I don't think I've talked about my skateboard before on here, mainly because I very rarely skate. I can't do tricks on it - not even kickflip, but I do keep hold of it for one good reason - it scares the life out of me.
Bit of history for a moment. I bought the board during a long 9 month period between leaving university and convincing someone to give me job that was loosely related to my degree. This was the time when Derby Storm was still in its prime i.e. open (before the bmx'ers made holes everywhere from their pegs) and there was loads of lines to ride. Not that I did much more than carve up and down the shop floor (t'was an old factory) with the occasional go on the small half pipe. I didn't wear any protection back then - nobody did except for the occasional in-line'er (fruit-booter? you all know the jokes), but they wouldn't do up the helmet strap because that wasn't cool. I think I did as much damage to myself over that 3-month period as I have done in three years of mountainboarding and most of it was preventable if I hadn't of been worried to wear protection. My right knee still aches when the wind blows the wrong way...
Anyway, less of the morality tail, point being I still pull out this board occasionally because it is ace. Put together by some lass in one of Derby old skateboard shops down Saddler Gate in around half an hour. She asked me if I wanted one off the shelf or cobbled together from a few slightly better bits. I opted for the latter and have told everyone since that it was a 'custom build'.
But the thing it does best, as mentioned at the top, is it scares me. The deck feels far too small, the wheels look ready to crumble at any time, the trucks....well, I think I put them back together correctly last time???? And the bearings? Well, my biggest fear is them seizing up and last week one of them did. Any other tale would involve this happening on the biggest hill you can imagine leading to my serious escape or demise. Rather boringly it fell apart in the back garden, and I fell, rather ungracefully into the wood chippings.
Turns out they don't make bearings the same way they used to - you have to insert a separate spacer separately. Bought the bearings off ebay thanks to a tip-off from River from the mighty Lush Longboard forums here. £2.75 for 10? Sounds like a plan - I bought 20 just to be sure. Postage was only 95p either way. Spacers I picked up very cheaply (free) from Rollersnakes located very cunningly just round the corner from me.
We don't do badly for small skate parks dotted around Derby despite the demise and closure of 'the Storm'. There's one in Markeaton Park and a slightly larger one in Alvaston Park down London Road, right next to the huge BMX track. (I've tried to mountain board both the bmx track and the associated pump track - no luck and ended up with big gash to underside of deck). But there is the intention of £200,000 to be spent on a city centre open park which could end up being rather good. Details at this stage are a little sketchy, but if you want to keep up with the news then the Derby Skatepark Project is a good place to start. Definitely one to keep an eye on anyway and could be very well placed for a quick lunchtime session or drop in after work....
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