September 21, 2011, Boundary Road Slide Session

       Oh yes, Christmas is here and I'm catching up on posts that should have been thrown up about 3 months ago. These are a few of the results from a shoot I did while some of the talented fellows from the Kamloops Longboarding Club. I wasn't able to join in for the slide session that day, and since I still can't slide, I probably would only make a fool of myself if I joined at the time of posting this! Since I wasn't feeling up to the task, I busted out the camera and started shooting away. It was a tricky business with all these people flying toward me, in and out of focus the whole time. I'd never shot anything quite like this and I look forward to doing it again!

Unboxing a LandYachtz Bamboo Pinner Longboard

       Again, another one of those posts which I should have thrown up a day or two after the event happened. Buuut, time isn't always so permitting, and I'm only just having the time I wanted back in August right now. The post regarding the unboxing of the Land Yachtz Switch has turned out to be the most popular post on here to date, most likely on account of how many people probably look for unboxings of things. I'm throwing another one of those posts up after the fact so everyone can see what you get in a box from LandYachtz, how it all comes packaged, and I can attest that the Switch came in the exact same sort of packaging as the Bamboo Pinner.
       Before I send you all headlong into the pictures, I guess I should explain why I was opening a second longboard box from LandYachtz at the end of August. It took me about 2 months (one where I wasn't boarding at all) and about 24 hours of practice to make me decide that longboarding was something I was going to be able to pick and stick with. I liked it a lot, but didn't have any friends to go boarding with. I opted to pick up a second, less expensive board so I could take friends out with me so I wouldn't be skating alone, and decided to get the flexy top-mount pintail since it would compliment the stiff dropped-deck board I was already riding on. Here it is, with some impressions at the end...

 All wrapped in foam and paper.

 Nice and secure so those trucks don't get jostled around more than necessary.

 I like the magazine, always thought it was a nice touch, Switchback and Royal Boardshop do it too.

      So.... no pictures of the board in all of it's unboxed glory, but visit the LandYachtz website and you'll see it for sure. I didn't end up riding this one very much, and didn't get particularly amazing on the LY Switch while I owned the Pinner to be able to dole out a good comparison review. What I can say about this board is that it felt a lot more like what I expected a longboard to feel like than the Switch. The Switch felt like I was swinging in a cradle when I first got it and tried leaning back and forth. This one definitely felt more like it leaned with me when I was going to make a turn. It obviously felt a lot higher than the Switch which made me feel a bit like an elephant on a Dixie cup, and it was waaaay more responsive. It was quite shocking actually, the first time I took it for a spin was both terrifying and thrilling. I'd never known such responsiveness with the Switch, and didn't for another month after that since I'd never tried loosening the nut on the kingpin. I gotta say, loose trucks are a lot of fun! I have opted to sell this board though, and it will be leaving my loving arms for those of someone new in three days. I now know that I favor the dropped decks, drop throughs, and double drops, but I wholly intend to pick up another pintail again some day since they are a whole lot of fun, perhaps then I'll look into something from the Original line-up. Money is an issue right now, though, so I need to be riding things that work best for me!

A General Review of Urban XT Footwear

       I've decided it's high time I get around to giving this blog the life saving defibrillation it needs to keep afloat and have chosen a short but sweet review as my means of doing so.

       This experience with a pair of Urban XT Shoes from Shoe Warehouse dates back to August 20th. It was a very beautiful morning, and I think I remember it as well as I do because the 20th was my birthday. I was going to be spending a sizable chunk of the day watching a friend play a couple rounds of Warhammer 40K and opted to head downtown early and grab a super healthy birthday breakfast from McDonald's. I hopped on the Switch and made it downtown very quickly since by this point I was getting "pretty boss at footbreaking." Sounds quite funny, even to myself. Moving along though, I chowed down on some Sausage McMuffins and set away blogging in Micky D's when I saw my friend round the corner of the street and decided I should probably join him. Walking along the sidewalk with my buddy now, I noticed my left foot felt a little slippery. I should mention this was a brand new set of Urban XT skate shoes I was wearing at the time. I chose not to think much of the slippery feeling under my left foot and only opted to check it out when we made it to our final destination. I lifted my left foot onto my right knee and the picture to the left is what I saw.
       Brand new Urban XT shoe sole, disappearing before my eyes after one trip downtown. One. Trip.
       I know a lot of people wear these shoes longboarding and skateboarding, and I assume that maybe they either don't go down hills, or are slick enough on a board to not require footbreaking to make it down a hill. I also see a lot of folks wearing them as general purpose footwear but I can't make a comment on general fit and feel of the shoe since I never made it past the break in period with them.
       This shoe goes on the newly started "Learning to Longboard does not recommend" list. Go with Vans or Etnies or DC shoes, any other brand with a reputation for making quality skate footwear!
       Posts as to why I haven't been regularly posting will be arriving in December (school, shocking, I know), along with an update with my progress on learning to longboard on a Landyacht (isn't alliteration adorable?). Let me just say that I have not given up on learning to ride a board and have made a few good leaps and bounds in the last few months which I very much look forward to sharing with the internet. I have a more refined direction I'll be taking with the blog in in 2012, which unfortunately for me, will likely end up catering to a very small, niche group of longboarders. It's still going to be hella epic.

