A civilized way to spend an evening

Here’s a link to a short bit on a BBC program titled North West Tonight about older skaters. It’s mainly an interview with the founder of the UK’s Middle Age Shred. The video quality isn’t great, it looks like they forgot to deinterlace it. The skating is mostly blah, and when it isn’t the camera work is bad. It does have an impossibly hip sound track considering the stuffed shirt that hosts the program. There is some cool 70’s era footage with a bitchin’ T Rex lead in. If you look close you can see an Old Man Army Falling Down deck – good graphic… From Arizona to Manchester, old men are on the rise. Catch the video and some more old man news after the jump.

In 2005 I skated with some guys from Middle Age Shred who hopped over the pond to California to skate for a week or two. I guess it’s a yearly trip for them. I told them their time and money would be better spent in Oregon and Washington, but I’m not sure they believed me. I met them in Palm Springs, and they seemed to a good group who was really enjoying themselves.

Official moved by skateboarding
Town urges ‘green’ transportation; administrator says bikes are too pedestrian
The News & Observer – CARRBORO, NC
He doesn’t “ollie” anymore, but he still enjoys the feel of the wheels under his feet as he glides downtown for lunch.

This article is how about a 36 year old city official took up skateboarding again after seeing an intern try it. They are tying into the cities push for green transportation. I don’t know, 36 doesn’t seem old enough to be called an old man.w

Back on board
Ninemsn – Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Forget the gym and the jogging – skateboarding is the new stress buster as middle-aged men return to the adrenalin rush of their youth.

This is a pretty good length article that is worth checking out. There are some web sites good acronyms worth checking out like Sydney Old School and Middle Aged Skate Hacks. Not as good as Hopeless Old Men On Skateboards, but hey, it was already taken. Also worth checking out is Charlie Don’t Skate. I’m a sucker for any Clash reference. I wish I’d thought of this. Actually, I think I did, but I was too late. I love the quote about it being a civilized way to spend an evening.

The 45-year-old manager is part of a growing number of “old-school skaters”, who are rediscovering their love of the sport. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, “Aerial” Jones , who started skateboarding aged 13 on Sydney’s North Shore, won virtually every contest he entered.

Nowadays, he skates a couple of times a week and never misses the chance to join MASH (Middle Aged Skate Hacks) for a night-time session. “We grab a couple of generators and a bank of spotlights and light up a skateboard bowl somewhere in Sydney,” Jones told The Bulletin. “It’s a very civilised way to spend an evening.”

He is also a member of the Sydney Old School (SOS), a loose group of older riders, who prefer bowl or “vert” riding to the more radical “street style skating”. “I’ve won the last three SOS contests,” Jones says, “It’s still a hell of a lot of fun and a great way to stay fit. As long as my body allows me to do it, I’ll still be rolling. I’ve been lucky I haven’t broken a bone in all these years.”

“Not enough to deter me from doing it. It really keeps the weight off and kills stress.” Tomsen, a carpenter, skates two to three days a week. He believes he could be part of the first generation to be skating into their 50s and 60s.

Families bond on their boards
Saturday, November 25, 2006 The Austin American-Statesman – AUSTIN TEXAS
In Round Rock and Austin, some skateboarders boast about the skills of their parents (or aunts)

A Heart warming tale about families who skate together, which I couldn’t be bothered to read because I lost interest after the first paragraph.