Lived Experience Forum

[TheVorticon]

I've just started learning to skate. A few of you might have read my posts about it already. Here are my spots so far (nice empty car parks, where almost no one goes ):

My goal is to be able to ollie over that "garden island". On the far end, where there's not as many tall shrubs!

Unfortunately I seem to get bored after about 20-30 mins of just skating alone and trying to push around the lot, so haven't made much progress yet... But still going to try to get off the ground, maybe learn some tricks and stuff.

I'm just going to use this thread for talking about my progress and adventures. If anyone else has skate stories I'd love to hear them! 

[CheerBear]

Woohoo and awesome to see you start this thread @TheVorticon! I will keep my eye on this space 🙂

That looks like a very cool empty spot to practice.

Happy adventures 😄

[TheVorticon]

Edit: What the actual hell happened to this post. Haha why didn't anyone tell me it was messssssed up? This is what it was meant to say.

___

Aaaalright, today I'm sore from trying to do a trick yesterday. Didn't make the trick, and my muscles are complaining about it 😛  Couldn't go out today this morning because of rain.

Yesterday was really tough cause I set myself the challenge of buying skate shoes. Buying shoes in general is like one of my biggest social anxiety BIG THINGS, let alone specialised ones for a thing I'm only just starting out with. So it was a really rough day. But I got the shoes. Now watch as I never, ever use them. 

[CheerBear]

So much well done on pushing yourself to get your shoes @TheVorticon!

I hope to watch as you use them and enjoy them a lot!

Yay 🙂

[TheVorticon]

Thanks mate @CheerBear

[Phoenix_Rising]

Hi @TheVorticon,

So...tell me about skate shoes. Do they have a special type of tread on them or something?

I tried skateboarding as a kid and never got the hang of it at all. Sometimes I think I would like to try roller-skating, but like you, I would want to practice somewhere private. Maybe following your skateboarding adventure will help me get brave.

[TheVorticon]

Yeah sort of @Phoenix_Rising. They have reasonable grip and kind of tough soles so they don't wear out immediately, as well as usually suede/leather on the sides so that they can be slid up the board without immediately wearing out. Since the grip tape is basically sandpaper, and it's the friction that allows anything to actually happen. The shoes still wear out quickly in the contact areas, but not quite as fast as other shoes.

That'd be cool if you tried some rollerskating. It seems like you probably have pretty good balance (if your headstand abilities are anything to go by). The doing-it-in-public thing seems to be gradually reducing for me. Not because I'm getting much better, but more because I'm focused on what I'm doing and it's not my problem if they have a problem with me learning to do something and trying to have fun.

[Phoenix_Rising]

@TheVorticon Well you learn something new every day! I never knew there were special skateboarding shoes. I love that you are getting less self conscious about skateboarding in public.

I think really I should go along to a roller-skating rink. I did get as far as locating a relatively close one quite a while ago...just haven't got brave enough yet. It sounds like I need to channel your "I don't care what others think" attitude. I used to enjoy roller-skating as a kid and I'm pretty sure I'd get the hang of it again after half an hour or so.  

[TheVorticon]

@Phoenix_Rising Last time I was out, I was watched by a security guard. Which was fair enough, given that I was in a business carpark 😛 So I probably don't have much choice but to get used to people seeing me trying to skate. Once I'm good enough I'll want to show off doing cool tricks so it's only fair that I show off doing slow wobbles too 🙂

That'd be awesome if you go to a rink. I always enjoyed rollerskating as a kid too even though I could barely get around the rink without having to hold onto the sides. And I had the worst rollerskates, because they were the wrong colour (which is very important, performance-wise). Maybe next time you've got some free time you could go check out the rink - don't necessarily have to do any rollerskating straight away, but maybe take a look and see what the atmosphere is like and if you want to do it. 🙂

[Phoenix_Rising]

Hi @TheVorticon How is the skateboarding going???