How I Scored Two Hours of Practice on a Vacant University Campus

       Man alive, I really need to get better at posting stories and stuff I've learned about longboarding on here. Now that I'm competent at riding the board, I'm literally getting better every day I'm on it and have no idea what I ought to share and what I ought to not bother writing about. This here is a short story, which I should have posted on Monday the 15^th of August, so of course I'm going to fall behind on the times and only get around to posting it now.

       Some may recall from the earliest posts that I worked at a paintball field, and 'worked' is the key word there, it being past tense and all. I left that job, and so the commute down Columbia Street I'd alluded to so much was no longer an issue for me, which was probably one of the reasons I became so lousy at keeping up on practising and posting about it here for awhile. Anyhow, a new job came along: removing windows from the university campus across the way and I found myself with a better job than I had before. This new job also presented a short and easy longboard commute and so I quickly started riding to campus early every morning instead of walking over which meant about 20 or more extra minutes per day to practice on it. 

       Anyhow, I received a text message from the boss man saying that we were going to try starting work a little earlier for awhile, to get more work in while they day was still cool. Kamloops is a desert, it gets super hot, and because there was just the tiniest chance of being exposed to asbestos when removing these windows, we had to wear white, air tight suits in the sun. We normally began work at 7am, but now we were supposed to try starting at 5am, which meant a 3:40am wake up call for me because I'm sluggish in the morning and like to take my time with a cup or two of coffee before I get going. My morning routine aside, I missed a follow up text message from the boss: due to a sluggish start on the rest of their parts, he and my co workers would not be showing up until 7am. I made it there at 5 and was none too pleased with them showing up what I thought was 2 hours late. On the bright side, I had the entire university campus to myself for 2 hours that morning to push around and practice in and I have to admit, it was a pretty stellar way to start the day. There was not another soul to be seen and the security guards didn't have any problem with my being there on the Switch at all. All that, coupled with one the top 5 greatest sun rises I've ever seen made for a pretty fun morning. I have a map of the campus so you can see what I was skating around all morning, but it does not do it justice. My attempting to become a more professional-like photographer should mean sharing more photos on this blog, but I seem to be failing at that miserably.

       By the way, after this story, I'd probably had 8 hours of practice in total on the board.

It isnt' anywhere near as flat as it looks in this picture,
 Dalhousie Drive is actually scream your lungs out steep!

       Also worth mentioning: the previous day to this story, which happened to be a Friday, I was pushing home that afternoon and came to the ugly, steep parking lot which leads to my apartment's door. Rather than walking down like I usually do, I decided to plant one foot firmly on the ground beside the board and let myself begin to roll forward, keeping that foot on the ground the whole way. This was probably my first serious attempt to foot break down a hill, and it was an ugly hill indeed, with gravely patches which at some point destroyed any hope I had at gaining some traction, but I didn't end up having to make any bails. Since this foot dragging adventure to my apartment door, I've never had an issue with footbreaking again. I've also come a pretty long way since that tentative and slow trip down the hill. I can pretty much put my foot down at any time I please to slow myself now, and don't feel like I need to line up and get the board just stable enough to deploy my foot to break, it's all becoming second nature to me very quickly now.

Eighteen Klick Round Trip

       It's been two or three weeks since last posting and once again I feel like a guilty blogger. I don't, however, feel like a guilty longboarder. I've come a long way in that time but I'm not going to share the whole story with you all at once. Instead, I'll break it up into a handful of stories. The first once involving a very long trek from my home in Sahali, to First Response Duty Gear on the far side of the North Shore.

The approximate path traveled. Obviously not sharing my home address!

       I received an email from them two Fridays back about a pair of combat boots I'd ordered having come in. I was too cheap to buy bus fair or pay a taxi and had no friends making the trek over in that direction so I quickly decided to go on the 18km (round trip) trek on my longboard, I had other business to discuss with them in any case so might as well take my time on the trip too. I suited up, my suit being old jean shorts, a t-shirt I don't care much for, Proto paintball knee pads (they really work!!!) my bike helmet, and some very underwhelming Urban XT skate shoes from Shoe Warehouse, then headed out the door.

