Too old to die young

[dtotherob]

It seems like 30+ skateboarders are really common here in Vancouver. This is awesome: it means better style, better stories and general conversations and more creative ideas of skateboarding. It really isn't overly surprising to see someone 40-50 ripping a park harder than everyone else, and I don't here a lot of "old guys are too old" talk. I guess just don't go to the plaza if you want to maintain this sort of positivity (though Joe Buffalo might be there and he will be killing it harder than anyone younger than him).

i love skating in vancouver.  i have an old dog crew out there too and we are all 35+. the younger dudes always have fun with us.  the comradery is great.   i like the new plaza since they re did it.  had a 2am session there a couple months back and it was empty. one of the best times i had all year. 

and +1 for the joe buffalo mention.  dude fucking rips.

[bucky fellini]

I think the attitude of skating being only for kids is - aside from being completely ridiculous - slowly changing. Through the ups and downs of the skate industry, skateboards have occasionally been put into the same category as hula hoops and the like: basically "toys" that bored kids use during their youth. But despite the recent troubles of the industry, skating has been a pretty significant force since the late 90s boom it experienced. I think it has sustained a certain level that it never was able to before (for instance, the massive popularity in the 80s being immediately followed by the harsh crash of the early 90s). For us it's always been "here to stay" but that just seems to be a new revelation for a lot of regular civilians over the last few years.

Look at all the pool of pros nowadays. I mean, even just Girl. How many people on Girl (and Chocolate for that matter) are in their 30s? The majority. A lot of top pros that are still getting enders in videos and magazine coverage are in their 30s easily (fuck, look at what Reynolds still does and he's now in his 30s). There's been a huge shift of the age range of pros, that shift is relatively unchanged at the lower side but keeps being pushed out at the higher (read: older) side. It is perfectly normal for someone in their mid-30s to be a top pro now. I think this is slowly trickling down to others outside of skating.

Skateboarding is still a relatively young sport. The farther we go along the more skaters we will see in their 30,s 40s, 50s and so on. There is definitely a risk-aversion element that matt mentioned that will always come into play. I just turned 35 a couple months ago and feel that myself. I had a real bad ankle break 4 years ago and heard more than once "so I guess you'll be done with skating now?". Ummm, no? I'll be skating again as soon as I can (albeit with a bruised confidence level). So that sentiment is definitely still there but I like to think that it's slowly changing.

[bucky fellini]

It seems like 30+ skateboarders are really common here in Vancouver. This is awesome: it means better style, better stories and general conversations and more creative ideas of skateboarding. It really isn't overly surprising to see someone 40-50 ripping a park harder than everyone else, and I don't here a lot of "old guys are too old" talk. I guess just don't go to the plaza if you want to maintain this sort of positivity (though Joe Buffalo might be there and he will be killing it harder than anyone younger than him).

i love skating in vancouver.  i have an old dog crew out there too and we are all 35+. the younger dudes always have fun with us.  the comradery is great.   i like the new plaza since they re did it.  had a 2am session there a couple months back and it was empty. one of the best times i had all year. 

and +1 for the joe buffalo mention.  dude fucking rips.

For sure, he used to skate the cractpipe sometimes. Killing it.

[bucky fellini]

Also, the thread title immediately made me think of this:

Timber Timbre - Too Old To Die Young

[ketur]

it's just a mind game.i'm 31 and i skate harder than most of the kids in their 20's.it's all in you.if you feel like skating nothing is going to stop you even if you're fucking 50 years old.just keep skating and having fun...and yea i still learning new tricks and still can hold some good slams.it's simple...SKATE OR DIE.

[ttching]

Skateboards are a kids toy to people until you are using it on their property, then it becomes a very serious challenger to the very order of our society, one which must be stopped.

With my full time gig and little one, I have a LOT less free time now then I did when I was younger, but I love skating-its fun, yet always challenging-so I make time for it.  Sure life can get in people's way sometimes, but don't kid yourself-the people you know who quit skating just weren't that into it in the first place.

[Salamander]

So I get to work this morning and doing my morning stretches as I always stretch a few times through out the day. And a (chubby) co-worker walks up and gives me this odd look, so I say "just stretchin". And he gives me another odd look. So I say it helps the circulation when your sitting at a desk all day to get up and stretch a few times, feels like sitting at a chair all day pulls on the back of my hamstrings. If I stretch a few times then my legs feel good by the time I go skating. He looks me right in the eye serious as can be and says "maybe skating is the problem". I say, Why would skating be the problem? He chuckles and walks away. And by the way, he's the dude that you find sitting in the breakroom watching baseball a few times a day, what a clueless fool.

[krusher]

^ I just spent a week in Nashville and those fat fucks are all over the place.

Even the plus 30 guys at the skate park (in Nashville) looked a little embarrassed to be there. I tried to talked to them but their conversation was just a bunch of complaints. They kept looking at me weird 'cause I wasn't wearing pads.

This is what I thought of when I saw the title to this thread. I tell this to the normals at work all the time... they never get it

7 Seconds - Young Till I Die

[Salamander]

This is what I thought of when I saw the title to this thread. I tell this to the normals at work all the time... they never get it

7 Seconds - Young Till I Die

FUCK YEAH!!!!!