I am 35 years old and I decided I wanted to skateboard again. #
We've all seen posts like this on the internet. Or, at least you probably have if you are maybe a little insecure or embarassed to be pursuing what is commonly seen as a child's pastime (like myself). At 35 years old, with my life already going through some huge changes, I decided that what was best for me was to buy a skateboard and start riding again. I'm gonna put to paper my journey so far. Granted, it's only been two weeks, but even in that time the change I've felt in my mindset has been substantial.
Motivation #
Ever since that fateful day when I played the demo for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 on my playstation, I've loved skateboarding. As a spectator mostly, but as a kid I of course tried it out. I had a cheap goku skateboard when I was probably about 12 that I would ride. One day though, I stopped. I hit a raised section of sidewalk, throwing me from my board. I made the classic mistake of putting my arms in front of me to catch myself, and landed hard on hands. It hurt, so bad, and I didn't feel like I could move my arms properly. I ran inside to tell my mom, but she either didn't believe me, or didn't think I was hurt badly enough to warrant a visit to the doctor. But, for the next week, I was not able to write or lift things without a ton of pain. Ever since then, I've been able to crack my wrists no matter the condition, and create a crazy popping/grinding sound. In retrospect, I think I may have broken my wrists, or some similar wrist injury. I really should have been taken to a doctor. I don't fault my mom for this, especially now as an adult and understanding the circumstances of my upbringing, but I do wonder if I had received proper treatment if I would have stuck with skateboarding. But, after that fall, I stopped for 7 years.
Fast forward. It's 2008. I'm a huge stoner. One of my stoner buddies skates and we start hanging out at the skatepark after getting stoned. So, I got another board, and decided to try skating again. This time was better, and lasted longer. I took a few hard slams in the beginning (I remember one particularly painful incident where I pancaked on concrete), but I quickly figured out how to roll out of most falls. So, I kept going. I mostly only skated with friends though, and while I enjoyed it, I was too embarassed to do it alone. Going to the skatepark was terrifying to me. When my life got busier with other things, and I stopped smoking, I stopped skating. This was roughly when I was 23, so the year is about 2012.
Fast forward again, to 2024. I still love skateboarding and follow a lot of skaters on Instagram. I'm out of an 8 year relationship and preparing to move back in to the city. I work from home, and play in a band that's seeing more success than I ever thought any of my projects would. I'm hanging out one night, programming after work while letting youtube play in the background. Something leads me to find my favorite skate video from back in the day. I couldn't even remember the name at first, but eventually, I found it: Terry Synnot's 2006 clips.
I am intoxicated. Memories of the few times I went to skate alone come rushing back to me. The fun of just cruising around and being creative with your board. I really like freestyle skateboarding, but I was always too embarassed to try it. When I was younger and skated, since I was mostly with other people, I tried to do the things they did. In retrospect, I wish I had just taken my own path and pursued my interests, instead of trying to stick with the crowd. But, I was a kid, and a pretty troubled one at that. After watching this video again, something clicked in my head, and I knew I needed something like this in my life again. Just me and a board to learn to express myself on.
Buying a fresh board #
After binging on youtube skate videos, I decided that rather than using my old street board, I would get a fresh board built for freestyle. The main point that convinced me was seeing the difference between a rail stand on a normal board vs. a properly setup freestyle board with offset wheels. I had done a couple toeside rail stands when I used to skate, and fell a lot trying them. When I saw the difference in wheels, I realized that board was making things harder than they needed to be. So, I ordered a board from Waltz. Mike Ostermann was one of the youtubers I had been binging, and I really like his attitude and light heartedness. It was a breath of fresh air from the toxic people I used to skate with. I ordered the New Friends complete (thankfully before it sold out) along with a helmet and wrist guards, and got everything about a week later.
First session #
I needed an isolated spot where I could get the feel of skating again under my feet, so I wound up going to my old high school's tennis courts on a nice spring afternoon. I was shocked with how fast actually riding the board came back to me. I was able to cruise the tennis court with no problems, other than the slow speed on the grippy surface. Carving was a little difficult, which I think has to do with the truck tightness. I had let my friend loosen the trucks on my street board back in the day, and got used to riding a board like that, but the new friends board had much tighter trucks. I thought about adjusting it, but decided to stick with it, and I am glad I did. Since cruising felt good, I decided to try a railstand from tailstop. It took me a good twenty or so minutes to get the foot placement down, but eventually I got it. Only problem was, I couldn't get out of it. When I felt brave enough to try the dismount, I'd end up jumping off the board, rather than letting it roll over. So, I skated around the court for an hour or so, ocassionally coming to tail stop to practice the rail stand.
