27 Years (1422 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.66 on 30 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by HerdofWookies (View user info) at 2004-10-19 14:07:13 EDT
Twenty-seven years.
They went by so fast, but looking back it seems like so long ago that I first picked up "that wooden toy," as my grandpa used to call it. A wood plank with two trucks bolted to the underside with four clay wheels attached to them. I was six years old.
Wood and clay would eventually give way to plastic and urethane; plastic would revert to black griptape-topped wood again when the era of "real skateboarding" was ushered in during the late seventies and early eighties. Killer graphics and cool shapes would individualize boards, and the rise of the Pro's would begin. Tony Hawk was just a tot then, and already he was shredding concrete pool coping and getting big air.
California would emerge as the land of pool riding. Texas would become the stomping grounds for balls-out vert riding (Jeff Phillips, we miss you). Back East would have it's vert scene too, but backyard mini-ramps would rule the roost until the urban assault took over and hardcore street skating began.
So many changes over twenty-seven years, in and outside the skating world. The styles, the music, the politics; everything changes...everything changed. The emphasis went from beers and bros to getting sponsored and going pro. Every thing changes...everything changed.
Halfpipes and skateparks came and went. The Ethiopia Ramp, Cedar Crest, The Kong Ramp--R.I.P. Some of the dinosaurs are still around; I skated Lansdowne just other day.
Over twenty-seven years I've lost friends and family, got a degree, a job, a wife, and a son. I became an adult, in the loosest sense of the word. Over twenty-seven years so much has changed, but one thing has remained the same: me and my board, rolling any and every day that life allows.
I charge any terrain that comes my way, but most of my time is spent on a six-foot spine ramp.
My bag of tricks hasn't changed much over the last few years. I run lines that I've been running for at least a decade: drop in, 50-50, rock-n-roll, blunt to fakie, 5-O switch to 180 over the spine--and then back again. Not much for showmanship, for me it's become pure meditation. Maneuvers that no longer require my mind.
For twenty-seven years such simple tools and basic physics have liberated me, and for innumerable yet all-too-brief shining moments I've attained nirvana.
User Reviews
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2006-07-20 10:07:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2006-07-20 09:55:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
I wish I would have been good at skating.
-------
Me too.
-Dave
Submitted by forthewin (user info) at 2006-07-20 09:55:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I wish I would have been good at skating.
Submitted by WookieSuave (user info) at 2006-07-20 09:41:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wookie's unite AUTO +2
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-09-21 11:40:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
again on this one...
Submitted by Chroniclysm (user info) at 2005-08-12 02:24:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Do what you love, brother.
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-08-11 12:09:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
aaahhh nostalgia...
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-05-19 11:00:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Jesus man, Madonna's?! That's a trick I could never get a grip on. Air walks, yes. Judos, yes.
Madonnas, hell no.
Submitted by funk_boy (user info) at 2005-05-19 10:52:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I been skating nearly 10 years now dude.
I'm a mini ramp / spine / fun box man.
I know what you mean about the same tricks. I don't have the motivation to learn new stuff everytime i go skating. I got my madonna's, 360's, mutes, switch body varial, switch 180 airs to keep me more than amused.
Submitted by Hairsphincter (user info) at 2005-04-04 04:27:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
hot
Submitted by Freakmagnet (user info) at 2005-04-03 01:02:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Havn't skated in months, I hope I don't "out grow" it.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-04-02 01:21:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by EbolaMay (user info) at 2005-04-01 12:55:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I tried to take it to Mexico. Family wouldn't hear of it. Who knows what might have happened if they had?
Submitted by EbolaMay (user info) at 2005-04-01 12:54:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah. I was there in Texas when it all went down.
Thing is?
I sucked.
But you fuckers kicked ass.
Submitted by Teephphah (user info) at 2005-04-01 12:36:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh shit! How did I ever miss this?
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2005-01-10 22:43:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome
Submitted by WookieSuave (user info) at 2004-12-16 14:23:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
AUTO +2
Wookiee's Unite!
Submitted by drfeggphd (user info) at 2004-10-21 13:27:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Just read all your stuff. Excellent.
If your mountains and rivers aren't mountains and rivers,
may they become mountains and rivers again...
Submitted by landyuk (user info) at 2004-10-21 10:34:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5727109656
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2004-10-21 10:27:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I remember many afternoons spent on the neighbors half pipe and borading around town looking for cool stuff to grind/jump. good times.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-10-20 08:56:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by jojojojoan (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:37:25 (#)
Ranking: 1
I have a stupid question for you. Did you mean landsdowne md?
just curious cuz i used to hang out there at the bowl.
---------------------------------------
Just in case you check back in...
Yes, I was talking about Lansdowne MD. It's kind of crazy how that park refuses to die. Learning how to transfer into and out of that bowl when I was a kid cost me more skin than I care to remember...
Submitted by Loren1 (user info) at 2004-10-19 15:35:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I envy the way men never lose the child in themselves. It also drives me mad, but it's still enviable.
BTW - You're still a baby. ;)
Submitted by DamienX (user info) at 2004-10-19 15:05:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good post
Submitted by DamienX (user info) at 2004-10-19 15:02:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and
old people are useless.
-- Homer Simpson
Homer the Vigilante
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:51:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was good even though I usually am not a fan of reflection posts about "the good ole days".
Submitted by jojojojoan (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:37:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I have a stupid question for you. Did you mean landsdowne md?
just curious cuz i used to hang out there at the bowl.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:16:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:11:23 (#)
Ranking: 2
Aren't you a little young for midlife introspection?
------------------------
HaHa! Yeah, but I figure if I'm going to keep praying for a bus to hit me so I don't have to think about retirement, then I better get the midlife crisis out of the way while I still can.
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:14:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:11:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Aren't you a little young for midlife introspection?
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:09:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Skate or die? How bout.....
-2 die
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-10-19 14:07:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Meh. Turning 33 soon, and I'm somewhere between feeling my oats and feeling my age.
Guess I'll go skate.