Rider Spotlight: Angelica Jones

USA DSA: First off, huge congrats on qualifying for the world skateboarding championships! How does it feel to be part of the team representing the USA at the World Skate Games?

AJ: It’s been like a dream come true. I’ve found an undying love for this sport, and I’m more than proud to be representing the USA.

USA DSA: Let’s kick it back to the beginning. What sparked your passion for street luge, and how did you get started in the sport?

AJ: The Winter Olympics and the ice luge. I was inspired when I was really young. I hadn’t heard of street luge until someone showed me the Xgames, and I thought that would be more my style than ice luge. However, it was illegal to ride them around the area where I lived, so I ended up finding skateboarding.

It took me years later to actually acquire a street luge, and I found a love for it along with my downhill skateboarding. My friend Amanda, who let me try out her luge (made by Dangerous Decks), helped me return to the world of downhill gravity racing after an accident prior in 2021 I was in that almost took me from the world and from my extreme passion for gravity sports.

When I had saved up enough, I ended up going with Dangerous Decks and bought one of their sleds. I practiced for a year and found myself almost natural on the sled when I was given a chance.

I ended up racing in my first qualifier race for a position on Team USA in 2022. I placed second, and because times were rough, I could not afford to go to other qualifiers, so my overall ranking ended up being 4th in women’s luge for America.

I tried again in 2023 and kept my same overall ranking even after placing third on the same hill where I raced the last qualifier.

USA DSA: Every athlete has a unique journey. What’s been the key to your success and progression in street luge?

AJ: I raced standup skateboards a lot before an accident I was in on July 11th, 2021, after almost having my head squished by a 2 to 4-ton vehicle and a full-face helmet that saved my life and almost losing a leg due to high-risk compartment syndrome.

I spent two months recovering and stubbornly returned to pushing a board around. I found my passion for standup racing was all but lost due to the PTSD that followed after the accident.

I was reintroduced to street luge; I always wanted one but never had the money or time to build one myself or to buy one from a builder. I really found a love for streetluge after finally aquiring one, it did not effect me the way standup racing did or sending the hills on my standup boards since the accident.

I can say with confidence that someday I will return to standup racing, but I’m ever so slowly doing so, so until then, I’m driven to take my luge to new speeds and new heights.

I live in Portland, Oregon, where skateboarding is more than welcome on the streets, and street luge isn’t much different in a lot of people’s eyes. I usually can be found with crew in tow or even by myself sending the extremely steep and chundery hills of Portland.

My biggest key to my success is major confidence and commitment to my route and my line; if you don’t commit, bad things can and usually do happen. Also, I make sure to have lots of fun and put on a smile to all who try to bring the rain on my parade; plus, I love the rain, and throwing slides on the luge is even more of a blast.

USA DSA: Your setup is crucial in downhill racing. Can you walk us through your current luge setup and why it’s your go-to choice?

AJ: My go to is running a fullsized luge with 4 trucks, 8 wheels, and it is fine tuned. My front trucks are RKPs, and my rear trucks are TKPs.

I run some old school DT Lucys(Dont Trip) in the front on 150mm hangars, the most front truck sits taller than the second front truck by 1/8 mm taller, the most front truck also sits at a 50° and the second front truck sits at 40°, the rear mimics the front with risers but has TKPs on 7° dewedged risers, the rear TKPs are DT Trippins, with 175mm hangars setup.

I prefer wider in the back to ensure maximum grip in the rear when I’m hitting apexes.  With the right type of grip wheels, I can fly through apexes without the need to slow down, and no breaking is necessary on an open course.

This setup does act very similar to how F1 cars need to perform on apexes, with a lot of lean and less turning, also minus the motorized part and that they (the F1 cars) can accelerate out of the corners, but the line is almost the same. I chop through the apex and carry my speed through with no real need to slow up on most downhill tracks.

USA DSA: Heading into the world championships, what’s going through your mind? Any specific strategies or mindsets you’re focusing on?

AJ: I just want to have lots of fun pushing myself and helping others go the distance with our favorite speed machines! I love meeting other lugers and love talking shop and learning from them. I want to help this sport a lot since it helped me return to doing what I love and live for!