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Influencer-boarding will revive dh/freeride

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    Yap sesh incoming:

    I think we are in a very similar position as the very early 2010s, or even better, in term's of the dh/fr scene being capable of expansion. We have the community's set up, we have events, we have really really good gear, we collectivley have so much knowledge built up, we know what happens when people blow spots or the community does burnt stuff and what happens when we don't include beginners to things (maybe Europe doesn't know😒.) We have a bit of a blank slate in terms of how we can build back and I think the disconnect between intrest and joining comes from both public perception being skewed and a lack of longboarding being a rising trend.

    Right now, there are 3 main ways the public see's downhill skating, those are; people doing really sketchy stuff, people doing or talking about really high level stuff, and influencer boarding (giving the public another reason to watch/comment/repost beyond the actual skating.) The first two are not really cohesive with wanting to learn. Imagine if you only heard surfers talking about 50 foot waves, chances are much lower that you would want to learn how to surf, compared to seeing people also having fun on 2 foot days.

    Getting a better "average" perception into the public eye would do us wonders, not everyone needs to go 50 mph to be happy, and getting that across would be great. Infuencer boarding does that. 

    Some other ways that we can get into a better light are; getting skaters on podcasts and setting aside the self hype about how hardcore the sport can be, and highlight the other ways the sport can be participated in. Throwing up a facebook ad for teaching people how to slide, let skate-shops and news know about local sanctioned events, shop local and ask your skate shops to stock the gear you want. Put a pretty pic up on pintrest or tumbler, make a longer youtube vid, talk to skaters about dh without making it sound more scary than it is. Infuencer board to the max and make some vids that are memes, or have some relateable caption on them. What are some other ideas y'all have?

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

  • Jefe W

    I got that ,"we have really really good gear" out of this well crafted article. 

     

    (/s  , I agree that keeping the insanity stoke down around potential new longboard skaters is good for them & us in long-run. )

    the Jefe

  • Jefe W

    🙂

    the Jefe

  • CW

    I totally agree. And I think alot of us subconsciously know this too. Sure we all love to bomb hills, that's what brings us together. But we all know how important this community is to us, the friends we have made, the memories we have. This community has played a huge role in shaping me into the person I am today. 

    In my opinion that is what we should be marketing, the community. Downhill is about so much more than bombing hills. 

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @Chris Wroblewski Agree.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

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  • NR

    "Suburban freeride" was huge when things were peaking and I think that looked a lot more approachable to people back in the day. A lot of people in the scene were paying attention to that style of big standup slides on wide, straight suburban hills. That was relatelable but also still impressive to people in the scene while not looking too insane to noobs and outsiders. Nowadays, lots of people still in the scene have either progressed beyond that level and are crazy good, or there's just a lot more DH focused skating and that more approachable style is a bit out of favor in general. And nobody is really bothering with making or watching that kind of content, at least not to the same level. 

    So if that style could make a comeback that could be something, but what I think would be even better is just like small scale DH stuff. These tiny boards are great at going fast but they can also be so amazingly fun at a low speed technical spot in a way that the old giant boards never could. This is sadly very location specific, but I skate a set of hairpins on a bike path that's no faster than 20-25mph and it's such a blast. It's very fun for advanced skaters but it's also very low consequence, (and legal!!) and doesn't look unhinged like most of the viral DH content out there. Parks, bike paths, even parking lots on a slope can all be decently fun with little boards. 

    TL;DR: we should create and promote more low stakes, small scale DH content. It can't all be open road mountain passes, no one thinks that's something they can try to do.

     

  • R

    @Niall Rawn I was gonna reply with similar sentiments. What people expect from downhill has shifted from accessible freeride on low consequence hills to directional corner-based riding. Back in the early 2010s most sliding was straight neighborhood runs. It's evident that focus has shifted away from that type of riding with slide jams basically being extinct.

    I'll also add, I think big drop through decks helped beginners gain confidence sliding, at least that's how I felt starting out during the drop deck craze. It's a big stable board which initiates a slide easily, perfect for gaining confidence as a beginner. Topmounts obviously deliver better performance, but objective performance gains don't translate to an easier learning process imo.

