ASK
THE DOCTOR
STANKY SITUATION
I'm not a skater, probably because I don't
have a board. You see, my parents are real
safety freaks and don't want me to get hurt.
I've told them about protection, and that one
of the best protection companies is even
right near us. So one day my mom promis-
ed that if I passed this one test she'd buy me
a board of my choice. So I passed the test.
When I told her, though, she said no. I got
pissed off, so she brought me to Surf Plus.
Hlooked at the decks for awhile and my mom
wanted to go home. Why? The place smell-
ed funny! I told her it was a bad excuse, but
she made us leave anyway. Can you tell me
why she acted this way?
Son Of A Bitch
Santa Rosa, CA
All skate shops do have kind of a funny
smell about them. What your mom prob-
ably smelled was fresh grip tape and
stickers. Get your mom some nose plugs,
grab her wallet and go get yourself a
board.
DITCH PITCH
Recently two of my friends and I were
skating a local ditch. I went up for an axle
grind and my trusty Converse with no treads
at all failed me. I slipped out and rolled down
backwards over my arm. Now I've got two
metal plates and nine, count 'em, nine
screws in my arm. I've got to wear a long arm
cast for 6 weeks. Then I get a short one for
four more weeks. To top it all off I had a full-
time lifeguarding job and only worked two
days. I get the screws out in February so I
won't be able to skate until next spring. My
problem is that I don't think my ultra-
conservative, right-wing parents are going
to go for the idea of me skating again. How
can I tell my parents that I am going to keep
skating whether they like it or not without
getting into a huge hassle?
Kripple
Rockford, IL
Don't tell your parents anything, just
skate. If you really are a skater and are go-
ing to skate no matter what, then your
parents should realize this and I would
hope they would let you do what you
want. Hopefully you're not such a lame
skater that you beef all the time, because
I'm sure your parents are the ones who
pay the hospital bills. At any rate. I hope
with Rick Blackhart
your arm heals okay. Maybe if you buy
some new skate shoes (though,
remember, some of the earliest pioneers
skated barefoot) and concentrate on ex-
actly how you fell, this can be prevented.
SLEEP SESSIONS
For the last few days I've been having a
nutso dream at night. I'll be riding down the
street on my skate when all of the sudden I
go screaming down this cement mountain.
Then, when I've almost achieved the 30 mph
mark, some fat-ass enthusiast throws a
handful of gravel in front of me. What's the
deal, doc?
James (Maui)
Jacksonville, FL
Okay, I've got your problem in a nut-
shell. Stop eating those pepperoni pizzas
before bedtime. No, you don't have
enough speed. Try going about 60 mph
(in your dream, that is), then you'll just
float right over the gravel. Yeah, that's it.
Just weight and unweight, right over any-
thing. Potholes, stormdrains, manhole
covers, dogs, whatever's in your way-
it's only a dream, right? You can do
anything. Then, when you get to the bot-
tom, go find that fat-ass and start kicking
some. Many skaters experience the
heavy skate-dream syndrome, especial-
ly after say...skating their first empty
pool or large pipe. Usually they're not of
the nightmare variety, though. You'll just
have to skate them off.
OLLIE OUCH!
I've got a major problem with ollies that i
has cost me a fractured ankle. I started get-
ting average ollies off this 2% to 3 foot street
ramp. I went away one weekend with this
dude to his home away from home. He had
a smaller street ramp there which was rather
shredding material. All day I was pulling
massive front and backside airs. Guerrero
airs and okay ollies like crazy. Then the ass
debris hit the fan.
I was getting up some massive speed and
was about to blast my last ollie of the day. My
stick slowed going up causing my nose to
take a mean dive coming off the top, which
made my right foot slide off and under my left
while the rest of my disfigured form was still
proceeding down to meet with some nice
hard cement.
It's cost me at least a month away from my
wheels. My question is: When pulling off an
ollie, how can I best keep my front up while
my backside is still coming off? And is there
anyway I can "prevent this tragedy" of the
ankle area from happening again?
Nick Orederick
Drexel Hill, PA
All right, great handwriting. I love a let
ter I can read. One of the main things to an
ollie is that you have to over compensate.
You want to pop that baby hard enough to
keep the board against your front foot.
Basically what you need to do is concen-
trate on your pop. Don't be afraid to real-
ly kick it. Better to have your tail blow out
than to have a mushy front foot-to-nose
contact. Practice by popping your board
off the tail, or doing long, scraping tail
wheelies and stuff. Learn to ride your
board with two or more wheels off the
ground. Keep your nose up and keep it
clean.
WHERE TO GO?
If the skateboarding scene is getting so
progressive and big, then where did all the
skate parks go? I remember when I was
nine; a friend of mine took me to the Runway
skate park in Torrance, CA. It was real fun,
and then all of the sudden the skateparks
closed down. The only two that remain in my
driving distance are Upland and Del Mar
Plus. Del Mar has got some new thing that
you need to live in San Diego County to
skate. Add to that, every time we try to make
a ramp someone complains and we have to
tear it down in a matter of months. So is this
what we call progress? I think that someone
should start putting up some parks and a
community ramp so us skaters can ride
again What do you think?
Elvis Segarich
San Pedro, CA
The main reason skating is flourishing
is because there are no skate parks. What
happened before when skating was
rolling big time? Skate parks everywhere
right? Then what happened? They went
into the dumper. Why? Because skate
parks had to be a controlled environment.
Skating is not a controllable activity. The
joy of life is to live on the edge of death.
You can't package the edge. Whenever
things get fun and exciting, someone
wants to put it behind a fence and charge
money for it. In other words, I think you're
just too lazy to go out and find a spot of
your own. Ride on!
Blackhajt
Winter chills got your nose running?
Wipe it off on a new Ask The Doctor t-
shirt! Just send check or M.O. for $9.65
(postage and handling included) to:
THRASHER MAGAZINE, Ask The Doc T.
P.O. Box 884570, S.F., CA 94188-4570.
PULSAR GS 160
VERTICALLY LAMINATED
ASH/ASPEN CORE
COMPOSITE SKI TYPE CONSTRUCTION
ABS SIDEWALL CRACKED STEEL EDGE
SINTERED RACING BASE
WEIGHT 8.25 LBS.
SNOWTECH
SEAFLEX
TECHNOLOGY
TO TAKE YOU
TO THE TOP!
SEND FOR FREE COLOR BROCHURE
SNOWTECH SNOWBOARDS
DEPT. 200 1237 E. MAIN STREET
ROCHESTER, NY 14609 716/288-7335
SUPER TUFF
100% COTTON TEES
#12 SKATECAT $8.50
14 EATEM $10.00
STAY OUT
SKATE HARD
#10 SKATE HARD $10.00
Look for the new Seaflex line of skate products at your local dealer If not available in your area-
order direct. sizes: S, M, L, XL colors: Red, White, Blue, Gold, or Surprise Me: 5 other hot colors
SEA FLEX
15 POOLCAT $8.50
#16 - SNOW.
#3 TEAM $8.50
BOARD '87 $10.00
SEAFLEX
P.O. Box 118
Dogtown, CA
94924
Send $1.00 for new
stickers and
product update
21