Brooklyn Blitz: Boards Take the 'Burg

If somebody said there were pushers under the Williamsburg Bridge twenty years ago, they’d most likely be on the phone with the cops, or at least a narcotics officer. But on Sunday afternoon, on the last official weekend of the summer, another kind of pusher gathered on Wythe Avenue and S. 6th Street in South Williamsburg, for a day of friendly competition—and by pushers, I mean skateboarders, longboarders to be exact.

Sunday marked the second annual Brooklyn Blitz, a four mile race attended by more than 40 skateboarders that stretches from the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge, up north into Greenpoint, back down into Williamsburg and over the bridge into Manhattan to the finish line—originally meant to be at Tompkins Square Park, but due to a tip off to the cops, had to be re-routed last minute.

Organized by Mike Dallas, the co-owner of Bustin Boards, a skateboard company out of Hoboken, New Jersey that specializes in a wide variety of custom long boards, the Brooklyn Blitz is an opportunity for local skaters to come together, bomb the ‘billyburg bridge and share their love of longboarding, sunny Sundays and something they like to call, “push culture.”

“Pushing”—a reference to long boarding in particular, as opposed to skateboarding in general—is about grace, aerodynamics, endurance and speed, whereas short boarding, a more popular and traditional form of the sport, has more to do with agility and tricks. While skateboard and longboard races—like those of the fixed gear bicycle variety—are relatively commonplace, especially in New York City, they are illegal. In addition, they take place on the streets, in traffic, in the broad daylight, which makes for a dangerous, albeit exciting and exhilarating, experience for riders and spectators alike. And though the races themselves are kept intentionally under wraps, so as not to tip off the police, “push” culture is based around a solid, supportive, and close-knit community of riders, of varying abilities.

“There’s no hierarchy, it’s about brotherhood and friendly competition,” Dallas said. “We’re also getting a lot of interest now. The push culture is definitely growing—it’s easy to do when everybody’s stoked.”

Jim Soladay, a street skateboarder who races longboards on occasion, considers himself very much a part of the New York City skateboarding community, and takes pride in what he does—after all, he’s been doing it for more than 23 years.

“I love to come out and race all my buddies,” Soladay said with a smirk. :And in the past six years, a plethora of skateboarders have come out. It’s a network, just through word of mouth telling each other where to meet and greet. Everyone is open and welcoming—if you’ve got a skateboard you’re part of the family. I’d say the community has grown 30 per cent every year, at least.”

This year’s Brooklyn Blitz—a sort of precursor to the biggest longboard race of the year the Broadway Bomb, which will go off in October in the outer borough of Manhattan—is an appropriate foreshadowing of what the very near future holds for “push culture” and longboarding in and around Williamsburg. On November 1, Dallas and his fellow pushers/business partners are poised to unveil their latest, and perhaps most ambitious, venture: a Bustin Boards shop on Grand Street, which will be the first cusom longboard store in New York City.

“It’s growing,” said Dallas, kicking up his board. “We want it to grow out of out of our shop—for our shop to be the storefront for push culture.”

The top 6 finishers @ Brooklyn Blitz (4.0 mile technical sprint course) were:

1. Theseus Williams 13 minutes
2. Mark Schaperow 13m 5s
3. Adam Crigler 13m 10s
4. Mike Dallas 13m 15s
5. Jim Soladay 13m 20s
6. Michael Poli 13m 30s