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- Jun 8, 2003
Weather permitting and I don't get too down in the dumps over ******* up my exam on monday, I will be going to the skate park for the first time in my life. What required tricks/manuevers should I know to have a good time? I can't grind and never went on a ramp/pool before. Only skate flatground
Start small if possible. Roll around near the bottom of the ramps/bowls and work your way up as you feel more comfortable. Loosen up your trucks if you're gonna skate a bowl since trying to carve with tight trucks is miserable. For grinding, maybe put your board on a low ledge and jump on it to grind a little. This is kinda risky if you're never grinded though. Noseslides are easy/fun to get into also. Depending on the layout of the park, you might be able to have a lot of fun just by rolling around and doing ollies here and there. It's easy to get bummed when you see all the locals killing it, but they're probably there all the time. Do what you can and try not to get in anybody's way.
WATER, I think you pretty much answered your own question about longboarders. I know there's people who do some sick things on them down big hills, but the typical longboarder most people seem to see are college kids who use them to get from class to class. It's definitely overkill IMO when they have a 3-4 foot longboards just for going across campus when a Penny or cruiser board would do just as well and take up less space. Heck, Gonz has been known to ride longer boards from time to time and EVERYONE loves him.
It could be that a lot of older skaters toughed it out during the years when skating wasn't as popular as it is now, and were even hated on for doing it so when they see all these new ppl flood in now that it's mainstream, it kind of annoys them. Longboarders are one of the more visible iterations of this influx of new ppl IMO. Just my opinion as an older skater who remembers a time when there weren't longboards sold in every store.