Looking for old guys who can relate, +35

[dcphotos]

Yea, I'm going to Japan for a month and I'm taking my EarthWing Suprecharger, if I find and old golf bag I will take my E glide Dewey Weber (dual motor) longboard.

Hey Man, when I went to Australia and New Zealand last year I bought a MBS mountain board bag. I used it to carry a longboard and shortboard on my Utah trip, and when I went to Oz it held a shortboard, pads, two diggereedos, several bottles of wine and even a bottle of Absinthe on the way back. Google it, it's a great board bag.

[SweetCatarina]

I work in the Management Offices of Gold's Gym.

I take care of 6 Gold's Gyms & 45,000+ members.

I am on the computer ALL DAY LONG!

[Ogre]

Okay smarty pants, now you are stalking me from thread to thread. Do you want me to tell these people that you let your daughters paint your nails? Huh? Huh? What's wrong with two stoked old but freaking hot chicks on boards in Marin? Other than the cops waiting to haul us off to traffic court because they surely won't appreciate the stoked boards, I think the county can handle it. What are bike paths for anyway? There's one to Mill Valley and beyond that's the perfect run. We could have lattes with the priviledged few at the bookstore square.

And for the record, that's four llamas, two goats, two cats, two weimeraners. I was gonna leave the pets at home but now ya got me thinking...

Jules

Uh...nail polish? You must be confusing me with, uh, some lil' badass Goth kid! Kick flippin' my... uh his, yeah his pop-sicle stick!
Hey ladies, it'd be cool to get the 2/3 of you carving up the streets!! CW would certainly have to put a piece in the mag about that! Hope it pans out.

Keep us posted !

[PMC]

Hey Man, when I went to Australia and New Zealand last year I bought a MBS mountain board bag. I used it to carry a longboard and shortboard on my Utah trip, and when I went to Oz it held a shortboard, pads, two diggereedos, several bottles of wine and even a bottle of Absinthe on the way back. Google it, it's a great board bag.

THX DCphotos I will google it.

[surfinsmiley]

OH MAN!

I just had an Old Dude crash a few nights ago............ broke my wrist...... at 39 years old that REALLY sucks.

The worse part is I was just skating to the 711 to get icecream after dinner and it`s a run I`ve done a thousand times.......

[Ogre]

Hope it aint the Nevicular!! I broke mine ,took 8 weeks to "cast off" and to this day, it aint right!

[dcphotos]

Same here, I broke my Navicular bone racing BMX when I was 17. Wore a cast for long time(kept smashing it up jumping bikes) and it still ain't right. I wear wrist gaurds these days, I can't imagine having to tell my employers I can't shoot a basketball tourny because I broke my arm skateboarding.

[johnspurlock]

Well I'm 53 and starting skating 1 1/2 years ago. So far I've managed to crack 2 ribs, 1 wrist, rupture 2 discs and give myself a concussion. I am a firm believer in pading up,but sometimes stuff happens. But no matter what happens we have to get up and keep carving.

[chicagolongboards]

Hey dc, did you race in the nbl, or aba? I raced in the nbl from 81 to 86.

[dcphotos]

Hey Chicago, NBL same time as you. Did you get around to race much? I raced a national in St. Louis on a muddy motorcycle track about 1984, and a couple down here. Didn't travel a lot though.
I might be in Chicago in June for a photo workshop. I'll be looking to skate somewhere if I get the funds for the workshop, maybe we can ride. I might try to get an off-camera flash photography clinic going as well, I'll post around that time.

[chicagolongboards]

I raced all over the country. My parents owned a bike shop called crete custom cycle. Our team was #2 in '84, next to Team Hutch, if I remember correctly. I have tons of old pics from those years, and actually have a keychain photo viewfinder thing of me at the 1983 race in St louis.

Just let me know when you're coming out. I usually get together with a group of skaters every Sunday morning, and ride around the lakefront, soldier field, and the museum campus.

[dcphotos]

Cool. Do you ever play on the forums at Vintagebmx.com? You should check them out. I have no remaining photos from the St. Louis race. I used to live there before moving to Alabama, the year after we left I got to go back up there and visit my old friends and race. I saw photos of Wilson park, that place looks great!

[chicagolongboards]

I'll check out that site. Thanks for the link!