More sessions #
I had so much fun, I decided I was going to try to skate everyday. And I did! At least for the first week. I quickly got comfortable riding and kept working on rail stands. I've been really focused on them just because they always blew me away when I was a kid. It seemed insane to me that you could do that with a skateboard. I'm not able to get into railstand from tailstop and dismount with pretty good consistency. I got through my dismount troubles one day when I couldn't find a good spot to skate (everyone is out and about when the weather's good), so I set up behind a shopping center with rough concrete, and just drilled the dismount for an hour. I ended up skating with a friend one morning, and tried to ollie. I used to be able to ollie when I was young, but was never very good at it. To my surprise, I managed to get off the ground and land the first ollie I tried, along with more in the rest of the session. On the 8th day of trying to skate everyday, I noticed that my legs felt week and shaky. So, I did a light session and took the next day off. This is my current pattern: skate everyday, and if my legs don't feel right that day, keep it light and take the next day off to recover.
I've fallen a few times while skating, but never horrible. Having the protective gear really helps, both in confidence and in actual protection. This week I fell while landing an ollie and scraped and bruised my elbow pretty bad. But, my wrist which slammed on the concrete is absolutely fine. I got back up, walked off the pain (I did hit my tailbone too which was pretty painful), and went for another ollie, and landed it. This is the most important thing skateboarding taught me back in the day, and I think it's good to have this lesson present in my life again: when you fall, you get back up, and you try again. Life will make you fall in so many ways, and you have to be able to get back up and keep going. All that said, I do need to relearn how to fall. When I was young I quickly figured out how to roll out of a bad fall, and it saved me so many times. The times I've fallen now as an adult though, I haven't been able to roll. I'm sure it will come back with time though. Like so many things in life, the more you do it, the better you get at it, and this absolutely applies to falling while skateboarding.
Benefits #
I'm about two weeks in, and I've already noticed some huge benefits. For one, waking up early and skating feels amazing. I work from home, and before this I would spend days without leaving the house for more than a few minutes. Waking up early, being outside in the bright sun with the sounds of the world around me, and then exercising (and sweating a ton) for an hour every morning before doing anything else has made the remainder of my days so much better. I feel refreshed, content, and accomplished when I get home from a morning session, and ready to tackle the day. I've been able to connect with different people too, at least via social media. After posting about skating again, a lot of people messaged me to tell me about spots or to invite me to skate with them sometime. I was (and still am a little bit) embarassed to be skating again, so making that post took a lot of bravery on my part. Having that kind of reaction was incredible. Overall, I just feel better day to day (even if my legs are sore some days), and much more confident.
Another strange side effect is that skateboarding has caused me to take better care of myself. I want to skate everyday, so I make sure I get enough sleep the night before so I'm refreshed. I want to use the skatepark when it's empty while I'm still getting familiar again, so I make sure I wake up early. I want to be able to skate everyday, so I make sure to stretch before and after skating, and make sure to eat an energizing breakfast beforehand. I've learned to listen to my body, and take the day off if I'm not feeling good. These things are all pretty simple, and they are all things I've wanted to do for a while. Having skateboarding to look forward to has given me a reason to take care of myself. Through this, I am learning to love myself a little more everyday.
Keep going #
So, that's it. I'm skating again, and I feel great. I'm working on heelside railstands now and getting some solid tic tacs. Tic tacs feel incredibly silly, but after watching enough freestyle tutorials (Mike Ostermann / Waltz and Sarah Matott Parker have been huge influences), I see how important having the ability to do them will be for future freestyle tricks. My focus is more on board control than it was as a kid, and I think this is the right path. It's humbling learning something you are "bad" at as an adult, but it makes me feel incredibly young. Even falling, because it's so outside of my experience as an adult, makes me feel like a kid again. Having that experience of play in your adult life is really refreshing, and in my opinion, an essential part of maintaining a healthy happy life. Some people play pickle ball, some people cycle, some people dance. These are all forms of physical play. Mine is skateboarding, and I intend to stick with it.
Note: I wrote this back in May and have grown a lot since then, and continue to skateboard almost everyday (usually get 5 days out of a week). I recently went back and watched the videos of me just getting started and compared them to recent videos and the difference is astounding. I'm also no longer afraid to go to the skatepark, and have actually found a really great skate community at my new place in Baltimore. I might write a follow up post sometime, but just wanted to give a quick follow up since I'm finally publishing this.