There’s something beautiful about a long day of mountainboarding on dirt. One can’t help but notice how the dust in the air from an aggressive powerslide appears to dance in the light of a setting sun. Even the sound of your wheels rolling over the dry crumbling earth has an almost musical effect. Is all this real or is it simply the result of too many wrecks. You decide.

There are many of us who have developed a strange kind of love for the dirt we ride. It seems odd as most humans seek to avoid dirt. The mountainboarding dirt lover, on the other hand, searches for it. Hard packed and sun-dried, soft and crumbly, or wet and muddy, all its varieties are welcomed and equally embraced.

Dirt provides a ride like no other substance can offer. It moves and shifts under your wheels almost as if it has waited its whole existence for the sport of mountainboarding to grace its surface. Its sensitivity to weather make it ever changing and often unpredictable. Sun, wind, and rain gradually mold our playground in order to provide us with new riding opportunities.

Let us not forget our good friend Dirt. As we mountainboard its dusty surfaces, let us not consider it to be simply another peice of earth to ride. Surley it is more. It is Dirt. Let your apreciation reflect in your ride as you carve your tracks into its surface. If you wreck, take a moment to enjoy the cloud of dust that applauds your efforts.

Perhaps these thoughts really are brought on by a few too many wrecks. Whatever the case, to those who share similar feelings, for us the ride is all the more enjoyable. So grab your mountainboard and your gear and go out to thank your local dirt.

Most of us have a favorite spot that we ride at again and again. While this is perfectly fine, there is a whole new sensation to be experienced by trying out a new place. It’s all about the element of surprise.

We all know that the more you ride a specific spot, the better you get at it. You get to know every turn and drop. You know what sections have good run-off and which sections don’t. You can almost ride it with your eyes closed.

Well it’s time to shatter your comfort zone. It’s time to ride somewhere you’ve never ridden before. It’s time to face the unknown.

There’s something almost eerie about strapping in at the top of an unknown drop. Find a nice long stretch to really get that mystery factor flowing.

Even if you mapped it out in your head as you hiked up, you still don’t know exactly how the terrain will effect your ride or how the ground will respond. Excitement and uncertainty twist themselves into a knot of adrenaline that seems to lodge itself in your chest. The mind is anxiously awaiting answers to its many questions.

This flood of emotions won’t discourage you however, from strapping in and making the drop. For the mountainboarder, these feelings are soon converted into an intensely enthusiastic energy, better known as “a wicked stoke.”

Riding the unknown is an adventure in itself regardless of the outcome of the ride. You might go right back to your old spot for your next session, but you’ll take a piece of your adventure with you. You’ll be more open to new things. You’ll think more outside the box, keeping your riding far from stale.

Face the unknown. The wicked stoke awaits.

I stood atop a windy, Alaskan ridge with my gear strapped on and my mountainboard under my arm. I looked down into the valley below attempting to spot a nice line of decent. The moss-covered terrain was steep and lumpy. Large boulders, once carried by glaciers, now lay scattered about on the mountain side. The view was such a contrast from the coastal firebreak roads of Southern California where I had been mountainboarding for the past three years.

I struggled that day to maintain control of my board. The place seemed strange and foreign. Techniques that worked on the dirt firebreaks, failed miserably on the lumpy moss.

Mountainboard experiences like this one can go two ways. First, the rider can find the new terrain frustrating and choose to only ride the type of terrain that he or she is familiar with. Second, the rider can accept the challenge and learn how to ride it. While neither of these approaches are wrong, the second provides a valuable learning experience.

While many of us have a favorite terrain to ride, “mixing it up,” can greatly improve your skill as a rider. You will become more versatile, and your creativity will improve. Even if you go right back to your favorite spot, you’ll still find that the lessons learned improved your riding in some way. The basic principle here is experience.

A simple example of this is sand patches. Let’s say you’re out mountainboarding a hard dirt road and you’ve never hit a sand patch before, and then on this day, you do. You haven’t learned that your wheels will sink quickly into the sand. You might not lower your stance and you won’t know how to prepare for the sudden jolt that you’ll soon feel as your speed drops suddenly. Most likely, you’ll get tossed forward off your mountainboard and thereby learn a little about how to ride over sand patches. Next time you’ll be ready, you’ll be experienced.

