Over it – Old dudes still skating

These articles about old guys who are still skating are still being generated. The latest one from the San Francisco Chronicle it titled “Shredding Again: In which we chronicle midlife skateboarders and their return, to be schooled by 6-year-olds.” It’s a fairly lengthy article, and includes the now obligatory video piece and photo gallery, except this time they managed to get a decent action shot. See above – “Joey Vela, 38, pulls a giant backside air out of one of the giant bowls at Pacifica Skatepark. Chronicle photo by Mike Kepka.” OK, they call it a backside air instead of a frontside, but it’s still an above average photo for one of these pieces, and not bad in it’s own right. Highlights of the article/video include a 45 year old relating the story of being taught how to drop in by a 9 year old kid. Also amusing are the quotes from the young kids whose turf has been invaded by the old dudes:

From the kids’ perspective, the old-schoolers are a welcomed addition to the parks. “They rock!” said Colin Dallara, 11, from Lagunitas. “They remind me of the Z-Boys; they’re really good at axle stalls.”

Yes, axle stalls. People say Tony Alva invented them, but someone in Florida did one 1968. Ha ha. At the end of the article they point to an affiliated blog that has Tommy Guerrero’s part from Future Primitives embedded from YouTube:

San Francisco was also home to one of the country’s largest skateboarding subcultures, and this subculture would produce some of the decade’s finest skaters. The beginning of a 1985 skateboarding documentary, “Future Primitive,” shows San Francisco’s Tommy Guerrero carving, ollying and sliding his way down an avenue in the Sunset District to the chords of a bluesy skateboarding ode: “Well I’m a Future Primitive, and I skate to live.”

Ah yes, the respected documentary Future Priitives… Didn’t that win an Oscar? Right. That’s also the first time I think I’ve seen “ollieing” spelled ollying. “Ollying” may follow some sort of spelling rule, but it still looks wrong. Who makes that call? Check out Shredding Again at the San Francisco Chronicle, and if you want to recap some other efforts, try these.