Ok so if you’re like me, you’ve been staring longingly at photos in Transworld, moping around the house with your goggles on (no? ok, just me) and wishing for the cold weather (even though bonfires and cottages are pretty sweet). Why not do some freebording?

Freebord Fuel TV Winter 2010 – 2011 from Freebord Mfg. on Vimeo.

Freebord A-team in Austria: The Out-of-Towners from Freebord Austria on Vimeo.

The guys at Freebord really got this one right. Freebord mimics snowboarding through different mechanisms than you see in longboarding. It’s designed for downhill riding, and not for pushing long distances on a flat.

The board has two center wheels, toe and tail, acting like the snowboard base. The wheels allows motion in all directions. Two wheels on either side of these center wheels (making 6 wheels on the board total) sit a little higher than the inner wheels and do not contact the ground at all times. These wheels act like a snowboard’s edges and let you carve and slide as you change your weight distribution.

Bindings are mounted to the deck for board control, but do not lock the riders feet in.

The wheel system makes freebording so much different from skateboarding, and really is equivalent to snowboarding on pavement. Can you get hurt? Yup. Will it take time to learn? Yup. What if you already snowboard? You’ll definitely have an advantage, but rippin it up on a freebord will still take a while to sink in.
Bonus: the similar motion will help you keep sharp in the off season.

Pointers:

*Keep your weight on your uphill edge to avoid catchin the downhill and eating concrete
*Shift your weight along the outer wheels, never riding the center wheels only. Kind of like riding your flat on a board, instability will make you slide out.
*Control your speed with wide sweeping turns and slides
* Watch for cars