When Aggressive Turned to Speed

I have been registering on all of the skating boards that I can, to talk about the quest that I am on, and, am opening myself up to criticism. I am responding to each and every comment to make myself available to these skaters. The flow of communication is what makes this possible. Without the backing of the skating community, I will go nowhere with this.

I spent some time last night talking to an aggressive skater on another board. He thought the concept was cool, but, he didn't think it represented the aggressive community. I thought about it for a moment, and, all of the countless hours I spent on ramps and skating street went flashing through my head. At first I almost took offense, but, then I realized this guy didn't know that information. He didn't realize the steps that I took on the way to the here and now.

I love half-pipes. Until you skate one, you'll never understand. I know what it is like to fly. I also understand that everything that you take out of the air, you have to pay back into the ground. I have the scars to prove it. I didn't even get on my first one until my 25th birthday. It was pure joy.

Until then, I had been skating street, jumping gaps, skating staris, jumping on and off of obstacles in a never ending quest to perfect spinnig transitions to and from. That was, what I felt, the natural evolution of my rec skating. I loved the obstacle course and challenged everything I could.

All the while I was getting faster. I raced a friend of mine in my rec skates on Texas Tech campus back in '99 or so. He was on Roces speed skates. He couldn't believe that, although I lost, I was there with him the whole way. It changed my outlook on skating, and, added a new woderful dimension to my skating.

Up until then, I would make the shorter commutes on my skates. 2-3 miles to work or somewhere to skate, and then skate for hours. I then changed my patterns. I started skating for distance.

My coach says that I have good balance. He also says that it comes from my aggressive skating. The things that I learned from putting my body in postions that your mind doesn't fully accept as reasonable, and then recovering, has helped me to stay upright when I need to. It has saved my butt many times.

So, I want to give my aggressive friends their props. You guys are just sick. I love it.