So how do you stop? It turns out there's a full braking system operated by the calf of the leg on the rear portion of the board. The brakes can be either cantilever or disc.
What about rocks and gravel? Anyone who's skateboarded or rollerbladed on the street knows that a small piece of gravel can send a rider flying into the pavement. On a Dirt Surfer the larger BMX style wheels make gravel and rocks easy to deal with. Which is one more reason to to try dirt surfing.
The photos on the DirtSurfer.com website speak for themselves. Any terrain that an extreme mountain bike is built to race downhill is the same kind of terrain that riders can race down on a Dirt Surfer. In my book this would make ski resorts like Whistler-Blackcomb a great place to ride in the off season, when the snow is gone and typically mountain bikers would be the only ones on the mountain.
When snowboarding first started catching on there were a few rifts between skiers and snowboarders sharing the same mountain. In fact many upscale ski resorts simply didn't allow snowboarding in the early years. Our downhill mountain bikers have a new foe to contend with on the mountain... not the occassional ground squirrel or wood chuck ... now it's a speed demon of dirt trying to decide if he should slow down because there might be a cliff up ahead, around the next turn ...
To understand the physics behind a Kite Wing, all we have to do is look at wind-surfing and hang-gliding ... so what we have is a mini-hang glider of sorts, minus anything to buckle into. You are hanging on with your hands, and that's it.
If taking a cliff and sailing a couple hundred yards sounds like the thing to do, be sure to have a good hand hold on that Kite Wing. A silent prayer as you sail into the sky wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't think I'd want to hit any turbulence.
Read more at www.dirtsurfer.com and www.dirtsurfer.ca for information on ordering.
Want to see a dirt surfer in action? Be sure to check out YouTube postings.
Survival the Extreme Sport
The Extreme Sport of Dirt Surfing
Warrior Dash and Spartan Race
Four Extreme Sports to Experience
Hawaii Surfing - Best Places to Surf
Top 10 Areas for Snowboarding
Top 10 Lakes for Wakeboarding
The Hyanide 'Mutant' Dirt Bike / Motorcycle
The Extreme Sport of MMA
Top Ten Places for Extreme Mountain Biking
Extreme Sports in Seattle
