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

Exiting news coming up!

LONGBOARDETTES and Plum- handmade longboards are getting involved with Skateistan- charityproject! Details are coming in soon! Here is just a peak for whats coming in:

Unohdettu Elämä- filmfestival is organising collaboration with RCM, Boardsport and Cartel skateshops a skateboard and skateboardpartsfundraising for Skateistan- skateschool, which is working for peace in Afghanistan. You can donate any of your skate stuff in these shops in Finland:

Roots Cultural Movement

Linnankatu 63 b 12

20100 Turku

+358 407586525

www.rcm-clothing.com

Cartel

Hatanpään Valtatie 1, Koskikeskus, 1 krs.

33100 Tampere

+358 32140325

www.cartel.fi

Boardsport

Pursimiehenkatu 3

00150 Helsinki

+358405742514

www.boardsport.fi

www.unohdettuelama.fi

www.skateistan.org

/Kaisa ja Roosa

Longboardettes

Sadetta, skeittausta ja sangriaa!

aka. Rain, skate and sangria!

Me and Kaisa travelled to Madrid to take part in 100k party organised by Longboard girls crew and also do some skating with them!
Few competitions, lots of sliding and churros.

Roosas trip started really early from Helsinki-Vantaa airport. She was superstoked to get beer in the plane 7.00 am! And she got lucky while waiting for the connection flight, Lufthansa offered 250€ for waiting couple of hours for the next flight because they had overbooked the first one. Amazing as it sounds she got more money for two hours than she payed for her whole trip. They also gave 15€ lunch coupon to buy food from the airport.



The next evening was the time to party hard! The 100k party was held in this big club, which was reserved just for longboarders/longboardettes.
It was crazy! Before hitting the party me and Kaisa were eating some tapas and going around the city
When we got to the party, there was already a huge line outside the club, i was glad thet we had our names "on the list" so we didn't have to wait outside!

We had our photo taken, a few times. I loved the board we were posing with, really funky shape!
Also we both had bought party hats earlier in the evening, I think half of the people at the club had my hat on in some part of the evening!

Rest of the evening/night just flew by! We met so much new people and were able to talk with people Roosa had met last year when she was skating in Madrid.
We did some filming at the party with Gopro and the last clip we have was taken around 6.30 in the morning of Roosa and Oceane sitting at the metrostation going home...

More about sliding, downhill and other skate related stuff is coming in the next part.
We just have so much things I want to write about thet I can't fit them in one text.
(Roosa is also editing a video from our trip, we hope she can finish it next week!)
All of the great people we have met, partied and skated with will always stay in our memories and we hope from our hearts that we all will meet again somewhere in europe!

/Longboardettes