       The trip from my apartment, down the hill to downtown was predicatably tragic; there was lots of going a little too fast and kicking the board behind me so I could catch it as it caught up me after bailing. There was also a fair bit of walking down some of the hills whose pavement was puke-your-guts-out rough and uneven. Then there was First Ave which I'd imagine is every longboarders dream hill to carve the hell out of, slide, or bomb down. The only problem with First is it's one way traffic and that traffic is all going UP the hill. I chose to walk down the sidewalk on that one. This put me on the flat ground on the flood plain of down town and the adjacent North Shore. The rest of the trip was looking like a whole lot of gentle pushing to my destination and it was indeed good times.

       There was one last hurtle in my way before I was really in the clear though, this was the bridge connecting the North Shore to Downtown. The bridge has a guard rail where pedestrians walk, but no concrete lip along the sidewalk so things can go rolling right off the edge of the bridge if they were so inclined. I dismounted and took my board to the edge of the walkway, laid it down, and pushed it against the edge of the sidewalk. The Switch sat just high enough to not have to worry about it going off the bridge if I lost it. Traffic was still an issue though, since there was also no lip preventing the board from playing an impromptu game of Frogger if it slipped out from under me and went the other way off the sidewalk. Fortunately, I didn't lose it while crossing the bridge, and possibly started to make a very important jump in my longboarding skill level. There was a lot of putting my pushing foot in front of me and clomping it down to jerkily slow myself, but slowly, I started to drag it and even apply pressure as it dragged along the base of the bridge. The result? A small but significant burst in confidence with foot breaking. Foot breaking looks so easy in all those Youtube videos but it had been proving to be the bane of my existence till just recently. Anyhow, I made it to the other end of the long and slightly inclined bridge with no bails.

       I made another breakthrough while pushing across the North Shore to my destination, and this was intentionally tackling difficult surfaces and making quick last minute trajectory adjustments, albeit only at pushing speed. The difficult surfaces involved in this were curbs and all those spots at intersections where a guy needs to mount and dismount the sidewalk all while having to adjust his angle of travel so as not to proceed into the middle of the intersection and join traffic. Usually I pick up my board and walk across, which is still probably the most intelligent thing to do, but it did my confidence on the board some good knowing that I could do this without bailing into a stop light.

       I arrived at my destination without any injuries, and purchased my boots. I then continued to shoot the breeze with the counter help as this local mom and pop tactical shop was a business I wanted to obtain sponsorship for my paintball team from. The plan was to exchange pictures for discounts on specific in stock items, but setting up a chance to do some photos for them was proving dfficult. This day proved to be my lucky day though, and myself and a team mate were permitted to take a hefty aum of their gear to a parking garage to do a shoot with it. You can see those fun pictures by clicking here (link).

       The trip home was slightly more exciting than the trip to the North Shore in two important ways. The first was in my decision to longboard past the beach at Riverside Park, which on a hot midsummer's day was a genius idea, remind me to do that again some time. The second was a wicked bad case of dehydration, and possibly mild heat stroke on the trip back home. Karma for oggling all those members of the fairer sex at the beach? Most probably. I was very fortunate to have that buddy's house I often hang out at to grab some water at before proceeding home, it was getting quite dire for me!

       Until this journey, I'd probably put in 3 hours at most on the LandYachtz Switch, or any longboard for that matter. After making it home, I'd likely put in a grand total of five and a half. All in all, I think a modest increase in my manoeuvrability, ability to travel long distances, tackle a few ugly surfaces, and begin effectively slowing myself isn't too bad for that time frame. This trek also marked the first time going out in public on a bright sunny day with the board in plain view for all to laugh at if I ate it! I'm not feeling like such a noob anymore!

My First Week on a LandYachtz Switch

       Oops- I am a bad blogger, 2 weeks since the last post after just getting the Switch and no new updates? I'm such a slacker. In any case, there wouldn't have been any updates in this last week on account of my making a return to my home town to do some painting for my mom and I had to travel light. The week before that I really don't have any excuse for my laziness in regards to posting. I'm starting to think weekly updates on progress with the board is probably the best way for me to go about writing on here, with the occasional extra one interspersed now and again.

