Grassboard your Longboard. 2 dirty ways to use grass to your advantage on a Longboard

Longboard on Grass. Bottom of Withrow Park Hill

Longboarding at Withrow Park in Riverdale (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Restless Splinter.

Thousands of students across Canada and the United States. have already discovered the tremendous benefits that longboarding has to offer- fitness, time savings and smooth rides down paved hills to name a few.

Did you know that you can ride your longboard down grass hills as well? There are two cool reasons why you might want to do this.

1. Grass has speed-taming effect. At the park, you may be tempted to ride down long paved paths. If you find yourself picking up a tad too much speed, look for a grassy patch. Carve onto it, and slow the *%K down!

Tips:

Turn at a 45 degree angle when moving from a paved surface to a grass surface (or vice versa), especially if the grass is not perfectly level with the pavement.
Riding onto a flat or low-incline grass surface will slow you gently to a stop.
Watch out for pine-cones and sticks!
Cut across grass patches when turning onto intersecting paths.
Ideally use a board that has a fully-gripped deck, not spray on grip.

It takes some getting used to, but you’ll be glad you did it if you get out of control and need to bail.

2. Tackle steeper hills. On paved surfaces, there’s a limit to what most of us will tackle. The fact is, on grass, since there’s more friction to slow you down, you can tackle steeper hills without getting up to dangerous speeds. It’s loads of fun. Does anyone have a scientific equation for this phenomenon? If so, let me know in the comments 🙂

Tips:

Lean back
Watch someone else do it first
Try on a smaller hill first
Bail if you have to

Careful, you might get grass burn!

A note about bearings and maintenance. If you choose to use your longboard on grass, your bearings will wear out faster. However, most riders (including myself) really can’t tell the difference. If you can tell, then I sympathize. You have two options- buy a new set of bearings (under $20 retail) or miss out on grassboarding!

Open up a whole new world of places to go on your longboard. Scroll down for more pics.