TL;DR a middle aged guy documenting his silly efforts on getting back into skateboarding.
I’m in my forties re-discovering skateboarding again. Fifties now, time flies, little better at it, but still fooling around with these useless wooden toys.
How come?
Not sure where I picked it up, but I remember coming across a quote on how to stay healthy and active when getting older:
Find something you were passionate about when you were young.
Skateboarding and snowboarding always played a big role in my life growing up. Most of my deepest memories are connected to some sort of board. I remember when I got my first skateboard. It was an Easter present from my uncle at my grandparents’ place, a pretty crappy fiberglass board, really soft and bouncy. Nonetheless I was hooked instantly, and went out on the street with a friend to try to ride this thing all day, every day.
Soon after I upgraded to a crappy wooden board, a “Walmart board” you would call it today. It was a little better and even allowed to try some tricks. There wasn’t a big skate scene in rural Austria in the mid eighties. In fact, in our little town I think I was for a long time the only kid who even owned a skateboard. But that didn’t stop me.
At some point I discovered a book, not sure how I managed to do that prior to the internet and Amazon. But I was able to order it via our small local book store. It was a how-to book, explaining lots of freestyle tricks. I think it was written by Rodney Mullen, at least it featured a lot of photos of him. Or maybe it was published by Titus, an influential figure in the German skateboarding scene in the eighties and nineties. With the help of that magical book I learned the first basics - Ollie Pop, Walk The Dog, Pogo something - practicing obsessively on our small residential street, in the middle between soft rolling green hills of rural Austria.
The next big iteration was finding a real skate shop in Vienna, “New Sports”, and buying my first real good quality skateboard. A Vision deck — not sure which trucks, wheels, etc. I had on it. I was a little bit surprised that you need to specify everything, from screws to bearings. Anyway, I got it and it was a real big deal.
Slow and steady I met others in my area who were equally obsessed with rolling and riding boards. Friendships formed, teenage experiences happened, and eventually strengthened into a long lasting bond, initiated by wooden toys.
Interests shifted in my twenties. At some point I thought I’m even getting too old to roll around on a skateboard. However, I don’t think I ever let go of skate culture. Just the sound that a skateboard produces is something I always enjoyed, the snap when an ollie is popped that you can hear across squares and streets, the grinding sound of aluminum hitting curbs and ledges.
So here I am, +20 years later, with a kid who I blame for making me roll with her on the sidewalk when she got too fast on her balance bike and I got tired of jogging next to her, completely hooked by rolling around on that wooden toy again. Seriously, when and how I can squeeze out some time to get back on a board is on top of my mind.
Long story short: this page exists because I felt like creating a space where I can collect and document some of the experiences along the way.
…and share them with the world.
You are welcome!