THE
SKATERS
EDGE
Bob
Denike
STAY DRY
Harsh winter realities. If any of you fellow
skaters are at all like myself, then the winter
months do not top your list of most favorite
seasons. Skateboarding and rain (snow for
some) just don't blend together in any way,
shape or form. Rusted bearings, warped
decks, heavy wilsons and damp skate
shoes aren't my idea of a good time. Sure
you can brave all this and go for a quick rain
session here and there, but it just isn't the
same.
So here I sit in a study cubicle of a cold
library reading the words in my chemistry
text, thinking about shredding the ditch
near my house. Four pages later I realize I
have absorbed nothing to do with chemis-
try, my eyes are reading the words but
nothing sticks. I close the books, toss them
in my pack, and head out the door for a little
skate break to clear my head. A quick
glance to the sky reveals heavy black
clouds forming and I recall the weather
dude on the radio hinting toward... "the
biggest storm to hit the central coast in
years... Quickly I pushed off toward home,
but the rains begin. I find shelter in a cov-
ered bus bench, waiting for the bus to ar-
rive. I slump back in the bus seat and look
out the window. Harsh winter realities.
Winter months are bad news for skate-
boarding, ditches, pools, ramps, reser-
voirs, bank areas-they all become scat-
tered with debris and dampness rendering
them completely unskateable-winter
months' skating takes on a completely new
form, completely separate from its spring/
summer style, because it has to. Skate-
boarding is a main part of my daily routine,
whether it be taking a break from my
studies or just cruising to a friend's house.
Skating keeps me from getting too far deep
into things-that can really drive you nuts.
So in the past, I've adopted things to pull
me through those long, boring 'Skate Win-
ters,' when the temperature drops, foliage
becomes dormant, rain begins to fall, and
those who generally roam the streets going
14
from skatespot to skatespot now bring their
activities indoors, underground, and away
from the elements.
Parking garages are plentiful in any big
city, mainly near the crowded downtown
areas and colleges. Where they often
aren't skated in the dry months, because of
better places to skate, they become the
focal point of winter skating-spiralling
downhills, freestyle, long board cruizing
and parking block streetstyle help keep
skaters alive and interested local indoor/
outdoor malls, also can provide a good
skate session, but beware of local security
types. Although I've never had the oppor-
tunity, many skaters utilize indoor gymna-
siums and activity halls, providing smooth
freestyle and slalom areas.
Another place that allows for 'Skate
Winter activities are schoolyards with long
smooth corridors with overhanging eaves
to keep the rain out. I'm sure every skater is
aware of a local school that would fit into
this description. Give a call to round up a
gang of skate brothers for a good game of
rag tag, team tag or high speed sliding.
One school we used to hit often in the
winter was literally a maze of hallways, up
and down elevations, carpeting, agregate
cement, and the like. The intersections al-
ways got a little crazy, leading to numerous
close shaves and near dental work. Check
out your local area for this outdoor, yet un-
dercover type of skating.
I was always surprised along with my
mother being a little stressed, on how much
square footage in my house was actually
skateable, in one room there was indoor/
outdoor carpeting on a cement floor, allow-
ing just enough rollability to get some good
grinds, tail taps, and sweepers off the brick
hearth of the fireplace. This room also al-
lowed a perfect practice for freestyle riding.
giving just enough hold on my wheels to
avoid the heavy Wilsons associated with
learning new tricks. Linoleum kitchens,
bathrooms, hardwood floors-all lead to a
few quick spins or kickflips.
I'm sure we're all aware of the type of
door skating, known simple as couch skat-
ing, where you sit in front of the TV. while
you pull off intense lapovers, lip slides and
impossible ollie airs off the cushions and
arm rests of the sofa. During the heavy wet
spells things used to get real bad and I
would just skate from room to room, down
the halls, across deep shag carpeting and
tile floors, just to get a feel of skating. We
are talking real heavy wet spells.
The garage of your house, no matter how
small and crowded, can become the best
place for you to power through a 'Skate
Winter.' Set up a little kickturn ramp or even
a halfpipe (one quarter scale), if you can
negotiate with the parents to move the cars
out. Flatland freestyle sessions with my
friends always seemed to adequately fill in
the void of outdoor skating. We would have
hours of 'Add-on' sessions, where you
would pull off a move and add one of your
own with this being repeated from skater to
skater, until physical exhaustion ended the
series of tricks. Games of h-o-r-s-e were
also popular (played the same way as in
basketball) along with many strange and
twisted derivatives of these. Other 'Skate
Winter' activities were a little more practi-
cal; endless magazine re-readings, trivia
sessions, ramp plan brainstorms, knee pad
washings (often twice to get out the 'Rec-
tor-Breath'), skate shoe repair, junk box or-
ganizations, stickers collection updating,
cleaning your room, rap sessions, and
skate parties complete with slides, videos,
photos, movies, magazines and fellow
skaters.
Probably the best form of 'Skate Winter
activity I've ever seen comes in the form of
small Finger Boards,' miniature two-inch
length skateboards complete with griptape,
rails, action trucks, wheels, concave, kick-
tails, and graphics, made from anything
from construction paper to thin veneer
woods. Hours of skate dreaming are com-
mon, skating mixing bowls, sinks, bath-
tubs, walls, table tops, and trash pail full
pipes. I've even seen scaled down models
of 'dream halfpipes' that skaters wish they
could skate. The definite master of this in-
door art has to be Lance Mountain, who
has scaled down paper mache replica of
Uplands combi-pool, painted light blue with
tiles and coping. For those of you a little
skeptical about this finger board business a
little credibility may come from the fact that
Lance just recently won the last "Upland
Turkey Shoot" contest in the lifesize combi-
pool with one of the most imaginative rou-
tines I've ever seen executed there. All this
originating from the need to pass the time
when the weather wasn't cooperating.
So the fact becomes all too obvious,
something as uncontrollable as the weath-
er oftentimes becomes the main reason for
chucking some well planned skate ses-
sions. I've never met more imaginative
people than skateboarders and with a little
thinking and even littler effort, you can
overcome another 'Skate Winter storing
up some energy and enthusiasm for when
the weather begins to cooperate once
again. Good luck in the new year, take care
and skate safe.
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