Author Topic: Skateboarding After 50  (Read 18715 times)

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DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #120 on: May 13, 2026, 07:27:09 AM »
MRI tomorrow, need good news

I think the thought of hurting my knee again is killing my desire and progression right now.
I mean I sucked before, but now I am nervous and suck, so that = I REALLY suck, where da-fuq my ollie go?

Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #121 on: May 13, 2026, 07:46:52 AM »
Expand Quote

I suppose asking what people did to come back and how it felt is mostly a matter for the beginner trick tips section. Was anything different the second time? Did revisiting the basics make them more solid?

[close]

Tricks lost, found and newly found notwithstanding, I think Lambert summed it up perfectly. I'm definitely having more fun skateboarding now as compared to 30+ years ago. Or at least it's a different kind of more wholesome, fulfilling type of fun.

With my homies skateboarding these days is more than just skating. It's peer group therapy, meditation, dancing, goofing around and cherishing our inner children, just plain having a laugh, hyping each other regardless of skill level and tricks.

Solo sessions can be fun and rewarding too, but the true gems are revealed when homies congregate.

Such a blessing to be able to do it still.


Well said.
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

OldieButFrenchie

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #122 on: May 13, 2026, 09:05:31 AM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote

I suppose asking what people did to come back and how it felt is mostly a matter for the beginner trick tips section. Was anything different the second time? Did revisiting the basics make them more solid?

[close]

Tricks lost, found and newly found notwithstanding, I think Lambert summed it up perfectly. I'm definitely having more fun skateboarding now as compared to 30+ years ago. Or at least it's a different kind of more wholesome, fulfilling type of fun.

With my homies skateboarding these days is more than just skating. It's peer group therapy, meditation, dancing, goofing around and cherishing our inner children, just plain having a laugh, hyping each other regardless of skill level and tricks.

Solo sessions can be fun and rewarding too, but the true gems are revealed when homies congregate.

Such a blessing to be able to do it still.
[close]


Well said.

agree to disagree. I had more fun when I was 15, 20 or 30. Even 35. I can understand for a guy like Lambert, who had the pressure of being pro. But for a nobody like me, nothing can beat the devil-may-care years of youth.

or maybe it's more fun being an aging skater in the US where it's more common?
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Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #123 on: May 13, 2026, 09:17:03 AM »
Expand Quote
Expand Quote
Expand Quote

I suppose asking what people did to come back and how it felt is mostly a matter for the beginner trick tips section. Was anything different the second time? Did revisiting the basics make them more solid?

[close]

Tricks lost, found and newly found notwithstanding, I think Lambert summed it up perfectly. I'm definitely having more fun skateboarding now as compared to 30+ years ago. Or at least it's a different kind of more wholesome, fulfilling type of fun.

With my homies skateboarding these days is more than just skating. It's peer group therapy, meditation, dancing, goofing around and cherishing our inner children, just plain having a laugh, hyping each other regardless of skill level and tricks.

Solo sessions can be fun and rewarding too, but the true gems are revealed when homies congregate.

Such a blessing to be able to do it still.
[close]


Well said.
[close]

agree to disagree. I had more fun when I was 15, 20 or 30. Even 35. I can understand for a guy like Lambert, who had the pressure of being pro. But for a nobody like me, nothing can beat the devil-may-care years of youth.

or maybe it's more fun being an aging skater in the US where it's more common?

I'm having more fun on my board now then I ever did before. My least fun period? When I was sponsored (by a small board company) when I was probably at my "peak" ability. Funny how things work like that.
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

rikki

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #124 on: May 13, 2026, 12:57:38 PM »
I had the least fun when I was around 16 and trying to keep up with my insanely talented crew at the time, of which several went on to become pro or at least sponsored. Shit was hella serious, and the less talented kids like me were eventually starting to be just plain ignored for the fact that we couldn't keep up.

I ended up moving on and finding more fun and happiness in other things. Part of the process was also that I found my "true" calling in the arts which ended up taking me on a wild ride and redefining my life.

Anyway, none of the above bothers us middle aged men these days. It's like were having fun in the waiting room before it's time to step to the other side.

Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #125 on: May 13, 2026, 12:59:10 PM »

Anyway, none of the above bothers us middle aged men these days. It's like were having fun in the waiting room before it's time to step to the other side.


