Longboardettes roadtrip to Lapland part 1

Roosa-Liida Koskivaara, Lena Salmi, Päivi Tuovinen, Reetta Tiihonen and Kaisa Viitanen

Great recept for a skatetrip!

Longboardettes roadtrip to Lapland was ready to start. We got an amazing skatevan from Huittisten laatuauto and packed it full of leathersuites and longboard decks, trucks and wheels. Note to ourselves: when you are travelling with girls remember to take the biggest car available.

First we drove through the night to Rovaniemi where we crossed over arctic circle at six o'clock in the morning. Weird part is that we never knew the time, it was always sunny or bright so we were just going with the flow and the weather. We were crossstepping in front of Santas post office while christmas songs and spirit were joining our session and Santapark just around the corner. It was epic fun! Finally we got our last member to join us in Rovaniemi when Päivi brought her sunny personality to the crew.

Photo: Päivi Tuovinen

Plum longboards and Reindeer longboards gave us boards to test in Lapland!

Ounasvaara hill at Rovaniemi was the first stop! Local news crew came to watch us skate and were superstoked of us conquering Lapland with longboards. We think of ourselves as ambassodors of Lapland spreading the longboardlove and Laplands beautiful summer nature and culture to around us. It's the most ideal place to skate in Finland downhill longboarding. Even Rovaniemi which is supposed to be a bigger city was quiet and with only little trafik. Being more exited than ever, craving for bigger hills we continued our trip to Orresokka at Luosto!

Photo: Päivi Tuovinen

Orresokka is a biathlon track 3,5km long and has a  smooth asfalt  to longboard. It's pretty narrow so it makes it a technical spot too. In the end theres a 180 degrees toeside corner where you don't have to drift! It's amazing ride, go for it! There's places to skate from the beginner to a pro, so great place to skate with a big group too. We went there for couple days just because it was so awesome!

Next stop was to go to Lenas friend Ásllatt from Lemmenjoki (Leammi). He is a reindeerherder, journalist, documentarist and soon to be longboarder! There's a river where you can do gold  washing and a hill for downhill longboarding! From now on it's called Ásllatt spot! Too bad it started raining but it didn't stop for Roosa and Päivi to skate.

Just wait for the second part!

Video is coming out 28.7 in Longboardettes JAM in Helsinki!

Longboardettes

Kaisa & Roosa

Loaded Bhangra, dancefloor on wheels!

I dislocated my shoulder about four weeks ago when we were longboarding in Lapland.
After that I couldnt skate for a couple of weeks and I still can't do much sliding because I need to wait that it heals properly.

Loded Bhangra

I was getting bored because I am not a person who just likes to cruise around the city or watch everybody else skate. That's when I decided to get Bhangra!
So once again it was time to contact Boardsport because I remembered that I saw one Bhangra in the shop. I had a good luck, it was still there.
I was thinkin that if I can't slide I'm going to dance.
I have never before done much dancing or any kind of tricks, like flips or shuvits.
I have always thought that they are just not fore me.
But when I tried that kind of stuff with Bhangra I fell in love!
I have been skating now almost every day trying to learn new dance steps and yesterday we were skating I did the first stand up slides after the dislocated shoulder and for that the Bhangra worked great.
Only problem that I have been having with it is the fact that it's HUGE!
Really nice for crostepping but really heavy which makes some trics really hard for smaller person. But everything shouldn't always be so easy, I need challenges time to time!

Shuvit.

 I work in a shopping mall so when I had a break from gripping skateboards I went to the roof to skate a bit, nice way to spend lunch breaks!
Esa was kind enought to come with me and take a few pictures with my awesome cellphone camera (after buying me a huge ice cream)!

Crostepping.

Jeans are broken from yesterdays longbaording and my right knee got couple of good bruses!
                                                 Summer and minishorts, here I come!

I don't know what is this.

-Roosa-Liida

Coming up soon: Longboarding 24/7 in Lapland!

Can you imagine anything better than longboarding with your friends under the midnight sun !? At this time I cannot. We are making a skatetrip to Lapland, where the real Santa Clause comes from. Heading to eastern part of Lapland, where should be the Finnish Maryhill, Kaunispää. There are some of the biggest mountains of Finland, without any traffic in the roads (perfect!). Maybe we pop up to see Arctic ocean as well we are so close to Norway! Midsummerfest is just a week from this so the sun doesn't go down at all and you can skate 24/7 if you want.

We have a car too, thanks to Huittisten laatuauto,  trunk full of Rayne longboards and we have an awesome crew to skate with; Roosa-Liida, Päivi, Lena, Reetta and me. It's going to be fun, fast and furious! Cross your fingers so it doesn't rain!

