The Sport
Want to cook up a new thrill? Mix the aerial insanity of motocross with the punk rock attitude of skateboarding and the rugged off-road toughness of mountain biking. What you get is all-terrain boarding, the newest extreme sport, also known as dirt boarding, off-road skateboarding, earth boarding or mountain boarding. The sport dates back to the mid-Nineties, when Hugh Jeffreys, a snowboard maker living in Hawaii, designed a Frankenstein contraption that combined elements of a snowboard, skateboard and BMX bike. He used it to tool around his home turf in Maui, and soon people were clamoring to buy one of the beefy, badass boards. There are now more than a million boarders worldwide and Jeffreys has gained renown, if not wealth, as the founder of Earthboard, one of the best-known board companies. This year's All-Terrain Boarding Association world championships take place at Kratka Ridge and Mountain High resorts in southern California in August. Riders will compete in disciplines including big air, distance jumping and dual slalom, with racers reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour. A good place to learn more about the sport is the website of the ATBA, atbaonline.com.
The Board
Even Sasquatch could barrel through the underbrush on an all-terrain board. These three-, four-, six- and eight-wheel knobbytired earth shredders are skateboarding SUVs. Boards can cost from $180 to $500, and as riders go for more daring stunts and thrills, their equipment gets more sophisticated--manufacturers are developing advanced suspensions, braking systems and steering mechanisms. With more advanced boards, you can rip harder, and the possibility of getting ripped up yourself is even greater. Serious all-terrain boarders say the sport is as safe as you want it to be and advise using a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads, a wrist guard and even padded shorts. You can check out boards and gear at mountainboardshop.com.
The Legend
Deadlocked Hawaiian Akoni Kama (pictured above) is the Evel Knievel of all-terrain boarding. His signature trick is called the Superman--a radical aerial maneuver in which he launches off a ramp and flies through the air with his board in front of him, Man-of-Steel style, before landing back on the turf. Kama has a go-anywhere, do-anything attitude about the sport: "Mountain boarding is all about freedom. My board gives me the freedom to ride wherever I want to ride. I've taken it on a glacier, on snow and into the mountains. I get to hang out and play in the dirt--it's a blast." The 28-year-old lives and trains in Hawaii. You may have seen him dropping out of a helicopter on his mountain board in a television ad for the Honda CRV.
