Insulting Injury…to its face!

                      

I believe my injury is severe bruising of the UCL. 

This weekend included multiple sessions and I would have normally blogged about each. However, Friday nights session included two falls which left my wrist and hip badly scraped and bruised. The committed boardrider that I am, these discomforts didn’t keep me from heading back to the garage Sunday afternoon for a couple hours of solo skating. Session in the books, heading to my car, I hit a stupid yellow pole with my front-left-wheel and was violently thrown to the ground.  

I’m getting ahead of myself, let me rewind to Friday night and go through all the events that have left me in this sad state.  

Rod called to say that he and his dad, Troy, were heading to the garage Friday night to skate.  I was really wanting to go with them because Troy is a salty old skater from the 70’s who was an early influence originally pushing Rod, myself and the rest of our crew to begin to skate.  I had seen Troy a few weeks ago and he mentioned that he wanted to check out the garage and get back into skating himself-Troy’s a great guy, I can imagine him back in the day skating some G&S toothpick pretending to be Tony Alva.  

I called Bill who also said he would be there Friday night and my mind was made up, I had to figure out a way to get there.  The problem was that I worked until after 9pm and was supposed to pick up Veronica at mom’s afterward.  Mom would normally have no problem watching her a couple extra hours, however getting over the “hand, foot, mouth,” virus, Veronica has been more of a handful than usual. Still I decided to ask mom if she could watch her a bit.  ”Oh Matt she’s been soooo fussy tonight, and then I have her in the morning.  I don’t know if I can do it.”  ”She could just stay the night,” I replied. “So you can skateboard?” Mom is still figuring out how serious I am about skating, can you imagine that she doesn’t always think it’s a good reason for her to watch extend Veronica’s visit!  Still she relented and I had a couple of hours to go to the garage.

Racing from work, Tool screeching from the speakers, my pre-skate ritual had begun.  Jumping around, singing into mirrors or banging my head to the loudest music I can find, my ritual is very informal. Once complete, I feel juiced as a bucking bull ready to bust from the shoot complete with back sweat and spray coming out of my nose.  Nothing, at that point, can keep me from getting on my board.  

Exiting from Broadway, Bill called with unsettling news.  ”Rod fell and busted his head open. Him and Troy are gone, and its kinda killed the vibe,”  Bill was ready to leave too!  ”That’s why you and I wear helmet’s and I’m practically here, wait for me.”  Bill relented, turns out he was a little dehydrated and a promise to bring water kept him around for a few more runs.

Stepping off the elevator, Bill was waiting for water.  He gave me a brief synopsis of Rod’s fall and I made a silent promise to myself to not let the pavement ruin my night.  Only one thing left to do…RIDE! 

I was really owning it Friday.  I had a breakthrough Wednesday in the neighborhood and some old surfing techniques were coming back to me.  I finally remembered that you have to steer with your rear foot and to push my legs forward when turning backside.  I had also read a great quote from Laird Hamilton about lessons learned from surfing that I was able to apply to my longboarding.  

“You can’t kind of catch a wave. You either catch it or you don’t. It’s a commitment.  That’s just like anything else-you either go or you don’t. He who hesitates is lost in the end.”  USA Weekend, July 4-6, 2008  

That advice is great for anyone trying to get better on a board.  You have to go for it!  If you’re worried about getting hurt you will hesitate and hold something back.  Unlike surfing, holding back may not instantly cause you to eat shit, but it will keep you from breaking through to new heights.  When I ride, I push the limit and go for broke, I try to commit and leave it all on the, figurative, pavement. 

Eventually Amanda called saying she was off work and I invited her to head to the garage to see what I’m always off doing.  Upon her arrival she utters “I’m only watching one run and heading home.”  After a long shift, Amanda bordering on starvation, she was more interested in eating than watching me skate.  Finally I knew her priorities! 