So if you want to improve your riding, I suggest finding a place to mountianboard that forces you to learn a new terrain. Don’t freak out if you can’t tear it up like you normally do. You’re expanding your element, and that requires some work. Have fun.

Last week we talked about fractures, this week we will discuss one of the most common injuries in the sport of mountainboarding, “road rash.” At first it doesn’t seem too bad, it gives you something to show off- a nice visual aid to go with your post-ride story. Then it starts to get miserable. Scabs, restless nights, ooze, and a long healing process.

So what do you do? How do you best treat it for the quickest recovery?

Before you can do anything, you need to equip yourself (preferably before the you wreck):

• Bottle of water

• Wash cloth

• A mild antibacterial liquid soap

• Antibiotic Ointment (e.g. Neosporin)

• Non-stick gauze pads

• Self adhering gauze wrap

The first thing you want to do after the wreck is inspect the injury. There are different types of road rash, some more serious than others. If you’ve completely peeled away the skin layer and you feel like you’re in science class when you look at it, then you probably need professional medical attention. The skin can’t heal if too much of the underneath stuff is messed up, or missing.

On the other hand, sometimes road rash effects only a very thin layer of the surface of the skin. These types need hardly any attention at all. Just keep them clean and dry and they heal themselves.

The road rash we will discuss is the kind that fall between the two we just mentioned. These are the kind that sting, throb, and ooze. The following steps are for this kind of injury:

1. Clean the area. If nothing else is done at the crash site, you should at least clean the area. This is done with water, a wash cloth, and mild antibiotic liquid soap (most sporting goods stores sell small empty containers that can easily be filled with soap and packed away). Avoid using hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, or anything like that as they’ve been found to mess with the healing process. Scrubbing too hard will also make things worse. If you’re not able to clean away dirt and debris with gentle washing, you can soak the area until it is soft enough to work with.

2. Once clean, pat the area dry.

3. Apply antibiotic ointment (e.g. Neosporin).

4. Cover the area with a non-stick gauze pad. If you’re gauze pad is not a non-stick type, you’ll regret it later.

5. With a self adhering gauze, wrap the area (some areas are not able to hold a wrap, like the back for example. The non-stick gauze pad will have to do for these areas). The wrap will help to secure and protect the gauze pad so it can do its job.

A few last words…

The road rash is an injury that requires daily maintenance. Your goal is to keep the wound moist, covered, and clean. Only the lightest of skin abrasions should be left to scab and “heal on their own.” When they are deeper, we want to avoid the scabbing process. Scabs tend to crack and they don’t allow enough oxygen to pass through for proper healing.

Keeping the area moist helps to prevent the scabbing process. Each day you need to remove the dressing, clean the area with soap and water, and remove any slimy film (the beginning of scab formation). Then apply the antibiotic ointment (e.g. Neosporin) and a new dressing as you did before. Within a week or two you should start seeing a healthy pink color and the oozing should be done. After this point, covering becomes optional.

So now that you’re a pro at treating road rash, go out and tear up the hill side. If you’re lucky you’ll get to practice what you’ve learned.

Mountainboards take quite a beating and keep rolling. After a long day of riding, it’s not unusual for your board to be jammed with dirt, mud, grass, and whatever else you thrashed that day. Post-ride maintenance is an important habit to develop. Not only does it keep your board running smoother for longer, it also helps to prevent problems on the mountain when you might not be prepared to deal with it.

The level of maintenance you do depends on many factors: how hard you rode, what you rode on, if water was involved, if you live in a dry or wet place, and many more. I do most of my riding in coastal areas, so I have to deal with rust issues more than some riders. Typically I do the post-ride maintenance described below after each day of riding, then once a month or sometimes every other month, I’ll do some deeper mountainboard maintenance work.

The following maintenance steps are for an MBS mountainboard. Some differences might exist for other types of mountainboards.