I was probably 7 or 8 years old when my mom purchased skateboards for us. How cool is that? My mom was/is so freaking cool, bro.
She got herself and I an Element Skateboard, and although I remember that hers was cooler (it had these smooth green wheels), I was excited to have one.
Mom and I would ride down the street together – just the two of us – much like most of my younger years.
Growing up in a restaurant, I had a lot of time to chill in my dedicated booth that grandma and grandpa had set up for me. They owned the restaurant, and I spent the first decade of my life in that place – awesome memories.
I had this little corner booth that I would decorate and hang out at most days. The booth was set up with an old-school (well, back then it was new-school) TV with the attached VCR, as well as my Playstation 2 console. I remember playing all sorts of games – especially Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
After moving south when I was 10, many of my new neighborhood friends were into skating. I remember being so impressed with a kid named Tyler who could ollie crazy high. It was the coolest thing. I could never ollie back then, so that kinda sucked!
As the years went by and I approached middle school, organized sports like football, basketball, and soccer took precedent for me. Those cool skateboards that mom bought us made the trip south, but very seldom did they get used.
Flash forward a couple decades, and I’m now 30 years old. Prior to a few weeks ago, I don’t think I’ve stepped on a skateboard in almost 17 years.
It wasn’t until one night that I stumbled upon a video in my Youtube feed. It was a video from KASSO – It’s like a Japanese skateboarding game show-type thing.
I spent some time watching the video, and then I became sucked in once more to the magic of skateboarding.
The KASSO video led to Thrasher videos. Thrasher vids led to New Balance Numeric vids (btw, who new that New Balance became a badass skate shoe manufacturer?). The NB Numeric vids introduced me to Jamie Foye clips, and that eventually led to SkateIQ videos (shoutout Mitchie!).
So here I was, 30 years old in a somewhat shitty apartment, watching skate videos again. Something I probably hadn’t even thought about in almost 20 years. It was so fucking cool. It just felt right.
The great thing about being 30 with money is that you can pretty much take up hobbies at will. With that being said, it was a no-brainer that I was going to buy a skateboard.
So once again, I was sucked into the rabbit hole. Toy Machine, Creature, Baker… so many rad skateboard brands. I wanted something a little bigger, so I went with this Toy Machine 9″ Ed Templeton complete I found online. Sick.
It came in the mail a few days later, and it was great. I didn’t realize how a bigger board would work better for me (I have size 12 feet). I messed around with this board for about 2 weeks… until I saw the egg boards from Heroin Skateboarding.
Damn, the Heroin Skateboards were the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I LOVED the artwork. The boards were also absolutely massive. After doing some research, learning more about Fos, and the overall culture at Heroin Skateboarding, I was hooked. I instantly purchased one of the Heroin Skateboards Wide Boy Mini.
The Wide Boy Mini is literally the best. It feels so natural for me. And for a 30 year old dude who could never even ollie when he was a teen, I was able to pop a legit, respectable ollie within one session on the egg board – talk about an amazing feeling.
Better yet, now that I’m 30 and skateboarding again, I feel lighter.
For a long time, I’ve been pretty careful and hesitant with my body. I prioritize eating right, Zone 2 Cardio, weight training, and other things that are “good for you.”
Skateboarding has a connotation with risk. It’s not something that I “should” be doing in terms of my longevity training.
However, I’ve never felt better. I don’t know what it is, but when I step on that board, I’m at peace. It honestly makes me forget about the world for awhile.
Maybe it even connects me back to my 8-year old self. And sometimes, I think that’s all anybody needs.
– CJ
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