[dcphotos]

Yeah there are a few longboarders on there also. If you have 80s BMX parts around, you wouldn't believe what people will pay for them. If you register post in the cafe.

[chicagolongboards]

I have all of my bikes from when I was 6 years old till present day. I have a gt that was hand built by Gary Turner himself when he worked out of his garage, a one of a kind 24" powerlite Steve Rink built just for my dad, just to name a few. Steve Rink used to race against my dad in the 35 and over class. I hope I can find some of the people I used to know from racing back then.

[dcphotos]

You MUST sign up for VBMX. I started posting on that forum 3 years ago. I met one guy that I never knew, but he lived in the same neighborhood in St. Louis and sent me photos of the jumps where I hung out 25 years ago. I also got back in touch with my best friend from back then through the site, and emailed and messaged with Greg Hill and Stu Thompsen. I also exchanged a bit of correspondence with Bob Osborn, the photographer and publisher of BMX action.
That GT might be worth an amazing amount of money.
To give you an idea of bike part value, I had 2 Hutch 20" bikes. One is still all together and I value it enough to kill over it. The other was trashed, painted a funky color by me years ago and in pieces in my closet. The frame and fork went for over 300 bucks on ebay to a guy that was going to have it re-chromed. I had a pro-neck with vinyl snap-pad that went for 87. I sold a dia-compe MX-1000 brake that I paid 18 bucks for in change back in 1982 for over 60, it was also trashed. The most extreme thing I have seen yet was a set of chrome Rad Pads new in the bag that got hundreds of dollars.
Anyhow, this site has all the old crew on it, it never fails to amaze me the people I hear from on there. Post up in the VBMX cafe section on your longboards, you will find some folks into it in there.

[chicagolongboards]

I figured that my bikes are worth some good coin, but I would never sell them. My gt has aluminum sew up rims, mini uni seat, aluminum mini handlebars, and weighs 6 pounds with no use of titanium or drilling holes for weight saving. I raced that one till I was 9 then I got a regular 20" from gt, with bullseye hubs, and all the good stuff. I still ride my dads 24" powerlite around quite regularly.

[dcphotos]

Cool. When I sold all my old stuff I couldn't use the money for anything like bills or anything else, so I bought a 2005 model SE Quadangle freestyle bike. I ride it around the neighborhood mostly. I tore a ligament in my wrist when I took it to a skatepark, just from pulling on the bars so hard. Really sucked, I was getting almost 3" of air out of the ramps. Didn't hurt that night, but still hurts now. The kids nowadays are nuts. I remember when Jose-something or another did the first backflip during a show at a race. Now all kind of kids can do them.
Here's my bike:

I want a 24" next, but with a road bike, mountain bike, two BMX bikes and a bunch of skateboards I don't have the space.

[IGSA-1]

We had a great, all day skate session on Saturday. Started in the morning with a few hours of tight slalom practice in San Jose. We followed that up with a drive to San Rafael and mexican food. After lunch we rode the Novado skatepark followed by a session at the new San Rafael skatepark. I can't think of a better way to spend a day than with my Bay Area skate buddies. We skated the last park until the ranger kicked us out at dusk. Everyone had such a great time we decided to take a photo in the parking lot.



L-R: Me, Cat, Eric, Norski

BTW, Eric is the baby of the group at 33, the rest of us are all 40+.

[ConnLongboarder]

I'm 40 - been longboarding for about 3 years. Skated on and off in the 70's & 80's - took a BIG break in the 90's - my advice - just like everyone mentions - start off slow - ease your way into it. Know your limits, push yourself, but not too hard. Get a helmet and pads. I just got them. And although they provide a safety net - be careful. I ALMOST had the biggest bail of my life. Felt a little "secure" with my helmet and pads - bombed a pretty decent hill at a park, I rounded the corner at the bottom (cruising mind you) and was 6 feet from a pole in the millde of the sidewalk. It was a 1/2 second decision to cut it at the right, and thank GAWD I just made it. My life flashed before my eyes - seriously. I would have been knocked out cold with serious serious internal injuries.So - don't get too cocky, and NEVER skate a "blind" hill.

For sure look here for other longboarders in your area. It is indeed best to have others around, to share boards, tips etc.

Keep at it, and keep us posted on your progress...