What's My Best Trick?

Today the 50mph winds finally died down. Temps were in the mid to upper 20s. The sun was out. This meant it felt surprisingly warm. I skated the (shoveled out) ramp for about two hours. It was the longest session I've had on this ramp (or any "bigger" ramp...4' or taller) in quite sometime. About 90 min, I started to notice my lower back and left knee were getting sore...from all the run-outs when bailing tricks (can't knee slide out of everything).  I wanted to keep skating, but I've been down this rode before, and it leads to pulled muscles, injury, etc. Better to end it before things get worse (and assure that I'll be able to skate tomorrow).  As I was packing up all my stuff, I had a little epiphany. My best trick of the day? Knowing when to stop.

 

Somewhere in the middle of 360 boardslide.

 

Returning to the Source: A "Polarizing" Experiment in Existential Archeology

My friend Pete has been posting a ton of “Polarizer” clips recently on Instagram. For those who may not know, “Polarizer” is a term coined by Neil Blender and Steve Claar for what are essentially modern takes on 1960s skateboard designs. Apparently, Blender started making them, and when Claar saw it he said, “…call that a polarizer because people are either going to like it or hate it.” Hence, the name was born. Here is a really cool video of Blender and crew getting Polar.

 

Like anything with skateboards, there are lots of different variants. I won’t go into all the nuances, but here is a decent primer. I really like this intro quote from that link, "Initially, my pursuit of polarizer skateboarding felt like a leap of faith into a void. In hindsight, it was a leap into a wormhole that took me back to the early years of skateboarding."

 

Well, just this week I got my first “Polarizer.” Why? Well, fun, mostly. Pete’s clips (mentioned above) have been quite inspiring. Also, the two photos I mentioned in my previous post just really grabbed me on some deep existential level. When I see something that looks like fun, I instantly think, “I want in on that!” At this stage of life, I think I am more “ready” to understand, embrace, grapple, and appreciate the purity of what once was, before it became the skateboarding we know today. My first skateboard in the early to mid 1980s was not too different from a 1960s board, or a modern Polarizer.  To that end, I consider this a Polarizing project into experimental existential archeology. This is a photo of my very first skateboard (not my actual board, but same model).

 

 

 

My Polarizer set-up is a pretty straight-forward one from The HeatedWheel (Blender’s company). To what extent will I be “polarized” by this thing? Remains to be seen. Boston is a virtual Hoth landscape at the moment (with a “large” storm predicted later this week, too). So, it might be a bit before I really get to tap into this project. Here is my Polarizer. I will certainly update as this situation develops. 

 

The Magic is Real

Winter has been hitting hard the last few weeks. Snow. Sleet. Rain. On many of the “dry” days, it’s been really cold with abnormally high winds (20mph sustained, and 50mph gusts). Cold + wind is a nightmare.

 

It is snowing as I type this. We are only supposed to get 1” – 2” today. A larger storm is predicted for this weekend (3” – 6”). My only two real options for skating right now are the mini ramp we shoveled out (see previous post…which is about to get buried again, too), and parking garages. Since I work in the evenings, and parking garages are an “after hours” spot, my chances to hit them are very limited.

 

In the absence of real skating, I’ve been consuming a lot of skate content on the internet the last few weeks. During that time, I came across two photos that shook me to my core.

 

 

 

Why did these grab me so hard? I am not sure. I think that with age, I am getting better at being a kid. Or rather that with experience, I am better at seeing purity. I’ve always maintained that the simple is the most profound. Sometimes you have to be "ready" to see simple things. Maybe these photos shook me so hard because I was finally "ready" to see. Purity, simplicity, and the profound are frequently inextricable from each other.

 

And wow, wow, are these photos both simple and profound. Despite what I said s few sentences back, I have no desire to be a kid again. That said, there is a…feeling…an energy…that accompanies youth that I greatly desire to tap. It’s the energy of simplicity, purity, and, well, the magic that can be found in every-day life. 

 

You can’t relive childhood. But you can access the magic of the simple, and the profound. Or rather, the simple and the profound are doorways to that magic. Skateboarding has always been on of those doorways for me. Always. It is a thread that ties 50-year-old me directly back to 10-year-old me. To that end, these are not just photos of two kids, in 1965, on early skateboards…they are portals to an experience which words have not yet found. 

 

The magic is real.