We'll be making the most amazing video just for you babes<3

Skate or diet! 

Skatekisses,
Kaisa

p.s In Finland with our four beautiful season we can only skate for few months in a year but we can do it 24/7!

The ABC of dating a skater girl

Besides brozoning there are also other issues that skateboading girls face up with.
What if you are dating a guy who doesnt skate?
In this text we will go trough some of the problems we girls face up with.

I have never been dating a guy who skates.
I think the problems start from the point that you meet a guy who skates and he brozones you.
Soon you stop looking the guys you skate with. You don't even think them as possible boyfriends.
So when ever a new guy starts to hang out with your skate crew, you instantly friendzone them whitout thinking about it.
And if you happen to find a skating guy who doesn't brozone you then you have to face the fact that you are sharing your hobby with him.
Is it going to be annoying that he skates better than you or learn the tricks faster than you?
Or how hard it would be for him if you skate better than him? That crushes every guys soul!

It's easier to meet a non-skater guys ofcourse.
But I have noticed that every time you tell a guy that you longboard they look at you like "U sure girl?".
You try to tell them that YES I LONGBOARD. They just imagine you in minishorts and high heels carrying your board around the city.

This is how I alwas look while skating.

And when the for example see your facebook page filled with photos and videos of you longbaording they are like: "What? I thought you were joking..."
So now he knows that you actually longbaord. Now there is two ways he can handle this situation.
Some guys are super stoked about the fact you skate and others just dont like it.
The one who don't like it you should just dump instantly. The ones who like that have more hope.

Then the non-skater guy have to listen to you to go on and on about sliding, downhill, wheels, bushings and how you just bought new bearings. Also they have to put up with your bleeding elbows, broken legs, bruses and infected knees. Nice.
If they can handle all that, great!

Part of the longboard girls of finland <3

Next step is when you travel to freerides, competitions or just for fun.
Ofcourse you travel with guys. First you go to places like france. Then you skate, maybe have "some" beer and after that sleep in the same tent/bed with them.
Might sound scary for your boyfriend, but luckily the guy you skate with has already brozoned you so no worries!
Skating takes a lot of your time, you travel a lot and hang out mosty with guys. If you find a guy who can handle all that and at the same time watches longboard videos with you, he's a keeper!

So here's some tips for you non-skater boys:

1. Do not worry about the skater boys, they have brozoned your girl already.
2. Don't tell her that her injured knees or bleeding elbows are horrible, just bring some band-aid and close your eyes.
3. When she talks about skateboarding to you just say: "That sonds awesome!" even tough you have no idea what she's talking about.
4. And most important thing: Just love her!

-Roosa-Liida

I wouldn't stop longboarding for any guy but I can dump guys if they can't handle the fact that I longboard or just can't handle me.

Rayne Avenger, my new lover?

I have never liked topmount boards (exept topmounts with a drop).
I feel much safer when im riding a drop trough board or dropped top mount.

1. You are closer to the ground when sliding, so if you fall, you are already closer to the ground
2. It's more comfortable to travel long distances, it's easier to kick when you'r legs are closer to the ground.
3. And when doing downhill (or slides) it's really nice when you can "lock" your feet to the board when it has a drop.

Rayne Avenger changed my mind.
Boardsport was kind enough to borrow me one for a week so I could test it.
I did some sliding and was cruising around but didn't have time to get to do any kind of downhill with it (which is a shame).

Lenght-38" Width-10" Wheel Base-28.25,29,29.25,30"

Avenger is a race board, but really nice for freeriding and sliding as well!
So you can almost do anything with it!

First thing that I have to mention is the hole in the back of the board.
It was love at first sight!

Love the graphics!

It's so easy to drag the board behind you rather than carry it around.
It's a small detail, but really handy one!

Avenger has a W concave like Isis so that was nice.
I really like boards that have some kind of shape.
The concave really helps you to lock your feet in position. Also the W concave is nice when you are doing downhill. You never have to worry about where your back foot is, you can feel it!

The wheelwells are also an interesting feature.
First of all they look really nice and I think that you don't have to worry about wheel bites so much!

First I was terrified to slide with Avenger.
It's really high and it doesn't have the drops where you can so easily lock your feet during the slides.
Surprisingly I had no problem at all doing coleman slides or stand up slides with it!
Only problem I had was with the one foot slides.
Im used to ride a much lower board so it took some effort to get back on the board after slides. But it's a matter of what you are used to and after a couple unsuccessful tries I got the hang of it!
I really don't do stepping/dancing with my boards but this summer I have been practicing a bit of stepping etc. and the Avenger is better to practice with than Isis for example. The drops that Isis has takes away useful space from the board. But the Avenger with no drops offers you a bit more space to do these kind on things!