       My first night with the Switch, the one after shoving back and forth in the kitchen, I was invited down to a buddies house to do some gaming. I figured that with him living about half a block away would make for a good excuse to jump on the board outside and make the trip down a little more interesting. In this case a lot more interesting. I tensed up a lot on the board the first time I stepped on it outside, which probably didn't help me, nor did starting on a incline instead of practising in a parkade somewhere for a few hours. My first thought was that riding around on pavement was not very pleasant at all, and I was getting so much turbulence that I couldn't focus my eyes right, the scenery was all blurry. I'm not totally sure what it was on the board that I tweaked since then, but the second time I stood on it I did not have that issue. I had no fun trying to turn on that incline down to his house, and jumped off several times since I was not yet super confident in my foot breaking. There was a fair bit of chasing the board down the hill involved as well. Going back up was Ok, however, as I had no reason to worry about gaining out of control speed on the way home.

       The second night out was kind of epic. I took the same path down to my friend's house on the board but didn't have to jump off or poorly footbreak nearly as much as the previous evening (effective footbreaking is proving to be a lot more tricky than I thought it would be). I got fairly skilled at doing some controlled bailing if I started to get a little unsure by kicking back and sending myself ahead of the board to catch it when it caught up to me. He and I decided to go to a very nice, smooth tennis court after the sun went down to mess around on the board. We took turns, eventually he fell, and has convinced himself he's cracked a rib without the assistance of a medical professional mind you. After hitting the pavement hard, he left, leaving me to weave around the court's nets on my own and that evening something clicked for me. I started to get a lot more confident in shifting my weight back and forth on the board quite quickly, and also moving my feet around to different positions. Feeling just a little cocky, I decided to try one of the bigger inclines in my apartment complex's parking lot. It was terribly rough with a lot of uneven pavement and gravel bits everywhere but I made it from the top to the bottom on the my first go doing enormous S curves all the way down at a manageable speed. I did it again a few more times and an hour quickly passed by. That was a very good night though I haven't improved very much since then, my only way of stopping still being bailing off.

       Night three on the board rolled in and it was looking to be a fairly short one, just another trip to the buddy's house, even less bails this time than the previous two nights, and naturally, I'm getting a little cocky. I get very close to his place and am gaining more speed than I'd like. I jump off the board, look behind me and don't see the it anywhere. Hmm, most peculiar. I look beside myself and see it rolling along right there, starting to move faster than me. OH CRAP! I give it a sideways kick to turn it off it's downhill course. First kick wasn't enough so I give it another and oops! I stepped on the wheel. Did I mention this was the one night I thought “eh, I'm not going far, I'll leave the knee pads at home”? The board rolled to a stop beside the curb but I hit the pavement hard. My knees were actually Ok after this fall, but my one elbow was pretty bashed up, more from sliding along the pavement than actually connecting with it. I didn't have elbow pads in any case so this particular wound was unavoidable. I also had an audience of pedestrians for this bail, so that rubbed in some extra embarassment.

       Night four was a lot like night three. I went to some flat terraces below the buddy's house and was pushing around there. One had a slight incline to it, was smooth, wide, and I thought would be fun to go down. It's called Strathcona Terrace, and for someone who still has no idea how to control his speed effectively, it proved too much for me. I jumped off as I usually would but something happened which I was not counting on: I was travelling close to car speed, a speed which my running legs can't keep up with and I went down hard again, on the other elbow this time leaving another nice wound. I slowly did the walk of shame back up the hill to use my buddy's sink to clean myself. That weekend I got shot with a paintball in that elbow too.

       I'm back from a week of painting and letting my elbows heal and I'm going to wait an extra day or two for some elbow pads I ordered to show up in the mail since that seems to be the part of my body taking the most punishment right now. My previous wounds have only just healed up and the scabbing is so close to gone that I don't want to go and rip my arms open again. I really should have taken pictures of the wounds when they were fresh! The more I get out on the board, the more I want to get out when I'm not on it though and I'm chomping at the bit to go see some roads I've previously walked along in a new light.

       P.S. Speak of the devil, moments before posting this the pads came in, and wouldn't ya know it, one size to small. I might have to get out and do some slow pushing and stuff because I'm very eager to get back out there right now.

