Lost Longboard.

And...the good times keep on rollin.

I am, and have been, a skateboarder for quite a long time now. It's something I did as a kid to initially fit in with some of my friends, it was what I then considered supremely rad. I sucked of course, especially compared to the guys I skated with, but I loved it. I soon figured out that I liked the feeling of cruising around more than attempting to do tricks. I say attempting cause I was a short uncoordinated fat child who couldn't ollie to save his life.

But I digress...

When I hit university I very quickly got sick of paying for / riding the subway, and started looking for an alternative. I considered biking and rollerblading but I'd have no where to lock up a bike and I'm straight, so those two options were out. I decided to pull out an old skateboard and ride the distance from Union Station to my U of T campus.

It was fun, I really liked it, it felt good to be on four wheels again. Dodging pedestrians gave me back that slightly edgy feeling I used to like so much as a kid. Suddenly I wasn't cattle anymore.
I was a missile.

There was a slight problem though, I still couldn't ollie if you paid me, and there were a fair number of street car tracks in the way. With tracks so deep they could swallow your wheels whole...they posed a threat, and I was painfully chucked into traffic on a few occasions.

I noticed some guys riding longboards on campus and decided that was the solution. Larger wheels, longer wheelbase and more momentum should do the trick right? Within about a week I had hunted one down on Craigslist and was truly becoming a side walk force to be reckoned with.

That was almost two years ago. Something like 20 boards later and what has to easily be hundreds of K's under my wheels, well it's safe to say it's becoming something that defines me.

Not too long ago I was given something pretty special by a friend of mine. He used to make longboards in his garage a few years before and had a few decks left over from his previous efforts. I always thought it was awesome that he'd made his own, and upon some requests we struck up a deal and I took (what I thought to be) the nicest deck he had left.

That was only a few months ago. Yesterday that board was run over in the street and cracked clear in two.

It had quickly become my favorite board, with it's odd shape, birch construction, almost non existent grip, and complete and utter lack of concave...well I was surprised how much I loved that board.

The strange "fish" like shape allowed me to dig in my toes and heels while carving to make up for the lack of concave.

The birch construction made it light, flexy, and easily to carry around.

The hand applied sand grip allowed me to ride barefoot without shredding my feet.

It was a thing of beauty.

I was in the street when I noticed a silver SUV behind me. Pulling onto the side walk I hit a piece of raised concrete that caused my board to shoot out behind me. Into the street.

Like a basketball rolling out in front of a car, so my board rolled slowly and painfully under the front wheels of that SUV and with a sickening crack was run over. I told the lady not to worry, it wasn't her fault...hung my head, and carried what was left of my Longdex back to my Toronto apartment.

Life's peachy aint it?

R.I.P

The tower calls. 65.