Friday, June 21, 2019

My Beautiful Ride

Today is Go Skateboarding Day, so this morning I grabbed my board and went for a brief twenty minute ride before I headed into work.  At forty-six years of age, I'm not thinking about riding ramps or performing manuals.  The board I built a few years ago was designed to cruise:


Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted to own a Hosoi Hammerhead.  So when I saw that they had reissued these I purchased one, along with Independent 169 trucks, Bronson G3 bearings, and 70mm Mini Monster longboard wheels.  The ride is as smooth as a baby's bottom.

Anyways... in honor of this special day, I figured I'd show off another deck I picked up recently:


Steve Caballero is a local legend and I've wanted to own a signed deck of his for several years.  Back in March he released his new reissue deck and if you bought one, he offered to sign it.  I'd like to eventually display it with my Tony Hawk and Christian Hosoi signed decks.  But for now it's sitting in the corner of my office.

Well that's it for today.  How about you?

When was the last time you rode a skateboard?

Happy Friday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Jeremya1um said...

I want a pic of you skating!!!

The Shlabotnik Report said...

Ha! The last time I rode a skateboard? Probably 40 years ago. :-D

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Pretty sure I rode one of the kids' boards, so maybe 15-20 years ago.

Commishbob said...

LOL..lot's on memories here. First of all your board looks great. My boys were really into skateboarding back in the day and I was at Van's every Saturday for years watching them. I got on a board a time or two but I knew I was an accident waiting to happen.

I put my golf club building tools to work on repairing and customizing boards for my kids and their friends for a while. I knew all the component brands back then. Van's was packed every weekend but they closed. I was told that the liability insurance costs wiped out the profits. With as many ambulances as I saw pull up out front I believe it!

Wear your helmet!!

Hackenbush said...

Um let me think -------never. But your boards look very cool. Summer of Fuji?

gcrl said...

I was last on a board about 12 years ago when buying one for my son. I tried to do an Ollie, but it had been too long and I am lucky I didn't injure myself. 12 year old gcrl Would have been ashamed.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Hmm, I don’t do well with wheels on my feet. Nice looking board though!

Brett Alan said...

Maybe closer to 35 for me. And I didn’t stay up for long!

Big Tone said...

My cousin was the skateboarder In the fam.He would teach me a couple tricks here and there when we were kids but mostly I sucked at It.He used to say I was goofy footed?The only other Skateboard terminology I can remember now from when I was kid Is Veriflex,which I believe was a brand, and Tic Tacking.Actually Tic Tacking Is all I can do on a skateboard today.

David Switzer said...

I think I had one in maybe 1982

Matt said...

Very cool. Never been on one. NOt that coordinated

Fuji said...

jeremya1um - i'll work on that.

the shlabotnik report - my brother started skating again a few months after i bought my board. i'm sure it had been 40 years since he skated too.

brett alan - i've been pretty fortunate and haven't eaten it too bad. my brother has had a few raspberries though.

johnnys trading spot - nice. that wasn't too long ago

commishbob - we had a vans skatepark about 30 minutes from my house, but heard it closed for the same reason. these days, i'm not carving bowls or anything. i mainly skate to the farmer's market, to pick up meds at kaiser, or to grab my mail. the toughest obstacle i face are speed bumps.

hackenbush - thanks. not sure if i ride enough to label it that, but i'll ride one or twice a month

gcrl - lol. i've never even tried to do an ollie on this hosoi. this thing is a tank. i do have my old caballero from the late 90's that's about half the weight of this board. i think i can still ollie on that.

sumomenkoman - you never know until you try. i'm not grinding, doing kickflips, or riding ramps. i'm just cruising. my board was built to glide and the wheels are huge, so it even rolls over most pebbles and small twigs.

big tone - goofy footed is just how you stand on the board. it means you stand with your right foot forward, instead of your left. i remember veriflex boards and tic tacking. it'd be possible to tic tac on my board, but it'd be easier to do it on one of those penny boards that have become popular with kids today.

david switzer - that's about 3 years before i started skating

sport card collectors - i'm not that coordinated either

GCA said...

A friend of mine had one that would be considered vintage now - it was only about half as wide as the usual ones these days. He scoffed at the younger kids riding the new boards that were as wide as doors.

I never got into them. I'd tell 'em get a dang bike.

Sean said...

Its been about 30 years since I skated but I remember looking at that Caballero deck in a copy of Thrasher that I bought in about 1988 or 1989 and really wanting it. I had Gutierez Sims board back then. I quit skating in high school (was never very good at it) but seeing stuff like that makes me real nostalgic for the late 80s.

gregory said...

Oh man, I had a Caballero board way back in elementary school. I remember getting it in parts and pieces over the summer, cutting out and sticking on the deck tape myself, and then riding it to school on the first day of class in September. I don't think I rode much after middle school, however.

Bulldog said...

Very cool.

Fuji said...

gca - i liked riding bikes too. skateboarding was just a one (maybe 2) year phase. i wish i would have kept my original cab. i'm pretty sure they're really collectible.

sean - i'm pretty sure i discovered the hosoi and cab decks by flipping through thrasher. a lot of my students wear thrasher magazine shirts, but have no idea it's a magazine. it cracks me up.

gregory - if you kept that board, it might be worth some money (depending on when you were in elementary school).

bulldog - thanks