How to Survive Street Luging

4 min read

Do you love reaching speeds of 100 km/h, but hate all the pesky safety features of a car? Then street luging might be for you. This extreme sport is just like driving a car, except the only thing between you and the road is a thin wooden board. If you hit even the tiniest bump in the road, it could send you spiraling into a fatal crash. And no, these things don’t come with airbags.
The sport of street luging is all about physics. The board gains serious momentum thanks to gravitational pull-down as you’re flying down a hill. You’d ride flat on your back, so wind resistance would be almost non-existent. Stopping is going to be borderline impossible, so I hope that you’re holding tight to that board. Oh, and did I mention mechanical brakes are against the rules? How exactly are you supposed to stop? Which board would you need? And what’s the safest way to crash?

Step 1. Buy, don’t build

While you’re luging down the street and feeling the thrilling rush of adrenaline, stability and balance will be your best friends. So you need a good board. Get your hands on a beginner’s wooden buttboard. They’re about 1.2 m (4 ft) long, so you’d have a good amount of wiggle room. They’re heavier but slower, meaning they’re easier to manage when you’re looking to learn.
Many experienced riders build their own board adapted to their specific needs. This might not be the greatest idea when you’re starting out since you might not be sure about the general safety precautions.

Step 2. Cover your shoes

Skilled lugers wear protective gear which includes welding-style gloves, knee sliders and the obligatory crash helmet. These are crucial since they ride at ridiculous speeds. The fastest ever recorded was achieved by Damian Andrey, at 163.88 km/h (101.83 mph) in 2017.
While I hope that you won’t try to break Andrey’s record anytime soon, you are up for a fast run, and the only thing you have for brakes are your own feet.
To protect them, cover the soles with rubber pads. This will increase the amount of friction as you make contact with the road. According to Will Stephenson, a longtime professional street luger, the best way to brake when you aren’t an expert is the feet down method. It’s better for lower speeds, and you’d be putting the whole surface of your feet on the ground to stop.

Step 3. Look for Grass

You have the right shoes, the right board and you feel ready to roll, but hold on a second. You also need a beginner-friendly location. You want to look for a venue that has a good balance of twists and turns so you’d still have the heart-racing thrills, but it should still allow you to stick to speeds that you’re comfortable with. Your perfect rookie-proof spot would be a smooth asphalt road with a run-off area covered with grass. Just in case things go south, you have something to soften a potential fall from your board.

Step 4. Walk it before you ride it

Contrary to what you might be thinking, in this sport falling off the board isn’t always the most dangerous scenario. Crashing into an obstacle is. Once you pick the location, walk it and identify potholes, cracks, trees and any other bone-breakers that could get in your way. Knowing this will help you plan your ride ahead and hopefully avoid smashing into them.

Step 5. Spread Your Arms and Legs

Street luging is all fun and games until you lose control of the board. If this happens, brace yourself for a crash.
To minimize injuries, hold onto the board as tight as you can. You want it to absorb the impact, not your head.
If you lose the board, chances are your body naturally will want to roll but don’t even think about it.
Keep your body flat, put your hands on each side of your body and spread them on the ground. Just this once, locate the least painful object to steer towards to make you stop.