I don’t like golf. Weird. I got my first set of clubs for my 13th birthday but I don’t enjoy the game. I think it’s expensive. I think it’s overrated. I don’t like the golf culture, the new one or the old one. I just don’t appreciate the game. As Mark Twain said (I paraphrase) -it ruins a good walk.
I’m fifty years old. I like longboarding.
I thought about it for a long time, three years, but then I went ahead and did it. I bought a longboard this summer. After shopping at half a dozen stores (in three cities) I got a good one. I did my research.
I bought a board with drop through mounted trucks giving a lower centre of gravity. The board is about three feet long, maybe three and a half feet, certainly long enough for a smooth gliding kind of ride. It’s got grip tape as a surface and large wheel wells to prevent wheel bite. I loosened up the brushings because I’m not attacking killer hills at killer speeds. I like small hills. I’m built for comfort not for speed. I carve small hills around Uptown and Westmount and sometimes venture into Kitchener.
I like to go out at night. Usually for an hour or so before bed - about 10:00-11:00pm. The roads are quiet at that time of night. I have them all to myself, except for Friday and Saturday nights when I glide by house parties and young people on the sidewalks heading to our local watering holes.
There is a certain freedom and peace, connected to the board, connected to the road. It’s quiet and like being on a motorcycle you can take it all in.
For me, as a teenager I spent quite a few summers on my skateboard. Way back when. Getting on the longboard, was as natural as getting on a bike after years of not.
I may be fifty but I don’t care. I’d rather spend time on the board than on the course.
Longboarding lingo [http://www.muirskate.com/longboard-guide/glossary#Top%20Mount]
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