Skateboarding After 50

[Sedition]

Just gonna put this here for your consideration (from the Parking Block Diaries)

I have always been a very tactile skater. I do tricks for the sensation they give me, the experience. That's why I can do the same tricks over and over again and never get tired of them. That's why I get irate when I can't get some trick i've pulled a thousand times.  Its not perfectionism or competitive drive, I simply fiend for the sensations my tricks give me and I go crazy when I can't experience them.

When I look at a clip of something that felt pure and powerful and perfect when I did it, yet looks stiff and forced when I watch it, it always triggers a poisonous dilemma in my brain, a dilemma that cuts to the soul of skating.

Skating has a dual nature: it is a full sensory experience on one hand, and a visual commodity we can only consume by watching on the other. When it comes to the actual experience of skating, does it really matter what something looks like? Is perfection of style and form worth chasing after for reasons other than the visual consumption of your personal skating by others? Does "bad style" really matter to anyone but those watching? And aren't we supposed to not give a shit about what anyone thinks

Or, to bring it back to that personal dilemma: should you change the way you do something that feels good just so it looks better?


This is interesting to me as an older skater. On the rare occasion when I film myself, I’m never stoked on the result. Everything looks slow and stiff. I look like listening to your own voicemail recording sounds.

But when I’m on the board, it feels amazing. I feel rad.

Thoughts?

This is not unique. The actor Adam Driver hates to see / watch any of his performances. He even once walked out of an interview with Terry Gross (of "Fresh Air") because they played a clip of him. That said, Kyle does touch on an interesting subject.

I'll ask this: Who do you skate for? Yourself, or other people? If you are skating for yourself, then you already know where "truth" and "happiness" are to be found (hint: it never involves a recording of yourself). If you are skating for other people, well, good luck with that.

[Sedition]

Over 50
Started skating again after a very long time away.
My issue is remembering how good I was when I stopped, not how bad I was when I started

Base your sessions on where you are today, not where you were 30 years ago.

[Benicio El Toro]

I was unreasonably anti clip after my friends quit skating. Now having not skated for 7 months and questions of when I'll be able to again, I wish I filmed myself routinely. Now I just have one clip a random guy had to film after seeing me do something. Like 3 years ago, really started to turn a corner around this time.
I purely skate for feeling but wish I had more memories. Let go of the ego is the advice I've given myself

[The Huffer]

Thar's interesting. I was 'anti-clip' most of my skate life. I never had the patience to film. didn't want to waste people's time. I had some clips in small scene videos but only because someone happened to capture something I was doing in the background when the rest of the crew were taking it seriously. I was alway s little too self-conscious and struggled with the ego side of things.

Self-filming with a kook cam (phone, fisheye and stand) changed that and I really think it helped me begin to progress again. It was a challenge, motivation and a way to see where I was going wrong. Super fun actually. I haven't filmed much since I my 50th birthday part last May and perhaps not coincidently, I haven't done anything new in the last ten months hahaha....

[gringo_viejo]

There’s this one clip I got last spring, alone, at the skatepark. I think I had my phone leaning against my half gallon water jug as a « tripod. » My first (and, so far, only) roll-in to « big » transition. (I’d practiced a few on a 2’ quarter; this was about 4’.)

When I got the make, I was so hyped. I made a barking noise. I fist pumped at the empty park. Yes!

When I looked at the clip, all I saw were the flaws. Shoulda positioned the phone to get more of the roll away. Looked pretty slow and wobbly going over the coping. And that little yelp, that fist pump? Cringe.

Then I got hurt before I could get another one. It was a thing I did once, not a thing I really had in my bag. Now I looked at the clip differently. Wistfully. The imperfections were still there, but mostly I felt the stoke of that moment again. The first one. Hopefully not the last?

It captured a moment, which I guess is the whole point. Warts and all, a thing was done.

[j....soy.....]

I have my tricks that I've essentially told myself as long as I can do them I'll still skate, it's sort of my practice like yoga where I have maybe 10 tricks.  There's a bunch too that I'll set up the dad cam and film them just because I always think that's the last time I'll ever do one and I'm at peace with it.

I was never good enough to really film anything but through instagram and having a phone, it's not bad capturing my scrubby moves....just to see them pass by on stories like they should.  People that I don't see often see I'm still skating and I get to see their clips too.  It's one of the benefits I think of social media.

Can't say any of my clips are really any good but from the people I've met and connected with, I've realized it's not really about that. 

[rikki]

Filming myself skating has helped me tremendously in two major ways: making my technique better and improving my style.

