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?
CM: It is an honor to represent the USA as a street luger.
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?
CM: When I was little I thought ice luge was the coolest thing, odd for a kid growing up in Arizona. Then I saw street luge on the XGames and figured that was something I had to do. At my first event I rode with many of the XGames athletes, one run down the mountain and I was in the middle of a large pack of riders, doing about 60 mph. I was hooked, and never really looked back. My first international event was in Capetown. Since then, I’ve traveled around the world, racing on every continent. Traveling and racing, what more can you ask for?
USA DSA: Every athlete has a unique journey. What’s been the key to your success and progression in street luge?
CM: When I first started, the World Wide Web barely existed. But I was fortunate that the only street luge forum was run by a local. Turns out Seattle has a history with downhill, with some discussion on where street luge really got started, hear in Washington, or down in Southern California. The admin of the forum introduced me to some of the old school riders, some of the pioneers of the sport. I learned from some of the best. From there I entered as many events as I could, and raced as much as I could. Unfortunately I typically rode outside of my ability when I first started, and ended up breaking every limb, in different crashes! Now my biggest problem is I don’t push it as hard as I should, as I don’t want to crash! You’ll commonly hear me saying “I broke too much.”
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?
CM: We used to race street luge and classic luge. Classic luge was limited to two trucks. I used to race R2s 180mm trucks. At one even I was scrubbing a wheel on every run, and only had limited wheels.
A professional race car driver told me to run wider trucks, and loaned me his Randal Pros. Didn’t scrub the wheels! But Randal Pro trucks had floating axles, which made it a pain to change wheels. I played with a few trucks before settling on Ronins. They were one of the few precision wide trucks. Now a days everyone is going with narrow trucks, so wide trucks are harder to fine.
Bearings aren’t nearly as important as most people think. I used to run Abec 11 Biltins, but now get Zealous. They are cheap, and use the same “builtin” technology (for those that don’t know, the bearings have spacers “built in.”
My wheel of choice at the moment are Venoms. I was running Mach1s Magnums but currently on cannibals. For bearings I use a mix of Venoms and Abec 11s. Honestly you should change your bushings a bit more often, so I’ll probably have to swap out the Abec 11s.
And then lastly I run my own luge board. Designed and built it over 20 years ago, and it still runs great.
USA DSA: Heading into the world championships, what’s going through your mind? Any specific strategies or mindsets you’re focusing on?
CM: Mainly trying to get into shape. A lot of people thing street luge is easy. You basically do an ab crunch all the way down the hill. Outside of that street luge probably takes less strength than stand up. But you also need a start. You can’t win the race from the start, but you can definitely lose it.
Chris McBride is the 3rd ranked Men’s Street Luge Athlete qualified to race in the upcoming 2024 World Skate Games in Italy. If you would like to support Chris and the USA Team, Donate Today.
