#5 - 29/04/2009

"Here; you go first mate, you’re well better me."
"Aye, ah no. Ah am well better than yoow."
Thus I experience the business end of skateboarding snobbery for the first time. It was at the top of a ramp [well, a tiny, gentle slope] in Kelvingrove Skate Park, Glasgow. This snobbery, however, came from a cheeky young scamp who had obviously been boarding since he popped out his Moma, so I let it wash, the little scallywag!
Kelvingrove Skate Park is a carnival of bowls, ramps, scoops, stairs and colours; the neon BMXs of the KGB [Kelvin Grove Bikers], the greenery of the surrounding park, the summery dresses of all the pretty student girls, the pleasingly Fifties appearance of the astutely placed ice cream van, and the vast amount of bright tartan shirts, cool sneakers, colourful fake Wayfairers and crazy hats sported by the very talented bladers, skaters, and BMXers who tear up the park every day. Sometimes there are so many of them, it makes the park look like an organism viewed under a microscope. Loads and loads of cells zooming about all over the place, reaching the verge of chaos, but somehow achieving some sort of harmony to [mostly] avoid self-destruction by collision. It’s absorbing to watch.
If sunny Saturdays at Kelvingrove are neo-Tokyo though; the park was Chernobyl when I visited.
THANKFULLY.
Because I knew I’d be pathetic. But, despite not caring about loosing face too much [Well. I care about actually loosing my face. But I don’t mind about being embarrassed], I still didn’t want too many people there to witness my Mr Bend on a wobbleboard display of ungainliness. And I didn’t want my rubbishness to get in the way of any one else’s fun. Or cause a horrific accident where some guys ends up wrapped round a BMX with my board in his head whilst I lie passed out 50m away. Hmmm. Not appealing. But, as I said, the park was very quiet, so perfect for some learner action.
Talking about my board with my friends at the edge of the park, I was approached by another boarder asking if this was my new board. "Oh dear" I thought. I didn’t like the idea of explaining anything about my new board to a pro, basically because I didn’t have anything to explain about it apart from why I thought it looked cool. And that I loved it. And I didn’t want him to say anything bad about it, or make one blasé gesture, or I knew I’d go in a huff. But, turns out, this guy, Stu, had just literally bought his first board that day too, and was not an intimidating-all-knowing-skateboard-sage at all, so we just had some good banter and took on some easy cheese wedge slopes for a few hours.
"Easy cheese wedge slopes". Well. Not really easy. But I did have a good coach [I love you Tweenie aka Ruaraidh Mac!], and I was very determined. Ruaraidh taught me lots about my posture [knees need to be bent and relaxed to absorb impacts, keep your back straight, and keep your feet well positioned: one right to the back, one just at the front trucks) and he also explained about pumping the board [stop giggling]. This is when you press down onto the board with your weight, and then relax, repeat, and this helps carry momentum and makes a smooth transition between a ramp and flat piece of ground, for example. And Stu taught me just to go for it, as he was quite gung-ho and I wanted to keep up with him [of course!].
Equipped with this new knowledge, inspiration, and tough coaching [Tweenie ALWAYS makes me do difficult things], I tackled the STEEPEST cheesewedge ramp. And after a few bails, made it to the bottom. WOO HOO! I couldn’t carry the speed and had to bail again right at the bottom, but I did make it all the way down. Magic. I’m in Glasgow next week, so that’s my Everest. This will be after taking a sledge to Morar beach and trying to board down some sand dunes on it. I know, I know, that’s not skateboarding, but it’s kind of related, and will certainly be, em, an interesting story. So aye. This blog is not running out of momentum yet..... and if it does, I’ll just have to keep "pumping" the board. Magic.
BYE!!!!