Long Distance Longboards
An alternative to pushing is pumping. The idea here is not to use foot strikes to move forward, but to enable forward movement solely by exerting pressure on the board with your feet. Sounds complicated? It is, if you've never done it before. It gets even more challenging when you want to pump on long distance. In this case, it's called Long Distance Pumping, or LDP for short. Here you can find a selection of Long Distance Pumping longboards. ###
Long Distance Pumping - What is it?
Pumping works with almost any longboard. Only very stiff and lowered downhill boards are not suitable for it. In order to move around without pushing, a bit of practice is necessary. How it works exactly, you will learn now.
The alternative to pushing
Pumping is all about applying targeted pressure to the deck with your feet, especially your back foot. The resulting snaking turn you ride will eventually cause his longboard to move.
Pumping works on both flat and slightly uphill tracks and is especially popular because it allows you to keep both feet on the deck. On sloping tracks, pumping is popular to pick up even more speed. Clearly: this is also about the fun factor.
Long-distance pumping
Long distance pumping is a special form of pumping. The name already gives away what it's all about: instead of pumping only short sections of your route, the aim is to cover the longest possible distances. To ensure that this works and is as comfortable as possible, there are special longboards for long distance pumping. Decisive characteristics are the following:
- Above all, an LDP longboard should not be too flexy. If the deck is too soft, it means a great loss of energy. In this way, long distance pumping is too strenuous and you won't keep up the movement for long. It is therefore better to choose a hard deck.
- Also, soft bushings and small axles will help you perfect your riding style and cover long distances with pumping. In principle, an LDP board should also be short rather than long.
- To prevent your front foot from slipping away after a while, you can additionally equip your deck with a footstop. The perfect position of the footstop is at the height of the front axle screws (which, by the way, some long distance pumpers like to set a bit harder).
The features of the Long Distance Pumping Longboard at a glance
- Relatively low flex
- Soft bushings
- Small axles
- Short deck shape
- Grip wheels
- Optional: Footstop front
- Optional: harder adjusted front axle
By the way, whether you have to take very small or slightly larger swings to move forward depends on the distance between your axles. The closer together they are, the faster and smaller the swings are when pumping. However, this can get quite tiring on a longer run. In this case, it is recommended to mount the axles a little further apart.
Once you get the hang of it, you can cover really long distances with your LDP board. Many longboard pros have specialized in this style and are constantly attracting attention with spectacular rides. With a long distance pumping board you can (with a little practice and feeling) manage to cover 20 or more kilometers.
Think big! With a LDP longboard this is possible. Thanks to the special properties of these boards, you can easily cover even long distances. Once you have perfected your technique, your ambition will soon take hold. Then it's just a matter of going further, further - and even further!
