Old Guys Who Skate

So – total dolt – I forgot my camera again today, so you’ll just have to put up with a ‘found’ picture of where we rode today. 

My buddy Ryan and I rode the China Creek Skatepark in East Vancouver this morning.  Considering its supposed to be the oldest skate park in the city, it’s a pretty good ride. 

The park basically consists of two bowls (one they call the “tea cup” and the other is a “bathtub” bowl.  From what I’ve been able to read, the bathtub is about 6 feet high and the teacup is about 7 feet.  Basically Ryan and I stick to the tub as we’re just getting our feet back – and it’s a total blast. 

Right now our entire reppertoire is consisting of riding through the tub (long ways for the most part), stopping at the top of the “steep” lip, turning 90 degrees to look back into the bowl, and another 90 degrees to re-enter.  For the most part, it’s challenging enough for us, and we’re able to keep pretty much entirely injury free as we do it (knock wood).

I also tried to do an ollie today.  I think there are two things working against me at this point: 

1. my T&C board weighs a ton
2. I have no clue how to do one, and I pretty much suck at it…

OK – I know its #2, but I’m gonna lean on #1, and get myself a new board!

Damn – I meant to take a picture of the T&C deck today… oh well, it’ll come! 

I just got back from a little ride around the block.  It was my reward to myself for doing some heavy duty cleaning out of the garage.  Had to take a bunch of stuff to the Saly-Ann and to the recycling depot (I’m so environmentally aware, I know!  ) so on the way back, I parked the car, hopped out and rode around a little.

I gotta say, at first I felt kinda weird dropping the board and pushing off.  After all, there’s a part of me that thinks I’m too old for this, I should be “past” it – but once I got going… sweetness.  Just enjoying the ride down a nice steady hill was enough to make me forget all that nonsense about being too old.  Fun times indeed!

Weather permitting, I’m going for a ride in the bowl with Ryan tomorrow morning.  Can’t wait!

OK so I’ll have to get a picture of this – but for now, let it suffice that I’m gonna tell you about my first skate in years!

So I pulled out my 1983 T&C yellow monstrosity and much to my surprise – it still rides like a dream.  The thing is smooth and silky – mainly because of the mushy wheels and HUGELY wide trucks.  Anyway, my buddy Ryan (they guy who started me on all this), said, “Let’s go get a coffee and go for a ride on our skateboards”.  Which is exactly what we did.  Only, we went “early” in the morning so as not to completely embarrass ourselves around the other kids.

We hit a local skate park and tried out the easier of the two bowls.  Much to my surprise, I was able to replicate the high point of my 1980′s bowl riding prowess by riding across the bowl, stopping at the top and turning around, coming back down (now I see why they have crazy names for all the tricks – describing it all just sounds too mundane – mind you, what I did was mundane, so we’re gonna stick to it for today!).  Now the trick to all this for me, was to do it without sending myself to the hospital.  And – I was largely successful.  Honestly, I think the years of snowboarding I’ve put in recently, have helped me deal with this situation. 

Ryan also did well – he started out riding his cool Ray Molinar deck from Habitat.  It’s made from bamboo – which is kinda cool – and I gotta say, the graphics are pretty sweet.  And despite the fact that I know graphics don’t mean a damn thing here – it does make a difference when you get to look at a cool picture when you’re not riding.  …but I digress.

Half way through, we decided to trade boards – just to see what the differences were like.  WOW!  It was like driving a sports car versus driving a truck.  Ryan’s modern deck and narrower trucks made for a much more precise ride.  Not to mention the new wheels were a lot harder and less forgiving. 

My old T&C was more like the comfort truck.  The wider trucks made it more stable, and the softer, smoother wheels took care of a lot of the little cracks and bumps in the surface. 

The cool thing for both of us was that I got to try out a new board, and Ryan got to bring his game up on a more stable ride.  A good time was had by all, and when one of the “regulars” came down to the bowl, he was actually pretty welcoming to us.  A good time and a good ride.

I need a new board.