Milestones in Skateboarding and Skateparks

Recently I retired from a decade of maintaining Skatepark.org. I gave the domain over to Skaters for Public Skateparks so they could continue the work of skatepark advocacy. They give me a plug on their history page in return.

In the end I was ready to let go and the new group is taking the website to a new level that I'm proud to be associated with. But the actual switch-over was rather anti-climatic, a forgettable day.

A more personally meaningful milestone came out of the blue last week by e-mail:

My name is Ben, you may still remember me. I used to live around the corner from you on NW H st. with my mom, and we used to skate together every now and then. I am contacting you because you were the first person to push me in the direction of ramp-building, and were to show me my mistakes and what not. This time, however, I have finally gotten it right. I have just recently finished a mini ramp in my backyard, not a shoddy ramp like what I used to try to build, but a very nice ramp. Since you were there at the beginning of my building days, I would be quite honored if you would skate it with me. I dont know if you still skate or not, but if you do, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to have a session with you.

Although I don't think I'd been skateboarding in over a year, I promptly took Ben up on his offer. Skating together with and old neighbor who had grown up to to build an excellent backyard halfpipe was a day to remember. Thanks, Ben.

Here's Ben on his new ramp: