Lives on Board

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Jack Smith
Morro Bay Skate legend
Morro Bay Skate legend
Posts: 736
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:00 am
Location: Morro Bay, California
Contact:

Lives on Board

Post by Jack Smith » Sun May 09, 2004 5:00 am

Not that my plate needs to be any fuller...

I've been thinking about this for quite awhile, there are not many sports/activities that you begin in your preteen or teen years and continue participating in throughout your life. Skateboarding is one such sports/activity. (lifestyle)

For some of us "skateboarding" actually defines our lives. Over the last few years I have read and been told so many interesting stories about how skateboarding has played such an important role in your lives. I have come to the realization that these stories need to be documented, preserved and made available to the skateboarding and non-skateboarding public.

Towards this goal I am inviting all of you to contribute your stories to a book tentatively titled, "Lives on Board". Whether one paragraph or ten pages, every single one of you have something important to say. Don't worry about grammar or format...just tell it from your heart.

Please send your "story" to me via email at: oldskateguy@aol.com. Feel free to contact me at the same address if you have any questions.

Please pass this invitation on to other skaters as well as friends, wives, children and parents.

Steve Michael
azsuprasm
azsuprasm
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:00 am
Location: Scottsdale, AZ

Post by Steve Michael » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:20 am

I'm putting together a chapter for your book, but it's taking a while. The POV will be one of an 8th grader in AZ...so close, but very far away from the California skate scene. I hope to have it completed soon. Here's the last few lines:

Two weekends ago, I had the chance to ride with one of the guys that I used to carpool with to the Phoenix High Roller skatepark in 1978. It's been 12 years since I've seen him at our 10 year high school reunion (he skipped the 20 year). We were running 6' cones on a mellow hill on a cool AZ May morning.

...the second run down the hill, he skipped the cones and carved the hill on his wide Alva park board with Indy's and 100a wheels

...handstanding all the way, just like he did back in '77-'78.

Somethings never change.

His wife and young son watched from the sidewalk. "That's just Dad."

-=S=-

Jack Smith
Morro Bay Skate legend
Morro Bay Skate legend
Posts: 736
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:00 am
Location: Morro Bay, California
Contact:

Perfect

Post by Jack Smith » Wed Jun 02, 2004 12:26 am

Steve,

That's exactly what I am looking for!

Steve Michael
azsuprasm
azsuprasm
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2002 1:00 am
Location: Scottsdale, AZ

Lives on Board

Post by Steve Michael » Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:47 am

Thanks, Jack. I'm trying to capture those few memories that still stick in my mind about my time "on board". I've got the ideas down, but I'm still crafting the details around those events, and trying to draw a vivid picture without being too sappy or nostalgic.

Are you getting many other replys for this one? It would be really cool if you could get a good cross-section of posts and stories from all over the country and from 1958-Today. My section will go from 1975 through today, but you can use what you want.

I wish I still had my High Roller ID card.

-=S=-

Jack Smith
Morro Bay Skate legend
Morro Bay Skate legend
Posts: 736
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2002 2:00 am
Location: Morro Bay, California
Contact:

Just another day in paradise...

Post by Jack Smith » Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:05 pm

"Turri Road" Summer 1974
I was on a noontime break from my job at the Morro Bay Sun Bulletin and had just enough time to get a run in at Turri. My buddy Max volunteered to drive me out to the hill and follow me in his car. My board was a Bahne with Chicagos and Stokers. I was dressed in my coolest polyester warm-up outfit, complete with a "Skateboard Racing Association" patch. Man, I thought I was so cool, so fast, so Denis Shufeldt.

I decided to ride the steep short side; I traversed back and forth across the road, controlling my speed, setting up for the near hairpin. Just before I straightened out and made the final drop to the turn I noticed what I thought was a stain from a dried up puddle right at the apex, no problem I thought. The next thing I remember was sliding on the left side of my body at somewhere around 25mph, the oh so cool warm-up suit was shredding away. As I picked myself up, I turned and saw the ghost white face of Max; evidently he didn’t have a real strong stomach. The suit was hanging off me in shreds and my whole left side was hamburger. A quick check revealed no broken bones, so we raced to my house for a quick shower and change of clothes. The rest of my work day was spent in agony, although I never let on to my fellow employees what had happened, I just told them. “I had ate my lunch”. I could just hear them, “those damn skateboards”.

"Turri Road" Summer 2004
Thirty years, hard to believe. I parked my car on the “not quite as steep” side, padded up and began the half-mile uphill hike. Turri Road is very rural, cows, fields of various crops and the dramatic granite peaks of the Seven Sisters towering in the background. Hardly any traffic, birds chirping and a slight downhill breeze. As I made my way up, I wound down. When I reached the top I could see the dunes where I have sandboarded for decades, and the Pacific Ocean beyond. I took a few minutes to stretch, at the same time keeping an eye out for my good friend Adrian. Sometimes, you just can’t wait, and this was one of those times. My board this time was also a Bahne, equipped with Radikals and 3DM wheels. I took one last look behind me and shoved off. A few quick pushes, then positioned my feet just so and then a few quick pumps on the shallow part of the hill. Then it was long drawn out carves, each one a bit faster than the previous. On this part of the hill I could see far ahead so I could use both lanes. As the right hander approached I confined my carves to the downhill lane, as soon as I was through the turn it was back to the big 30-35mph carves, ending with a quick tuck at the bottom, then opening up into an upright stance on the uphill run out. Big smile. I felt a little Shufeldt.

I turned and started the uphill hike, about halfway up; Adrian showed and gave me a ride back to the top. I politely boasted about my first run as Adrian got ready, he didn’t take long. Off we went, he was shadowing my every move and keeping watch for traffic from the rear. This is the true meaning of “having your back”. As we rolled to a stop, we both were smiling quite a bit. On the way back up, a fellow employee and sufer/skater, Eric Boyd drove up and offered us a lift. I had mentioned to Eric before leaving work that I was going to Turri. The surf was flat so Eric came and found us. He was our Sherpa for the next hour. This was the best hour of skating I had in a really long time. A really long time.

A great hill, good friends, rides back up and then a kiss and a smile from my beautiful wife when I walked in the house babbling about this incredible session. Friends, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

In a few months the "World" will know why this is slalom related.

Eddy Martinez
Texas Outlaw
Texas Outlaw
Posts: 714
Joined: Thu Oct 24, 2002 2:00 am
Location: Harlingen, Texas

Post by Eddy Martinez » Sat Jun 19, 2004 6:24 am

I was leaving one of my slalom contest posters at a local skateshop. I ran into one of my old friends who was buying a skateboard for his kid. We sat there a reminisced about the 70's. The year 1975 we both skated underneath a highway underpass that had 25 ft banked walls on both sides. On any given Saturday morning there would be about 25 locals shredding the spot. It was called F-Street Home Of the Broken Bone. And believe me many a bone was broken there. You would shoot from the top of the underpass a 30ft wall. Cut around the pillars pull of a Bertleman slide and head torwards the other side of the wall. The locals had the place wired. The edge of the underpass ran along a steep drop,probably 20 ft straight down into the Texas thicket which consisted of Cactus,deep brush with long sharp stickers and snakes, If you got high speed wobbles or the board slipped out from under you. Over the edge you went. The sight was one of was one of shock,horror and laughter. 16 yr olds skaters can be very cruel. Some poor dude who wasn't from the neighborhood munched it,ate it. They would literally go over the edge. It was like seeing someone skydiving without a parachute. The poor soul would be laying down there. His board know where to be found. Those dudes never returned to skate our spot again. I miss those days. Eddy Texas Outlaws

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