Late in the evening after all the business people have left the office for the day and the parking garage is empty, out comes a group of young men whose fun begins traveling up and down the parking garage ramps on longboards.
A longboard is a skateboard with a longer and sometimes wider shape. This shape provides more stability, safety, and comfort than traditional skateboards. Their greater weight makes them less suitable for many skateboarding tricks but contributes to a fluid motion by providing more momentum, thus allowing the boarder to guide down the ramps with more ease. A longboard will also roll farther with a single push of the foot than a standard skateboard. Longboarding is often compared to surfing on concrete, and the design allows big turns or quick short carves, similar to a surfboard.
Longboards are made from polyurethane foam, fiber glass, or wood, and the boards can be designed according to the user’s preferences, with regard to length, material, etc. Many shops will order board components separately, depending on the user’s specifications, and assemble the board in the shop. Most good, durable longboards will cost between $200 and $350.
Longboards are most commonly used for either downhill racing, slalom, or even transportation in particularly hilly areas. “Without my board on campus this summer, I never would have made it to my classes on time,” said Lane Sinclair, an SMU student who spent the summer at UC-Santa Barbara, where longboarding is as common as bike-riding on college campuses in Texas.
Longboarding has been around for over 100 years, becoming popular in the 1950s for those preferring cruising and downhill.
Downhill or down ramp is what these young men do in local office  building parking garages after hours. They drive to the roof of the garage and start unloading their boards, preparing for an evening of spills and racing as they see who can get to the bottom first without falling off the board. Void of shirts, as that creates wind resistance, the roar of the wheels fills the garage, as they make the turns down the ramps.
These young men bring varying degrees of experience, from first-timers to one young man who has been longboarding since he was 12, and he is now 20. While experience may help with how to handle the board, all the young men agreed that strength and being in shape is a must to maneuver the board. “Many people see longboarding as a ‘fad-
sport,’ but it requires a lot of athleticism,” Sinclair said.
Before the evening was over the battle scars were evident. Crashes and spills are a part of the fun, but they all laugh and go back up the stairs to the roof to start their way down again.
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