Unboxing and First Impressions of the LandYachtz Switch

       Boy, I'm lucky that UPS shares a pile of the workload of delivering packages around Kamloops with Purolator. If they didn't, I'd surely be waiting until Wednesday to go and grab my board from their warehouse since they make 3 attempts before letting you pick stuff up in person, that means I'm usually forced to wait 3 extra business days to receive things from them. Today, shortly before noon, a familiar Purolator delivery guy showed up with the box in the post below in hand and I was quite giddy. I did try to make an unboxing video to show all of you what to expect when you open the box the board is delivered in but the angle I had my camera set to was lower than where my hands were holding things up to show.
       When a LandYachtz board is delivered, it comes in a pretty plain-jane sort of box; there is no special logoing on it, it's your typical, unremarkable shipping box, likely provided by UPS themselves. Once the cardboard box is opened, there is no additional LandYachts product box containing the board, instead your board lies very nicely packed right inside. Mine came with some very heavy duty paper crumpled up at either end to prevent the board from sliding around the box. The board is wrapped in a thin sheet of styrofoam material to keep it from getting dinged or scratched in transit, it has cardboard wrapped around the tips of the board to keep those from getting beat up, and to hold all this packing in place, there is some shrink wrap tightly wound around the tips holding the cardboard and styrofoam sheet in place. It all was very tightly and professionally done in my opinion, good presentation in the packing department over all. The board itself (I ordered a complete) came fully assembled. Also included in the box was an issue of "Skate[Slate] Longboarding Magazine" as well as some stickers for the discerning gentleman who can't get enough of putting decals on everything he owns.

       On to the board itself: I whipped out a measuring tape last night just to get an idea of what to expect from 41.25 inches. To me, it seemed pretty big, to some of my friends not so much. The board arrived and indeed looked a lot smaller than anticipated so I busted out the measuring tape again and it was indeed the length advertised. Spot on to boot! That's not even taking into account the curvature of the board, if it were a perfectly flat piece of wood with no concaving to it, the board would be even longer. Width-wise it was as wide as I'd anticipated, not quite wide enough for my feet to be 100% on when standing on it but I have big feet (12) and was prepared to work with this. The weight was good, not quite as heavy as anticipated but ample all the same. The grip tape on top had a red and white LandYachtz logo designed into it which I thought was a stylish final touch on the board. The design on the bottom of the deck.... seems a little kiddish, a little cartoony, I knew what I was getting when I ordered the board but still not a giant fan. I have a tablet and stylus though, and so might design my own graphic to turn into a decal and apply there. The wheels are way bigger than I imagined they'd be and I'm happy about that, LandYachts isn't lieing when they call them "Monster Hawgs". As far as I'm concerned I think a larger area of contact with the ground will help keep the ride smooth and stable so I'm all for it.

       On to feel: I placed the board on my kitchen floor and stepped on to it and... WOW those are some smooth bearings, barely any movement placed on the board and it wants to start rolling. I immediately get nervous, steady myself with the assistance of the counter and get on with both feet. I stand up straight. The ride height is exactly what I'd hoped for. Since I slouch a bit (something I need to work on) standing on the board feels exactly like standing up straight and I feel quite at home height wise. The concaving at either end of the standing platform is not as aggressive as I thought it would be which I'm very happy about. It's noticeable, will definitely serve a purpose for me later, but isn't so much that the deck feels wrong if you don't use the foot holds or if your foot is half in and half out of them. The deck has some concave to it running the length of it as well which feels alright to stand on and I can already see it helping to keep a flat standing platform when I shift me weight left or right standing on it while stationary. When I quickly shift my weight up and down there is just the smallest bit of flex to the board (I'm 220-ish, keep in mind) and it feels quite ok. As for rebound provided by the bushings when shifting my weight from side to side, something a little stiffer might be a little more appropriate for my weight. I find I have to wait a little when I'm leaning in one direction to feel balanced enough to shift my weight to another side, they are stiff enough to hold me upright when standing straight on the board, no wobble to notice.

        Now I must admit, the only testing I've subjected the board to has been on my kitchen floor, pushing from wall to wall and trying to weave between some arbitrary points in the smooth tiling it provides but I've had a blast doing it so far. I'm tense though, for sure, and I remind myself of what I've learned through doing research: bend just a little at the knees and what a difference that makes. I'm already getting the sense that this will feel better outside where I can get just a little bit more speed and have more wiggle room than the shelving units along the walls of the kitchen can provide. It feels like it's going to be a lot like riding a bike, having some speed behind you helps you stay upright, where as very slow speed movement feels wobbly and unnatural.

A Box? From Versal Manufacturing? For Me?

       Well, looks like the longboard is in and I have to start subjecting myself to all the thrills and spills associated with longboarding. I'll be sure to throw some form of unboxing post up so folks know what to expect to find in the box. Feeling quite nervous right now, and a little self conscious about going out and potentially making a fool of myself in public. I'm going to cut it open now, and maybe give myself a tentative push across my kitchen floor on it....

Getting Wood: What to Ride On?