While style is really a concept that ultimately cannot be defined objectively, there are recognizable universal aspects of how a person carries their body while skating that just look "good". It's not necessarily about wanting to look "good" in the eyes of others. It's about fine-tuning one's own artistic and personal expression, which is a major aspect of the art of skateboarding.

Improving one's style and not caring about what others think are not mutually exclusive. Everyone has an ego, and there's nothing wrong with keeping the ego happy in a healthy way. I mean, good style can inspire others, and isn't inspiring others a rewarding aspect of skating?

Plus, circling back to filming oneself – doesn't everyone want to look good in their own eyes?

Ultimately we're just all dancing in the void for ourselves and for each other, so why not try to making the dance all the more beautiful for the sole reason of nothing at all?

[AnimalChinaski79]

Just gonna put this here for your consideration (from the Parking Block Diaries)

I have always been a very tactile skater. I do tricks for the sensation they give me, the experience. That's why I can do the same tricks over and over again and never get tired of them. That's why I get irate when I can't get some trick i've pulled a thousand times.  Its not perfectionism or competitive drive, I simply fiend for the sensations my tricks give me and I go crazy when I can't experience them.

When I look at a clip of something that felt pure and powerful and perfect when I did it, yet looks stiff and forced when I watch it, it always triggers a poisonous dilemma in my brain, a dilemma that cuts to the soul of skating.

Skating has a dual nature: it is a full sensory experience on one hand, and a visual commodity we can only consume by watching on the other. When it comes to the actual experience of skating, does it really matter what something looks like? Is perfection of style and form worth chasing after for reasons other than the visual consumption of your personal skating by others? Does "bad style" really matter to anyone but those watching? And aren't we supposed to not give a shit about what anyone thinks

Or, to bring it back to that personal dilemma: should you change the way you do something that feels good just so it looks better?


This is interesting to me as an older skater. On the rare occasion when I film myself, I’m never stoked on the result. Everything looks slow and stiff. I look like listening to your own voicemail recording sounds.

But when I’m on the board, it feels amazing. I feel rad.

Thoughts?

I relate to all of this.

[gringo_viejo]

Expand Quote

Just gonna put this here for your consideration (from the Parking Block Diaries)

I have always been a very tactile skater. I do tricks for the sensation they give me, the experience. That's why I can do the same tricks over and over again and never get tired of them. That's why I get irate when I can't get some trick i've pulled a thousand times.  Its not perfectionism or competitive drive, I simply fiend for the sensations my tricks give me and I go crazy when I can't experience them.

When I look at a clip of something that felt pure and powerful and perfect when I did it, yet looks stiff and forced when I watch it, it always triggers a poisonous dilemma in my brain, a dilemma that cuts to the soul of skating.

Skating has a dual nature: it is a full sensory experience on one hand, and a visual commodity we can only consume by watching on the other. When it comes to the actual experience of skating, does it really matter what something looks like? Is perfection of style and form worth chasing after for reasons other than the visual consumption of your personal skating by others? Does "bad style" really matter to anyone but those watching? And aren't we supposed to not give a shit about what anyone thinks

Or, to bring it back to that personal dilemma: should you change the way you do something that feels good just so it looks better?


This is interesting to me as an older skater. On the rare occasion when I film myself, I’m never stoked on the result. Everything looks slow and stiff. I look like listening to your own voicemail recording sounds.

But when I’m on the board, it feels amazing. I feel rad.

Thoughts?

[close]

I relate to all of this.

I want to come back to the “tactile” part of the passage.

There are these feelings that are unique to skateboarding, and you feel them through your feet. (Sometimes also in your gut.) Rolling over brick. Pushing through grinds. Dropping in. Landing bolts. Floating over a hip.

Part of this is that we may not look like Gonz or Fred or Drehobl or whoever, but I bet we feel a lttle bit the same as them.

Or forget pros and looking stylish and all that for a second: I bet we feel different from anybody who has never done a grind. Have experienced different (exhilarating, painful) sensations.

[Sedition]

Filming myself skating has helped me tremendously in two major ways: making my technique better and improving my style.

While style is really a concept that ultimately cannot be defined objectively, there are recognizable universal aspects of how a person carries their body while skating that just look "good". It's not necessarily about wanting to look "good" in the eyes of others. It's about fine-tuning one's own artistic and personal expression, which is a major aspect of the art of skateboarding.

Improving one's style and not caring about what others think are not mutually exclusive. Everyone has an ego, and there's nothing wrong with keeping the ego happy in a healthy way. I mean, good style can inspire others, and isn't inspiring others a rewarding aspect of skating?

