Skating at 63 - New Year New Possibilities

[@warehousedave7937]

Inspirational stuff! Most people get into their 40s and give up on sports and learnig stuff. Its nice to know that we have many years to enjoy these activities if we just dont give up 👍🏻

[@theaverageoldguy]

That's the key, never giving up. I admit there are days when its really hard, but you can't ever quit.

[@stucar5456]

Your starting to get the flow. keep going, your starting to get it! 🤟🤟

[@xtrafunk]

hell yeah bruh respect

[@jameshughes9963]

Hell yeah! I wanna be just like you!

[@theaverageoldguy]

I'll trade knees with you😁

[@andypitt9449]

Very well done! Still progressing. I have been practicing my backside stall and was told by a much better skater that I need to focus on turning my upper body 180 first and then let my feet follow. It really works for me. If a manage to turn my upper body enough I don’t have to think about my feet. Try it and let me know how you get on. With Seth at college it must be harder to motivate yourself. I’m rubbish at going to the skate park without my son. Keep up the good work. Andy

[@theaverageoldguy]

Someone else told me sort of the same thing, concentrate on getting my butt around, and the rest will follow. I worked on that some this weekend and its coming closer. Seth is not away just yet, he is taking night classes a couple of days a week, so we still get to skate on the other nights. It will be rough when he is actually gone away for college that's for sure!

[@stanley1771]

Nice skating man! Was at Lexington last week.

[@theaverageoldguy]

Oh man, we always seem to miss the inline skaters! I think we are heading to Mooresville tomorrow, maybe there will be some inline action there. We really like the motivation when there are other skaters.

[@stanley1771]

@@theaverageoldguy Cool, never really tried inline but I see you have some skateboard videos as well. My son and I have gotten back into skateboarding recently. We were at Moorsville Sunday. We might hit Greensboro this weekend.

[@theaverageoldguy]

@@stanley1771 I grew up skateboarding and only started the inlines a little over a year ago. I tried doing them both, but it was hard to make progress on both and skateboarding hurt my knee worse than the inlines. Its cool that you are able to skate with your son, I enjoy that as much as the actual skating. We have skated Latham in Greensboro a couple of times and had a great time there.

[@Avedisdrummer09]

Biggest thing with backside is bringing that right arm around first - pretend you are throwing a wide right hook and it will bring your body and feet into position. You've come a long way!

[@theaverageoldguy]

That makes total sense and in fact I have been working on flat ground, no skate, 360's and that arm swing is critical. I still can't land one with balance, but I can get all the way around now some of the time which is a huge improvement over my starting level. Applying it up on the lip is a different mental exercise though, and I am working that out little by little. Its amazing how raising the level of your eyes up 3 or more feet off the deck changes your perspective and fear level!

[@untectings]

hey how it's going I'm 62 myself I don't skate but I got back into skiing after leaving it 30 yrs ago and in the summer I do mountain biking ,rock climbing and also longboarding not sure how you came across my feed but its cool to see others my age still being active in these kinds of sports we might not be fast or graceful be we are out there keep up the great work

[@Stu108]

I think you had more than enough speed, but you probably feel like you need more in order to rotate, but thats not true. Backside stall is more about turning your hips and the rest of you body will follow. You're doing great though. Keep it up!

[@Snifffski]

This dude knows what he's talking about, his are solid every time. Time he christened his new Standards with a few backsides now.

[@Stu108]

@Snifffski 😂

[@theaverageoldguy]

You are so right about the speed, my son can do them with half the speed I try to use. I am working on turning/twisting off the skates to get a better feel for it. I think my back and hips need some more mobility work for sure!

[@jokeyxero]

You're looking lighter on your feet over the last few weeks. I'm playing catch up on subs and noticed that. Not sure if you're feeling it, but it's noticeable comparing videos.

[@theaverageoldguy]

I am feeling better lately for sure, just skating more definitely helps even if some of the skating is nothing but rolling around.

[@Snifffski]

Have you tried 180s within a ramp, gradually getting them higher and higher until you get to the coping? It's how I learnt them (before I lost them). You've totally got the skills.

[@theaverageoldguy]

I have been working on that and in fact got really close this weekend. I got scared on the coping because I switched to anti-rocker and it was super slippery feeling. I am using that as the excuse for my fear anyway! Its coming, just slower then I want that's for sure.

[@darksider7791]

Have you done normal inline skating?

[@theaverageoldguy]

Do you mean big(er) wheel street skating? I am looking at trying out some this year.

[@Stu108]

@@theaverageoldguy you are gonna love this!

[@theaverageoldguy]

@@Stu108 What kind of skates do you recommend? I was looking at some Aeon 80's potentially.

[@Stu108]

@theaverageoldguy Aeon 80 would be a good shout as you could Also mix some park in, but for big wheels, I'd day 90mm or 110 is the better option - but again, this is hugely dependent on the type of roads/surfaces you'd be skating on. Personally in the UK, it's 90mm or above for me as the surfaces aren't great. Bigger wheels also give a lot more coast . Stick with Rollerblade, Powerslide/USD and FR for decent brands of big wheel skates and ask us watchers! We're happy to help and want you to have to best experience you can.

[@theaverageoldguy]

@@Stu108 So you have dedicated big wheel skates, or do you use skates with UFS frames that hold big wheels? I am still scouting out areas to skate around me, but I have a feeling the surface is not going to be great no matter where I end up. It will probably be some combination of concrete sidewalks and old asphalt streets.