Couple of hours session tonight, good times, few of the Wolves guys up too. Sometimes I feel waaay out of my depth skating with people so damn good but fuck that, get in there and skate, push yourself, laugh at yourself falling and give props all around.
Likely said this before but had 14 year old me known he’d still be going (yeah, breaks for kids but shit happens) 34 years later he’d be stoked as hell. He is…still that same kid.
Virtual fist bump to @franc who seems to be buzzing off skating as much as I am haha
14-year-old me was hyped on 25-year-olds still skating because they were from the generation before me and knew all those tricks and graphics and vids and stories from the late 80s and early 90s that I didn’t know that well but found so fascinating. 30 years later I’m still super inspired by all that and love skating and everything around it so much. I used to have fun. I still do, but I used to, too.
Skateboarding now is different and it’s exactly similar at the same time: a fantastic escape from reality when you are on your board but also an incredible therapy which, funnily enough, keeps you sorta sane in your daily reality.
I remember meeting a skater from the 70s in the mid 90s. He’d dug his board out and come to my local skatepark for a roll. He was so wildly out of touch, hadn’t seen anything of skateboarding’s progression. He didn’t know about ollies, street skating, nothing after the mid 70s. He couldn’t get his head round the tricks I was trying.
It was mad. Wouldn’t be anything like that now if someone who quit skating in 2005 turned up at the spot obviously.
A few years ago, I went to a bbq at a local skatepark and a few guys appeared out of the woodwork, and you just know they picked it up with the THPS craze and dropped it once cars, women, drugs, etc took over, so probably not far off 2005 one way or the other.
They were all riding 7.75 boards and wearing puffy shoes. Wouldn’t have looked out of place at all to the untrained eye, but so incongruent with the then current state of skating.
Yeah I meet those guys all the time in the shop. “Hey man got any 7.5s?” The biggest difference between then and now is just that skate media is everywhere and people are more up to date. This is before the internet took off and the guy had not read a skate mag or spoken to another skateboarder in twenty years!
I remember a bit off an old Plymouth scene video around 2000, where an old guy was skating the park and Nick asked how fucking old are you?? The guy was 38, but looked about 70…
I have a decade on that guy as of now and that guy probably wasn’t much younger than my old man at that point!!!
Skating again tonight for another couple of hours and young Joe Hinson was out. He’s pretty good on a skateboard you know, like really good. Nice chap too.
Most of the guys I skate with now are 10-20 years my junior. I’m like some old fucking dork off but fuck it, I’m enjoying myself!
Thats pretty much what my mate was saying. Plus I try and be…a positive contributor if that makes sense? Skate lots, have a laugh, dont take myself seriously, leave baggage outside, don’t temper tantrum and I always try and say alright to people I’ve not met before if they look approachable (not everyone does!).
I remember skating at Rom when I was about 12 and being so impressed when I met an ‘old man’ of 35 who was really into it. That was ancient to me then. Same thing with a rollerskater of 50 who was a regular at Bay66 in the early 2000s.
Unofficial skate night is now skate night and has been for 3 weeks or so.
Got an hour and a bit in, wife and son poorly so got a short pass with a sensible come home early option. Hacked about, fought through the pain my ankle was giving me and actually did ok.
Hopefully back out tomorrow night for a bit. Depends!
I skated last night. Go me. Felt like shit so had a decent little session considering. Got my first ledge bs crook pop out in a while and ledge front boards are more consistent than they have been. Toying with the idea of trying to flip in but that’s a young man’s game, nice to do if I could manage it though
Power hour! Nice to skate alone, it has been a while.
Threw flips into front board tonight, all went to correct position. Now I have a more consistent front board than I’ve had for a while, I’d like to think I can get one, nothing more than just staying on top
