Seeing the skateboard wheels thread has got me wondering about skateboards. Always fancied being able to ride one and would also be cool to teach any future kids of mine how to skateboard when the time comes.

Is it advisable to try and learn at my age? Will I spend more time in A&E than on the board? Also how would you go about learning? Would feel a bit silly asking for tips down the local half pipe.

will I die…?

Yes. Used to skate as a kid and it was hurty back then – god knows what it would be like now with my slowly dying body (aged 30). By all means give it a go though.

I’d get lots of pads – never mind looking cool.

Probably.

Padded shorts and wrist guards will be needed.

You wont die, but you wont believe how much its going to hurt.

Guess learning has to be done on hard surfaces? (I really know very little about skateboarding!) Learnt to snowboard a while back and that was painful enough on snow even with padded shorts.

Hang on.

You are 37.

What were you doing when they were fashionable first time round?

And skateboarding is a piece of pizzle – much easier than snowboarding.

the shame in front of 10 year olds would put me off

Was absolutely desperate for one when I was a kid but I had over protective parents who thought most things were dangerous. Took me years of nagging to get a bike!

Saying that, I taught myself as a kid and kids don’t break/get scared.

titusrider… like learning to wheelie, I’d have to find a very isolated pleace!

And skateboarding is a piece of pizzle – much easier than snowboarding.

How do you work that out? Eg an ollie on a snowboard vs on a skateboard 😕

My brother and my dad built a proper 5ft mini ramp in our back garden, about 20 ft wide maybe – had one bit with a vert section, and a spine over into a 4 ft mini ramp on the other half.

I was cool back then thanks to that. 🙂

would also be cool to teach any future kids of mine how to skateboard when the time comes

You’ll be far too old by the time any future kids are old enough to learn.

😉

Yeah the tricks can be as difficult, but the basics are much easier (IMO)

I suppose it depends on the level the OP wants to get to…

miketually… now wondering who the oldest STW stakeboarder is?

I knew someone a while back who use to skateboard to work in his 40’s, but he use to compete at it in his 20’s.

MF… just like to be able to ride along pavements without falling off. Anything beyond that would be a bonus!

Die? No. Feel silly turning up at the skate park surrounded by 13 year olds? Yes.

I tried to learn when I was 30.

The fear of falling off got me started pretty quickly but also stopped me progressing very far!

Beginning to think this might not be the best idea. May go with the unicycle idea instead!

MF… just like to be able to ride along pavements without falling off. Anything beyond that would be a bonus!

I do recall that bit being very easy.

I also recall that going home to tell my mum I had put a dirty great hole in my new Leeds United tracksuit after baling down a dirty great hill was much more difficult.

🙂

Go for it, I bought one again at 38, and a pair of bauer turbo rollerskates, although they call them quads now, you won’t die, just takes longer to heal. I’ve had more injuries at 40 on my bike, fracture scaphoid and collarbone in the same year. I’d rather do that than stroll around a golf course.

MF… that is a good point, I don’t think mrs blobby would be too impressed with such things.

Rewski, thanks for the encouragement. Impressive list of injuries you have there… I’m obviously not trying hard enough!

If you just want to ride along you’ll be absolutely fine. You could even get one of this big long retro skateboards like this (42 secs)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqgajlXgYNY[/video]

All that looks good… now I want to dig out my CB radio!

no, but you will break. The only time I have ever been admitted to A&E was from a skateboard accident, aged 27. Broken wrist, broken jaw, badly cut chin and knocked out. Was gutted my wife made me sell my long board though, I’d love another one!

Your wrists and hips will thank you for it.

I’d buy a long board and stick to carving it up…

You could even get one of this big long retro skateboards like this

there’s nothing retro about longboards. modern ones, especially when you start looking at the carbon and composite decks, are incredible things.

we bought the nephew an earthwing boomerang.. one of these – for xmas and it was lovely. pretty much the cutting edge of modern downhill carving boards, superb concave and delicious flex. i was just gutted it rained otherwise i’d have run it down the hill a few times. may even get one myself in the summer.

mr blobby if you want advice feel free to email me (email in prof), and if you are in cornwall i’ll happily give you some tips.

the long and short though if you want to learn is to firstly get a decent set up. if you went for a more hybrid type of board with a kicktail, maybe around 36 – 40″, it would give you the option to learn to cruise around and also take it into parks. some of the mindless completes are good value at around 50quid plus. i would personally avoid a ‘regular’ street set up as the focus of it is too narrow.

just remember, there is more to skateboarding than the ollie. downhill, carving, sliding and slalom are all a blast.

http://www.octanesport.co.uk is worth a look, and mike, who runs it, gives good advice.

i’m 45 btw.

p.s. and whatever you do wear a helmet.

