__________________________________________________________
I am going to be 45 this coming November and I have just taken up longboarding.
I am writinng about my experience because I want people my age who are looking for a story like this would be happy to know that they are not alone and they are definitely not crazy to start something crazy like skateboarding or longboarding or in line skating at our age.
I had never tried a longboard before but I used to in line skate when I was in University, and that was like 20 years ago. I still remember the freedom and the feel of wind brushing against my face beause of the speed. Even after my study I still took my in line skate for a spin around the park which I still frequent to this day.
I think I look way cooler when in U
These two pictures are 20-years apart
Only recently I discovered about Penny and I thought "Why not ?". I started with a Penny Nickle. Its 27" long with ABEC 5 and very smooth wheels.
I later bought Santa Cruz Mahaka Rasta.
It s not as fast as the Nickle because it uses ABEC 3 but it was long, enough space for my feet, the wheels are superb and I love the feeling I have when carving because its very smooth. Even when going down the small hill I am very much in control of the speed.
Oh I fell once when I tripped the wheel .. clumsy me.
You can upgrade your longboard to whatever level you feel comfortable and according to your budget.
I m not an expert but there are three categories of longboard style; dancing/cruising, freeride and downhill.
At our age and if you re new and have never set your foot on one, it would be best if you could learn about these four things first:-
-the foot stance,
-the push ,
-balancing your body on the board and
-stopping.
These are the major most important things to learn before you start. Dont go and straight away try the first time on the road or even on the concrete floor. Try the board on the grass first and learn all the four technics and let them sip in your sub concious and memory. I said sub concious because at times you dont even have time to think and will only react and response base on your sub concious.
And yes, how could I forget about these; the helmet and the paddings.
Dont ever think not to wear them because you feel you look stupid. They help. That time when I fell I was lucky I had all the paddings.
You see my knees are not at their best condition. I still have problems with them if not much. And because of that I will make sure to always wear knee braces.
I would wear on both knees and will always put some cream or oil, especially hot ointment. And yes seriouly , joke aside , whenever I rub the knees I would pray that
"Dear Allah please strengthen my knees, dont let them hurt , please take the pain away"
and before I go out and about to play I would also pray
"Dear Allah , please dont make me fall ..."
Alhamdulillah thank to HIM, I think my prayers work.