I am so stealing this metaphor!
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

rikki

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #126 on: May 13, 2026, 01:17:13 PM »
Expand Quote

Anyway, none of the above bothers us middle aged men these days. It's like were having fun in the waiting room before it's time to step to the other side.

[close]

I am so stealing this metaphor!

All yours brother. Thank you skateboarding.

GnarAlarm

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #127 on: May 14, 2026, 08:38:03 AM »
Sorry to crash the 50+ thread, but I'm 45 and the way time is flying I'll be 50 by the end of the week.

Skating was pure fun from age like 8 to 15 or so, but when I started pulling ahead of my peers and actually getting good good it started getting less fun. I became really, really hard on myself and skating felt more like a challenge to overcome than a way to have fun and express myself. When that carrot of sponsorship was dangling in front of my face it became all I focused on and I lost sight of everything else. (I was never getting sponsored, I was good but I was "big fish in a small pond" good).

When I started again in my late 30s' it was a lot more fun for me because it doesn't feel consequential. I'm not expecting any significant progression and spend most of my session rattling off my greatest hits and maintaining what I have. I still push myself and have expectations and goals, new tricks I'm working on or tricks I used to do that I want back, but I'm not stressing out about it and I'm giving myself a lot more grace.

The only time I get mad anymore is when one of my "greatest hits" tricks isn't working. I don't mind not learning a ton of new stuff but losing tricks is a hard pill to swallow. Feels like death.
So far I haven't lost any of them, but I get nervous and irritable if there's a day or two where one of them isn't working.




Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #128 on: May 14, 2026, 08:51:12 AM »

The only time I get mad anymore is when one of my "greatest hits" tricks isn't working. I don't mind not learning a ton of new stuff but losing tricks is a hard pill to swallow. Feels like death.


This is, unfortunately, your inescapable future. It will come faster than you expect.

One of two things will happen. You will either make peace with it, or you will quit skating because of frustration, despair, and ego-pampering.*

If you make peace with it, skating will suddenly open up to you like never before. If you think you had fun as kid, you have no idea what's coming.

If don't make peace with it, you, also, have no idea what is coming.

This is not, at all, to say you should just resign yourself to existential capitulation. It is, however, to affirm (your) reality.


*There is a third option, and it's the worst one. You keep skating, but you always resent it because your mind is living the past, but your body is living in the present.

"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

OldieButFrenchie

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #129 on: May 14, 2026, 09:14:46 AM »
I think we all agree then   ;D
the only difference is that I was never good enough to be sponsored or hope to be, so I never had any pressure when I was young. Skating was just a fun hobby. and it also means my skill level decreasing probably happens much faster than for guys who were good enough to be sponsored....

I'm still pretty obsessed with it though and super happy I can still do it. But I really would not say it's more fun than at the time when all my mates had zero responsabilities and we could just go on adventures across the city, whenever, whereever.

« Last Edit: May 14, 2026, 09:23:20 AM by OldieButFrenchie »
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DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #130 on: May 14, 2026, 09:26:56 AM »
MRI tomorrow, need good news

I think the thought of hurting my knee again is killing my desire and progression right now.
I mean I sucked before, but now I am nervous and suck, so that = I REALLY suck, where da-fuq my ollie go?

As I thought, torn meniscus, and the other complications that come with it!

While I am waiting for the doc to reach out, I guess I will go skate....

Stupid No-Comply....

GnarAlarm

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #131 on: May 14, 2026, 10:48:59 AM »
Expand Quote

The only time I get mad anymore is when one of my "greatest hits" tricks isn't working. I don't mind not learning a ton of new stuff but losing tricks is a hard pill to swallow. Feels like death.

[close]

This is, unfortunately, your inescapable future. It will come faster than you expect.

One of two things will happen. You will either make peace with it, or you will quit skating because of frustration, despair, and ego-pampering.*

If you make peace with it, skating will suddenly open up to you like never before. If you think you had fun as kid, you have no idea what's coming.

If don't make peace with it, you, also, have no idea what is coming.

This is not, at all, to say you should just resign yourself to existential capitulation. It is, however, to affirm (your) reality.


*There is a third option, and it's the worst one. You keep skating, but you always resent it because your mind is living the past, but your body is living in the present.