2 other sites i thought of…

http://www.ncdsa.com
http://www.slalomskateboarder.com

Got a lovely kalani robb flexdex gathering dust in the shed.

Echo the helmet comment, I hit the Tarmac at ~30mph once and **** myself up good and proper. Stone jammed under a wheel…

If you’re consdering a unicycle you’re not cool enough to skate HTH 8)

IMO skateboarding without the ollie would have no appeal whatsoever…. without it you’ll never know the satisfaction of flip tricks down stairs… the satisfaction of catching the board with your feet…

*goes all misty eyed and rues the fact that 31 year old bodies just aren’t good at being smashed into concrete*

Rolling around the streets/car parks etc won’t take much time or pain to learn, but to be any good at anything more technical will require a lot of time and effort and almost certainly a fair amount of pain (even if it’s just to the ankles, shins and pride).

I say go for it and don’t forget to film it so we can all laugh at a fellow old bloke making a tit out of himself :D.

Note, i once spent a fair amount of time in a hospital ward with a young lad who had stepped off the front of a longboard at 20+ mph and sent his fib and tib flying through his skin.

Thanks all for advice, I’m a bit more reluctant to give it a try than when i first posted! I’ll check out the sites before I do. If I do then I will definitely video my first tries.

hey mrblobby go for it, if you live near london (notting hill) get yourself down to bay 66 on a saturday morning and you can grab a couple of lessons 🙂

At the ripe old age of 40 I still have my board and a arbor pintail longboard which gets used more than the flip board that only comes out when my I try to relive my youth with my son and attempt a kick flip down some stairs, which never ceases to amuse him when I land in a heap 😀 then have to watch him land it perfectly with a that’s how you do it dad!!

Never mind a skateboard you want an ex-board. I had a go on one at the weekend in a class full of kids at centreparcs. Easy peasy 😉

I’m 41.

The local halfpipe would be exactly the place to go…..

The local kids taught me how to ride doubles on the bmx track. They weren’t in the least concerned with my age. They were just great, and very helpful.

As an ex skateboarder from the first wave, I’d say wrist supports are a must. Also, I’d start with a longboard – not only are they a little easier to ride they’re also considered kewl. I used to ride a 43″ Dread Motherskate from the Bristol Skateboard Centre. It was brilliant.

I still have a Hobieflex slalom board from the 70s, and I still use it!!! If I remember I’ll post a couple of pictures tomorrow.

Have a great skateboarding career dude!!!

SB

A Longboard has to be the way forward. Im 35 and wanted one last year but decided it was mid life crises. However. I have two kids so can use theirs when it suits. I can still do a kick flip but time is running out and did look like a total Knob falling off in local park. It also hurt a lot. Do it though. Youll love it.

Do it!!

I got into it for the first time 2 weeks ago as a way to commute and its AWESOME! Halved my 40 minute walk and the grin factor is great.

Advice –

Don’t bother with a shortboard if you’re just gonna be cruising around the streets, longboards with big, soft, grippy wheels are best for this. Longer wheelbase makes it feel much more stable too. Shortboard with tiny, hard as wheels will make you lose any fillings and massively annoy anybody within a 50m radius ’cause of the racket.

Learn to footbrake, it’s essential!

I got this Extreme longboard from the bay for the princely sum of £30 and its turning out very well so far.

Abit too well infact, been learning how to carve on a local hill and now I’ve decided that I need another longboard to learn to slide on and another shortboard to take to the park.

Hmm for 30 quid that is very tempting.

How did you get going? Just a case of jump on and try not to fall off?

Indeed, found a nice quiet road and messed around for about 30-45 minutes then started skating to work and back. Two weeks later having commuted every day and generally messed about for 30 minutes at lunch or after work and its starting to feel like second nature. Start slowly, like walking pace slowly and get used to foot braking early and you’ll be fine.

That one is quite good as it has the raised kicktail which can be handy for getting up bigger kerbs and sharper turning. And as the wheels are huge you can actually skate over paved stones without feeling that the board is going to stop dead underneath you at any moment and send you flying.