I just got back from a trip to Six Flags, where some friends of mine and I rode the Tony Hawk Big Spin ride. It's a great ride, where you sit in these cars and get spun around while the car zips along doing loops and what not. It's a great ride if you want to have fun, AND feel like throwing up, all at the same time. Once my friends and I got off the ride, laughing, I explained to them that that's basically EXACTLY what skateboarding feels like!
These guys know of course that I was joking, but they aren't skaters. They really have no idea. I got to wondering, what DO people who don't skate think skateboarding is like? Do non-skaters think it feels anything at all like this? I remember this time I was at the X Games, and after an event the pro skaters all go to a room full of reporters. I remember hearing a reporter asking Shaun White, "So does it feel like you're flying when you're up there?" Shaun sort of smiled and said, "Well, no, not really..." It was an awkward moment that really stuck with me. I realized then that most of these guys writing the stories that people would read don't actually know what it feels like to skate. What do non-skaters think it's like?
I wanted to open this up to you guys here - If you are a skater, what did you think that skateboarding would be like before you started skating? What did you picture it like? And how would you describe it now? Leave a comment below. If you aren't a skater yet, what do you think skateboarding is like?
Comments
Before I started skating, I thought that skateboarding was going to be the feeling of going really fast, really close to the ground. That was about it. Then I got on a board, and realized that most of what I did was staying in a small area trying tricks. Skateboarding felt a lot more like an explosion of action, suddenly starting and suddenly over, and often with pain! The speed came later, once I opened up my horizons a little bit to what else skateboarding can look like.