Plus, circling back to filming oneself – doesn't everyone want to look good in their own eyes?

Ultimately we're just all dancing in the void for ourselves and for each other, so why not try to making the dance all the more beautiful for the sole reason of nothing at all?

That is one of the cool things about skating--the same activity can mean, and be, totally different things to different people. Suffice to say, I think far less about these subjects than you seem to. I do what's fun/enjoyable to me, and don't really care about those other factors. No right or wrong in either one....just follow your own path. That's the only way.

[rikki]

Expand Quote

Filming myself skating has helped me tremendously in two major ways: making my technique better and improving my style.

While style is really a concept that ultimately cannot be defined objectively, there are recognizable universal aspects of how a person carries their body while skating that just look "good". It's not necessarily about wanting to look "good" in the eyes of others. It's about fine-tuning one's own artistic and personal expression, which is a major aspect of the art of skateboarding.

Improving one's style and not caring about what others think are not mutually exclusive. Everyone has an ego, and there's nothing wrong with keeping the ego happy in a healthy way. I mean, good style can inspire others, and isn't inspiring others a rewarding aspect of skating?

Plus, circling back to filming oneself – doesn't everyone want to look good in their own eyes?

Ultimately we're just all dancing in the void for ourselves and for each other, so why not try to making the dance all the more beautiful for the sole reason of nothing at all?

[close]

That is one of the cool things about skating--the same activity can mean, and be, totally different things to different people. Suffice to say, I think far less about these subjects than you seem to. I do what's fun/enjoyable to me, and don't really care about those other factors. No right or wrong in either one....just follow your own path. That's the only way.

Yeah man, it's not like I "think a lot" about these subjects like they're a burden or a puzzle that needs to be solved in order to attain peace of mind. I skate to have fun 100 %, but as I tried to convey, having fun and e.g. improving one's skating via various means aren't things that cancel each other out. On the contrary.

Totally agree about no right or wrong. Skateboarding is ultimately about freedom combined with massively inspiring psycho-social aspect and that's why it's so damn awesome.

[Sedition]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Filming myself skating has helped me tremendously in two major ways: making my technique better and improving my style.

While style is really a concept that ultimately cannot be defined objectively, there are recognizable universal aspects of how a person carries their body while skating that just look "good". It's not necessarily about wanting to look "good" in the eyes of others. It's about fine-tuning one's own artistic and personal expression, which is a major aspect of the art of skateboarding.

Improving one's style and not caring about what others think are not mutually exclusive. Everyone has an ego, and there's nothing wrong with keeping the ego happy in a healthy way. I mean, good style can inspire others, and isn't inspiring others a rewarding aspect of skating?

Plus, circling back to filming oneself – doesn't everyone want to look good in their own eyes?

Ultimately we're just all dancing in the void for ourselves and for each other, so why not try to making the dance all the more beautiful for the sole reason of nothing at all?

[close]

That is one of the cool things about skating--the same activity can mean, and be, totally different things to different people. Suffice to say, I think far less about these subjects than you seem to. I do what's fun/enjoyable to me, and don't really care about those other factors. No right or wrong in either one....just follow your own path. That's the only way.

[close]

Yeah man, it's not like I "think a lot" about these subjects like they're a burden or a puzzle that needs to be solved in order to attain peace of mind. I skate to have fun 100 %, but as I tried to convey, having fun and e.g. improving one's skating via various means aren't things that cancel each other out. On the contrary.

Totally agree about no right or wrong. Skateboarding is ultimately about freedom combined with massively inspiring psycho-social aspect and that's why it's so damn awesome.

^ Word.

On the subject of filming...I do a good amount of it, too. I work in the evenings. Most of my other skater friends have 9-5 jobs. Which means that (a) I often end up skating alone, and (b) I often have skate parks to myself. Sometimes when I am alone, filming gives me a little extra "push" to try landing something I might not otherwise be feeling (and can often show where I am doing something wrong). Most of the time, it's deleted shortly afterward. 

Speaking of which, we should get some clips going in this thread. Here is something I filmed back in Dec when someone was asking about fakie shuv to b/s reverts in another thread...and b/s lip version of it, too.

[The Huffer]

That fake shuv back lip combo looks great... and terrifying....

Busted out the kook cam at the local curb spot yesterday for a few curb ginders

[Sedition]

That fake shuv back lip combo looks great... and terrifying....

Busted out the kook cam at the local curb spot yesterday for a few curb ginders

HELL YES! Looks like a great curb spot. And i *hate* those exact f/s 5-0 bails. They are the worst.