After enjoying herself more than expected Amanda stayed for several runs.  On about the 5th or 6th that she watched I tried a particularly hard slide and went headfirst into the ground, my helmet and wrist guards breaking my fall.  Unfazed I continued to skate several more runs.  On about run 9, I was carving and tail-sliding particularly hard, showing off basically.  For the second time in 5 minutes I again fly headfirst over my board, sliding on my wrist guards right at Amanda and Bill (he had stopped for a breather near where Amanda sat).  I popped up and relatively unscathed I hollered “Now that’s what pads are for!”   And it was! Having fallen twice, my wrist was a little bruised and my hip skinned, but other than flesh wounds was completely fine.  I left the garage thoroughly satisfied with my session and quite proud of my skating.  I even enjoyed the falls!

Fast forward to Sunday.

Sitting at the house, trying to bug John into taking out the boat; I decided screw it, I’m heading by myself to the garage to get some exercise. I had resolved to get on my board at least 5 days a week, and having nothing else to do, why not go by myself?  I would stay within my limits to assure I didn’t fall again on my heavily bruised palm and wrist.  

Skating for almost two hours, I was thoroughly exercised and felt I had continued to improve on my Friday night session.  Turning towards my car I tried to skate out a very narrow space between a pole and a curb, and dammit if I didn’t clip that curb with my wheel!  The board creeping like molasses, it was still enough that I went flying to the pavement.  Immediately, feeling faint and lightheaded,  I knew I had hurt myself. Sweat pouring out, my entire arm numb, I struggled to remove my pads and get into the car.

Arriving home, Amanda and I assessed the damage.  I had shooting pains down from my elbow, my lower arm had a spot of black and blue, and my elbow was a mess- a swollen piece of meat and bone.  I could already hear the “I told you so’s,” and resolved early to avoid the doctor. However, after consulting my old friend Michael, now a NYC-ER doctor, we decided to head to OU Med Center to be assessed.  

I waited like 4 hours in serious pain!  Finally I told Amanda that if the triage nurses didn’t think it was an emergency, why did I!  ”Let’s avoid the co-pay and call it a night.  See how it is tomorrow. If they tell me to go home and ice it I’ll be really pissed.”  And with that we left.  

It’s now Tuesday night and my arm continues to improve.  I think I badly bruised my UCL and jammed my arm from wrist to shoulder. No more shooting pain, but it does continue to ache.  No matter,  I fully plan on boarding this weekend! 

My conclusion…injuries are temporary.  So is adrenaline, but the rush keeps you high for a lifetime.  When boardriding or doing anything else, commit to it, go for it and don’t be defeated by a little pain or fear. Life is short, live it to the fullest!

The Boardrider Learns to Wakeboard

First time ever, so don’t laugh too hard.  I fully plan on owning the wake on my next trip!  Hats off to Jiz for the epic editing!

There’s a Pretty Big Hill by Tahlequah High School…

In town for the 4th of July holiday, Jiz and I wanted to check out hills around the ‘Quah and see what we could find.  We headed over to the high school to see a hill that two months ago I pronounced “unrideable,” not because of it’s height, but because I had no fucking idea how I would ever stop! The solution of course is to carve to slow down and it really was quite easy. The video does the hill no justice, it is long and steep, following in the car Jiz clocked me at about 34 mph. 

Compared to the parking garage the Tahlequah hill is extremely competitive.  It’s nice to have a long straight ride and really be able to pick up speed.  With the exception of having to walk 5 minutes back uphill without the convenience of an elevator, hill skating is just as cool as parking garages.  Nice to be able to work on my tan too!  

I’m trying to work on translating my surfing skills to my longboarding and you see some of that in these videos.  Sliding the tail, long sloping turns.  However, I hope to put on a real display of surf skills in the future during my family trip to San Diego! Stoked!  That isn’t until September so in the meantime, longboarding and wakeboarding will have to do.  Speaking of wakeboarding, I hope to have video of my first day ever up on a wakeboard very soon.  The video exists, Jiz needs to cut it and send it to me.  It should be entertaining as it includes some wipeouts.  

