TAKING LEISURE TO THE X TREME SLUGGISH ECONOMY ISN'T HOLDING BACK REGION'S WEEKEND WARRIORS.

Byline: Barbara Correa Staff Writer

Economic uncertainty is hanging over the country like a fog. But in Southern California, year-round sports enthusiasts are waxing their windsurfers, tuning up their mountain bikes, and shelling out big bucks for outdoor sporting equipment.

``I just spent $2,000 for two saltwater fly rods,'' said Kirk Robinson, sports Renaissance man and owner of Captain Kirk's Windsurfing school at Belmont Shore and Cabrillo Beach, near Long Beach.

``It's a lifestyle choice. I don't drive as nice a car as I could.''

Instead, Robinson buys equipment for skiing, snowboarding, golf, tennis, fly fishing, and, of course, windsurfing.

While consumers in other parts of the country are hunkering down and buying expensive gas masks, Southern Californian sportos are spending big to keep their surf-and-ski-in-the-same-day reputation alive.

Kevin Foltz, a recent graduate of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, recently dropped $600 on snowboarding equipment, $800 for a week at Whistler ski resort in British Columbia and $650 for three days at Banff. Since moving to Virginia in August to take a government security job, Foltz has spent hundreds of dollars to fly back to California four times to indulge his surfing and snowboarding addictions.

``Being back East, I miss the sun,'' he said.

In the western region, which includes California, participation in traditional sports, including basketball and soccer, fell from 2000 to 2001, while activities like snowboarding gained in popularity in that period, according to data published by Sporting Goods Manufacturers' Association International, a trade group.

Spending on sporting equipment shows a similar trend. The National Sporting Goods Association reports that skateboard sales rose from $70 million in 1999 to $105 in 2001, the most recent numbers available, while sales of golf equipment are expected to total at $3.79 billion in 2002, down from $3.87 billion in 2001.

One reason for the change is the explosion of extreme sporting events, including the Gravity Games and ESPN's X Games, which comes to Los Angeles for the first time this summer. These extravaganzas have brought sports like kiteboarding and street luge to a whole new generation of kids who may be sick of playing traditional team sports.

And with its year-round temperate climate and acceptance of innovation, Southern California is the perfect place for such extreme activities to take root.

``Southern California is the action sports hub,'' said ESPN president George Bodenheimer late last year when he announced the X Games would be held at Staples Center.

Heavy Mill, skateboard and snowboard buyer for Gart Sports, which owns Sportmart and recently merged with The Sports Authority, said kids see snowboarding, surfing and skateboarding as a way to express themselves and their individuality. He can't reveal sales figures, but says sales are up from last year in each of these sports.

``There's been a shift in where a lot of the money is being spent,'' said Mark Meyers, spokesman for the Los Angeles Sports Council, a nonprofit organization responsible for bringing sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and World Cup soccer, to Southern California. ``More people, especially the under-20 set, would rather be in the game playing extreme sports than watching traditional sporting events. Instead of buying tickets to a football game, they'll go out and buy a surfboard or something.''

Derek Hermon, a mountain bike racer, bicycle motocrosser and snowboarder in Big Bear, left soccer for outdoor sports for the thrill he gets from being in the game and playing it according to his own rules.

``I played soccer for 12 years. I got tired of the politics and that's why I moved into mountain biking,'' he said. ``In biking, I can control my own roller coaster and it doesn't cost me that much. And in biking, I have no one to blame but myself.''

Hermon said he spends at least $10,000 a year on his bikes, races, and gas, food and lodging for competitions.

Of course, a sport doesn't necessarily have to be extreme to be expensive. People spend more on fishing tackle and golf clubs than on skiing, snowboarding, wheel sports, water skiing, bowling and scuba gear combined, according to an annual survey by the NSGA.

Anglers spent an estimated $2.1 billion on fishing tackle last year, compared to about $800 million for all skiing and snowboard equipment, according to the report.

Sports equipment data also show that sports once considered extreme are no longer.

``Skateboard sales are up ... That coincides with the downtrend in in- line skating,'' said Larry Weindruch, a spokesman for the NSGA.

When in-line skates burst on the sports scene in the 1980s, they hurt skateboarding sales, he said. But now, skateboarding is back up on top, thanks to X Games events in which skateboarders traverse a curved ramp, performing scary tricks in the air.

In-line skating can't compete with that, especially among teenagers, who account for the vast majority of skateboard sales, said Weindruch. ``If their parents can do it, it's not all that cool,'' he said.

Extreme sports spenders aren't necessarily young. The older ones spend more and don't limit themselves to just one discipline, as spending on one sport tends to lead to spending on another.

Mike Hydle, a retired phone company manager in Culver City, drops $500 to $600 a year just on arrows for his archery habit. But he also owns 11 bicycles, ranging in cost from $700 (aluminum mountain bike) to $3,400 (titanium racing bike).

``Every time you pass a bike shop you think, yeah, I need something, a taillight or a tool,'' he said. Hydle, who teaches archery at Woodley Park in Van Nuys and at the Malibu Mountain Archery Club, has several bows worth $1,200 each and spends $60 per package of material made from chicken necks to make his own flies for fly fishing. ``You've got to spend your money somehow,'' he said.

Spending on a multitude of different sports affirms the view that, in the big picture, spending on one sport helps the industry as a whole.

David Simon, president of the Los Angeles Sports Council, said that even though the sports marketplace has fragmented over the past 10 years, and extreme sports have clearly caught the fascination of younger sports fans, that doesn't necessarily come at the expense of traditional sports.

He pointed to strong attendance at basketball and hockey events at Staples Center and the emergence of arena league football as proof that growing popularity of one sport benefits sports across the board.

``A generation ago, there were three or four major sports and they each dominated a season and that was it,'' he said. ``Now you turn to the sports page and there are three different sports happening a day. I don't think these new sports are taking away fans.''

CAPTION(S):

10 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Derek Hermon, owner of Bear Valley Bicycles in Big Bear, rides along a trail near his bike shop in the mountains.

Brett K. Snow/Special to the Daily News

(2) Bear Valley Bicycles owner Derek Hermon builds a custom mountain bike valued at over $4,000 at his Big Bear shop.

(3) Derek Hermon has been competing in extreme bicycle sports for more than 21 years, since he was a young boy.

Brett K. Snow/Special to the Daily News

(4 -- color) no caption (Man with sporting goods)

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(5 -- 10 -- color) no caption (Sporting goods)

Associated Press Photos

Box:

SPORTS SPENDING

SOURCE: National Sporting Goods Association