Skateboarding (carving) in the 21st century

I knew Loaded Boards was working on some new skateboards and contacted the owner Don Tashman recently. They'd just completed testing of the Bhangra board, a 41" laminated bamboo "dancing freestyle" cruiser. Don said he'd give me a demo model if I sent him some photos of me riding it. My first sponsor!

I'm so thrilled with this board that I'm skating more now. It allows me to carve more deeply, so I can skate steeper hills. I can't wait to get rolling.

When I'm out skating, guys in their 40s-50s, ex-skaters, check me out. They've quit skating -- family, job, responsibility, etc. What they don't know about is the revolution in skate gear lately. Any time I get one of them to try the board, it's, "Whoa!"

I think the skateboard companies should reach out to the 40-50-yr old skater. You've got the moves, dude (muscle memory), and even if you've given up the aerial manuevers of bowl skating, you can carve the downhills. And if you can slide, you can do steep downhills. A whole new game for your, er, mature years.

Photo shot yesterday by Lew Lewandowski
This all started a couple of years ago when Lizzie, the proprietor of the Purple Skunk skateboard shop in San Francisco, told me about a group of skaters convening at Joshua Tree National Park the next weekend. At the southern entrance to the park was a freshly-paved 3½-mile downhill road, perfect for skateboard carving.

I took off in my truck (it's about 400 miles southeast), went through some unexplored (by me) roads winding through green hills and live oaks east of Gilroy, found an obscure hot springs only accessible by a serious 4-wheel-drive vehicle (my Tacoma 4X4), and eventually got to Joshua Tree, where skaters from Northern and Southern California were camping out.

At sunrise the next morning, 8 of us went in a van and skated the hill. (One guy would drive the van and take everyone back to the top.)* Boy was it fun! We made 3 runs before cars started appearing and the sheriff cruised by.*

On the trip I met Don Tashman, owner of Loaded Boards from L.A. I tried out a Loaded board, loved it, and these have been my numero uno boards for several years now. Made of bamboo, in the USA. Twice in trips to L.A., I've gone night skating with Don and his friends, once in Beverly Hills, where the streets are broad and well-lit, and once in a Santa Monica neighborhood, carefully-chosen smooth downhills.

*Someone shot a video of us, and it somehow was picked up by Apple Computer. A few months later I walked into the big Apple store in downtown San Francisco and here was the video running on a 15-foot wide screen. Hey that's me (I wanted to say, but didn't.) Bit of a thrill though…