By the way, while in Tahlequah I was lucky enough to help welcome little Destiny Marie Baron into the world.  Yes, Baron and Nicki are now parents!  

On that same tip, I would also like to welcome Preston Scott into the world.  I regret I have not had a chance to see him yet because Veronica was sick last week, but I will very soon. Congratulations to Joe and Gina!

Garage Skating in the Dark

    

Bill skating after dark in parking garage

In the past few weeks my skating has achieved new heights. Thanks to more activity, mainly more skating , but also a few power cleans from time to time, I’m carving tighter and skating longer.

My buddy Dave scooped a longboard and it’s healthy to have a new person in the crew. Dave was always an accomplished shortboarder, as I presumed he picked it up well. Last Saturday afternoon he, Bill and I all rode the parking garage downtown. Dave picked up the nuances well, however that only led to Dave becoming dangerous. Over 75 runs under my belt at the time and not a fall yet…then came Dave. Dude was trying to squeeze both of us through the tighter turns at the same time, usually without me being aware he was right on my ass! On level 4 he forces me to go too wide and I basically ran between two poles! The worst injury was to the camera I was filming with, but I did stub the hell out of my toe and it bled! Dave ended up doing it again later, which caused me to fall-but not as bad as the first. Dave is smart but when it comes to having that “Hey I actually give a shit” type of attitude, Dave doesn’t. He has no regard to safety or any other crap he thinks is lame. He was apologetic though, through his laughter. He finally calmed a bit and we ended up staying for 3+ hours, a ripping session and a great workout! 

When you’re skating you’re not sore, but when you hop off the board to walk you notice how tight you’ve gotten. Riding and carving is taxing work, don’t kid yourself! Combine that activity with my power cleans I’ll be putting people in their places in no time!

Since that day I’ve decided that I’m not falling enough. If I’m going that many runs with no falls I should try to add some new difficulty? I love just cruising down the garage, it’s fun even when your not trying difficult maneuvers, however I’m in this for the pleasure and the pain so I should be tasting slightly more pavement.

So last night, after a rousing day on the lake with my buddies John and Reed, John and I had gone to get a few beers and hang out. I’ll spare all the details, but phone calls were made, decisions executed and next thing I knew John, Bill and I were in Bill’s truck headed to the garage at around midnight.

John has a boarding background but this was his first time on a longboard. The three of us split time riding the two boards we had among us and went about it. John was impressive for his first time at the garage and being at night. Several floors are almost pitch black! You really have to have a feel for the place and I was surprised that John held it together…especially considering the alcohol! Actually, he mostly held it together. He did take a bad spill on the top floor and skinned his palms and knees; he also t-boned me on the 3rd floor but miraculously we both were able to run it off with no fall, so oh well!

Skating the garage at night is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life! Standing up on the top floor waiting my turn to go again, I was mesmerized by all the buildings surrounding me. They were shining and lit-up and some were so close I wanted to reach out and touch them. I don’t know if I enjoyed the skating, the scenery, or the homeless lady sleeping in the elevator the most? Staying until after two o’clock, this was truly an epic session. I cannot wait to go back at night again… I’m hooked! 

We now have four of us in the OKC group and we seem to be growing weekly. All it takes is one visit and anybody who can ride a board is hooked! Coolest thing going on in Oklahoma right now…period!

We also have representation in Eastern Oklahoma now, with Jiz picking up his very own longboard. Talk about a big fish in a small pond…he skates alone while people follow him in vehicles…filming! That’s cool, hopefully he can get to OKC and the parking garage soon. We’ll try to head that way as well.

One last thing. I traded boards with Dave and I now ride a 43.5 ” Arbor Koa Pintail. I love the pin shape, it really is the best for carving hard and maintaining speed.

Thanks for reading.