Hey! my friend Pat said over the phone. So, you know it's my birthday coming up, right? I have an idea. I know what I want to do. I want to learn how to skateboard.
Pat, my friend since Grade 1, is full of ideas. Over the past 24 years of friendship, these ideas had resulted in a few crazy projects: Going the winter without heat; creating our own video games on ancient computers; learning to start fires without matches; building bamboo bicycles; learning to play the ukulele.
This time, it was learning to skateboard at the tender age of 30. I was so surprised by this request, I must not have argued too vehemently. More likely, Pat's wife Christine persuaded me to do this so she wouldn't have to.
Either way, we found ourselves the proud owners of new skateboards the next day.
One thing you should know about Pat there is no such thing as half in for him. Trying something is not an option. Whenever Pat does something, he does it. I knew when we got our skateboards this was going to consume my life for at least a short time.
Why exactly were we learning to skateboard, I asked myself? Weren't we too old for this? My knees hurt when I got out of bed in the morning. How exactly was I going to learn how to do tricks on a small piece of wood with wheels? More importantly, does it hurt to break your back?
Right from the outset, we had a goal in mind. We wanted to be able to ollie over a small object maybe an apple.
An ollie involves making your skateboard jump by slamming the tail end into the ground while guiding the deck into the air, eventually (I hoped) landing safely with your body intact. It's considered the most basic of skateboarding tricks.
How hard could it be? We weren't spring chickens, but at the very least I felt like a one-year-old turkey.
We were relatively healthy, mildly athletic males with our only sin being the occasional beer and the odd doughnut. No sweat.
The only apprehension I had about this latest experiment was the very real possibility that I was going to make a fool of myself. What 12-year-old would be able to resist chuckling at the site of two grown men floundering and falling over themselves, struggling to stand stably on skateboards let alone make them move?
To avoid any potential embarrassment, we decided to meet for the first time at a local skate park at 6 a.m. on a Saturday. To celebrate the beginning of what I was sure would be an interesting journey, we took a photo outside my front door. It was early spring and we wore tuques under our helmets, thick fleece pants and warm parkas.
It was evident within 10 minutes that this wasn't going to be as easy as I had hoped. Nothing seemed to go the way it was meant to. I couldn't stand on the skateboard while it was moving without falling off, and there was no way we could get the skateboards to jump.
Standing at the edge of the concrete bowl dug into the park, no amount of money could get me to drop in. None. I almost threw up the first time I stood at the lip and looked down at the smooth concrete sheen as it dropped nearly two metres before levelling out.
But we tried to improve. Oh, how we tried. We met every Saturday morning before the neighbourhood awoke in a desperate attempt to learn to ollie.
We even started a blog so our eight fans (family and a stranger in Australia) could track our progress and laugh along at what was becoming a hilarious exercise in futility. There were painful falls, scary moments and cold toes and fingers before the weather warmed up.
Soon, though, I felt like the skateboarding sessions had become less about skateboarding and more about hanging out. Pat and I had known each other for a long time and were good friends. Still, as we skated (or at least tried to), I found myself learning more about him than I had in the previous two-plus decades. Our friendship grew stronger with each failed ollie and each aborted attempt to drop into the bowl.
We talked about life and how much things had changed now that we had been out of school for so long and were deep into our careers. There were talks about Pat's marriage and my unsuccessful relationships. We reminisced about our childhoods spent playing together and the projects we might undertake in the future. There were smiles and a lot of laughter. There were quiet moments of reflection on how much we've grown up, apart and together. And there were frequent moments of skateboarding frustration.
That was more than two years ago. We kept at it for a much longer time than I had expected, given our culture of short attention spans and the next new thing. There were starts and stops, but the blog kept growing over our two-year skateboarding journey as our baby steps grew longer and longer.
Still, we never did learn to ollie well, as our final attempts at jumping over a medium-sized green apple proved. We stopped meeting in the early dawn one day when life got too busy, filled with deadlines at work and obligations at home. But I kind of miss it. Dennis Ku lives in Toronto. Illustration by Dushan Milic.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
love this comment...
I am a 36 year old skateboarder, & have been (still) skateboarding for 25 years.