I feel that, there are tricks I could do as recent as 3 years ago that have just kinda stopped working for me due to neglect, reduced mobility, or both.
My nollie and switch game is in shambles.
It's much more noticeable these days that skate tricks are a lot like building muscle where without regular maintenance and repetition they diminish quickly.
And both diminish faster the older you get.
I've been slowly culling my bag because I just don't have time or energy to maintain dozens of tricks. I'd rather do 5 tricks strong, stylish and consistent than 20 tricks weak and inconsistent. So a few years ago I pretty much stopped skating switch altogether. About a year or so later I slowly quit doing nollie tricks.

It's like when a person is dying and the blood leaves the extremities to keep the vital organs alive, haha.
I sacrificed switch and nollie so I could devote more time to keeping my regular flip tricks strong.

I know the clock is ticking, and when the kickflips stop popping, the tre flips stop spinning, and benches are just too tall to jump on anymore, I'll be sad, frustrated, I'll mourn their loss, but I'll move on.
It's a part of why I've never given any time to learning slappies...yet, I'm saving those for later.
When my current bag of tricks betrays me, I'll have a whole new world of skating and gear madness I've never even explored waiting for me on the other side!

The Huffer

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #132 on: May 14, 2026, 11:18:50 AM »
Tricks come and go.... and sometimes they come back AGAIN.... I gave up on flips in my 30s but during Covid relearned nearly all of them.... and now I lost all but 3 again... but maybe they'll be back....

My approach is, focus on what's working and what you are enjoying that day and good things can happen....

Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #133 on: May 14, 2026, 12:09:17 PM »

I know the clock is ticking, and when the kickflips stop popping, the tre flips stop spinning, and benches are just too tall to jump on anymore, I'll be sad, frustrated, I'll mourn their loss, but I'll move on.


That's one of the things you learn as time goes on. A tailside on curb, instead of a really tall ledge, is still a tail slide. Height and size may change, yet the Stoke of doing a (the same) trick on something smaller is still there--you just have to realize the underlying equation hasn't changed, only the variables have.   
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #134 on: May 14, 2026, 02:11:58 PM »
just back from a 2 hr sesh, decided to be brave and try to hit our little down rail, first time skating it, got on 3 or 4 times, almost landed one on accident, I figure I will pull a clip in the next 3-4 sessions.

Good day after shit news

The Huffer

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #135 on: May 14, 2026, 02:53:04 PM »
Funny, I woke up to a text today asking me about aging and skateboarding. Not sure how old this friend is. I'm guessing late 30s... He wanted to schedule a phone call with me to talk it through injuries, aging and being the oldest guy at the sesh....

I said, fuck that. Let's just organize a session.

AnimalChinaski79

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #136 on: May 16, 2026, 03:56:05 AM »
Funny, I woke up to a text today asking me about aging and skateboarding. Not sure how old this friend is. I'm guessing late 30s... He wanted to schedule a phone call with me to talk it through injuries, aging and being the oldest guy at the sesh....

I said, fuck that. Let's just organize a session.

How often are you guys skating each week?  I shoot for 3-4 a week for an hour each but it all depends on how beat I am after work. 

Sleazy

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #137 on: May 16, 2026, 05:57:22 AM »
Expand Quote
Funny, I woke up to a text today asking me about aging and skateboarding. Not sure how old this friend is. I'm guessing late 30s... He wanted to schedule a phone call with me to talk it through injuries, aging and being the oldest guy at the sesh....

I said, fuck that. Let's just organize a session.
[close]

How often are you guys skating each week?  I shoot for 3-4 a week for an hour each but it all depends on how beat I am after work.

i'm probably 2-3 and they probably are around 45 mins

OldieButFrenchie

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #138 on: May 16, 2026, 10:24:03 AM »
dope sesh this morning!
I learned 2 new tricks, which hadn't happened to me in years haha.... I usually just relearn! But those 2 were proper NBDs for me: No comply wallie (very fun) and slappy tailslide to fakie. The funny thing about that one is that I've been doing slappy tailslides since I was probably 13 but it turns out I was not doing them the proper way! I just suddenly realized I had to be closer to the curb when launching the trick so that I could properly "sit" on it when sliding. and that has opened up going to fakie, which I never could do before. Pretty funny to have a sudden epiphany for a trick you've been doing close to 40 years. I might try slappy tailslides shove-it or slappy tailslides to switch krooked next. stoked!