       You've been introduced to me, my town, and what my general commute is looking likes it's going to be, but I haven't yet made mention of any particular longboard I plan to do this on. The board itself is not in my loving arms yet, it's still going through the postal system. If you look at the image/link at the top right of this blog, you can probably make a safe bet on the board itself being one of the boards from LandYachtz. I did my research before making a purchase and LandYachtz seemed to have one of the more diverse selections of boards available, at least from what this noobie could tell. I liked what I saw; the board designs, the variety, the being located in Canada, the price point, and what people had to say about them on forums also agreed with me. I knew going into this that I wouldn't be doing anything too crazy right away and so purchasing a board specially designed for something in particular wasn't a necessity. I did have some criteria which I felt had to be met on this purchase however.

       I'm a big guy, about 220 pounds, closer to 210 on a good day. I'm also 6'3” so I'm not a very 'low rider'. My centre of gravity is a bit higher than most so I knew I'd feel a bit top heavy and figured a pin tail style board that sat well above the trucks would potentially make the situation worse; I needed some added stability. That's two of my criteria: something that can take my weight, and something that can keep me low with my head out of the clouds. From my readings and hear-say knowledge, I also knew a wider ride would help keep me stable, as would a longer board, preferably more than 40 inches. Another thing I learned would help keep the board stable was the weight of it. A heavier board can take more jostling and remain a stable smooth ride than something light weight. A weighty and rigid board lacks the flex of a lighter model, however, and flexy models also can soak up some jostling as one rides around so there's a trade off there. Trucks and wheels were of little concern during the research portion of the purchase as I knew the stock ones would keep me going for a good while until I gathered up some more knowledge and became a more competent and aggressive boarder.

       I took a very long gander at LandYachtz' selection, and narrowed it down to some of their downhill model boards. There was the Switch, Switchblade, Evo, 9two5 (this blog was very nearly “Longboarding 9-5” I should mention), Time Machine, and Drop Carve. I liked the Switch and 9two5 the most of those listed previously, the 9two5 for it's low ride despite being mounted on top of trucks and it's flat riding surface, and the Switch for it's dropped riding surface, and it's fabled rigidity and weight. I wasn't sure what to make of the concave foot holds but decided that they weren't so aggressive that they were going to turn me away from the board entirely. I knew before making my order that I'd need to consult with someone from the company and see if I really knew what I thought I wanted.

       Given my criteria for a board and what I'd looked in to, the LandYachtz rep agreed that the 9two5 and Switch were good options but that the Drop Speed also shouldn't be ruled out given how stiff it was. After briefly explaining the pro and cons of the models, he decided that for me the Switch would probably be the most comfortable choice for a beginner commuter like myself. This made me happy as my mind had kept wandering back to that board even when considering the other models. I quickly ordered one, as well as a skate tool.

       The picture above is of the Switch, of course. Aside from talking about the board's length (41.25 inches) there isn't much else that I can say having not seen, held, or stood on the model. I've probably commit a longboarding faux pas having not tried prior to buying but I'm going to trust in my judgement based on the research I did in advance and hope that my first board doesn't have to be a perfect match to how I end up riding. A link to LandYachtz to check out there full product line is at the top of the blog to the right *red and white picture) at the time of posting this, a link to the Switch in particular can be followed by clicking here. UPS are the guys delivering the board and as I look at the tracking number I see that it's currently out for delivery. Past experience with UPS tells me this is probably a lie because I've waited at home for their delivery man before on numerous occasions and he hasn't entered my little apartment building ever, opting to update the package with a failed delivery attempt instead of actually trying. I'm not sure if it's UPS policy not to enter apartments or if they're just being lazy, either way I'll likely have to wait till Monday at one to pick it up.

Anatomy of a Town: Kamloops, Part I

       Let's talk about a town called Kamloops. It's a city someone decided should be built on the side of a mountain. Not all of it sits at a high altitude though, a small percentage can be found on a flood plain where two rivers meet in the centre of town but for the most part, if you have somewhere to go, you're either headed up or down a hill, and it's a pretty steep one no matter how you approach it.  

Thankyou Google Maps, Click to Embiggen

       I'm going to break it down into four parts for people unfamiliar with the locale: the North Shore which is the large, flat, aforementioned floodplain, and when you first drive through it it makes you think “oh my god, it's Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, and it has a desert climate a crime rate to match. Downtown, which is south, across the one and only bridge connecting it to the North Shore and is relatively flat but still possesses a modest incline of it's own. Sahali, which is up the mountain (south) from Downtown and is perched on a terrace. And Aberdeen, which is further up the hill (further south still) from Sahali and has no flat parts to speak of; it's all hills. There are decidedly few traffic arteries connecting the areas of town and for every two that exist, only one will be pedestrian friendly.