[gringo_viejo]

Yall are making it look so easy out here. Smooooooooth rollaways. 

[OldieButFrenchie]

how do you do fellow oldies?
Just turned 52 this week!
still super stoked on skating
even though I don't skate as much as I wish I could!
for lack of time
My oldest son just turned 18...which kinda rams it in how old I actually am ha.
will check back in in this thread!

PS : finally got my fs rocks back on a little tiny mini! Hope to get the decked version back soon   

[DNTRODDEN]

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Over 50
Started skating again after a very long time away.
My issue is remembering how good I was when I stopped, not how bad I was when I started

[close]

Base your sessions on where you are today, not where you were 30 years ago.

yeah, that is the goal when I leave the house....sometimes my reality does not play nice. It is all good, I still have a good time

[Sleazy]

I’m 53 and always had a skateboard staring with a fiberglass one on the 70s. Late 80s got my first real board and started doing tricks.

Best skate times were probably 15-16 in Australia in 89ish. Was sponsored by this shop called the Rad Skate Shop that ripped off the vision street waer logo. I’d leave home on Friday on the bus for the edge skatepark in down town Fremantle and end up gone the whole weekend skating all day, crashing parties and sleeping next to train tacks.

Quit for a bit around 92 second year of college when “the older I got the skaters stayed the same age”

Got back into it in 99 when they built an A/C d vans skatepark in Houston when I lived there and I just couldn’t resist.

Been really enjoying getting these last couple years after quitting drinking about three years ago.

I’ve got a DGk with Bruce Lee on it and I don’t really keep up with the rest of my gear. I live in Austin. It’s just whatever the guys that no comply recommend.

This is my favorite thing to skate lately. Almost got back 180 over it. Rolled one away but not clean and pulled my lower back.

Music: turnstile, tool, NIN, tribe, Wu, cure, a place to bury strangers…

Lately pixel grip and geese

I own two software companies. Been living well, but it’s really kind of nerve-racking with AI lately. I’m also right in the process of going through a divorce with my wife been with for 28 years which means in 2 months I have to figure out dating again 😅


https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVhrSoTCWbE/?igsh=Z3kxdXFodWh1ZHlh

[The Huffer]

Sleazy got sprack!

Good shit. Love seeing old dudes jump.

[rikki]

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Filming myself skating has helped me tremendously in two major ways: making my technique better and improving my style.

While style is really a concept that ultimately cannot be defined objectively, there are recognizable universal aspects of how a person carries their body while skating that just look "good". It's not necessarily about wanting to look "good" in the eyes of others. It's about fine-tuning one's own artistic and personal expression, which is a major aspect of the art of skateboarding.

Improving one's style and not caring about what others think are not mutually exclusive. Everyone has an ego, and there's nothing wrong with keeping the ego happy in a healthy way. I mean, good style can inspire others, and isn't inspiring others a rewarding aspect of skating?

Plus, circling back to filming oneself – doesn't everyone want to look good in their own eyes?

Ultimately we're just all dancing in the void for ourselves and for each other, so why not try to making the dance all the more beautiful for the sole reason of nothing at all?

[close]

That is one of the cool things about skating--the same activity can mean, and be, totally different things to different people. Suffice to say, I think far less about these subjects than you seem to. I do what's fun/enjoyable to me, and don't really care about those other factors. No right or wrong in either one....just follow your own path. That's the only way.

[close]

Yeah man, it's not like I "think a lot" about these subjects like they're a burden or a puzzle that needs to be solved in order to attain peace of mind. I skate to have fun 100 %, but as I tried to convey, having fun and e.g. improving one's skating via various means aren't things that cancel each other out. On the contrary.

Totally agree about no right or wrong. Skateboarding is ultimately about freedom combined with massively inspiring psycho-social aspect and that's why it's so damn awesome.

[close]

^ Word.

On the subject of filming...I do a good amount of it, too. I work in the evenings. Most of my other skater friends have 9-5 jobs. Which means that (a) I often end up skating alone, and (b) I often have skate parks to myself. Sometimes when I am alone, filming gives me a little extra "push" to try landing something I might not otherwise be feeling (and can often show where I am doing something wrong). Most of the time, it's deleted shortly afterward. 

Speaking of which, we should get some clips going in this thread. Here is something I filmed back in Dec when someone was asking about fakie shuv to b/s reverts in another thread...and b/s lip version of it, too.

Dude that fakie shuv to switch front board was a thing of beauty. Respect.

