A lot of people will probably say that skateboarding isn't a
sport. Then I can say that they haven't tried to skate in a
skate park for half an hour or so, that burns a lot of calories. And
competing in skateboard can be done just as it can with
gymnastics, water skiing or figure skating.
I used to skate a
lot in my young days, which was about 25 years ago. Now my kids
have started to skate which have brought my interest back. We
are very lucky to live close to two of the best skate parks in
Sweden
Bryggeriet and
Stapelbäddsparken in Malmö and I just had to dust of my vintage Alva
board and give it a try. Of course I fell and hurt my ribs,
which gave me a painful week, but it was real funny and I will
be back, so watch out for the old man with an original 1977 Alva
board.
There will also be a new skate park, here in
Svedala - read all about it here
(Swedish version here).
2007-09-17
The
summer is over and I still skate. In fact, it has become
somewhat of an addiction - I need my skating sessions in
Stapelbäddsparken a couple of times a week to keep me happy.
Once I tried a modern board, the Alva board had to go. Well, I
still have it, I just don't use it anymore, the new board was a
huge improvement. And I shouldn't really say new board, I bought the deck
on a flea market, the wheels cheep on sale and my kids had a
couple of trucks and a set of bearings that I could use.
Each time I learn something new and get a little higher in the
ramps. I have just got the grip on how to increase the speed and
height in the bowl instead of just loosing speed for every turn.
My biggest problem is that I am a bit of a chicken. I am still
working up courage to drop from little higher ramps.
2007-10-01
Ok, I have got the hang of dropping now and it really makes a
whole lot of difference. You get up to speed at once which of
course means that you can get higher and you don't get tired so
quickly. You can also make more use of the whole park. The
weather here in Sweden probably stops me from any more
excursions to Stapelbäddsparken this year. But who knows, as
long as it is dry and not too cold...
2007-11-29
Well, there were a couple of more skating sessions this autumn
but now it looks like it is over for this season. Instead of
skating I have acquainted myself with Google Sketchup, which is
a 3D modeling program. Check out my ramp models
here. Google Sketchup
is free and so are my models. Why not make your own virtual
skatepark. Some of the models are actually the ones we built
last summer in Svedala.