    These 327 > SSF

  • Eric Sparrow

    One of the big differences between now and 2009/2010 is the Great Recession - I can only speak to the scene(s) I was involved in in Michigan, but we enjoyed bombing the rolling, smooth hills in countless undeveloped subdivisions for a good long time:  The real estate market started shitting the bed as early as 2005 at least locally, so developers had to abandon subdivisions that were partially filled...when things finally picked up around 2011/12, it still took a few years beyond that for these partially-filled subdivisions to get all the way filled in (as in, hundreds of Minivan Karens calling the cops on skater kids who were leaving thane lines in the road).  But, there was a good chunk of time where you had full view of an entire subdivision and the incoming roads, so it was incredibly safe to skate there. 

    I've gone back through my old skate haunts (hell, I was even employed by a couple of homebuilders that filled in some of the old 'secret spots') in the intervening years and have seen them fill up.  "Suburban freeride" has gone the way of the dodo as these old, formerly empty developments have grown up.

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @RatBürger agreed, when I was starting out I was around 3 main groups of dh skaters which consisted of the biggest being 15-20 kids (depending on how into it you have to be to be considered a dh skater), it popped up from a group of freinds saying "this seems fun let's do it" and they'd go to any hill they could skate to, post up a spotter and send it. The idea that anyone can do it and have fun with it is very forgein to many. 
    Which I feel like could be even more true now considering how easy it is to find information, and how ideas on how to start skating etc have been refined (death of drop decks birth of predrifts before pendies to get better weighting/positioning for example) so much that many don't have to fall for half a year to kinda get down a hill.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @Eric Sparrow I honestly think we are at a better level of cop issues now by 4x or more compared to the mid 2010s, minus NC lol, the existence of soooo many people getting into it with no pressure or ideas about not blowing spots or being not dangerous to themselves and others caused cops to be on such high alert, I'd get kicked out almost 1/4 sessions with under 2-3 people, more often most spots with more people. I haven't had a cop issue in 4 years at this point, though I've skated less neighborhoods ig. 
    We can encourage building back without being burnt, so that it's not just good for the people now who could do whatever and honestly be fine, but for the people that come after them.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

  • Eric Sparrow

    @Matt Needs Wheels Funny story about that - we had a slide sesh in my little corner of Michigan in 2012 or so.  The cops rolled up, expecting the same little smartass kids as usual (one of the guys owns/runs the MIDH Instagram page last I knew), and they weren't expecting me (a 25 year old, clean shaven, polite guy) to walk up, take my gloves off, give 'em a firm handshake, and ask "What seems to be the issue, officer?"

    The guy kinda stammered a little and said "Oh we just got a phone call from a concerned neighbor.  You guys ride safely, okay?" and left.

  • NR

    @RatBürger I'll respectfully push back on this part: 

    I'll also add, I think big drop through decks helped beginners gain confidence sliding, at least that's how I felt starting out during the drop deck craze. It's a big stable board which initiates a slide easily, perfect for gaining confidence as a beginner. Topmounts obviously deliver better performance, but objective performance gains don't translate to an easier learning process imo.

    I think the gear we have now for DH is incredible and it's never been better. The handling characteristics of those big drop boards is sort of a double edged sword I think: they did break traction very easily, but they also can't teach you how to corner properly or hold a line very well. They were stable and confidence inspiring, fully agree with that, but that's kinda because they just couldnt really turn well at all. That leads to bad habits and slows progression IMO.

    I find it pretty difficult to put myself in the shoes of someone learning to slide because I've already built up the muscle memory and figured out all the right sensations and it's just not possible to go back to before I developed all that. So while I agree that a long wheelbase drop deck with slide wheels does feel very drifty and the back end breaks away really easily, or like wide trucks supposedly slide easier, or sym angles help you initiate the slide easier, all of that is pretty minor in my opinion. I can feel all that now with the skills I've developed, but when I learned to slide on a double drop with butterballs, it was still a struggle to overcome traction even with that gear.

    Point is, I think the biggest obstable to learning isn't the gear so much and I'm not convinced that learning to slide on a small wheelbase top mount is actually that much more difficult. The hard part is the muscle memory, developing a feel for what the wheels are doing under you, weight distribution, etc etc. Or just breaking traction for the very first time. So if you can get through that on a modern "grippy" setup (obviously with slide wheels) you don't have to waste time unlearning all the bad habits and crutches that the old gear often gave us. 

