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 road 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.  

My 2025 Set-Ups

Over the last year or so, I've tinkered a lot with my set-ups. At this point in my 40-year skate "career" I've tried pretty much every dimension of deck, truck, and wheel that is out there. With all said and done, I have two main set-ups. Both are "all-purpose" completes, but one leans more towards agility, and the other towards stability. I decided to post about these now, at the very start of the year, so I can see how my set-ups evolve, if at all, over the next twelve months. Will I still be riding these two set-ups in Jan 2026? Most likely. Anyway, the two set-ups are:

DLX 8.25/14.38

Indy 144 Forged Hollows

Spitfire Classics 53mm/99a*

 

Black Label 8.75/14.5

Indy 159 Forged Hollows

Spitfire Conicals 53/99a* 

*Since I ride the same size wheel on both set-ups, I can swap wheel shapes out on these, as the mood/terrain sees fit. I also have a set on 53mm 93a Spitfire Classics than I can use when super-crusty spots mandate. I think you can get Spitfire Radials and Conical Fulls in 93a. It might be worth looking into those, as wider riding surfaces can help mitigate the "crust" of really crusty spots. That said, the Radial and the Conical Full are both pretty big/wide wheels, and I'm not really a fan of snow tires. We'll see.  

It also just occurred to me...it might be interesting to track how many decks, trucks, and sets of wheels I go through in a year...but I also may not want to see how much $$$ that adds up to!

 

 

First Session of 2025

Today was my first session of 2025. This year marks 40 years on a skateboard for me. Temps today were in the upper 20s, but there was no wind, which was great. I've had the flu for the last week, and before that was some snow, then rain. This is to say I've not really been on the board in over 2.5 weeks. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather, so I expected today's session to be really "meh" and rusty. it wasn't. It was actually a lot of fun. 

Many people hate winter skating. I really like it, esp. in the later afternoons as the Sun is going down. The grey, darkening skies, the bare tress, the stark landscape, dead leaves scutterting across the park, no one else around, the layer of clothes...I find these settings to be somewhat magical, and very, well, New England. 

I skated today from about 3:30pm til dusk (around 4:30ish), and enjoyed every moment of it.  The next two days look even colder, but I am going to Philly this weekend (non-skate related trip), and I've got a lot to do beforehand. So, I think today might be my last session until next week some time. It seems I never get to skate all that much every January, and this one is starting out no different.

Here is a screen grab from today. Nose stall f/s revert, one of my favorite tricks.

The Magic of a Mundane Moment

 This guy Jeff I follow on IG posted this pic the other day (more comments below photo).

So, I love pre-drop in photos, which you don't see many of.  Why do I love them? Well, this right here, the moment right before dropping-in, is one of my favorite moments in all of skateboarding…because you’re are at the cusp of potential and anticipation of a run that’s about to happen…you are literally about to step off a cliff into the abstract world/state-of-being of what-is-about-to-become. Right before you drop-in, the apex of potentiality consumes all of your being. It's a great thing to experience.

And we all do it with hope and excitement for some positive outcome, be in Mitchie Brusco going for the first 1260 on a mega ramp, a kid dropping-in to mini ramp for the first time, or someone just dropping-in for a fun, mellow cruise down a ditch. And if we bail during the run, we just get-up, and "step off the cliff" again, with the same hopeful sentiments.

The old cliche "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" finds root here, too.  Every run begins with that single step on to the board. That pre-drop-in moment is one of the most magical, and metaphorical, moments in skateboarding. As mentioned above, I love seeing photos of this moment, which are actually quite rare, because it’s something that is otherwise a mundane moment, one that really is not all that exciting or interesting to capture on film. Anyway, I really, really liked this photo of Jeff---and it motivated me to put a few thoughts (emotions, actually) into words. Thanks, Jeff!

Oh, by the way, this photo? It was taken at Jeff's 70th Birthday skate jam. 

Milestones

2025 will mark a significant milestone in my life. 

40 years of skateboarding.

At this stage, I’m not getting any better, but I’m still getting stoked (maybe more so than ever, actually).

I plan to celebrate all year long with, well, a lot of skateboarding. I also imagine this year to be full of much reflection about, well, all of it. 

Last night as I was laying awake in bed (insomnia), I was think a bit about this very blog--how I want to use it, do I have even anything left that's worth saying any more, etc.? I used to write much more frequently about various aspects of life and skateboarding, but that practice has waned in more recent times. I'm not totally sure why. I guess I just haven't felt...moved...or compelled to peck-out something on my keyboard. 

It did occur to me, in the wee hours of the morning, as I lay in my bed feeling some what like Gregor Samsa, that good use of this blog would be to just chronicle or journal about the various experiences [thoughts, feelings, perceptions, reflections (ah, we come full circle) etc.] I have from any given session. Sort of like a long-form Haiku or something. To that end, I've always posited that any meaningful sense of Truth, salvation, emancipation, etc. that can not be found in daily life, can not be found anywhere. It's always at your finger tips, under your feet, etc. Which of course, is just another way of saying that if I make an effort to write about the daily experiences of skateboarding, all that other meta stuff will find its way in, too. I find the two inseparable--daily life and the untouchable worlds.  Rod Serling said it best...a world between shadow and substance.

Look at me here...it's funny...I am reflection on the act of reflecting.

Anyway, 2025, and 40 years on the skateboard, here we come...

Me, standing on a ramp in late December 2024...reflecting on/about something...