Street Boarding in Barcelona

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.