[OldieButFrenchie]

so this morning I was feeling pretty good about myself still being able to roll around, Slap and life in general...

So I went skating during my lunch break....and I ate shit pretty good just pushing and carving at the same time! On flat. 

No clue why I lost balance suddently. Needless to say, my sesh was calm after that. Reminded me good how fast shit can go sideways on a skateboard.

[gringo_viejo]

so this morning I was feeling pretty good about myself still being able to roll around, Slap and life in general...

So I went skating during my lunch break....and I ate shit pretty good just pushing and carving at the same time! On flat. 

No clue why I lost balance suddently. Needless to say, my sesh was calm after that. Reminded me good how fast shit can go sideways on a skateboard.

The concrete zombie is always lurking.

When shit goes sideways, dig into that lipslide.

Hope there’s no lasting pain.

[OldieButFrenchie]

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so this morning I was feeling pretty good about myself still being able to roll around, Slap and life in general...

So I went skating during my lunch break....and I ate shit pretty good just pushing and carving at the same time! On flat. 

No clue why I lost balance suddently. Needless to say, my sesh was calm after that. Reminded me good how fast shit can go sideways on a skateboard.

[close]

The concrete zombie is always lurking.

When shit goes sideways, dig into that lipslide.

Hope there’s no lasting pain.

all good thanks. Just a bruised ego!
My friend was like: "did you hit a rock?" and me: No I'm just useless I guess....
still had a fun sesh afterwards!

[gringo_viejo]

I’m going to pose a vital question to this forum of OG style masters:

At 50, should I get carpenter shorts? Anyone dipped their toe in the jorts pool only to reluctantly put them on ebay six months later?

Going kinda for this:



…but concerned about ending up here:



I know the real answer is, “if you like them…”
I’ve been vocally anti jean shorts in the past, and then today I woke up and was like, “hmmm, maybe?”

Dickies brainworm got me.

[j....soy.....]

Do you jort because you're a 50 year old man?  Or do you jort because it's what skaters are doing in 2026..... The only real answer is that you must jort.....

[Sedition]

I’m going to pose a vital question to this forum of OG style masters:

At 50, should I get carpenter shorts? Anyone dipped their toe in the jorts pool only to reluctantly put them on ebay six months later?

Going kinda for this:



…but concerned about ending up here:



I know the real answer is, “if you like them…”
I’ve been vocally anti jean shorts in the past, and then today I woke up and was like, “hmmm, maybe?”

Dickies brainworm got me.

I've always hated them, but you do you.

[OldieButFrenchie]

ugh that combo of shorts + hi top outdoors shoes + multiple rings / bracelets / tattoos hurt my eyes.
But I'm a snobbish parisian at heart so don't mind me

[gringo_viejo]

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[close]

ugh that combo of shorts + hi top outdoors shoes + multiple rings / bracelets / tattoos hurt my eyes.
But I'm a snobbish parisian at heart so don't mind me

Ouf! As the kids (used to?) say, right in the feels!
I’m not likely to get tatted up any time soon…that’d be an even bigger fashion decision than some shorts.
And I’m not a jewelry guy either. (Had a brief, terrible leather bracelet and pukka shell phase 35 years ago, but it was the 90s.)

The shorts with boots look has been intriguing to me lately.
But deep in my heart I know that Frenchie is right.
Men with better calves than mine have failed to pull of this style. I will stick with my tried-and-true levi 505s…
At least until August, when I’ll be too hot to care how I look, and all of Paris is away on vacation.

Edit: yesterday while flipping through the internet I saw that they are now making double knee jorts which must be the pants equivalent of lug sole sandals. Workwear is timeless, beachwear is timeless, but don’t cross the streams?

[The Huffer]

No jorts after 25, I say.

Mid knee to perhaps 1 1/8" above the knee max... preferably worn out Ben Davis cut offs.

But really no shorts unless absolutely necessary.

[DNTRODDEN]

AI generated, but going to leave this here!

For skaters over 50, prioritize comfort, mobility, and safety by wearing stretchy athletic gear like leggings, joggers, or moisture-wicking tops, while layering with hoodies or jackets. Protect yourself with knee pads, wrist guards, and a helmet, especially when in a skatepark. Avoid denim or rigid materials that restrict movement.

Key Recommendations
Bottoms: Leggings, yoga pants, or athletic joggers are best. If wearing skirts, ensure they allow full range of motion.

Tops: Breathable, moisture-wicking fabrics are ideal to stay comfortable. Layer with zip-up hoodies or sweaters to adjust to temperature


DNT
with this new insight, I say Jorts are 100% acceptable