Snowboard the streets
Snowboard the streets on your brand new freebord. (Lee Eisler/ Multiedia Editor)
There’s a certain rush you get carving down a mountain on your snowboard. This feeling is unlike any other. Steen Strand, the man behind Freebording found a way to bring this feeling to the streets.
“What I realized pretty early on is that a snowboard has the ability to move sideways over the snow, and a skateboard doesn’t,” Strand said.
By placing a wheel in the center of the trucks that rotates 360 degrees, Strand has created a snowboard on wheels. Linking turns, from heel to toe edge, a rider can carve down any hill at whatever speed he/she desires. The two center wheels simulate the p-techs base of a snowboard, and the four outer wheels act as the steel edges of a snowboard.
The ability to ride sideways, spin 360s, and float into switch are what makes this ride so much different from skateboarding, and more like snowboarding.
Imagine being able to pick up your snowboard, walk to your closest hill, and snowboard it. Every hill becomes a snowboard run and lift tickets are free. Whether you are going to the death-defying road across town or the mellow hill near your home, you find good roads and bad ones.
Does catching an edge mean anything to you? Every snowboarder has caught an edge before, and the concept is no different here. It isn’t something that happens often, but being prepared with pads, gloves and a helmet isn’t a bad idea.
It is important to remember while you are riding one of these things that there are some major differences. The biggest one is the lack of soft cushiony snow beneath you, and the presence of rough asphalt.