Ask the
Doctor
Blackhart
DUH-OMETER
with Rick Blackhart
91A durometer? 62B? What? Repeat that
please. Could you please tell me what all
these numbers have to do with wheels.
When I buy my wheels I just tell the guy at
the shop how I skate and he shows me
some cool wheels. #'s, #'s, #'s... what do
they mean?
Dave Kabler
VA Beach, VA
Come on dude, if you know anything
about skating you should know this.
Now I'm going to tell you: Durometer is
a scale from 1-100 which indicates how
hard a wheel is. The higher the number,
the harder the wheel. An average
durometer would be about 87-90. A good
hard wheel 95-97 and 100 on the scale
is what they call, "bone hard". I guess
1A would just be a liquid urethane goo.
ORIGINAL SIN
What's up doc? I've got the most unorig-
inal question you've probably ever had to
answer. I've heard a lot of different answers.
so I thought I'd ask you for the most realistic
answer How did skateboarding start? I
heard a surfer wanted to surf out of season
once, so he took a roller skate apart, threw
it on his surfboard and cruised down the
hill. Then it went to roller skates on 2 x 4's
and so on. Well?
John Colenback
Cambridge, MA.
Well, I wasn't actually around when
skating first started some few billion.
years ago, so anything I say would be
pure speculation of course. It may very
well have started with the invention of
the wheel. My great-great grandfather
used to tell tales of skateboarding 50
miles everyday to school on what then
was termed a rolling board. Kind of a
miniature version of a Flexi-Flyer. Even
before then, deep in the annals of his-
tory, skateboards (although very crude
18
in design) have been known to exist.
Tribesmen on the island of Huma Huma,
after riding the hellacious surf in and
around the island jetties on hand-carved
canoes, would climb the volcano with
mats made from twigs and straw, inter-
woven with palm leaves and ride them,
standing up. down the treacherous
paths of the volcano. So there you go.
Although no one really knows where
and just how long ago skating origi-
nated. At least we know it's here to stay
for a few lifetimes.
BLOODLINES
I went to Mississippi for the Swamp
Ramp Il contest and on the day before the
contest Clint Deaton fell on a boneless one
while sliding down the transition his knee
pad fell off and he gashed his knee. No
blood. It turned white and didn't bleed for
a long while (he eventually got stitches).
Recently was trying Andrechts and I
landed on my elbow causing a long cut that
turned solid white, no blood for five min
utes. What causes this and does it affect
the healing process?
Pensacola, FL
Yeah, it's kinda like having your heart
ripped out and shown to you just before
you die. Seriously, though, your body
has a natural defense system which
sends the muscles and nerves sur-
rounding an injury into shock, causing
them to constrict initially and squeeze
the blood flow back. Sometimes the area
of injury has a lot to do with the no blood
flow factor. Strange isn't it? The main
reason for this is that sometimes you
gash below the blood line into fatty tis-
sue or areas of flesh that don't have ar
teries bringing blood to the outer
reaches of the skin surface and the
capillaries are so minute at the point of
gash that it takes a while before you
start to ooze. As far as healing goes, it'll
heal as fast as you let it. A cut that has
almost healed means nothing if you
slam on it again and open it up even
wider than before. Take care of your in-
juries and treat your body right, there is
nothing radical about skating while
you're still hurt if you're just going to
risk putting yourself out of action for a
few more weeks.
Hey now! Just when you thought you
couldn't hold on any longer the Doc pro-
vides the relief you need. Now you can
receive the much bally hooed ASK THE
DOCTOR T-shirt with the mortar and pes-
tal design on back and a THRASHER
logo up front. Support the medical arts
and wear this one when you go in for
X-rays and what not. Just send a check
or money order for $9.65 (includes post-
age), payable to: THRASHER Magazine,
PO. Box 884570, San Francisco, CA
94188-4570. Then, stay healthy for three
or four weeks and you'll get yours.
Bones
BRIGADE
VIDEO
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