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Street Boarding in Barcelona

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What is a street boarder?

It's called Streetboarding. To describe it without refering to similar sports is difficult since it's a new sport. It was previously called snakeboarding. It's a sport which puts together skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing into one. Streeboarders are the ones who ride a snowboard in the length of the skateboard, with wheels like on a skateboard, and they ride on the hard concrete pavement with a similar movement to a surfer. To move the board forward you turn your feet toward each other and then away from each other rapidly. I tried to ride it but with little success. Sergi says it takes a month of time practice to just learn the motion. There's a culture of street boarding in Barcelona.

For conventional skateboarding, the Barcelona skateboard scene is for you.

They don’t only ride in the parks. They also ride the streets and grind down big handrails.

People are curious about this

Street boarders have an easy time to get a spontaneous audience. That is an audience who randomly walks by and decides to look. It's a sort of attraction because it looks incredible to see someone ride with this board down a stair in the street. In the skatepark of Guineueta, people stopped to look when Sergi was riding.

A professional street boarder

Sergi has been riding street boards for 21 years and is the only paid professional of this sport. He even got his own wheel company called Turunflun wheels. On Instagram, they are called @turunflunwheels. Also, he represents the protection gear company called Ennui.

Guineueta skatepark

Guineueta skatepark is the meeting place because there is a smooth pavement here and very accessible place for street boarders in Barcelona. They are in all of the parks around Barcelona, but the Guineueta skatepark have the biggest likelihood to show you street boarders.

When you see them do tricks on the rails it looks very much like they are snowboarding. Maybe that’s a very offensive thing to say. It’s like saying Dr Pepper tastes like a spicy Coca Cola.

Falling

Sergi can do the trick he wants the first time he tries. It is better this way because when you fall, you really fall. On a skateboard, it is sort of okay to fall. On a street board, it is a different story.

Like on skateboards and snowboards, street boarders also have falling techniques. On a skateboard, you can escape the board when you fall. On a snowboard, you are attached to the board, but it’s more mellow since you fall on snow. On the street board, it has the hardness of concrete and the attachment as you have on a snowboard.

The fluency of the motion

It looks very fluent when you see tricks. It’s a skill that is very technical and it looks so natural. It looks so easy when you see someone ride it, and who also knows how to ride it. People who pass by stop and watch the street borders. This is way more frequent than people who stop to watch a skateboarder or a BMX rider or on a mini scooter rider. It’s perhaps because it looks very fluent and because it is an unconventional sport.

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The author

Kai Bonsaksen

Kai Bonsaksen

I'm Kai from Norway. I always follow that little voice in my head that tells me to go and explore new places … and on itinari, I talk about the ones I know the best!

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