Was in the skate/snow shop this afternoon and got talking about mountainboarding with the owner. About 20minute out of town we have a small locally owned ski resort. As of right now the land is on lease for xxx amount of years. In the summer the land owners graze their cattle there. As long as you are respectful it is okay for people to go there and ride bike, hike, or in my case mountainboard. I've been there a few times but prefer not because nine times out of ten I'm alone out there and if anything happened it would be a long time till someone found me. I was asking the skateshop owner, (who is on board of directors for the ski resort, who is also the mbs dealer in town) if he had a lot of interest in the mountainboarding cause I was looking for people to ride with. They've sold quite a few boards, but not as many as they've hoped for. Our conversation went on for a while, and turned into talking about trying to get full access to using hill in the summer for mountainboarding. One of our questions was how much gear do you need to have on rental at first and what level of boards do you carry?? I figured if you started with 75-100 boards and maybe used something like a comp 90 then you would probably have more than enough till the sport really took off in the area. We also got talking about actual terrain and what you might have to do so that you're not always cutting grass. I've slept on this idea lots of times, but never considered it a possibility as there really doesn't seem to be a market in this town. If the owners won't give up the land, then I guess that the idea is scrapped, but I thought that if I can offer up some info to help with the cause then maybe I may be able to help bring my dream to a reality. Our little conversation brought us to think that it could physically take a couple years before seeing anything happen, but its a start I think.

I think you 75-100 boards is a little high.... at least to start. I would cut that number down a bit and set aside money for parts. Tires, hubs, tubes, trucks, kingpins, bindings L-brackets, ladders, bearings, bearings, bearings. All the stuff that's likely to fail that would take a board that is otherwise fine out of the rotation. Keep in mind, that padding and helmets might also be something to keep some extras of for those without (at least initially).

Anything above that is just going to be pure speculation on my part.

I would highly suggest reposting this or PMing etchy6, Alan_RTH or KrazyKat (Tony) on SurfingDirt.

Etchy (Dom) works at the Bugsboarding Mountainboard Center in Maisemore, Gloucester, UK.

Alan works at Ride The Hill which is made up of two mountainboard centers (Surrey and Essex) as well as a travelling mountainboard center that takes gear and instructors to locations that don't have a local center.

Tony administers the ATB Club of Canada forum. I believe he also owns Epyx Mountainboards in Calgary which has a rental program as well as demo sessions for new and potential riders.

Any of these guys would be a great resource in sussing out start-up requirements in terms of gear and equipment.

ATB,
Sam

just start hiking the area and take your board

FOLLOW the MTB bike crowd. if theres a ski spot close by then you shouldn't have far to go.

like 5-10 boards for rentals....a ski resort and a lift ? i don't see what the problem is there . buy a lift ticket take your bike, your board AND when it snows you take your snowboard !

there has to be some interest in water free downhill.

Thanks guys I'm not sure how far this will go but I have to start somewhere. I talked to the shop guys again today, and I have their full support to explore this. I want to be able to bring forward as much info necessary to help the cause. If it at least brings a small club of guys that meet a few times a week to ride at first then that will do. Sam I'll definitely cross post this to Surfing Dirt. One thought that came to mind is to start riding at the skate park a bit and see what interest my presence might bring. The owner's son also helps run the skate shop and said anytime I'm gonna try the skate park he'll come over with a demo board and encourage his skater friends to give it a try.