    I think this is huge for growth. We have a much better idea of what gear works well now, and lots of collective knowldge that just didn't exist before. A decade ago it was standard practice to start with one type of board, learn to slide and start to go fast on it, then buy an entirely new top mount setup and relearn how that feels and maybe do that a few more times. Noobs don't have to do that anymore. 

     

     

  • NR

    @Matt Needs Wheels To your main point about "influencer-boarding" do you have any examples? It's not the kinda stuff I watch honestly. Abuga has done some vlog style stuff, but he's really good at skating. Cole is probably the most high profile I can think of but he's casually skating Ocean Spot in half the stuff I've seen, so again, super high level. 

    The core of a lot of successful influencer type content is relateability, and the media that often gets mainstream attention is pretty far from relatable. Everyone has seen the "I would fall and immediately die if I tried this" comments. 

    In most of Braille's videos they're basically just hanging out at a skatepark. That's accessible and relatable. Our version would be a chill-looking corner session but everyone's actually really good. Honestly I don't personally know that many skaters who would be down for that but maybe that's just my area lol

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  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @Niall Rawn Agreed x100 as I've mentioned here and other places, I see people getting to a skill level in 6-8 commited weeks, that many of us didn't get to for over a year with way less involved now.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @Niall Rawn I think Cole Trotta is high level ofc, but his reach was way further than anybody as good as him by far, 

    This guy is a perfect example of someone reaching a large audience that may not particulary be watching because they like action sports, but because he's engaging otherwise.  HERE.  Cool dude that makes dh look fun to people not into downhill.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

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  • GF

    @Matt Needs Wheels this guy in your link is just doing engagement bait text over normal freeride clips. I can't say that I love it. 

    Current setups:
    Custom rhino racetail, Zealous,thaners
    Rayne bromance, aera k5, powells

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  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @Gabriel Fockler I <3 engagement bait + freeride. I see it causing intrest in freeride.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

  • Eric Sparrow

    @Niall Rawn This is kinda what they talked about in the Venom Skate Podcast a few weeks ago:  the difference between riding longboards downhill, and riding downhill skateboards.  The current generation of downhill racers are the first to learn everything they know on proper downhill skateboards, and not have to learn essentially 2 styles throughout their career.  Zak actually called out the old way of looking at things "You go onto Silverfish and everyone knew that they had a Euro tuck, an American tuck, or a Brazilian tuck" as though all 3 styles weren't actually atrocious in aerodynamics.

  • NR

    @Eric Sparrow Yeah definitely had this episode in mind when I was writing that! I hope Zak does a lot more cause it was fascinating to listen to Owen and him talk about what it means to be "cutting edge" and how we got here and all that.

     

    They called out Scott Mano as an example of this: he had already been a skilled street skater but he got in close with some advanced DH guys and they just gave him modern gear to start on and his progression just took off insanely fast. He didn't waste months and years on 180mm sym cast trucks, just went straight to the proper stuff. Now, obviously, he's got some insane, maybe other worldly talent and he's an anomaly in a lot of ways, but he's also proof that the old ways of progression are just wrong.

     

    Another one is Rydelle Abarico from the Philipines. I don't know too many details there, but I think she started in like 2019 or 2020 and got to an insanely high level incredibly quickly and I wouldnt be surprised if that was due to learning on modern trucks. I think we're just gonna keep seeing this happen over and over again with the younger generations and we're gonna have to readjust our sense for how long the typical trajectory is supposed to take. 

  • DS

    @Niall Rawn I definitely think getting on good gear early is both under emphasized. I started in 2020 on shittily wedged 180mm cal2 trucks. I then moved to LA and skated in the gel lab scene and eventually built a more meta 2022 setup (20" wb, directional precision 120mm trucks). Looking at the progression that I made on the "good" gear even as a relative beginner, I can 100% agree with the sentiment that gear matters. As a more experienced skater now, I can skate some wacky setups, but would I put a beginner on it? No. 

  • Matt Needs Wheels

    @David Serate@Niall Rawn  Adding to this, I think the current artificially high skill level (majority long time skaters and/ or dedicated ones) means if you link up with skaters you are less likely to be told some bs that isn't helpful. 

    On a similar note, I feel that a emphasis on learning predrifts/ never passing 90 before shutdowns/180s forces people to learn in a way that is applicable to higher speeds so lots of time and blood shed falling due to relearning gets eliminated, it makes me so happy to see.

    I just work here man (wrongboarding)

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