       My typical commute on a longboard will demand making my way from Sahali (just to the right of the Thompson Rivers University label on the Google Map) through Downtown, headed east (to the Green “1” above “Valleyview Drive”) or to the North Shore. It's a 4km trip either way, and it's just about all downhill at least one of those trips. As mentioned earlier, there is one bridge connecting Downtown to the North Shore but its a pedestrian friendly connection and doesn't have much demanding geography. Getting from my apartment in Sahali to Downtown is a different story entirely, however. There are three (and a half) ways to get down that part of the hill. Two of them are 4 lane highways which lack sidewalks, one of which is a 'real' highway (the Trans Canada) and fines pedestrians for walking along the side of the road. The other is called Summit Drive which has a very small shoulder for cyclists and is super busy during daytime hours. It's also a very long and winding road which adds time to my commute and doesn't put in me in a part of Downtown which is easy to traverse. This leaves me with one (and a half) options.

Battle, top looking down

Bottom, looking up to curve

      The half option is Battle Street which is two very quiet blocks south of my apartment. This option is “half” because from where I live, getting to Battle is only doable on foot since my apartment has it's parking lot gated off and that lot connects to the aforementioned quiet two blocks. The other side of the parking lot connects to the rest of Sahali, so it's understandable why the gate here is locked to keep non residents from screaming through the complex at all hours. Battle is a somewhat appealing option given how quiet it is and how it has a fairly wide road, but it has quite a few blind corners mind you, and a very narrow sidewalk if I had to resort to that. I might try this one if I turn out to be any good at carving. The last option for me is a street called Columbia. This is a busy a four lane artery I won't be riding down the road on, but it has a generous sidewalk which I think I can get down at slightly better than running speed, with a little advance practice that is. Although the sidewalk is very large here, it has a steep hill on one side, and retaining walls holding up townhouses on the other, making it feel tighter than it is. Columbia is a slightly steeper option than Summit Drive or the Highway, but is slightly less steep than Battle Street. Given the sidewalk space and the fact that it spits me out at a nice gently inclined area of Downtown which should carry me to the end of my commute, it's the most preferable for now. Another nice thing is that Kamloops' hospital is located on Columbia, so if I wound myself I'm only a stones throw away from medical attention.

Very near the top 

Columbia, bottom up

Middle up

       Though I don't plan to do much in Aberdeen, I did mention it and so should address the means of getting in and out of it as well. There are three ways to get there: the Trans Canada Highway again, Hillside Drive, and Summit Drive which turns into a nicer road when it comes out the other side of Sahali. As mentioned earlier, the highway prohibits pedestrians which is a good thing for the stretch between Sahali and Aberdeen since it's a whopping six lanes wide there with traffic flow to fill it. Hillside is another bustling 4 lane road going up the side of a mountain. Like Columbia, it has a nice big well kept sidewalk for pedestrians. Unlike Columbia, it's not hemmed in on one side by retaining walls so there's a little more wiggle room for a slow speed bail. Where Summit Drive meets Aberdeen it looks nothing like it does between Sahali and Downtown. On it's way up the hill it goes through several changes. It tapers into a two lane, instead of four lane road, gets a hell of a lot steeper, and also becomes a lot more pedestrian friendly with nice big sidewalks on either side. Toward the top of the hill it turns back into a 4 lane road but not as it was before, it's much more like a boulevard with grass and trees making up the centre line and also becomes much more gentle at this part.

       There is a plethora of other areas located on the hills around Kamloops, each one having just one road entering them, and as my skill rises on a board, I'll be making missions of my days off from work to try and tackle some of them. I'll do a Part II to this post addressing each one later on, but I think this was enough geography homework for one day.

       P.S. I'll get some perspective shots of some of these roads soon to give you a better idea of what these roads look like. I have spotted some experienced riders having a good time on all of these roads with the exception of the highway, perhaps some day I'll be able to join them?

Introducing the Author, and Introducing the Author to Longboarding

       Every time I create a blog, join a forum, or get involved in any social media sort of thing, I always neglect to type up a post about myself; an introductory sort of thing. Without this, my writing lacks a face, and as a result I probably don't connect to readers in the same way a lot of other professional writer's or news figures do, which in turn ends up costing me a little readership I'll bet. So just who am I? A guy who's about share too much information with the internet for one thing.

       My name is Kris Gunderson, I'm a male, a hardcore paintballer, a photographer, a blogger, single, middle classed, between the ages of 18 and 25, like video games, and like so many of you reading this, I'm quite intelligent but don't apply myself to school quite as hard as I ought to. Maybe I don't introduce myself to people thoroughly because I erroneously assume my readers know that I'm just like them. To be fair I'll break down all my listed points to make myself a little more unique.

