6/21/20
Today is two things. Father’s day and Go Skateboarding day. I’m not a dad yet, I kinda think that’s partly what this whole “get back into skating and board riding” thing is about for me. Something I need to get out of my system before having kids so I don’t feel the need to live vicariously through them. That, and I just want to take advantage of the time I have by doing things I enjoy. Nia and I are DINKs during a global pandemic. We have free time oozing out our ears…
I got up early and skated at the New Britain park. I realized I hadn’t been there in a while! I shared the park with only one other dude, and to our mutual delight, we are both beginners. We chatted it up a bit and practiced dropping in on a 3′ quarter pipe. It was the first time I’ve been to the park since buying my popsicle stick board. There was a small learning curve to get the feel of this board on the ramps. I did my favorite line a bunch of times. Drop in on quarter pipe, roll down bank, cruise across park, then carve the hip/bank thing on the other side.
For the most part it was an easy session of rolling around and practicing ollies. I worked up the confidence to attempt dropping in to the “big” quarter pipe… once. It’s 5 feet, only two feet higher than the little one, but feels like its 20 feet higher. I took a deep breath and went for it. Dove in and felt the welcoming tug of Earth’s gravity. Then I immediately felt the less-than-gentle greeting of the concrete. I’m not sure what exactly happened, but somehow my back foot tried to stay on the coping while the rest of me dropped in. PPE helped me out here, I have to admit, and my wrist is no more sore than it was when I woke up this morning. That was the first and last time I attempted that drop. I live to skate another day.
After some more cruising and ollies I grabbed the surfskate out of my car. That was fun to ride in three dimensions, rather than just pumping on relatively flat ground. It was cool to roll down a ramp and carry that speed into a bank that I treated like a right-hand slab. Easier to kick out the back wheels and slide on the concrete too.
That’s about it. After more than an hour the sun had made its way above the trees and started to heat things up. I called it a day and gave my dad a call.
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