Old injuries and new goals
First time on my new longboard. My sister Tracey taped me. If you’re wondering, she said, “I’m a professional,” as she cut me out and recorded the trees.
Every time I step on a longboard, I am reminded of a terrible, traumatizing longboarding experience I had about 10 years ago.
I was 16, and in an effort to be like the gnarly surfer girls in Blue Crush, I took my tips from working as a restaurant hostess and I bought a shitty longboard from Walmart.
Since I didn’t know what I was doing, I was too embarrassed to take it onto the road. Instead, I would practice, with a helmet on, in my unfinished basement. I fell many, many times.
When I was finally confident enough to take my board outside, my loving father dared me to take it down a huge hill. He said it’d be easy, and even though I was aware that he’d never been on any kind of skateboard before, I believed him.
Lemme tell you, going down that hill was not easy. In fact, I didn’t make it down.
A few metres in, I started to pick up so much speed, and I quickly realized it was going to end badly. In those few seconds, I was the maddest I have ever been at my dad. It felt like I was going as fast as a car, the board was wobbling out of control, and I was so fricken scared. I didn’t know what to do. So, I jumped off.
I learned then and there that jumping off a longboard that’s going fast af is one of the worst things that you can do.
You know those ugly falls when the person is running with their arms flailing while their momentum pushes them forward until their body’s sliding flat on the pavement? Well, I did one of those. And I skinned my whole left side on the ground.
I didn’t cry—my dad looked like he could’ve, since he felt so guilty—but as I picked the gravel out of my fresh, sticky wounds, I strongly considered quitting.
Anne Marie.
In an effort to not be a baby, I eventually decided to keep trying… reluctantly and infrequently, but still.
I later purchased a new Roxy longboard, whom I named Anne Marie after Kate Bosworth’s character in Blue Crush.
Unlike my Walmart board, Anne Marie is a lot lighter, less wobbly, and never experiences wheelbite (when the board hits the wheels as you turn). I’ve been able to get a lot better with her, though, I don’t bomb any huge hills.
Now that I’m an okay longboarder, I’m ready to try something new: longboard dancing!
I’m not particularly skilled at longboarding or dancing. But it looks super fun, and ain’t life supposed to be fun? Plus, everything I’m good at now, I was once shit at before, so may as well put myself out there and try to get better!
My new board for dancing! It’s huge. 40-something inches. Lots of space so I can move around on it!
I’m hopeful that documenting this via a blog will make me feel more accountable to actually get good at longboard dancing.
I hope that I don’t have to go through any more painful injuries, but Anne Marie did have to get crushed by a few huge waves before she became pro—this is basically the same thing—so I may experience a few more falls and scrapes.
I hope you stick around to witness it all.
What I’ve learned/some realizations:
Don’t jump off your speeding longboard. (Unless doing so will keep you from getting hit by a car or something. Then by all means, jump.)
You may scrape your ass on the journey to achieving your goals.
My videographer, Tracey.