, Kevin Delaney explained that that is what "Dirtheads" are all about. "We formed the organization to promote the sport and offer the best all-terrain boarding services through lessons, demos, and sales of the best variety of equipment--a single source for all your boarding needs (www.dirtheads.com)." Kevin went on, "'Dirtheads' is a soul thing--these guys are hella cool. We bring riders together. We're making an impact on the industry and having fun. We get along with all the teams and all the people. It's a small enough sport that everyone can get along right now...it's like snowboarding back in '82."

And they do bring people together. Some of the best riders in the sport were at this session. I had already met Lance & Chris from NPD. Don Baker was at the session instructing beginners. And these novices were certainly in good hands; Don placed second in the Bordercross Pro division at the 1st Annual Pacific Crest Dirtboard Championships. When I asked him what he loved best about 'boarding, he said "Flying in the air--big air." Yeah! Luke Logan was also on hand making it look easy.

So I watched these guys up close through the wide-angle lens of my camera for awhile, and was inspired by their skill and the cool tricks they were pulling off. So I put the camera down and picked up a board. The pressure was on; at least 40 eyes were on me as I headed down that long green hill. My expectations were high, and I was not disappointed. All the adrenalin was there and my ride was clean and felt natural. The board responded to the shifts in my body weight just like my snowboard, and it seemed like a natural transition to carve a long "S" into grass instead of snow. My heart pounded at the thought of being able to ride all summer without having to travel to the other side of the planet.

There are differences, of course. At first, I worried the ground would feel a lot harder than the snow, since I've never skateboarded. But I soon found out it wasn't any harder than ice patches I've cracked on, and besides I was fully padded. Overall, the basic feel was the same, and soon I was contemplating riding switch and trying a 180.

The next day, as I pulled my clothes from the washer and stared at what I now realized are permanent grass stains on my favorite blue jeans, I couldn't help but smile. Visions of green grass, blue sky, and scared cows filled my mind as I remembered my first day mountainboarding. This sport hooked me first try. I looked proudly at my scraped elbow and the ostrich egg-sized bruise on my forearm and couldn't wait to get out again!