Everybody Needs a Hobby
What's yours?
If I'm all about having hobbies again, I picked a damn fun one to start with. I'm not going to bore the hell out of you like I bored the hell out of my friends (even speaking in layman's terms) but I will say;
Maintenance is a good thing!
My skater buddy used to tease me about not having anyone to ride with when I complained.
He'd tell me "thats what you get for being a longboarder"
Well f* all that noise eh!
I found people to ride with!
(...I am not a loser...I am not a loser...)
Sure it took me like 7, 8 years, but better late than never eh? Hamilton has tons of shit to ride. Pavement, parking lots, lots of lil' (and BIG) hills, "mountain" accesses and a surprising number of paved bike paths through the woods eh!
The only drawback to having someone to ride with might be, them being the death of me when I try to keep up.
I've probably rode more in the last two weeks (hmmm.. around the same time I became car-less?) than I have in the last 2 years. One of our gang (ha!) started riding like two weeks ago or something. I figure my 6 years on a longboard and a couple with a regular deck make Funny Matt and I "peers". I guess The King of The Road's our leader then eh?!! He's the only one who can ride up and stop someone else without any bailing on anyone's part.
You know? As you do, when you don't want people riding with you to launch out into oncoming traffic at the bottom of a hill.
Especially when they're on your board....
Did you know you can ride up to someone moving and they can launch you? I didn't. Until we did it.
Sucks for the launcher; you slow down, but its rad for the launchee!
It's so weird too, to touch other moving things, (well, when being a moving thing too) but once I understood what was going on, it got less weird.
Why do I find it much more fun to throw my friend's around when I'm drunk? Does anyone else have a similar reaction when they add alcohol and shenanigans?
Speaking of, I rode up(hill) to my buddy Irish Matt's place. Oddly, all I found was a few guys close to "pass out time", a finished game of Risk A.D. and the discovery that its easier to get hurt dancing with my drunk friend to Tom Petty than it is riding on a longboard.
In fact, I got road rash on my elbow and almost broke my heel doing a somersault on the trampoline, road rash on my face from a carpet and a sore thumb from dancing. And odder still, I distinctly remember being drunk for all of those events.
I drink less when I ride.
Well now I do.
The night I left Irish Matt's uphill house, I rode home plastered with a beer in my back pocket. I know, I know. I was thinking that too. You just have to remember not to bail.
Halfway home some kickass song must have come on because I pulled that sucker out, cracked it open and threw the beer cap into a garbage can I was riding by. All to the delight of a homeless guy who was watching from the shadows and yelled:
"Right on sister! Cool!"
Rolling past the police station downtown I thought I should hide my beer. So I did.
Until I realized there was no one outside and "cheers"-ed the popo! I don't know who the hell I think I am (or how old she thinks she is) but I like her eh.
And thats all that matters.
What's yours?
If I'm all about having hobbies again, I picked a damn fun one to start with. I'm not going to bore the hell out of you like I bored the hell out of my friends (even speaking in layman's terms) but I will say;
Maintenance is a good thing!
My skater buddy used to tease me about not having anyone to ride with when I complained.
He'd tell me "thats what you get for being a longboarder"
Well f* all that noise eh!
I found people to ride with!
(...I am not a loser...I am not a loser...)
Sure it took me like 7, 8 years, but better late than never eh? Hamilton has tons of shit to ride. Pavement, parking lots, lots of lil' (and BIG) hills, "mountain" accesses and a surprising number of paved bike paths through the woods eh!The only drawback to having someone to ride with might be, them being the death of me when I try to keep up.
I've probably rode more in the last two weeks (hmmm.. around the same time I became car-less?) than I have in the last 2 years. One of our gang (ha!) started riding like two weeks ago or something. I figure my 6 years on a longboard and a couple with a regular deck make Funny Matt and I "peers". I guess The King of The Road's our leader then eh?!! He's the only one who can ride up and stop someone else without any bailing on anyone's part.
You know? As you do, when you don't want people riding with you to launch out into oncoming traffic at the bottom of a hill.
Especially when they're on your board....
Did you know you can ride up to someone moving and they can launch you? I didn't. Until we did it.
Sucks for the launcher; you slow down, but its rad for the launchee!
It's so weird too, to touch other moving things, (well, when being a moving thing too) but once I understood what was going on, it got less weird.
Why do I find it much more fun to throw my friend's around when I'm drunk? Does anyone else have a similar reaction when they add alcohol and shenanigans?
Speaking of, I rode up(hill) to my buddy Irish Matt's place. Oddly, all I found was a few guys close to "pass out time", a finished game of Risk A.D. and the discovery that its easier to get hurt dancing with my drunk friend to Tom Petty than it is riding on a longboard.
In fact, I got road rash on my elbow and almost broke my heel doing a somersault on the trampoline, road rash on my face from a carpet and a sore thumb from dancing. And odder still, I distinctly remember being drunk for all of those events.
I drink less when I ride.
Well now I do.
The night I left Irish Matt's uphill house, I rode home plastered with a beer in my back pocket. I know, I know. I was thinking that too. You just have to remember not to bail.
Halfway home some kickass song must have come on because I pulled that sucker out, cracked it open and threw the beer cap into a garbage can I was riding by. All to the delight of a homeless guy who was watching from the shadows and yelled:
"Right on sister! Cool!"
Rolling past the police station downtown I thought I should hide my beer. So I did.
Until I realized there was no one outside and "cheers"-ed the popo! I don't know who the hell I think I am (or how old she thinks she is) but I like her eh.
And thats all that matters.
"I'm President forever"
-Local H
I know at some point I started singing that song and throwin' my hands up in the air, like I just didn't care.
It's fun to have a hobby.
But it's scary as all hell to ride a paved trail through the woods in the dark. Oddly enough, (like it does on foot) it helps if you have a hand to hold while you're doing it.
Whatever it is under you. Ride safely y'all.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
I Roll With Jesus!
(Thats him on the left there) And it pays to be friendly. This awesome Chinese lady taking photos outside the patio we were on took some of us. Xiao snapped Jesus and I with the longboards. We went on a drinking expedition this day and later we hooked up and rode with this sweetass CHICK longboarder I met in the bar!
It pays to be friendly,
and being friendly
is
FREE.