I can tell you that, as clear as if it were yesterday, the first time that I ever dropped into a ramp. It was a most memorable experience, & one that will stick with me, until my last breath.Nothing, & I mean NOTHING has ever given me as much pride, as to belong to the tribe of skateboarders, worldwide.
To the author, I say this:
You have tasted the sweet pleasure of being a skateboarder, & you will therefore, always be a skateboarder. Get back on it, & see where it takes you, both physically & mentally. It's quite a trip.Thanks for the big smile that this article has slapped across my face. Peace
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
A great article about friendship and the need to challenge your self imposed limits. I wonder how much more success Pat and Dennis would have had if their goal had been more achievable by thirty something mortals. Perhaps just the ability for the two of them to be able to push down to the local pub for a refreshment.
I think Dennis should challenge Pat and they both should pick up a cruiser and explore another style of skating.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
This is a cool post to stumble across. I'm 29 and waiting for my first longboard today. The outdoor/kayak shop I work for started carrying SUPs this summer, and we discovered Kahuna's Big Stick, which we now carry. My wife jumped onto one of the Kahunas at work, and this seems to be the first sport that we're BOTH interested in...my 24, 29 and 39 yr old co-workers are gettin' 'em too, and the 61 yr old shop owner was pushing himself around on one. Definitely an "old" group of noobs.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
Quote:
Originally Posted by skategeezer
love this comment...
I am a 36 year old skateboarder, & have been (still) skateboarding for 25 years.
I can tell you that, as clear as if it were yesterday, the first time that I ever dropped into a ramp. It was a most memorable experience, & one that will stick with me, until my last breath.Nothing, & I mean NOTHING has ever given me as much pride, as to belong to the tribe of skateboarders, worldwide.
To the author, I say this:
You have tasted the sweet pleasure of being a skateboarder, & you will therefore, always be a skateboarder. Get back on it, & see where it takes you, both physically & mentally. It's quite a trip.Thanks for the big smile that this article has slapped across my face. Peace
im gonna assume he doesnt have kids, or hope that they dont read that part
__________________
longboarding is an art where your body is the canvas and the asphalt the brush.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
Quote:
Originally Posted by snozzboarder55
im gonna assume he doesnt have kids, or hope that they dont read that part
Relax...don't take it quite that serious. Also...Tony Hawk said just about the same thing after he pulled the 900 at the X Games, his wife and kids were not that troubled by what he said.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
Quote:
Originally Posted by miSSionary
Relax...don't take it quite that serious. Also...Tony Hawk said just about the same thing after he pulled the 900 at the X Games, his wife and kids were not that troubled by what he said.
Assume...makes an ass outta u and me.
i was joking...
__________________
longboarding is an art where your body is the canvas and the asphalt the brush.
Re: imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
As I sit here munching on some delicious, crunchy leftover Jimmy Chips containing 100% premium peanut oil, I ponder... where shall I begin?
I'll start with this: great article. Challenging yourself and your friends and family along side you builds pride and character and a new bond to laugh about and have fun with. This article radiates with stoke and proves that having fun while skating is the best way to skate.
Ohh how I love the feeling when you nail that first trick. My next door neighbor has a kid in college and a quarter pipe. The kid never uses the ramp because hes 1000 miles away in Colarado, so I asked to use it. My friend and i observed every little nook and cranny of the thing before we even stood on top of it. And when we finally did get up there, it took us another ten minutes to get the balls to (try) and drop and in. It took us another ten minutes to get it again. Now, 5 years and 5 skatefilled summers later my advice to the dudes at the park, who were in the same spot as me 5 summers ago is this: stick with it. This is also my would-be advice to this dude. #### the haters, skate what you want and skate because you want to. It's no fun if you aren't skating for yourself.
Lastly: skating is more fun when it's social. When i skate with my friend we spend as much time talking about school and the likes as we do skating. This is why skating alone isn't nearly as fun as when you are along side a skate buddy.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DHBM
i gave a hot guy head on halloween.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephen.mhsrider
stfu you attention seeking piece of sh!t, stop bitching and whoring for attention you unloved dumpster slut of SF.
imagine...30 year olds "bond" over learning how to skate
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