       Paintball is my passion. I often wonder why it is given that it costs so much money and inflicts so much damage to my body, but I love it all the same. I have been doing it for four years now, and have been working at the one and only paintball field in Kamloops B.C. as a referee and builder for 2 of them. I'm pretty good, some of the younger crew at the field would say I'm REALLY good, but that's probably because my camoflage top matches my camoflage pants, I look big and scary, and working at the field probably helps too. I suppose now is a good time to give a shameless plug to my other blog, Eight Pound Ops Scenario/Milsim Paintball Blog. It can be a fun read, there's about 45 pages of material on there and I've been writing for that one since creating it in December of 2010. You can definitely expect to hear more about that one as time wears on.

       Photography is a new hobby I only developed a keen interest in during the summer of 2010. A great deal of my knowledge in the field was developed through experimentation, self teaching, and scouring the internet for assistance. In January of this year I took a course on the subject which greatly enhanced my grasp on all the goings-on inside of my camera and forced me to do more guided experimentation. Currently I'm doing a fair bit of charity shooting, my most recent 'gig' was a songs for Japan benefit concert at a local Buddhist temple, a month before that I was shooting another benefit concert for the local 'Y Women's Shelter'. I hope to some day make a small return off of this hobby and am currently in the process of setting up a more business like Facebook page as a means of marketing myself as a minimum wage photographer. One thing I've been dieing to do with my camera but haven't had much time to look into is shooting extreme sports other than paintball, mountain biking and skateboarding for example. Perhaps getting involved with the local longboard scene can assist with this?

       Ah yes, the student part, I might as well share that here too. I just came out of four years of doing an undergraduate psychology major and still don't know what I'm planning to do with that or if it was even all that enjoyable. I haven't graduated yet, however, and it just so happens that all the requirements I need to graduate this coming year could be met by cramming a geography minor into one very full year. Taking upper level courses with lower level courses is a must in order to pull this off and it's made gaining approval from academic advisers more than a little hectic. This is going to make for a hellish course load as well, so posting here, and on my other pride and joy paintball blog, may become a little less frequent come September.

       BUT! One thing I would never consider myself is a longboarder. At least not yet. So why am I starting a longboard blog? Because I can, because I'm a fast writer, just invested in an inexpensive form of transportation which I hoped would have a little more sex appeal than a bicycle, a form of transportation which could be easily stowed away in a closet or under a car seat, and because I wanted to try something new. I'm creating this blog, not to create a how-to, but to make a progress report for those interested in getting an idea of how quickly (or slowly) a person with no experience can pick up longboarding as a commuter. I can pass down to you what I learn from personal experience on my own board, what I find online and turns out to be super helpful, and what other people share with me via interviews with local boarders with more knowledge than myself and maybe even you! So many online tutorials are videos made by pros or people with an awful lot of experience, they make it look so easy but I know picking up a skill like this can be hard, more-so for some than others. So this blog is going to be about me, stepping on a longboard on day one, and ideally following through to when I can tackle some of the nasty hills in my town with a moderate degree of confidence. The blog might not end then however, for all I know I'll continue on in the same way I do with Eight Pound Ops, reviewing products and posting other kinds of articles too.

       Secretly I'm a little terrified of doing this. Not creating the blog, I know I have the staying power to write “like a boss” because of how much content I've put on Eight Pound Ops, hell, read this post and you'll know text can just fly off my fingertips. It's actually keeping at practising on my coming longboard is what worries me. I'm a perfectionist, and often if I don't pick a skill up quickly, I get bored and forget about it. My fear here is that without much advance practice on a skateboard, surfboard, or snowboard, longboarding will prove to be too great a challenge for me and I will grow weary of trying. I don't need to do anything too crazy on it just yet, however, I only need it to get from A to B around Kamloops (more on the city itself later).

       That is all I'm going to share about me for the time being. If you're new to my writing, you'll have to get a grasp of my personality through reading this and coming content. Right now I'm waiting on my board to arrive in the mail, I may throw an additional introductory/primer post up prior to it's arrival, and I'm not digging the current look of this blog so that might change too. I like the concrete picture for the background... and I sorta like the yellow header like the centre line of a road... but something feels off to me. Maybe it's just because my other blog feels more like home? I'll take suggestions regarding aesthetics if any comments follow the post. In the mean time, new readers, please check out the paintball blog: eightpoundops.blogspot.com, if you like one extreme sport, maybe you'll like another.