As for my  routine, I tend to skate once or twice a week, probably 1 hour or 1 h 30 sessions. If I get 3 hours of riding in a week, I'm happy.  :D
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OldieButFrenchie

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #139 on: May 16, 2026, 10:27:17 AM »
Expand Quote
MRI tomorrow, need good news

I think the thought of hurting my knee again is killing my desire and progression right now.
I mean I sucked before, but now I am nervous and suck, so that = I REALLY suck, where da-fuq my ollie go?
[close]

As I thought, torn meniscus, and the other complications that come with it!

While I am waiting for the doc to reach out, I guess I will go skate....

Stupid No-Comply....

don't get too down, it might be an easy fix. I had 4 meniscus surgeries and for 3 out of those, I was out for about a month only. Now the last one....that took me out almost 6 months. But some guys recover super quick. A friend of mine could skate maybe a week after meniscus surgery. and walk the day after. so you might be in for a quicker recovery than a badly sprained ankle if you are lucky.
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Sleazy

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #140 on: May 16, 2026, 01:21:21 PM »
Also had a dope session

Was working on back blunts on a parking curb at house park and got back full length and front for about 3/4

Didn’t Illinois though but was fun sitting on them. The homie also got both too

Plan9Customs

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #141 on: May 16, 2026, 02:32:56 PM »
Was doing 2 days about 45-90 minute sessions but the college is done as of this week so I’m going to start hitting the curbs daily after work.

DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #142 on: May 16, 2026, 03:44:35 PM »
I try for at least 3 hour long sessions per week, longer or more if I can

I been working a down rail, will post a pic in a day or 2, but I really want to learn slappy's but I cant bring myself to bash into a curb at speed, seems so much can go bad

DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #143 on: May 16, 2026, 05:00:58 PM »
From the Doc:

It looks like you do have a complete tear of the lateral meniscus in the knee.  I am going to place a referral to a minimally invasive knee surgeon to discuss further.

Great 👍

gringo_viejo

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #144 on: May 17, 2026, 05:08:28 AM »
From the Doc:

It looks like you do have a complete tear of the lateral meniscus in the knee.  I am going to place a referral to a minimally invasive knee surgeon to discuss further.

Great 👍

Damn.


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DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #145 on: May 17, 2026, 06:11:04 AM »
Me and my broke ass knee are hitting a new park today!

Got to get it in where I can, funny thing is, while I know they the knee feels different, not pain more of an ache, at 52 it feels like every other joint!

AnimalChinaski79

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #146 on: May 17, 2026, 06:26:06 AM »
Me and my broke ass knee are hitting a new park today!

Got to get it in where I can, funny thing is, while I know they the knee feels different, not pain more of an ache, at 52 it feels like every other joint!

Don't blow it out so you can't skate at all man! 

DNTRODDEN

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #147 on: May 17, 2026, 06:36:01 AM »
Expand Quote
Me and my broke ass knee are hitting a new park today!

Got to get it in where I can, funny thing is, while I know they the knee feels different, not pain more of an ache, at 52 it feels like every other joint!
[close]

Don't blow it out so you can't skate at all man!

I hear ya!

At my age I don't go to hard, and do take it even easier now, like I said, it really doesn't hurt, there is a dull ache most of the time, but I have full mobility.

I think the fact that it is my leading leg, I am a bit lucky

Sedition

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #148 on: May 18, 2026, 09:43:31 PM »
From the Doc:

It looks like you do have a complete tear of the lateral meniscus in the knee.  I am going to place a referral to a minimally invasive knee surgeon to discuss further.

Great 👍


That sucks, but at least you are on the road to getting it fixed.
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer

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Re: Skateboarding After 50
« Reply #149 on: May 19, 2026, 06:24:14 AM »
Just curious...what are people in this thread riding for set-ups?

I was a DLX 8.25 guy for well over 10 years, but like most old guys, I seem to be liking wider boards these days. The 8.75/14.5 Black Label has been my jam for a while now. 14.5 wb still has some agility, and the 8.75 width has some nice stability. It's a good balance for me. Yes, flip tricks are bit clunky, but I am flipping my board less and less these days.   

(And I still have an 8.25 DLX set-up, too...but seem to be riding it less and less, and less...and I have 149s on it now, too. Use to be 144s only. But man, those things seem like tiny baby freestyle trucks to me now!)
« Last Edit: May 19, 2026, 06:33:17 AM by Sedition »
"When life goes bad, make it go wronger"  -Gerwer