taking up skating in late 30s

[Spacecase Records]

Oh, saw that you've done it before. You know the drill then.

[Mark Daid]

Yup.  Last time I went to the doctor.  Told me to ice it, rest it & pop over the counter pain meds.  Waste of time.

[rutabowa]

i learnt some of the ways of the bowl yesterday.... so good. guess its my first summer, evrrything makes sense more now!

[Charlie M]

I'll be 50 in a few months and I'm still skating. I'm still shit too with a repertoire of 0 tricks. Can't even ollie.
I learnt in London in the late 80s so was a 20-something late starter myself. It was a good time to start as skating had yet to re-emerge from the underground of the post-70s craze days. This meant all the skateparks were empty most of the time. Good times..

On the plus side - dude you live in London!!! There are some killer concrete parks form the 70s that still exist as well as all the new ones.

Harrow is a good place to learn - great classic park with very retro features (lethal peanut bowl!)
Kennington - great rectangular mellow bowl in Kennington Park (a quick tube ride from Waterloo/South Bank)
Stockwell - great mellow park right by Brixton Academy (much improved/upgraded since the 80s)
Victoria Park near Bethnal Green/Hackney.
Romford too - if its still there
I'm sure you know these by now. There are loads more.

I also chanced across a new park being built in Folkstone Gardens in Deptford that looked very cool.

I hope you learn new tricks quickly. I stalled early on but I don't care - the buzz of cruising around at high speed grabbing the odd grind on a concrete lip is fine by me and still "does it for me". Sure my son took up skating at 14 and within 2 months was better than me - he takes the piss out of my lack of ability but we still go out together. Going to head out to Hereford again soon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP16Hw59Oq0 - great provincial park. Many of the best parks are in weird provincial places. Midsomer Norton anyone? Killer fun park - http://www.skateboard.com.au/skateparks/england/midsomer-norton-skatepark/.
Dorchester in Dorset too.

I've managed to avoid any injuries in 30 years of skating - but then I know no tricks!! My son has broken the same wrist twice skating in 4 years and shreds. How cool it is to break a bone in pursuit of something you're passionate about. Although the bigger you are the harder you fall - and I'm 49 and tubby.

[rutabowa]

I've only been to Stockwell out of those... that bowl is about 50m deep tho! also been to Mile End, Clissold Park, South bank a lot... Finsbury park was where i got the hang of it a bit tho as the bowl is very gentle.

i was getting nice decent ollies last week, but they have totally gone now arh. I wanna be able to pop up kerbs at least

[suitor]

Hi baby,

My favorite punk rock skater: Sambone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiFCJAOmcT4



How much can a 40 year old progress in skateboarding in a year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn9ZaK-JIrQ

42 Year Old Skate Every Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYRhUjKipNo

[kevin]

That Suitor dude really is a bot, huh?

[yullowteef]

A bot that is very considerate about content relation, at least.

I just signed up to volunteer at my city's non-profit indoor skate park to give back a little bit to my community, and also in hopes that it'll trigger my desire to step on a board again. But in all likelihood, I'll just be the weird old dude behind the desk who supervises and plays old guy music.

[erico]

Haven't been rolling in a while, used it to rehab my ACL that I busted a few years back. Carving bowls works great.

Fave board and safety gear stolen out of the back of my car, board gifted to my by AZPX Chris Kelley, wore that thing out. Hope someone is riding it now.

Unlike Tron, I gotta wear pads. Falling down just fucking hurts. And if I bonk my head without a helmet who's gonna pick up the kids?

Skateboarding is fun. Going fast makes your brain work better. Have fun and dork out.

[nuggetsvolume1]

I dunno guys...I don't think they had skateboarding in the late 1930's!

Thanks, folks. I will be here all week.

[satanisrealagain]

Here is some advice from me, a 20 year old skater who was once on flow.
*no pads
*handrails are cool
*tight pants
*8.00 deck or larger but no larger than 8.5 because you'll look like a bowl jockey
*tre flips
*impossibles
*NO PRESSURE FLIPS

[satanisrealagain]

Yeah, Stereo (at least during the '90s) was through Deluxe, as was/is Anti-Hero. Ricky Oyola was pretty great. His part in Eastern Exposure 3 is really awesome. There are only a few woodshops making boards. Most of the manufacturers use the same three or four. Unfortunately, China has gotten into board production within the last decade or so and their boards are really, really bad. I think Schmitt Stix and one or two others are located in the US. The US and Canada make the best boards, hands down. Like tool production, it's about quality control, and you get that with US and Canadian made boards. Canadian maple is really good; it has a great reputation. Mexico is making a lot of boards these days -- they have been for a while -- and they do a good job. I've got no problem buying a Mexican-made board. The quality is generally satisfactory or better. But the Chinese boards are garbage. I was getting decks from my friend who rode for Workshop; he was out of town so I bought an Alien board (I was getting boat loads for free, so I guess I felt like paying it forward). It broke in two days on a fucking manual. I've broken a new board in 45 minutes; it was my fault and not the board's and I owned up to it. This wasn't my fault; the board was simply defective. He mentioned some of the boards were Chinese made and that was likely one of the bad ones.

COO on boards is sort of disguised. I think you occasionally get a "Made in Mexico" sticker, but most of the time you don't. Like I said, if it's being produced in North America, it ranges from satisfactory to great. The Chinese boards should not be on the marketplace. Skate companies have a tendency to keep skaters in the dark about who's manufacturing their boards and where they're being made.

Ricky motherfucking Oyola, that dude ripped. Most pure street skater ever,

[rutabowa]

that Worble vid this year was great eh?

[Spacecase Records]

No pads, no rules, Friedl!

I used to ride 8 3/4" boards back in 1996. A lot of the Philadelphia dudes did. You can rip street on a board that wide.

Ricky Oyola was great, but the real killer from that period/city (Philadelphia) was Freddy Gall. Matt Reason is my favorite skateboarder of all time.

Pressure flips are horrible to watch.

Handrails were cool. I don't skate them like I used to -- very, very rarely. I'm thirty-five.

Favorite Memphis skater -- Friedl.

The greatest skater/musician was Mario Rubalcaba. His last part in the Physics wheels vid is solid.

Next time I get to Memphis, I'll bring my board, Eric.

[Sal]

Did pressure flips have a resurgence then go out again? I remember when they first appeared ('92-ish?) and people would kill their boards trying to do them. Gumby tail!

I hadn't skated in almost 2 years until this summer. Wanted to at least say I did it on my 40th birthday and I did it! It wasn't pretty, I tried warming up by skating a few days before the big day. I went to my local skate park at like 9am and there were little kids who were better than I ever was in my heyday. This was a weekday too, but it was summer so I guess school was out.