Last November, Jamison and I bought longboards. It’s been one of our best decisions ever. Jamison and I spend lots of fun time together, terrorizing the neighborhoods and riding to downtown Hillsboro.
I’m much more comfortable just pushing around the neighborhoods, staying on the relatively flat.1After all, I’m an old dude, and I haven’t really ridden skateboards or longboards before last year. Jamison is a lot more skilled and has learned how to slide, both standing up and with a slide glove on the ground. To enhance and use his skills, Jamison goes with friends to some nearby hills.
Today, Jamison went to Switchbacks with a neighbor. I stayed home — at least I did until Jamison called asking if I could bring him his spare car key. I figured his call was kismet. In addition to Jamison’s spare key, I packed my board, my skate tool, my pads, my homemade slide gloves, and my helmet.
My metric for when a hill is too fast is simple: if my board goes faster than I can run, I’m in trouble; there’s no way I can jump off my board without falling. Switchbacks is too fast to just ride so I had to try to slide the longboard, something I’d never done before.
After a few times down Switchbacks with multiple slides,2And not all of the slides on the board… ;-) I’m not as afraid. And thanks to the pads, I didn’t come home with too much damage.
I’m looking forward to the next time Jamison and I go to Switchbacks. :-)
- 1After all, I’m an old dude, and I haven’t really ridden skateboards or longboards before last year.
- 2And not all of the slides on the board… ;-)