People usually stop what they’re doing to stare. Housewives look up from their flower beds and immaculate lawns to catch a glimpse. Cars slow just to watch the dreadlocked rider effortlessly snake down hills throughout Lawrence. It’s not Mark Lewis’ skateboard that fascinates people. It’s the way he rides it. The flowing downhill movement defies reason, at least until you examine the board more closely.
In fact, Lewis’ ride isn’t a skateboard at all. It’s a freebord, and its six wheels allow riders to carve and slide down hills as if they were on mountain slopes rather than urban pavement.
“Freebording is basically a simulation of snowboarding,” Lewis said. “It’s like taking snowboarding to the streets. It rides just like a snowboard and that’s what made it so appealing to me in the first place.”
Lewis said the desire to snowboard year round was enough motivation to convince him to spend more than $300 on his first board in June. The concept is simple. Bindings hold the rider’s feet in place while two rotating wheels located between extra wide trucks allow riders to rotate 360 degrees. The result is the ability to control speed by cutting back and forth in wide swaths.
Learning to ride isn’t nearly as simple. Lewis said that learning to freebord was more difficult than snowboarding because the added friction provided by rough pavement maked it more physically demanding. And unlike snowboarding, freeborders face a much less forgiving landing and a steeper learning curve because rock-hard concrete punishes any mistakes.
Living in Lawrence gave him the ideal location to pursue his hobby, Lewis said.
“Lawrence is a pretty good town to ride in because there are lots of hills,” he said. “Around the campus area there are a lot of good runs, but you just have to watch out for cops.”
It’s a lesson learned from experience. Lewis said he has been stopped more than once by police officers either curious about how the board worked or determined to get him off the street. Lewis’ first run-in with police came just days after purchasing his freedbord, when he was practicing late at night at the Kansas Union parking garage.
“It was one of the first nights that I had the board and I was just trying to learn how to ride it,” Lewis said. “A parking garage is a really good place because there is a mild hill and I could take the elevator back up. Basically I was riding it for about an hour and finally a cop was sitting at the bottom when I came down one time.”
Despite being banned from riding in the garage, Lewis’ passion for freebording soon took up nearly all his free time. Marissa Nathanson, Lewis’ girlfriend, said that once freebording grabbed his interest he didn’t look back.
“He always asked me to follow him around while he rode so he wouldn’t have to walk back up the hills,” Nathanson said. “He even mapped out runs through campus and the rest of Lawrence so he would know all the hills he’s ridden. It got to the point where he was riding a couple hours almost every night.”
Little by little Lewis’ dedication began to pay off as his skills and confidence increased each time he stepped on the board. He purchased a headlamp and reflectors so he could ride at night and invested in safety equipment to deal with the speeds he was reaching on steep inclines. Lewis said the fastest he has ever ridden was between 25 and 30 miles per hour.
The key to freebording safely is the capability to maintain control on pavement the same way snowboarders do on snow — through carefully calculated turns.
“As long as the equipment is holding up I feel pretty confident because I have the freedom to turn,” Lewis said. “Every time you turn you can cut off speed and pretty much stop on a dime if you have to.”
In August, Lewis’ equipment and confidence caught up to him. While out with a friend, a smooth, spacious sidewalk near the Lied Center piqued his interest. Despite leaving his helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards at home, Lewis decided to add another hill to his growing list.
Unfortunately, the adhesive attaching one of the two rotating wheels to the board didn’t hold up to the pressure. Lewis’ friend, Kouri Linder, was following him in his car when he noticed just how much speed he had built up. Linder said the speedometer had climbed to 20 mph before he realized something might not be right.
“He started to swerve a little bit and I could tell there was something wrong because he never really looks out of control on the board,” Linder said.
Lewis said he knew he was in trouble when he lost the ability to turn. One wheel came loose, leaving him unable to slow down or stop. He bailed immediately rather than allow the board to dictate his fall.
“It was really weird because I rolled twice and immediately popped back up on my feet,” he said. “I knew I had hurt my wrist but my head was spinning so fast that I really didn’t feel that much pain initially. My eyes were kind of blacking out and my hearing was going in and out. I was really out of it.”
But the pain eventually came. Linder said the two considered going to the hospital because they were worried Lewis might have suffered a concussion. After trying to deal with the mounting pain on his own, Lewis finally paid a visit to emergency room doctors who told him he had shattered the radius bone in his wrist.
His only option was to have surgery to place a metal plate in his wrist. Lewis said doctors told him he couldn’t lift anything more than five pounds, let alone ride, for the next two months.
In October, the doctor gave him permission to go back to riding the streets of Lawrence. The three-inch scarlet scar from surgery is a constant reminder of one costly mistake, but Lewis said he has no plans to stop doing what he loves.
“I like it too much to stop,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have to let up any. Maybe just be a little bit more careful.”