Also kicking around the city feels a bit different when the board is not dropped. Takes more muscle.
But now when the bikini season is starting, it's a good thing to train your muscles a bit ;)

Overall I fell in love with the board. The shape, concave, the dragging hole, and the graphics! I have already returned the board, but now I can happily say that I will be riding with it next week!

-Roosa-Liida
(Video material of the test day one)

MmmmmMadrid: our new mantra!

Summer of LongboardLOVE has started in Madrid! 

Longboardettes arrived to a rainy Madrid so it was obviously time for a wet t-shirt contest to celebrate our new logo. We spent amazing 7 hours to skate in the rain in Moyano! It was raining almost the whole day but we're not scared of rain, its just more fun if you are not afraid to get dirty.


Moyano is pure gold for sliding and dancing with your longboard. It's concrete and super slippery, easy place to start to do anything fun with your board. Better watch out for it in the rain though...

Roosa and Oceane 

There's not a better way to start your day than eat real spanish churros and warm chocolate. Cruise around roads in Madrid and stop by a glass of cold sangria.

Kaisa spent her nights in Hostel One in Malasana. Thats a street full of bars and cafes and places to get delicious tapas. Roosa catch her couch from couchsurfing.org . There's also a facebook group to get/offer couches for longboard trips, LONGBOARD COUCH SURFING.

In the 100K party we got many new friends and got finally to meet up in person with our LGC friends. We will have lots of couches to crash next time. New friends from Barcelona girls crew and hell yeah we are going to Mallorca to meet up with downhillchica Kati. Fabulous girl from Madrid Sonso Masia are joining our Euro trip this summer on our way from Teolo World Cup race to KNK Longboard camp in Slovenia. That's going to be rad, since there are so many girls racing this year, also Jacky Madenfrost! Do I have to mention those spanish guys, sweeeeeeet <3! Actually best part of the trip were the afterparties that happened after this. We met our handsome neighbour from Sweden, Michael Aho and are planning a skatetrip to stockholm! Gbemi from London, what a positive package. He will make you laugh for sure!

Team Nordic: Roosa, Kaisa and Michael rocked it in tarpsurfing!



Photo by Marta Guillen



Team Finland won silver in downhill contest. Congrats to our sweet ROOSA-LIIDA!!!!

Photo Rodrigo Navarro

Slide jam was a success as well to even experience such a great longboard spirit. Next summer I hope we will have twice as many girls in our slide jam, yeah!

It was the best trip so far for us. We thank you Longboard girls crew,  all our new friends and wish you all the best skate for this summer!

Enjoy talented Marta Guillen's video from the whole weekend:

Madrid LGC 100K party weekend

Kaisa ja Roosa

SKATE OR DIET!

Please fix me!

All of the longboarders have some kind of problems with their knees, shoulders, elbows or some part of their body for time to time.

This is the reason why in every longboarding group should have one physiotherapist!

Last friday I had a little accident with beer and longboarding.

My beautiful infected knee.

So when I woke up saturday morning I couldn't walk or bend my knee in any way.

I hit it pretty hard to the asphalt.

Couple of summers ago I got the knee infected pretty bad so after that it has given me all kind of problems. So if I hit it somewhere even a little it swells up and it's really painful.

 

This time it happened for a really bad time.

Weather has been awesome, one finnish tv program is coming to film our longboarding in tuesday and thursday we were supposed to go to påminne to practice some pre drifts.

My knee this time.

So as you can see from the picture it was pretty big this time too.

But the fact that before this picture was taken saturday, I stood 7 hours at work which made it a lot worse!

We had skate session on sunday.

Obviously I couldn't skate but I went there to watch everybody else have fun and also asked Ville, our physiotherapist to come and fix me!

He has been skating us for some time now and we are so lucky to have him in our crew! He has fixed my shoulder once and avery time somebody hurts themselves he is always there with some kinesio tape!

So, im not really sure how this stuff works, but it does!
It takes down the swelling.
And I'm really glad that it does, now I can do some sliding for the tv show on tuesday.
The biggest problem was that the knee gets so big that it's impossible to bend it.
He taped it yesterday and today when I woke up, I can actually WALK!

Good as new!

 So this is the reason why you have to skate with doctors, physiotherapists or nurses!
You don't always even need kinesio tape,
Last summer Ville made new side ligament for Janne with duct tape and after that he could continue skating even tough he could barely walk before!
So once again the day is saved!

/Roosa-Liida